Clara Waddell is a senior at Metro State University, majoring in screenwriting and English. She recently earned recognition for her play Rooted Hearts. Clara is pictured here with her buddy, Lucy.
Every year Metro State University hosts a playwriting contest for its students and recent alums, and one of three scripts picked this year was written by Clara Waddell.
A Lutsen native and 2007 graduate of Cook County High School (CCHS), Waddell will have her play Rooted Hearts read by professional actors on April 24 at the Whitney Fine Arts Center in Minneapolis. The reading will take place at 6 p.m. and the public is invited to attend free of charge.
Waddell is a senior majoring in screenwriting and English with a minor in creative writing at Metro State. And while she loves to write, this was her first attempt at writing a play, and she admitted she entered the contest on a whim.
“I wasn’t familiar with the theater world at all before this. Seeing this aspect of theater with all of its creativity and all of its energy is very enlightening,” Waddell said.
Waddell’s play is 36 pages in length and would take about an hour to perform, she said.
“The play revolves around four friends in their late 20s, and examines how their lives change as one of them deals with the repercussions of uterine cancer. It’s very loosely based on my own real-life experience. It is ultimately a story about hope, rebirth and surviving the challenges thrown our way,” she said.
Since her play was selected, Waddell has spent the last couple of months in workshop sessions with the actors and director refining the scenes and the dialogue.
“During the workshop, actors are cast and brought in to read, and work sideby side with the director and playwright to make the play the best it can be. In the end, the goal is to give the playwright the chance to get their play as close to publication/selling status as possible,” she said.
While screenwriting is her first love, Clara said she would consider writing plays in the future. Currently she has one finished script for a feature length movie and two scripts for short films.
“I haven’t submitted them yet, but I am working to refine and polish them before trying to get them in production,” she said.
Waddell came to love movies at a young age and spent time using her family’s video camera to make her own films.
“I always loved stories so it was easy for me to combine the two,” she said.
When asked what genre she preferred, Clara said, “I prefer to write more drama than comedy. But I keep all of my options open.”
Clara will graduate next December and then apply to graduate schools in California.
“After I graduate I’m hoping to attend grad school for either screenwriting or creative writing, so I can teach and continue to build my writing portfolio.”
“After that I want to work as an intern for a movie company. I would like to write more scripts and hopefully hire an agent and see what happens,” she said.
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