"subText" is written by Ball State alumnus Tyler Dwiggins. Dwiggins said his goal was to "create a story for high school actors that was funny, timely, and inclusive."
Other plays published by Playscripts:
It's a Wonderful Life- The Musical
Sleeping Beauty
Pride and Prejudice
Beer for Breakfast
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Jersey Lily
Goldilocks on Trial
Little Women
Peter Pan and Wendy
Dracula
Lysistrata
1984 by George Orwell
After accidentally becoming a playwright, a Ball State alumnus has published his first work.
Tyler Dwiggins, class of 2014, was originally writing young adult novels, but when a professor asked him to take part in a book they were writing, Dwiggins changed his manuscript to theater format. Now, his second full play, “subText,” has been published by Playscripts.
Playscripts is a company that sells a variety of scripts for different avenues of theater, such as high school, middle school and children. There are 2,067 scripts to search through on the company’s website.
According to Playscripts, “subText” is “a comedic series of vignettes detailing the awkwardness of dating in the digital age, from capturing the perfect selfie to making a relationship Facebook official.”
Dwiggins said he looked at situations he has seen himself and his friends play into.
“I wanted to address the question, ‘What is dating now?’” Dwiggins said. “So much is dictated by technology and social media. I wanted to look at all the ways we think we’re having convenient conversations that are actually hindering us.”
The play was originally written for and performed at Muncie Southside High School.
Dwiggins had a friend who was having a hard time finding plays written for high school students, so he wrote the play to the strengths of the students he was working with, he said.
“Vignettes are kind of the perfect avenue for high school plays,” Dwiggins said. “You can have a large cast and feature all of them, but you don’t need all the members at rehearsal at the same time.”
Dwiggins also included LGBT characters in his play. He wanted all his students to feel represented in the work, Dwiggins said.
“I wanted every student to feel their lives and loves are validated,” Dwiggins said. “Many times, LGBT characters are in scenarios of coming out or hate crimes. In ‘subText,’ [LGBT students] are given the opportunity to be just as adorable and silly as their straight counterparts.”
After first being performed at Muncie Southside High School, “subText” was later consolidated with Muncie Central High School. Burris Laboratory School and Indiana Academy have also performed the play.
In the Fall 2014 semester, Ball State’s Cave Theatre performed the play as well.
Taylor Peterson-Burke, a senior theater education major, directed Ball State’s performance.
Peterson-Burke was previously assigned to be a director in the Cave Theatre, and “subText” was her assigned play. It was fun to take a play for high school kids and do it with college kids, she said.
“I’ve never worked with actors my own age,” Peterson-Burke said. “I was frequently asking [Dwiggins] questions about what he envisioned for scenes.”
Dwiggins was working for Playscripts when his coworker suggested he submit the play there, even though he was communicating with another publishing company at the time.
After about a month, he signed a contract with Playscripts.
“In some ways, it still hasn’t hit me that it’s happened,” Dwiggins said. “I honestly felt very relieved. I was very proud because this isn’t just my show, it’s for the kids at Muncie Southside and my friend. It meant so much to all of us, it’s about a community effort.”
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