General Hospital writer Mary Sue Price Leads Weekend with Dramatic Writers
By Julie Tosh

Unrequited love, bad boys, mysterious illness, and computer genius visited the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama on October 5-7.  All are reoccurring motifs in the work of playwright and soap opera writer Mary Sue Price.  At the invitation of Dramatic Writing Head Milan Stitt, Price came to share the secrets of writing for General Hospital with first- and second-year playwrights and screenwriters.  “Carnegie Mellon students are always bright, motivated, and fun to teach,” Price shared.  “They keep me at the top of my game, as a teacher.”

After weeks of watching General Hospital to prepare and learn the story lines, students spent the busy weekend analyzing a story breakdown from an existing episode and converting it into dialogue and stage directions for the camera.  Price coached students on effective strategies for making the work lively while staying within the guidelines for form and content.  She pointed out the common themes and archetypes found in serial drama and helped students use their writing skills and knowledge of structure to bring the script to life.  Her visit culminated in a viewing of the actual episode as scripted by Price. 

Price currently writes around fifty episodes a year in addition to her work as a playwright.  While the writers strike has stopped her work at General Hospital for the time being, Price is finding the extra hours invaluable to her playwriting.  She is currently working on a new piece while her agent pushes Back in Jesus Days, a play about a woman who revisits her own past when she returns to Oklahoma to help her grandparents after their home is destroyed by a tornado.  Price has roots in Oklahoma, having originally met Milan Stitt at a writing class there.  It was his encouragement of her work that led her to seek a degree at New York University and to eventually stay in the Big Apple.

Price hopes to come back to Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in the future.  “I’m thinking of ways to bring serial storytelling to the internet,” and she’d love more opportunities to teach as the strike drags on.  Certainly, bad boys aside, Mary Sue Price’s workshop was an invaluable way for dramatic writing students to spend the weekend.