Detention Series
Detention is a monthly series of new and original theater pieces written, directed, and performed by ESPA students. Each month, writers are invited to submit short plays based on an imaginative assignment created by a prominent guest artist. A handful of plays are selected, staffed with a student director, and cast with student actors for a one-night-only production at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village. Detention plays have gone on to both publication and production. This program continually brings the ESPA community of artists together in a collaborative challenge with invaluable public exposure.
WHEN: The first Friday of every month at 7pm and 10pm
WHERE: Jimmy's No. 43–43 East 7th Street (b/w 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
HOW: Admission is FREE. Space is limited. RSVP: espaintern@primarystages.org
February 3–MARIA MILEAF
(Director of A Body of Water at Primary Stages)
March 2–LISA ROTHE
(Director of Offsite Programs and Partnerships, Lark Play Development Center)
April 6–ANDREW LEYNSE
(Artistic Director, Primary Stages)
May 4–WEST HYLER
(Associate Director of Broadway's Jersey Boys)
July 6–Lisa Peterson
(Director/Co-Conceiver, An Iliad at New York Theatre Workshop)
Past Advisors: Michelle Bossy, Denis Butkus, Dominic D'Andrea, Jackson Gay, Carl Forsman, Lisa Rothe, Daniel Talbott, Kim Weild.
Are you a student? Detention assignments will be announced 4-6 weeks prior to each performance. Participation is limited to currently enrolled students.
ESPA Student Kristine Reyes found a second life for her Detention piece through Leviathan Lab's Asian American Women Writers' Short Play Festival. Here is her story:
When I decided to submit a play for Detention 3: Blind Date, it was a big challenge for me because I generally take a long time developing and writing new plays. The idea of writing a new piece in two weeks seemed daunting at first, but once I got started, I found that it came rather easily. I’m not sure if it was the theme or the impending deadline, but I was surprised not only at how quickly it poured out of me, but also how much fun I had with it. I think the short time frame actually helped because I didn’t have a chance to over-think things.
The inspiration for Ready, Aim…Fire! came from a friend of mine who’s been online dating for the past few years. The play is loosely based on a particular date she went on with a guy who was completely wrong for her. It’s this notion that even if the websites say you’re a match, there’s really no accounting for real-life chemistry, or “magic,” as my character Charlie says. It was fun to explore the disconnect between what a person thinks she wants for herself and what she actually wants. And setting up a personal profile seems to be the perfect example of how great that divide can be.
What was most fun was getting to write a comedy for the first time. I tend to write relationship or family dramas, so it was great to bust out of that box. It’s one thing to think something you wrote is funny, but it was incredibly gratifying to realize that other people thought so too. Getting laughs from an audience felt great!
I thought it was really fitting that our theme was “blind date” because that’s what the entire Detention experience felt like. We’re basically thrown into a situation with an unknown director and actors. But any nervousness I may have had immediately melted away at our first rehearsal. We all got along really great and were on the same page about the characters and their journey. It was a joy to watch my director, Philip Gates, and my actors, Sheila Joon and Adam Lebowitz-Lockard, work their comedic magic on the script. It’s like the rare blind date that ends in a happy marriage!
The Detention experience is such a wonderful way for ESPA students across the disciplines to get to know each other and work together. I wouldn’t have met Phil, Sheila, or Adam if not for Detention, and now I consider them part of my network of theater artists. And after having taken Chris Burney & Don-Scott Cooper’s Marketing & Production for Playwrights class this past semester, I fully understand the importance of building on that.
I was especially excited to take a class this semester because of Detention and the possibility of writing a new play and having it staged. I love how ESPA keeps coming up with new and exciting ways to get their playwrights’ work seen and heard. It’s so important for us, especially since we’re all starting out, because a play lives and breathes on stage, not on the page. It’s a great learning experience working with directors and actors because you discover so much about your own play that you may not have even intended or known when you were writing it. The more opportunities we get as playwrights to do that in a safe environment like Detention or the Playwrights’ Festival, the better prepared we’ll be for the real world of professional theater. On top of that, ESPA is really wonderful about supporting and promoting its students.
I'm proud that my little play was born out of the Detention series and gets to have a second life with Leviathan Lab, where I get to share it with even more people. Ideally, I’d love to have it fully staged again, and I plan to keep submitting it to short play festivals. This play wouldn’t exist if not for the online dating prompt from Detention, and I have to thank ESPA for that!
For more information or with questions, please call 212.840.9705 or email espa@primarystages.org.
