Posted September 14, 2026

The Interview – Linda Lori Burgess

Linda, congratulations on the success of your book Five Minutes to Curtain: A Teacher’s Guide for Creating and Staging Original Plays. Can you tell us a little about your own unique approach to creating devised theatre with students?

My approach for creating original plays with my students began out of necessity, and honestly, out of desperation! But it started as a three-stage process. When I found that I could not find suitable scripted plays for the students in my classes, despite spending many hours poring through dozens of collections, I first tried cobbling short, scripted plays together. I came up with A Dummy’s Guide to Christmas, where all of the plays take place at Christmastime. One of the plays, The Gift of the Magi, was presented as a dance drama. Then came Out to Lunch, where the setting is a diner run by an original character, a strange waitress who serves all of the characters from each of the four one-act scripted plays. The audience gradually discovers that this character is the conduit for an original through-line and a surprise ending.

The second stage of my journey towards creating completely original plays was the modifying of plays by Shakespeare. My most successful were Something Wicked This Way Comes – The Tragedy of Macbeth and Jughead’s Midwinter Night’s Dream. Because Shakespearean English is difficult for students to memorize, let alone understand, we “translated” the script into contemporary English. Some of the dialogue was actually created through improvisation. All of these plays incorporated music and sometimes dance.

The third stage occurred when my students and I felt we needed to find a creative way to express our horror at the school shooting in Columbine, Colorado followed by the shooting in Taber, Alberta. Students wrote poetry, came up with ideas, and together we created the play If Only. At this point, I recognized that allowing students the freedom for their collective imagination could result in the powering up of an amazing creative engine which could produce some very relevant, often surprising, and always exciting, theatre.

From this third and final stage, my “recipe,” so to speak, for creating original plays was born and it is that formula that I have outlined in the book.

What are the advantages of doing devised theatre with students vs. working with scripted plays?

My short answer to that question? No memorization required! Or at least, very little. Dialogue that is generated through the process of improvisation is much easier to remember.

My longer answer is an obvious one. Creating original plays with your students appeals to them on many levels. It allows for characters to be created within the parameters set by the age and skill level of your individual students. It allows them to explore a theatre genre or theme of their choosing, or yours. And most importantly, it gives them a voice for expressing their ideas, fears, and dreams and it gives them an opportunity to create art of which they can be proud.

In recent years, we’ve seen cuts to arts programs in many schools and universities. Why do you think that drama (and other arts education) is important for students?

I can’t speak to the other arts disciplines with any expertise, but I do have very strong views on the importance of dramatic arts for students. At the very least, Drama can help boost confidence and encourage growth in people (regardless of their age) of an affective nature. Qualities such as patience, tolerance, and empathy cannot be taught well in other classes, especially through shared experiences, as they can in a Drama class. Creating a play together for a final theatre production also teaches the transferable skills of teamwork, collaboration, organization, and leadership.

In a nutshell, I would see either a shy kid or an insecure one, an undisciplined or an overly opinionated teenager walk into my class at the beginning of my Theatre Practicum course and watch a confident, cooperative, and empathetic young adult walk out at the end of the semester. That, in my opinion, is the most powerful evidence I can offer to prove my point about the importance of drama education.

In addition to the sections of the Five Minutes to Curtain that deal with creating devised theatre, the book also contains a lot of tips and hints for directing and producing theatre of all kinds. Do you have one or two pieces of important advice you’d give to a new drama teacher or to someone preparing to do theatre with a community group?

Assuming that you are trained in theatre arts and/or have a bit of experience as a participant, the first thing you must have in your toolbox in order to begin and to be successful as a new drama teacher or leader of a community theatre group is organization. I cannot stress enough how essential that skill is. You may have a brilliant, creative mind, charisma, and tons of energy for galvanizing your students or group members into action, but if you lack organization, you will be unable to harness those ideas in order to realize them on the stage in the form of a successful production.

The second piece of advice I would give you is: trust. Trust yourself, your love, dedication and knowledge of the art form. Trust your ensemble and their enthusiasm and desire to create something wonderful and new. And trust the process outlined in my book. It may seem like a risky prospect, a leap of faith even, to give up the “tried and true” safety of a scripted play, but if you are able to stay open to see what might develop, trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

Finally, can you tell us a bit about your work with REWiND?

REWiND is a popular Winnipeg band that began in 2011 with five singers, (one of whom played the 12-string guitar). Despite setbacks such as COVID and the tragic death of one of its founding members, REWiND has grown into an eleven-member group with nine lead singers and full instrumentation. The band recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with the release of a third album (a double-disc recording of forty-one hit tunes from the 1950s through the 1980s) titled Put A Little Love In Your Heart!

Since the very beginning, my contribution to REWiND has been as a singer and percussionist. I have also served as the publicist for the band, providing promotional material, such as press releases and social media postings, as well as the designs for our album covers and posters. It has been a wonderful ride!