Wright-Right-Now is a simple, fun, immediate way to promote playwrights, engage audiences, and generate nearly instant commissioned work. As applied at Baltimore’s Center Stage, one or two intrepid playwrights set up at a small, portable work station with tablet, laptop, notebook, or even typewriter. They take simple prompts from passers-by, and use those to generate typically 5-12 short plays, depending on time and capacity. The plays are either available in printed form at the end of a performance, or get emailed to the commissioner. It’s that simple.
Nearly two dozen playwrights have participated so far, creating well over 100 new plays, in venues as diverse as the lobby before Mainstage performances, the coffee or bar line for special events, the Young Playwrights Festival, local charity auctions, and even a few Baltimore street corners. The WRN station by the weekly Burger Truck is especially popular. And it was a delightful thrill to add it to the LMDA conference. We send a big thanks to willing playwrights Jessica Hughes and Mar Goméz Glez and the good folks who commissioned them. Peruse and enjoy the results!
Dream Together by Jessica Hughes (prompt by Brenna Nicely, Jayne Wegner, and Matt McGeachy)
Háblame en my language By Mar Gómez Glez (prompt by Kasey Kopp and Ken Cerniglia)
Drowned by Mar Gómez Glez (prompt by Eric Stroud)
These Aren’t Kosher by Mar Gómez Glez (prompt by Caroline Russell King)
Space Pickles by Mar Gómez Glez (prompt by Moss)
How Many Dramaturgs Does it Take? by Jessica Hughes (prompt by Emily White)
Tubes by Mar Gómez Glez (prompt by Dina)
The Personal Essay by Jessica Hughes (prompts from Robert Dufley and Stephen Colella)
Down Yonder by Jessica Hughes (prompts by Emily Kleypas, Patric Myers, Elyse Griffin, and Caroline Russell King)
Since Center Stage launched the Wright-Right-Now series in 2013 at the annual fall Open House, the project has grown by leaps and bounds, giving opportunities to writers and engaging audiences directly in the new play process, while enlivening a diverse range of encounters. Please feel free to adopt, or adapt, the process for yourself in whatever way you see fit—nothing would please us more than to see seedlings of Wright-Right-Now sprouting up everywhere, in more sizes and shapes than we can even imagine.
And, if we embrace the hashtag #WrightRightNow for all, we can link efforts together in a community of playwriting and creation—folks could even take, and execute, commissions virtually!
