By Ethan Zhang ’26
On April 30, three Arts Concentration students in the Independent Theater and Film Workshop, taught by English and Arts teacher Mrs. Kate Doak, hosted readings of their full-length plays for student feedback in the Gelb Theater.
The staged reading included Crank 004 by Max Leventon ’25, a dystopian play about five strangers in a locked room perpetually pulling a crank for air and electricity, Butterbaugh by Tristin Hurst ’24, a Knives Out-style drama where the motivations of different family members are revealed at a murderous Thanksgiving dinner, and Goldfish by Evelyn Kim ’25, a satirical comedy where the protagonist must take paid time off for his recently-deceased goldfish.
The Independent Theater and Film Workshop began four years ago after Mrs. Doak proposed the idea for theatrically-focused students “to have a place to work aloud and collaborate with classmates, learn some structure, and get dramaturgical feedback from me,” she explained.
The class meets weekly in the Paul Mellon Arts Center, alternating between individual meetings with Mrs. Doak and group workshops where students share their work. Within this program, Mrs. Doak also sets a goal for her students to stage their work publicly once per term. The class differs from a typical Choate course in that it can be added on top of a six-course schedule and can be taken across multiple academic years. It is also a student-led class: students set term-long goals for themselves and deadlines with Mrs. Doak based on their own schedules and availability.
Leventon has been working on Crank 004 since Spring Break to expand his playwriting skills beyond his comfort zone. “Every single play I’ve ever written has been entirely comedy-based … and I wanted to veer as far away from that as possible,” he said. He hopes to produce Crank 004 at Choate’s next Fringe Festival, so that he can take advantage of light manipulation and stage direction to maximize the effectiveness of his play.
Through writing and sharing his work workshop, Leventon has improved his playwriting skills tremendously. “I’ve learned how to correctly format plays, make dialogue feel real, and make my scenes purposeful — whether that be funny or serious. It’s a constant cycle of improving,” Leventon said.
Hurst’s play Butterbaugh is a mystery drama that satirically jabs at societal norms and behavior. In it, other characters tease a white character who will attend Howard University. “With Howard specifically, I wanted to show people how jarring it is when it’s kind of reversed — a white person entering a historically Black institution as opposed to a Black person entering a historically white institution,” Hurst said.
The Independent Theater and Film Workshop has helped Hurst achieve his screenwriting goals as he also aspires to pursue filmmaking and screenwriting in college and potentially as a career. He said, “I’ve been working on balancing tone in my screenplays and managing comedy, and I feel like that has definitely improved.”
The Independent Theater and Film Workshop course helps students improve their playwriting and filmmaking skills and learn from other aspiring writers. “Writing can be solitary, but that’s the kind of mistake writers make. Writing in the professional world can also be very social,” Mrs. Doak said. “[Students learn] how to be in conversation and collaboration with each other — it’s the most fun and rewarding part.”
