On December 10th, 2024, I had the pleasure of attending Dr. Christine Redman-Waldeyer's Script Writing course to see one of her students' final projects. The class ran Tuesday through Thursday from 10:20 a.m. to 11:35 p.m., and her pupils worked as a group to develop ideas for a performance entirely based on dialogue and action descriptions.
This project was based on the short comic play "Sure Thing" by David Ives where two main characters continuously reset their conversation on a first date when things don’t turn out right, as signified by a ringing bell. With such an unlimited world of concepts, Dr. Waldeyer
expressed her satisfaction and excitement with the work she received. “It was really about working with the idea of collaborative writing,” she said when asked about the motives behind the assignment. And the project was a long process, too. According to Dr. Waldeyer, their scripts had to go through two drafts, two workshops, and a peer review to get to the final product. Furthermore, she expressed how important it was for her students to “grow their personalities in their groups.” As most of the class consisted of Digital Media & Production and Journalism majors, it is vital for them to practice brainstorming with others in their field.
Before presentations began, I spoke with the students in each group looking for their insights on the experience. One of the groups I polled expressed how fun the process was. Brendon, Lamont, Malik, and Anna collaborated to put together a skit involving an interview for a bodyguard position, and each student played wildly different characters. One was an over-qualified CIA agent, one was a measly crossing guard, one was a deadbeat dropout with no resume– the list goes on.
Malik, a Digital Media & Production major, explained how much easier the creative method
was with a crowd of people. “When you’re doing stuff by yourself, it’s only your brain, it’s limited,” explained Malik. The rest of the group nodded, agreeing that it's great to bounce ideas off of each other. When asked if they prefer this style of work for a project like this as opposed to solo writing, the students concurred and said yes.
Another group had a new approach to the script. Students Alexis, Jose, Anthony, and Ciera described that this experience gave them exposure to working with different kinds of people. Jose spoke further, elaborating, “I think it helped me speak up more. It helped me open up to more personalities.”
In a college environment, it’s important to build these skills now while students are still growing and learning the necessities. The class thoroughly enjoyed the presentations as there were laughs and commentary throughout, and each student learned valuable information from COM-107. Professors like Dr. Christine Redman-Waldeyer are teaching scholars what it takes to make it in their field, one section at a time.
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