"When you realize that your teacher and the other students are there to help you finish the play that you want to write, you start to look forward to bringing in work and receiving feedback, because it allows you to move forward."

From:

The Dramatist-September/October 2013

In Conversation Daniel Goldfarb & David West Read:

“David West Read: …We are all familiar with the negative stereotypes of writing teachers as failed writers, or at least jaded and embittered writers who take out their anger on the students, crushing souls and stamping out voices. Fortunately, you were never like that. You made me feel like I could pursue a living as a writer, but perhaps more importantly, you were in the middle of your own career, and had been through some of the struggles we would all inevitably face, and yet had come out the other side with your infectious love of the theatre intact…

The best time to start building those professional bridges is not after you’ve finished the program, but while you’re in the thick of it-connected with other writers, actors, and mentors, seeing shows and hearing your work out loud…

I was writing the play without thinking of any producorial concerns, and even though I would probably write the play differently if I were starting now, I’m so grateful that you didn’t dampen my enthusiasm or halt my process with playwriting rules and regulations. You emphasized writing from the heart, and writing to the end. Very basic points, but essential for a writing student…

When you’re teaching a class of writers with diverse voices, how do you resist the temptation to impose your own methodology on their plays-in-progress? I would imagine that your students often make choices you wouldn’t make in your own work, or aspire to a kind of theatre that you wouldn’t necessarily pay to see (unless you were supporting a former student, of course).

Daniel Goldfarb: The goal is to help a student write their play, not the play you want them to write. You do this by asking lots of questions, and being really specific in where the play has you and loses you. I try not to get prescriptive, though it can be hard. I am open to all kinds of theatre-and although I have my preferences, I really try and keep those out of the classroom. When a play is working, it’s important for a teacher to stay out of its way. It’s when it’s not working that a teacher can ask questions that impose a sort of structure or form so, no matter what kind of play it is, it can find its motor…

David West Read: I had teachers who made it feel like more of a writing group than a writing class. When you realize that your teacher and the other students are there to help you finish the play that you want to write, you start to look forward to bringing in work and receiving feedback, because it allows you to move forward. Without that positive first experience in playwriting class with you, I wouldn’t be writing plays, so for that I’m very grateful.”