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My new play is full of something I’ve never had in my writing: silent scenes. There are little vignettes in which characters react in silence. They are little moments that define character. I’ve never really had a scene that was completely stage directions, so it’s very strange for me. I don’t know how it’ll work or how it’ll play, but I felt like it was right for the play.
Now, when I say “silent scenes,” I don’t mean devoid of sound. Sound is environmental and necessary. I guess I mean dialogue-less between the main characters.
Another new occurrence is the word “Maybe.” It has crept into my stage directions. It’s very odd. Here’s one of the silent scenes so you can have an idea of what I’m talking about.
In darkness, the sounds of college, late August, afternoon of the first day of class is ending. A busy quad, students shuffling around. Maybe we see some sun start to appear. Maybe a clock tower on a library fades in. The smell of grass.
A man’s voice yells across the quad, “Lindsay! Lindsay! Wait up! Lindsay!”
The clock tower dings the quarter hour.
A small pool of light opens up on the stage. Brian enters, carrying a messenger bag over his shoulder, a few books in his arms, walking with puprose, glad to be done with the day.
Victoria enters from the other direction, wearing the skirt and blouse from earlier, some music scores in her arms.She and Brian walk past each other; she is oblivious to him. But Brian stops. He turns, looks at her as she walks away, tilts his head as his gaze wanders ever lower. He watches for a while, even after she has left the pool of light. He blows a breath of air out of his mouth in amazement and shakes himself out of his reverie. He continues back on his path.
The pool of light disappears.
Chris Leyva 
This is cool. I’m a big fan of “Maybe” in stage directions, because it’s a signal that says “This is how I see it in my mind, but am fully aware of the realities of producing theatre. So you prob. can’t make it happen. But if you *could*…
Hi Chris — This reminds me of the Dr. Bob assignment where every sentence had to start with the word “perhaps”. “Maybe” seems to invite more possibilities. Since these are stage directions, I’m curious: at what point will you (or whoever is directing this) decide if “maybe we see some sun start to appear” is a specific lighting cue? Or, is that not the point? Are the “maybes” meant to be more general information about the scene? Like “the smell of grass” — I wouldn’t expect to actually sit in the theater and smell grass, but it’s a very evocative description that tells me a whole lot more about what’s going on than “college quad”. “Maybe a clock tower on a library fades in” gives me a sense of where we are on campus, what the atmosphere is like — but the “maybe” also tells me that that feeling is what the play needs, regardless of the background. I have no idea what this play is about or who these characters are, but I know that this point in the play is one of possibility, lightness, curiosity, optimism. Maybe that’s all I need to know.
Kate,
Thanks for the comments! I think you are really getting the point more than you know. The whole thing is about possibility. I don’t want to infringe on the ideas and inspiration that the director or or designers can bring to the play. But I think that the tone and the atmosphere is intensely Important. And I see it as my job to create the atmosphere. I think this play is one of the more atmospheric pieces that I’ve written before. I could be completely wrong about that though…
What I’m finding very interesting about this play is how much light has become a character. You don’t know from reading that one scene, but every scene has descriptions of light, be it about a spotlight or a pool of light or simply darkness. I’m very excited about the atmosphere and environment in which this play takes place. I just wish I knew where it was heading!