What I learned about writing plays from Kaufman, Ensler, and Rivera

The first thing that sticks out to me about all three readings is truth and honesty. I learned that, in order to fully drawn in an audience, gain its respect, and encourage interest in your play/production/story, it is most important to tell the truth. It is obvious when something isn’t true, like Aaron McKinney saying Matthew came on to him. Of course everything we write is not going to have happened in factual reality, but that does not mean it cannot be true. Truths about the world like the ones in ‘Anne O’Sullivan’ and ‘Javi Mulero’ are just these sorts of truths; truths that mildly indicate an individual’s worldview, but that simultaneously ring true for so many others. Being a good writer means having the ability to create an imaginative story, character, etc. yet create this image so successfully as to have it become real in the minds of whoever reads it. This is what I learned about honesty.
Thinking about the characters I encountered in these readings, I realize that a character can become very complex and interesting with only a few lines of description or monologue. A character does not need pages of intimate history of his or her life in order for the reader to get a picture of who he or she is—sometimes people’s words speak louder than their looks or their actions.
At least for me, eloquency is far more convincing and pleasant than sharp, short bursts of muddled language that emphasize ignorance—not to sound pretentious. I guess language will differ a great deal from character to character, as evidenced in The Laramie Project, and it does help in establishing a persona. However, in a monologue, if I am to be convinced of and receptive to what a person is saying, I find it easier to follow a story, idea, thought, etc. when the speaker is able to talk to me clearly and at least somewhat intelligently.
I learned that humor is essential in many productions, no matter how short, because that small moment of relief from whatever is happening allows the audience time to recommit themselves to the story, the characters, the situation and motivates new interest in what comes next. However, humor should not be overused—it is the rarity of humorous moments that make them so special and so essential to the production; too much makes it lose its power.
Evoking any emotion, for that matter, is important to all writing. Emotions, more than events, are what an audience will relate to and be able to experience. This is key to successful writing. Like truth and honesty about the world, truth and honesty about emotions equally give an audience the chance to understand what a writer is attempting to communicate. Falsified and fabricated emotions are easy to spot, so again, the trick here is honesty.
Overall, something I find interesting about good writing is that it is about people. People like reading about and learning about other people because it helps them learn about themselves. There are all kinds of people with all kinds of stories and lives, both in the fictional and factual world. Any and all of these people have something to teach someone and good writing is the medium through which these lessons can be taught and learned.