When I was in my early 20s and living in New York, I made extra money by working as a reader for the Young Playwrights Project. This nonprofit taught playwriting in middle and high schools, and they needed lots and lots of people to read the plays and provide feedback to these budding artists.
Some of the plays were great. It was hard to believe that they were by new writers—they were really imaginative and interesting.
Lots more of the plays, though, were more typical of what you might think of when I say “a 10-page play by a 14-year-old.” But my job was to provide feedback, and additionally, to encourage these young writers in this new endeavor.
Early on, I found a formula that helped me do both. At the beginning of each report, (and these were addressed directly to the playwrights), I began by saying, “Congratulations! This is wonderful work. Here’s what I love about your play,” and then I would provide specific details about what they created that I admired.
Here’s the crux: I always meant it. There was always something to love about these plays. A funny bit of dialogue, or a setting I would never have thought of, or a twist ending that came out of nowhere, but really worked.
The second part of the formula was: “If you want to keep working on this play, here’s what I think you could look at.” Then a few specific suggestions: flesh out this character a little more, help the audience understand why this plot twist happens, whatever. I always tried to balance the two sides of the formula, and when in doubt, I deleted some of the constructive feedback.
When I look back on this, I see that this has remained my formula for feedback. “Here’s what I loved” has served me well as a director, a coach, and a parent. It’s important to me to convey what’s already working, what this person found that’s unique, compelling, or delightful. I’m not sure we do enough of that—and as a consequence, we always feel like we’re trying to fix what’s wrong rather than to revel in what’s right.
“Here’s what I loved about that.” See how it works for you.
