For the fifth year in a row, the writing for the screen and stage minor will give aspiring screenwriters and playwrights an experience ordinarily reserved for the most successful professionals in entertainment.
The Long Story Shorts festival is a two-night event at Kenan Theatre that will put on eight one-act plays written by seniors. The original works will be put to the stage by a team of four directors. Each production will run for approximately 10 minutes.
Professor Dana Coen, director of the writing for the screen and stage minor, handpicked the winning scripts for the festival.
Coen said the festival's philosophy is typified by a Don Delillo quote: “I think a playwright realizes after he finishes working on the script that this is only the beginning. What will happen when it moves into three dimensions?”
To begin the process of moving each script to the Kenan Theatre stage, writers and actors are taken through readings, and collaborate on important creative decisions.
Senior Schyler Martin, who is on the Board of Directors for The Daily Tar Heel, went through this experience with her play, “Death and Dignity."
“It was phenomenal," she said. "I almost cried while watching my own mediocre play because the actors are so good.”
Senior Jessica Zambrano, a former Daily Tar Heel staff writer, wrote the play “Comedy and Error,” and was challenged by discussing her ideas and characters with the directors and actors, some of whom were total strangers.
“I saw what other people can bring to the table," Zambrano said. "I listened to how they read the lines, and then we saw what we needed to rework, and sometimes the actors come up with something better than what I wrote. It has helped me learn to work with everyone’s contributions.”
