opinion « The Shade of Writing

By Damien Knight

I have read many plays and acted in a few including a production that my father wrote for church. I do not believe a good play has to have a traditional linear story. Some stories work well with flashback scenes or starting at the end then going back and then returning to the end scene. These sorts of story lines are more difficult but very captivating. A linear story line is the simplest method of telling a story and can keep an audience on track but if not done right can also seem trite.

Most plays I have seen lasted two hours. This seems like the ideal length for a play. It can be shorter but any shorter than an hour would seem like a skit and not a full play. The best plays can be on various topics such as “Steel Magnolias” which is inspired by the strength of southern women, or “Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” where the story is about unrequited love’s reversal due to fairy pranks. These both performed on the stage have a great flow of dialogue essential for a good play. Within moments reading the script you know who the characters are and what the dilemma is.

I have a love of theater and a great play requires an unexpected turn of events and when I performed as Pontius Pilot in the Easter play my father wrote I personally believe I acted in the greatest play I ever had. The retelling linear and the crowed chants crucify him. Pontius washes his hands but the twist was the man we follow as the main character is not Jesus but the thief he forgives. For me, the most important element a playwright should consider is keeping the audience interested.

By Damien Knight

(Originally written Nov 2016)

Every year someone asks what my family is doing for Thanksgiving. While I do in fact celebrate Thanksgiving I find the origin taught to us as children horrific. When we were kids, we were told Thanksgiving was a time where the Pilgrims and Natives met and held a party celebrating shared success. The truth is, when Pilgrims came to American shores many did not survive the boat ride. Many more starved to death over their first winter.

The Pilgrims were not the first settlers from Europe at this point. Squanto, of the Wampanoag tribe, spoke English. He was the one to contact the Pilgrims. The Wampanoag were not just being kind ‘savages’ they were wary. Still they taught the Pilgrims how to grow food and Thanksgiving came and they met not to celebrate shared success but to sign a treaty, a treaty giving Pilgrims the land they lived on.

What did the Natives get in return? Smallpox, betrayal, whitewashing of American history? All of that. So while yes I celebrate with my parents I have not myself cooked a Thanksgiving turkey. My own children are Abenaki blood as is my spouse and I feel celebrating the genocide of their people is an insult. I’ll be thankful that more and more people are learning the truth. I will be thankful for my family and my kids. I am not proud of our history, but I hope that we learn from it and not repeat it.