CMU School of Drama


Monday, February 29, 2016

Too Young to Take Over, Too Old to Ignore

HowlRound: I used to think I would cease to be a young playwright in college. Then, I would not only have aged out of all of the dazzling competitions that organized my teenage years, but I would also be eighteen, an age so magical you earned a different driver’s license and could buy a lottery ticket. In high school, I was incredibly lucky—I found a community of young writers who exchanged opportunities the way my sister’s friends exchanged music videos, and I had the extraordinary privilege of participating in programming that supported my passion.

1 comment:

Vanessa Ramon said...

This author brings up a really interesting problem that no one really ever talks about but that i think can affect all young artists and designers. I think in the past decades there has been a great pressure on youth to do more and increase the difficulty level at an age where it seemed impossible in the past, but then there are the conflicting ideals that say that we need to take the time to gain experience. I think with these to conflicting ideals, it makes it harder for young artist to get anywhere. I think that if companies really want young designers and artist gain real world experience, they are going to have to be the ones to give us those kinds of opportunities. You can't gain experience if every real world company is saying you need that first before they will consider you. I like what the author said about the cost of aging your stories can be. The fear of not being taken seriously when writing about high school is understandable because it is likely they will get tossed in with the too young pile, but if everyone changes their story this could lead to a gap in our stories. We will not be able to portray the life of a teen because everyone is too scared. In the end, the author leaves us with great advise, write what you want to write and always put yourself out there. If the stories your writing or the designs you are creating are only to please other, your success won't be yours, it will be theirs.