By JULIE LAM and JONATHAN DECICCO
After recently performing the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the play production class was given the opportunity to have a professional playwright, John Kuntz, come to Malden High School on Monday, Dec. 3 2012. Kuntz gave advice that will benefit the students as they write their own ten minute plays that will be submitted to the Massachusetts Young Playwright Project (MYPP). By submitting their plays, the students will have an opportunity to have professional actors from Boston Playwright Theatre perform their play. This will be the sixth year that MHS has had a visiting playwright. Kuntz shared his experiences as a playwright and professional actor. Kuntz expressed, “my favorite part [about teaching playwright] is meeting the students.” Kuntz finds it interesting to learn the variety of ideas that all the students have. During the presentation, Kuntz also had the students do writing exercises that stimulated their thoughts about creating characters. The students were able have an intimate experience with the playwright and what it is like to be a playwright in the world. This presentation was intended to have the students focus on the specific 10 minute plays, which they aren’t particularly familiar with. Play production advisor and English teacher Sean Walsh stated that “it was very engaging how [Kuntz] talked about his own experiences in playwriting.” Walsh also enjoyed the writing activity that Kuntz had the students do because he thought it was a great way to help them start thinking about characters. Senior play production student Jonathan Drapinski expressed that “[the presentation] gave [him] a new perspective about writing and being in a play.” The play production students plan on taking about two months to create the 10 minute play scripts and will have John Kuntz visit MHS again to help finalize their plays. For the time being, the play production students are working hard on their plays in the hopes that they will get the chance to have their creations professionally performed.