Students talk style of visiting N.Y. playwright

     New York playwright, Anton Dudley, visited GCSU on Nov. 6. MFA students Jimmy Holder, Nida Kay Hogan, and Marie James read Dudley’s one-act play, Chalk. Dust. in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium that evening.
     Born in Montréal, Dudley has lived in nearly every state along the East Coast, as well as England and two providences in Canada. After working in Washington D.C. and Las Angeles, Dudley finally settled in New York, where he has worked as a playwright and screenwriter for the past eight years.
     Dudley began writing plays when he was four years old; his first being a puppet play. In the third grade, his first written play was performed.
     “I went to a Montessori school where if you show any inclination towards anything they fully encourage it. I wrote this play, and they shut down the school for two weeks, and everybody worked on it,” Dudley said.
     Majoring in Theatre with a minor in Costume Design, Dudley attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, before earning his MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
     Besides writing, Dudley has also directed, and prefers to focus his directing at the college level.
     “When I first graduated a lot of the stuff I was being asked to direct was sort of realistic, traditionally structured plays, which sometimes I like writing and seeing, but as a director I really like using a lot of puppetry and abstract stuff and movement,” Dudley said.
     Traveling as a child, as well as listening, seems to be what most interests and inspires Dudley’s plays.
     “I am really interested in different voices and experiences. I am interested mostly in character,” Dudley said. “I always feel that the story or the plot is secondary to me.”
     Dudley incorporates his interest into his teaching as well.
     “It’s certainly been something, in my own study and my own teaching, that I’ve really tried to work on as plot instructor,”   Dudley said. “I am really interested in character and voices and how people interact with each other, and how people negotiate their inter-lives or their outer-experiences.”
     Unlike many writers, Dudley does not read reviews of his plays.
     “I had a teacher a long time ago who said, ‘If you believe the good, you have to believe the bad,’” Dudley said. “Even if they are good, they change the way that you see your own writing; it’s very hard when something’s in print: it’s the truth, even if you don’t believe it. I think even positive reviews can be toxic to a writer, as well as an audience.”
     Mentored by Tony Kushner, award-winning playwright of “Angels in America,” assisted Dudley in the development of one of his plays, which was later produced.
     “He’s incredibly generous,” Dudley said. “I think the most important thing he said (was), ‘you can only write about relationships in theatre.’”
     Dudley feels that Kushner helped him understand that in theatre, the smallest social unit consists of a single character and the audience.
     “That just changed the way that I thought about writing, which is all you are doing is investigating relationships,” Dudley said. “I think all of your politics and ideas about the world inherently come out in everything you ever talk about. In all of your interactions, you’re constantly expressing your ideas of themes and thoughts, but in theatre all you can really write is people having a conversation.”
     Dudley’s long term goal is to continue getting his plays produced.
     “Off-Broadway was my dream, and I have been doing that for the last four years,” Dudley said. “Working and communicating is what I think is exciting. Coming down here is incredibly exciting to me. Hearing a play read is remarkable.”
     James, a MFA student in the Creative Writing Program at GCSU, not only read the part of Charlotte in last Tuesday’s reading, but has also worked professionally in the film industry in Atlanta.
     “Meeting Anton was really fabulous because this was the first time I had really gotten to pick the brain of someone who was very specialized in this area (scriptwriting),” said James, “and the fact that he had come to Georgia College to share his experiences was really great because we didn’t have to travel to New York to see him.”
     Dudley shared that when he sends scripts, he includes a punctuation key so that actors are able to understand exactly what he means. James feels that this is an especially useful tool in trying to work with actors.
     “Coming from the film industry, being that he was able to communicate to actors, just through that, really showed me that as a writer, that’s really how you can get at the actors,” said James.
     Holder, who read Chalk in last Tuesday’s reading enjoyed working with Dudley.
     “He’s really a master at being minimal with his words and with punctuation,” Holden said. “His style and the way he approaches his work is definitely inspirational. It was really nice to have him here in Milledgeville.”

About the Playwright:

Name:  Anton Dudley
Occupation: Playwright and director
Plays: “Chalk Dust” and “Pleaching the Coffin Sisters”
College: Graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. with a Major in Theatre and a minor in Costume Design. He also attended, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he earned his MFA.
Influences: Award-winning playwright of Angels in America, Tony Kushner, assisted Dudley in the development of his plays.
Fun Fact: Dudley has lived in nearly every state along the East Coast, as well as England and two providences in Canada.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 16 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry