My Creative Process of Writing/Directing Plays

Hi I am @keeperseeker.

Recently I have been writing a play. Writing plays is something I do for fun, but I also have a reason for writing them. We have friends who always stay for hours our tradition with them is: the adults play Dominion (a card game) while my sisters (all five of us) and their four girls hang out- read I make the play then get into director mode. Although I am not a professional in the art of making plays I know a thing or two about them.

Challenges

Writing plays can be a bit challenging. Although I typically write parts with certain people in mind, that could change many, many times. Since the play has to include about nine people, an incredible amount of thought has to be put into the play.
Another challenge I have previously faced is... writing with a time crunch. Although our friends stay for hours, and you may think that is a lot of time, but that is not a lot of time for people to get their lines memorized, know their character, know where they are going to be in the play, along with being aware of the other actors. I have started writing some of our newest plays before our friends come so that we have more time to practice and get things such as props completed.
During the time we practice some people's attitudes start coming out. When that happens we all take a five-ish minute break to calm down then regroup.
Another challenge that I have had to overcome is writing in a way that makes sense to other people. In school or even when I speak I often have to regroup my thoughts many times before I completely have a grasp of what I am trying to communicate.

Creativity

Creativity is a huge part in the making of plays, especially if they are done in a five hour time slot. Whenever you work with a lot of people there will be many creative ideas. We have had to come up with some crazy ways to have some lines in front of the girls without openly saying "Here are our lines, on this paper in front of me". Lines on papers marked as 'tasks' are typical.
Some of my sisters and friends are great at getting the main idea down then branching off of that. One of our plays was almost completely made unscripted. It may have been one of craziest plays we ever made. Going off script allows some of the girls to build their character and be more confident in their ability to do the play. The times when I have said "This is exactly how it should be done" have not gone so great. You have to allow some wiggle room for creativity no matter if it is with your lines or in the moving parts of the play.
All props have to be homemade. Most are just things we have thrown together at last minute and some get a lot of thought put into them.

The Process

As I have stated before, the writing of the play takes more than a couple hours. I have to think though what I want the play to be about. Once I figure out that, then I go and think about characters. This gets complicated sometimes. I have to write at least seven different characters (our friend's eldest and I do not actually act, we have the supporting roles of director/play writer and stylist).
Then after I get the characters mostly down, then I start writing the play. I have to make sure that I get the lines down in a way that makes sense, and provide your typical director stuff- the go here, enter here, exit there, your lines will start then you will start moving all on paper.
After I have finished all that then I will start thinking on costumes. Costumes are an idea before our friends come but then sometimes we have to change the costume due to a girl has grown or we think a different outfit would work better.
Once I get the play written, the costumes semi-planned, the props mostly put together, and our friends are finally over, then I give out their lines so they can start looking through them.
As soon as the lines are given out, the real work begins--- the actual directing. Directing is tiring and rewarding at the same time. The girls listen most of the time but sometimes I have to keep myself calm and try to regroup everyone or put my foot down as the main director and say "this is how it will be". As the main director (our friend's second eldest daughter is the co-director) I do have to keep an open mind though, something I wish I could tell my younger directing self.
I have to be intentional about not disregarding any ideas that I did not come up with that I do not like in the moment but are actually good ideas. Changes happen all the time in our plays, just like in life, and you got to role with it.
As soon as we think we are ready to perform, we call in the parents, my dad usually does a little intro, then it is show time.
During the play I sometimes give little cues to help the play run smoothly, but otherwise the show is all theirs. At the end we sometimes bow then pick up the stuff we got out. That is the process I follow when writing a play, although the order in which I do the first couple parts does get mixed up a bit.

I hope you have enjoyed this.
If you have any questions about my play writing, please comment.
Or
If you have done some sort of theatre or done plays with siblings or friends please share your experience.
@KEEPERSEEKER