Hartley Wright – Faith-Based Playwriting

This month I wanted to focus on a very special Mid-Missouri playwright, Hartley Wright, who seems to me to have a direct connection with our own Lanford Wilson – both in terms of the depth and complexity of the characters he creates, and the skill with which he creates believable, heart-achingly lovely dramatic situations. Check out his website at: http://www.hartleywrites.com/. He has had his plays produced across the state, including at my Missouri Playwrights Workshop, and is one of the very few busy working professionals who calls Mid-Missouri home. Hartley wrights from the heart, and has often written for theatres of faith – an angel with which he continues wrestle. I thought faith-based theatre is a subject would interest to many of our Guild members – so I asked Hartley about what that experience has been like, and this column is his very frank answer to that question:

Hartley Wright

“Shortly after arriving in Mid-Missouri, I formed a good relationship with Mike Upshaw, a playwright and author. In 2001, Mike was the Artistic Director of Stained Glass Theatre of Mid-Missouri, a faith-based theatre. Mike took the risk of producing my first full-length play. His trust was amazing, because he never read the entire script. He’d known me for two years, felt confident I had written a good play, and understood how important it was for me to be taken seriously.

In 2009, I met Dr. Howard Martin, who founded The Jellybean Conspiracy (JBC). His organization sponsors theatre shows designed to include the talents of students with and without disabilities. I had written a short piece about Downs Syndrome that a theatre troupe of four to eighteen-year old students featured in a JBC production. Dr. Martin considered my contribution worthy of production, and his organization has been a forum available for me to submit plays for production and publication consideration.

My experience in writing for theatres of faith has been both rewarding and tumultuous. The rewards have come in the form of my first big break and my familiarity of and with the faith-based world. When I speak of familiarity, it is mostly in the faith-based world as it relates to Christianity. All of my faith-based playwriting has been for “Christian Theatres.” I am a Christian myself, and have been working vocationally in some way as a Minister for the past twenty-five years. These theatres are where my writing for the stage was first produced, and where I seem to have considerable opportunities for it to continue. They do have a unique way of doing things, however, which has caused me some confusion and emotional agitation at times. So much so that I have occasionally considered no longer writing for these theatres entirely. But I always keep in mind what Lanford Wilson once said to me, “The world of theatre needs your Christian voice.”

Faith-based theatres mostly have interests in anything having to do with forgiveness, redemption, and sharing their faith. They love plays that are evangelical in nature, and most commonly ask for plays that present a victorious life of faith….But I don’t write that way, and I believe doing so would cause me to write characters that preach or criticize immorality. I love to write plays that can move us, affect our worldview, cause us to consider ideas we’ve never entertained before, and lead to open doors for spiritual conversations. To my surprise, this type of writing causes issues for many faith-based theatres. I find myself asking them to move beyond the mindset of, “Does this play clearly preach God’s word?” to accepting a script allowing them to take risks without fear of being accused of compromising their Christianity.”

Hartley’s plays include Window Pains, Girl Trouble, Threats And Confessions In The Gallery Of Cows, The Story of Eli Joe, Great Discover, and Heart of Stone.

dcrespy@dramatistsguild.com