Драматург Клодия Хасс удостоена премии Чарлотт Чорпеннинг за вклад в театр для молодежи

White Bear Lake playwright Claudia Haas has received a Charlotte Chorpenning Playwrighting Award. This award honors “a nationally known writer of outstanding plays for young audiences, recognizing a body of work as opposed to a single play.” “I had no idea I was nationally known, but I am grateful to AATE (American Alliance for Theater and Education) for recognizing 30 years of my work in youth theater,” Haas said. Noting that the first thing she did when accepting the award was to knock the award off its podium, “At least I didn’t have to worry in the acceptance speech that I would embarrass myself. I got that over with quickly.” Haas has been writing since childhood, but it was at Lakeshore Players Theatre in White Bear Lake that she started writing plays seriously. Noting that many students stayed in her advanced acting class at Lakeshore for four years, she found that the royalty-free plays were not challenging her most dedicated and talented students. So, she wrote for them.  “There aren’t a lot of plays that have equal roles for 11 females and three males (a typical makeup of her classes), so I devised plays that would suit the makeup of my class and allow the students to work on a full play instead of tiny pieces of plays,” she said.  Those early plays were published and, 20 years later, many are still being performed in classes and in schools. Eventually, Haas and her co-director, Richard Cash, of the Summer Youth Project at Lakeshore Players, began writing for those summer students as well. Even though there were large-cast plays to choose from, most did not contain speaking roles for 30 actors.  “There were a lot of flower beds in plays such as ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where students were supposed to look cute in gaily colored costumes and (there was) little else for them to do,” Haas said. Haas and Cash devised scripts that would give every actor a few moments to shine onstage. Those plays were published and started winning awards. When Cash left SYP to get his doctorate, Haas continued to write for the summer project. Most of them were large-cast comedies so that the students would have “summer fun.” They all won awards and were subsequently published.  After Haas left the SYP, she wrote plays that didn’t require a huge cast. These plays allowed her to move away from comedies and create plays that explored other worlds that youth could relate to. She wrote plays that featured young people in science, Anne Frank’s Iowa pen pal, 9/11, and Louisa May Alcott’s extraordinary family. Over time, the plays were professionally developed at theaters and universities and published. Were there rejections? “A ton. But they just made me double-down and write a better play,” she said.  Highlights include writing “My Brother’s Gift” with Eva Schloss (the posthumous stepsister of Anne Frank). Haas and Schloss developed a close bond, and Haas was brought over to Eton College outside of London to speak to the students about Schloss’s brother (a gifted artist who died during the Holocaust) as well as Eva Schloss’s life in Auschwitz and after. A special play memory centers on “Soundscapes” — a play about synesthesia. It was written with a former student, Sarah Kraning. How special is that? To create something with someone who had once been your student and now was an artist in her own right. Haas wrote the play and Kraning — who has synesthesia — edited it to keep it honest and accurate about her experience with it. The play was developed at NYU New Plays for Young Audiences and has currently had productions worldwide. It was brought to the Edinburgh Fringe and came home to a production at Mahtomedi High School. To date, Haas has had almost 2,000 productions, in every state and on six continents. Antarctica is the last holdout. She is waiting for some penguins to organize a children’s theater there. Haas is grateful to all her early supporters of her plays — to Lakeshore Players, which gave her the beginnings of a playwriting career and lasting friendships.  “I started my career in theater as an actress. Later, I segued into directing and teaching and finally found playwriting in my late 30s. It’s never too late to change direction and try something new.”