I’ve been spending some time trying to think about what I think our city needs, theatrically, that it doesn’t have, especially from the perspective of those of us who write plays. I thought it might be good to run some ideas by the world at large — specifically those of you who live and make theater in the DC area — to gather folks’ feedback.
Before I share a few capsule descriptions, however, I need to note: a couple of these I have already been working on, in ways big and small, for some time now, and some will in fact be coming to pass. A couple of others, however, are ideas that have been floated in front of me for a long time but that I haven’t pursued (for different reasons). And a few are ideas I don’t particularly like. I won’t say which are which, in an attempt to get (roughly) unbiased feedback.
Okay, so: the ideas.
Idea #1: an annual event designed to show off the newest work written and devised in DC: in the spirit of the Humana Festival, but without the same production values or the national scope (yet), this curated showcase of half a dozen staged readings would “announce” the great new work of DC’s theater makers every year.
Idea #2: an annual daylong conference of the area’s playwrights that would serve as a chance to build community, network with others, provide professional development opportunities, and raise our visibility.
Idea #3: a 13P-style group of playwrights working together to develop and produce each other’s plays.
Idea #4: a formal non-profit organization (similar to Chicago Dramatists) devoted to the cause of promoting playwrights in DC.
Idea #5: a calendar/clearinghouse of local productions, readings, lectures, and classes by DC-area playwrights.
Idea #6: a monthly writers group that would include not only writers, but dramatugs as well; the idea would be that in discussing new work, partnerships would form and work would be developed in less isolation.
Idea #7: a larger-scale networking/matchmaking event (not like the playwrights speed-dating events) that would connect people in all disciplines interested in doing devised theater work
Any other ideas you’d like to throw into the mix, too? By all means…
And while I’m at it, I want to ask a bigger question: one that Rich Espey (the Baltimore regional rep for the Dramatists Guild) and I asked at yesterday’s Playwrights Rally at the Kennedy Center. What are YOU going to do for the DC playwriting community? We all want it to be even stronger than it already is. (Which is pretty strong.) So what might you contribute to the community to make that happen? We all, in the end, need to pitch in.
I support all these ideas but ideas #1-4 are near to my heart. Much of what I’d hoped to do at TFA after we partnered with the Dramatists Guild to bring that first conference here to our community. An idea batted around TFA for a few years was a new play/Humana type event and then … well … lost funding and all space and survival was the challenge and then the decision to just shut down. There must be new ways of doing all these things. Next year I hope to be involved in all the Page to Stage festivities.
Ditto on Heather’s comments supporting, #1-4. #1 sounds a lot like the old Source Theater Festival. Though we who participated always had complaints (lack of air-conditioning, Bart Whiteman’s mercurial personality, funky stages, etc.), the brilliance of the Source Festival was that it WAS (minimally) curated; it was (minimally) funded; and it resulted in festival PRODUCTIONS rather than readings. My view is that playwrights can and should produce their own readings but a production – even with funky production values – takes more hands but it can zoom the play and the playwright to a new, higher level of proficiency. #2 sounds like Ernie Joselovitz’s almost annual playwrights conference, which i’ve usually attended and liked. What I’ve taken away from those conferences was relationships with other playwrights; the local theaters represented usually had a sort of defensive strategy: “Please don’t call us – we’ll call you.” It would be great if we could engage fruitfully with local theaters as well as fellow playwrights (perhaps #7?). I also think that a vast untapped collaborative resource in the DC area are the dozen or so colleges and universities, some of which must need new plays for their theater students; yet, I’ve never had luck making academic collaborations happen – not sure why. I’m not familiar with the Chicago Dramatists (#4) except to know that they really hold together leading to lots of synergy and collaborative support. I’d like to know more. It’s always a balance, too, for me as a writer, between going-out-and-playing-and-networking and staying-home-and-writing. I love the idea of #3, the 13P-style playwrights collective. Basically, X number of playwrights form a temporary alliance and commit to fund and produce each other’s plays. 13P included a professional fundraiser-playwright and a newly-minted arts management graduate who was the executive director. It raised the professional profile of the playwrights and through their productions and mutual support, created demand in the artistic director community for plays by these new-to-them majority-women playwrights. Would be cool if we could devise a DC version; I’d be interested. Anything that results in working on productions rather than just readings would be fab! Thanks for the great topics and conversation.
Building on item #5 – Calendar of local play productions: What about a Golden Passport of DC Plays? Actual or virtual, audience members would “punch” their passports when they see a locally-produced DC playwright production. At the end of the season, a sponsor or philanthropist would throw a big party for all those who saw 80% or more of our “homegrown fare.” Would give visibility to the audience for local live work and drive up audience attendance + fun 🙂