Student playwright works to bring young audiences to theater

It’s safe to say that Paul Shoulberg knows a thing or two about writing for the stage.\nSince joining the Master of Fine Arts in playwriting program three years ago, the 30-year-old Kansas native has written seven full-length plays, a handful of 10-minute pieces and two one-acts – the majority of which have been features as either full-length productions or staged readings.\nNot bad for a guy who didn’t start writing until he was 23 years old and who, as a high-school student, never once attended a play.\nShoulberg, now a self-described theater-lover, credits his late entrance into the writing world as the motivation behind his ability to complete works quickly and frequently.\n“I write all the time now because in a way, I feel like I’m playing catch-up,” he said. “I’m not trying to waste any time,” he said.\nIU’s playwriting program attracted Shoulberg for a number of reasons, the main one being its small size. When Shoulberg applied for the highly-selective program, he knew that he was vying for one open position. Once he was accepted, he became its only student.\nWhereas other playwriting programs accept two to four students each year, with some taking upward of 10 or more students, Dennis Reardon, head of the M.F.A. playwriting program, has never had more than one student at a time.\nAs one could imagine, the program is intense, especially in the first year, which is very structured and includes regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with Reardon. It was in this year that Shoulberg wrote his thesis play “Reel,” which was performed in December as part of the Department of Theatre and Drama’s 2006 to 2007 season. \nThe play was later picked to be part of the American College Theatre Festival and was awarded the “Mark Twain Comedy Playwriting Award,” which is given to the best student-written full-length play. In April, Shoulberg will travel to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to receive the award.\nDespite his successes thus far, Shoulberg remains modest and earnest when talking about his goals as a playwright. Shoulberg said he feels theater is void of plays written for a crowd under the age of 30. He is working hard to change that. \nDrawn to creating characters that are deeply flawed, many of his plays are about people who are desperate to connect to others.\n“I write a lot of characters with addictions – poker addicts, porn addicts, alcoholics,” Shouldberg said. “For me, that’s where I want to start. I want the stakes to be high.”\nTom Robson, a friend and fellow graduate student in the Department of Theatre and Drama, admires Shoulberg for writing about things that are so relevant to a young generation. Robson has directed many of Shoulberg’s plays.\n“He’s tackling very dark subject matter but doing it with such a comic view. Not a lot of people can combine intense content with jokes,” Robson said. “Paul manages to make people think while entertaining them.”\nBoth Robson and Jonathan Michaelson, director of “Reel” and chairperson for the Department of Theatre and Drama, agree that it is Shoulberg’s handle on language that gives his characters depth.\n“Paul has great skill at working with the rhythm of words and the structure of dialogue. He really has a great gift with language,” Michaelson said. \nUpon graduation in May, Shoulberg will head to New York City to make a name for himself in what he calls “the best city in the country for American theater.” Robson has no doubts that Shoulberg will eventually garner big-name attention.\n“I said to him a while back, ‘I know you are going to outgrow me.’ I do strongly believe that it’s only a matter of time before he’s working with the best directors in the country,” Robson said. “It’s exciting to watch.”