Smaller is Not Always Better

I don't have a great body of work to show my time in New York. I wrote plenty of smaller pieces, since those were easier to mount. I have a ton of monologues, and commentary disguised as monologues. In hindsight, those smaller pieces prevented me from working on original full-length plays.

Full-length pieces demand more energy, with delayed gratification. Patience. While others brag about their latest sucesses, you can only say, "I'm writing."

For all the effort you put into a full-length play, there's no guarantee that you will have anything worthwhile at the end of it.

Smaller projects are a smaller gamble for everyone involved. An evening of ten minute plays by ten playwrights means that you will most likely have ten circles of friends in the audience. Simple economics.

It's the larger work, however, that will set you apart from other writers.  I recognized that while I needed to gain more production experience, I also needed to work on larger projects. Those two needs were at odds with one another.

With the buzz of living in New York, the constant desire to legitimize myself to others meant that small projects won out. That decision stunted my growth as a playwright.