Students will sometimes attend an excellent play and wonder by what magic it was produced, Beerman said, adding that his work in draft form helps students see the more mundane reality of the writing and editing that launched the play.
“It’s taking the magic away from the process,” he said.
This fall, Beerman’s scripts were recognized in multiple playwriting competitions.
Most recently, two of his plays won playwriting competitions held by Auburn University in Alabama.
One play, “Unfinished Letter,” which is about a graduating high school senior whose girlfriend pretends to be pregnant in an attempt to keep him nearby after high school, won Auburn University’s contest for best full-length play for young audiences.
The sensitive subjects discussed in the play are relevant to college-age students and appropriate for a college-aged theater troupe, Beerman said.
“For college it’s perfect. They’re willing to take a chance,” Beerman said.
Beerman’s “Plan B” also won Auburn University’s contest in the category for best play less than 10 minutes in length. The play is about a woman who wants to have a baby but is married to a man who doesn’t want children.
Her “plan B,” Beerman explains, is to have a homosexual friend impregnate her as a way to have a child while staying married.
Beerman’s theater adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” was selected last year as the winner of a national contest held by Butler Little Theater, a community theater in Butler, Penn.
Beerman’s adaptation emphasized the historical setting of the play in an attempt to show the characters were a product of their environment and the dire economic circumstances of the time. Beerman and his wife, Kathi Chaplar, who teaches theater and English at Crescenta Valley High, traveled to Pennsylvania in November to watch the show.
