When I was in college, I studied playwriting with a memorable instructor, the novelist, playwright, and commercial Maine fisherman Gladden Schrock. Gladden was something of a character, a kind of mythical figure on campus. He doled out cryptic, twinkly wisdom while exuding an extremely masculine, weathered vibe. His classes were fun, and he peppered his critiques of our work with Gladden-specific phrases, the most famous of which was probably the concept of “the eight-foot bear.”
