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  • A More Perfect 10: Writing and Producing the Ten-Minute Play
  • Steve Ackerman
A More Perfect 10: Writing and Producing the Ten-Minute Play. By Gary Garrison. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, 2008; pp. 168. $16.95 paper.

Playwrights utilize the ten-minute play, a relatively new format, both to strengthen their craft for the completion of longer plays and as an opportunity to get their work produced at a rising number of ten-minute-play festivals. With his experience in writing, producing, and organizing festivals, Gary Garrison, former chair of the National Playwriting Program for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre and current executive director of creative affairs of the Dramatists Guild of America, pioneered work in this new form, drawing attention to it with Perfect 10 (2001). He carefully crafts his introduction to this revised edition as a warning to readers that this is not a "how-to" book so much as an exploration of the burgeoning form, and an attempt to set guidelines that can help the writer achieve greater success and nurture this new form.

Garrison begins by cautioning playwrights about the pitfalls of writing in a new genre based almost exclusively on time constraints. Offering examples of ten-minute plays that run too long or are overly ambitious in terms of storyline, he lists flaws in the writing of those who fail to recognize the inherent challenges involved.

Not only does the ten-minute offer a new production venue, but it can also serve as a writing exercise to sharpen playwrights' tools for crafting full-length plays. The limited amount of time gives playwrights an opportunity to strip their writing of unnecessary gimmicks and to focus on the essentials of storytelling. Garrison emphasizes the usefulness of the ten-minute play outside of festival competition and urges writers not to dismiss this form as efficacious solely for production purposes. He encourages them to embrace its strict guidelines to strengthen their transition to full-length plays.

The book is organized into nine chapters with delightfully wry titles that belie the seriousness of their content. After three chapters on the craft of ten-minute-play development, Garrison turns his attention to the production of the ten-minute-play festival. He uses the final two chapters, along with ten final thoughts as summary of his key points, as means of inspiring the writer to begin the process.

Garrison urges the playwright to become as familiar as possible with all production elements surrounding a ten-minute-play festival. He includes a list of problems encountered by organizers, problems ranging from the number of actors participating, to the number of audience members in attendance. Although brief, this section offers the typical checklist of items a producer should consider when putting together a first festival, and moreover encourages those with the resources to start their own festivals.

To help writers understand the validity of these festivals, Garrison includes insightful interviews from top people in the field, including Gregg Henry (artistic director of the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival) and Michael Bigelow Dixon (former literary manager of Actors Theatre of Louisville). The interviews discuss the appeal of the ten-minute form and its potential as well as its place within the playwriting profession. Garrison also includes a condensed version of the playwright's yearly "go-to" directory, Dramatist Sourcebook, listing theatres and festivals and their submission guidelines. Such information, though helpful, is also dated and can become irrelevant rather quickly, with festivals changing venues or even being discontinued.

Examples of seven ten-minute plays (updated from those included in the first edition) are included in their entirety as well as a traditional and modern formatting appendix. Although he does not consider them to be completely successful, Garrison uses the pieces to engage the reader with questions concerning their qualities and rewrite possibilities. Chosen because they are driven by character and not plot, these selections emphasize the primacy of characters' discoveries and transformations in the ten-minute form.

Although the book's content is informative, Garrison tends to be repetitive in his discussion of play format. He stresses the importance of proper formatting and the consequences of failing to adhere to...

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