The Inkwell: August 2008 Archives
Dear readers -
If I (your ever faithful blogger, Anne) haven't whetted your appetite enough to come join us for our FIRST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION at Page-to-Stage, describing the spirited discussion we are going to have with Nelson Pressley, Calli Kimball, Blake Robinson, and Ari Roth...
maybe I can entice you in another way... with a few tidbits from the plays we will be reading that day.
We wouldn't be The Inkwell if we didn't share with you all some mischief and mayhem leaking out of the brains of talented, up-and-coming playwrights.
At two o'clock (that's in the afternoon, folks) on Labor Day, we're producing staged readings of 20-minute excerpts from five wild plays at The Kennedy Center's Rehearsal Room One... with topics ranging from baby-making to comas to mathematics and threesomes.. as well as a preview of the new edition of The F Word by Melissa Blackall, the crazy collage of a play about fat that The Inkwell has been developing for the last year.
What will you be seeing and hearing? Here's a tiny taste...
Here's a delicious little snippet from LULLABYE by Kristen DeWulf, directed by Andy Wassenich
LIBBY
I have cows.
TIM
I have a . . . you did say cats, right?
LIBBY
Cows.
TIM
Cows, really?
LIBBY
Six cows.
TIM
That’s . . . a lot of cows.
LIBBY
I had seven--
TIM
At the same time?
LIBBY
They stay outside, of course. They like to graze around the pasture. It’s
very comforting, really, to sit outside with them as they graze on the hillside.
It’s peaceful listening to their mews.
TIM
You mean moos?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here's one of my favorite lines from COMA, PATIENT by Shaun Raviv, directed by James Hesla
DR. PUNTOFF
Besides I’m just testing his awareness. That’s all. I’m not
going to torture him. (laughing) Then I’d be no better than
the guys who stuck my thumbs in molten hot motor oil. Don’t
bother looking. They’re still there. But my fingerprints
aren’t.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, here's a provocative little exchange from SEVEN DREAMS OF HER by Sarah Sander, directed by Christopher Niebling
AUGUST
Do you want to play with your dog?
IVY
What will you call me?
GREY
Do you want to play on the slide?
IVY
I need a name.
AUGUST
She does need a name.
GREY
Not everything needs a name.
IVY
What will you call me? I NEED A NAME NOW.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the showcase, we'll take a little break, returning at six o'clock for the panel discussion.
Then ending the evening is a staged reading of Greg Beuthin's A Time Upon, which I'll just describe to you as a totally cracked-out fairy tale with one of my all-time-favorite stage directions...
Grin's heart bursts into flames. He's oblivious to the fire. Slim's head bursts into flame… he's flaming mad. He beats Grin — viciously. For falling in love. For being an idiot. For this new wrinkle in their plans. Grin is dead. Slim returns to his position in the window.
You can learn more about Greg from his blog.
And take a look at what The Washington Post has to say about our Page-to-Stage events, with a quote from our illustrious Artistic Director, Jessi Burgess.
So I hope you can come out and join us on Labor Day at The Kennedy Center. We at The Inkwell would love you to see what a handful of ambitious playwrights are up to.
Here's the full menu of events in one place:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Inkwell invites you to our first anniversary celebration at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Page to Stage Festival
Monday, September 1, 2008
FREE New Play Events from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
in Rehearsal Room One at the Kennedy Center
In celebration of our first anniversary, and in true Inkwell style, The Inkwell offers a full day of the exploration and celebration of new works in the nation's capital! Join us for staged readings of six wildly creative and innovative plays, a timely and provocative discussion on the merits of the American play development process, and a celebration of The Inkwell's first birthday at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival.
2 p.m. SHOWCASE READINGS of the following new plays:
6 p.m. PANEL DISCUSSION - PLAYWRIGHTS: PAMPERED? PATRONIZED? PUSHED ASIDE?
A provocative panel discussion on how the trend to coddle new work may help it flourish or falter. With playwright Callie Kimball, Washington Post Theatre Critic Nelson Pressley, Round House Theatre Artistic Director Blake Robison and Theater J Artistic Director and playwright Ari Roth.
8 p.m. STAGED READING of A TIME UPON by Greg Beuthin, directed by Jessica Burgess
Two old women, Gran and Mum, eke out their lives in a forgotten corner of a giant futuristic metropolis. They are barely aware of the passing days until a young woman and her strange traveling companion-cum-pet enter their lives. The young woman, Fillette, is somehow related to the family, but is cagey about her answers. The pet, only known as Once, doesn't speak — but even he can smell that something else is afoot. For the entire group is being watched by an evil shadow and his crony, who want to get at what lies beneath the decrepit courtyard in which the old women have made their home. Perhaps a fairy tale told in the era of Blade-Runner, the play features shadow puppetry, physical theatre, and lyrical language, all hallmarks of Greg Beuthin's future folkloric style.
Readings feature Wyckham Avery, Frank Britton, Valerie Fenton, James Flanagan, John Geffrion, Lindsay Haynes, Lisa Hill-Corley, Q. Terah Jackson, Hilary Kacser, Amy Kellet, Lee Liebeskind, Eric Messner, Wendy Nogales, Alex Perez, Kevin Pierson, and many more!
If I (your ever faithful blogger, Anne) haven't whetted your appetite enough to come join us for our FIRST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION at Page-to-Stage, describing the spirited discussion we are going to have with Nelson Pressley, Calli Kimball, Blake Robinson, and Ari Roth...
maybe I can entice you in another way... with a few tidbits from the plays we will be reading that day.
We wouldn't be The Inkwell if we didn't share with you all some mischief and mayhem leaking out of the brains of talented, up-and-coming playwrights.
At two o'clock (that's in the afternoon, folks) on Labor Day, we're producing staged readings of 20-minute excerpts from five wild plays at The Kennedy Center's Rehearsal Room One... with topics ranging from baby-making to comas to mathematics and threesomes.. as well as a preview of the new edition of The F Word by Melissa Blackall, the crazy collage of a play about fat that The Inkwell has been developing for the last year.
What will you be seeing and hearing? Here's a tiny taste...
Here's a delicious little snippet from LULLABYE by Kristen DeWulf, directed by Andy Wassenich
LIBBY
I have cows.
TIM
I have a . . . you did say cats, right?
LIBBY
Cows.
TIM
Cows, really?
LIBBY
Six cows.
TIM
That’s . . . a lot of cows.
LIBBY
I had seven--
TIM
At the same time?
LIBBY
They stay outside, of course. They like to graze around the pasture. It’s
very comforting, really, to sit outside with them as they graze on the hillside.
It’s peaceful listening to their mews.
TIM
You mean moos?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here's one of my favorite lines from COMA, PATIENT by Shaun Raviv, directed by James Hesla
DR. PUNTOFF
Besides I’m just testing his awareness. That’s all. I’m not
going to torture him. (laughing) Then I’d be no better than
the guys who stuck my thumbs in molten hot motor oil. Don’t
bother looking. They’re still there. But my fingerprints
aren’t.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, here's a provocative little exchange from SEVEN DREAMS OF HER by Sarah Sander, directed by Christopher Niebling
AUGUST
Do you want to play with your dog?
IVY
What will you call me?
GREY
Do you want to play on the slide?
IVY
I need a name.
AUGUST
She does need a name.
GREY
Not everything needs a name.
IVY
What will you call me? I NEED A NAME NOW.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the showcase, we'll take a little break, returning at six o'clock for the panel discussion.
Then ending the evening is a staged reading of Greg Beuthin's A Time Upon, which I'll just describe to you as a totally cracked-out fairy tale with one of my all-time-favorite stage directions...
Grin's heart bursts into flames. He's oblivious to the fire. Slim's head bursts into flame… he's flaming mad. He beats Grin — viciously. For falling in love. For being an idiot. For this new wrinkle in their plans. Grin is dead. Slim returns to his position in the window.
You can learn more about Greg from his blog.
And take a look at what The Washington Post has to say about our Page-to-Stage events, with a quote from our illustrious Artistic Director, Jessi Burgess.
So I hope you can come out and join us on Labor Day at The Kennedy Center. We at The Inkwell would love you to see what a handful of ambitious playwrights are up to.
Here's the full menu of events in one place:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Inkwell invites you to our first anniversary celebration at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Page to Stage Festival
Monday, September 1, 2008
FREE New Play Events from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
in Rehearsal Room One at the Kennedy Center
In celebration of our first anniversary, and in true Inkwell style, The Inkwell offers a full day of the exploration and celebration of new works in the nation's capital! Join us for staged readings of six wildly creative and innovative plays, a timely and provocative discussion on the merits of the American play development process, and a celebration of The Inkwell's first birthday at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival.
THE SCHEDULE
2 p.m. SHOWCASE READINGS of the following new plays:
- HERCULE DE BERGERAC by Adam Jonas Segaller, directed by Lee Liebeskind
- LULLABYE by Kristen DeWulf, directed by Andy Wassenich
- COMA, PATIENT by Shaun Raviv, directed by James Hesla
- SEVEN DREAMS OF HER by Sarah Sander, directed by Christopher Niebling
- THE F WORD by Melissa Blackall, directed by Patrick Torres
6 p.m. PANEL DISCUSSION - PLAYWRIGHTS: PAMPERED? PATRONIZED? PUSHED ASIDE?
A provocative panel discussion on how the trend to coddle new work may help it flourish or falter. With playwright Callie Kimball, Washington Post Theatre Critic Nelson Pressley, Round House Theatre Artistic Director Blake Robison and Theater J Artistic Director and playwright Ari Roth.
8 p.m. STAGED READING of A TIME UPON by Greg Beuthin, directed by Jessica Burgess
Two old women, Gran and Mum, eke out their lives in a forgotten corner of a giant futuristic metropolis. They are barely aware of the passing days until a young woman and her strange traveling companion-cum-pet enter their lives. The young woman, Fillette, is somehow related to the family, but is cagey about her answers. The pet, only known as Once, doesn't speak — but even he can smell that something else is afoot. For the entire group is being watched by an evil shadow and his crony, who want to get at what lies beneath the decrepit courtyard in which the old women have made their home. Perhaps a fairy tale told in the era of Blade-Runner, the play features shadow puppetry, physical theatre, and lyrical language, all hallmarks of Greg Beuthin's future folkloric style.
Readings feature Wyckham Avery, Frank Britton, Valerie Fenton, James Flanagan, John Geffrion, Lindsay Haynes, Lisa Hill-Corley, Q. Terah Jackson, Hilary Kacser, Amy Kellet, Lee Liebeskind, Eric Messner, Wendy Nogales, Alex Perez, Kevin Pierson, and many more!
“The most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life.” — An excerpt from Samuel Pepys' Diary about a production of William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream performed in 1662
"Too much talk, too academic, too haughty, too unsure of itself, whether it was funny or sad. . . ." — comments in rejection letters about Margaret Edson's play Wit
My apologies for the silence, dear blog readers. I have very much wanted to tell you all about what's happening with The Inkwell. It seems we're now knee-deep in a rich and heated discussion about new play development… what's working and not working here in America.
I need to take about back more than a month, when The Inkwell hosted its third and final panel discussion at the Source Theatre Festival. On July 6th (again, my apologies for the great delay in reporting), we asked Arena Stage's David Dower, Literary Manager for Wooly Mammoth Theatre Elissa Goetchius, The Washington City Paper Theatre Critic Trey Graham, and Source Theatre Festival Producer Jeremy Skidmore to talk about their views about new work in Washington. The discussion quickly broadened to the way new plays are created, developed, and produced in America… and the search for the perfect model.
David Dower knows a lot about how theaters across America are approaching new plays and emerging playwrights. He's one of the founding members of Z Space Studio in San Francisco, an incubator for all sorts of new theater work, as well as director and producer. (It's fun to read about his collaboration with monologuer Jeremy Kornbluth, author and performer of Haiku Tunnel…scroll down to "Benjamin Franklin: Unplugged.") As an Artistic Associate for Arena Stage focused on new play development, he's traveled the country, talking with literary managers and artistic directors. He thinks that the problem of "development hell" (where playwrights find their work constantly work-shopped and never produced) is old news. There are millions of dollars flowing into play development efforts, he says. The problem is that resources aren't aligned across the country. So a playwright may be invited into a rigorous play development process, see their work produced once, and then it's over. The problem right now is creating momentum behind a play so that it gets a second, third, and fourth production. And that the playwright still has time to fine tune the piece along the way.
David has written a lot about a "distributed development" model on Arena Stage's New Play Blog, discussing how theaters are now starting to work together to bring a play along through a series of productions. He also talks about his experience participating on our panel!
Elissa Geotchius discussed how Wooly Mammoth — which is entirely focused on producing work that hasn't been seen before in Washington, DC — engages with playwrights. To put it simply, she gets around the country and sees a lot of plays. She also keeps a "stalking list" of playwrights that she feels fit with Wooly Mammoth's aesthetic. Wooly Mammoth is committed to working with playwrights to see their work produced (they won't develop a piece that they won't produce, she said), although she freely admits that the Wooly Mammoth team struggles to figure out how to increase interactions with playwrights in the development process.
Trey Graham wondered out loud about the sustainability of play labs (he cited the famous Eugene O'Neill Center in Connecticut in particular) and how you can fairly compensate playwrights. If the only real income that comes from royalties, how to split the pie fairly, especially if more than one play lab or theater is involved in the development a play. For the most part, the playwright is the one short shrifted in royalty arrangements, because everyone takes a cut. By the time a play is produced commercially (a rare occurrence), the playwright receives no more than 30 percent of royalties.
And what is the role of the critic in the process? Trey believes he's supposed to clarify for the theatre-going audience the choices made by a director and playwright in a production of a new play, not in the writing of the play itself. He'll leave that task to the dramaturges.
Jeremy Skidmore heaped praise upon the way playwrights are support in Canada (Jeremy is an admitted and ardent fan of the Canucks). First, the government provides relatively more generous funding to theater than in America, allowing Canadian theaters to take more risk. Second, every play that is produced is published, so plays are easily distributed across the country. Third, there's a model for shared theater space for small companies, reducing one of the major expenses of any theatre group and creating a hub for sharing new works.
Asked the question about the state of new work in Washington specifically, all agreed that a basic infrastructure for DC playwrights is missing. There's no center for practice and there's no advocate for local writers.
(Hmmmm…. I wonder who can fill that role?)
So this is just the start of the conversation. Since the panel, Theatre Critic Nelson Pressley has written a rather provocative article in The Washington Post, positing the claim that new play development processes merely coddle the playwright.
"Does the American theater treat its playwrights like babies? You might think so, considering the elaborate midwifing infrastructure that has been erected around play development in recent years."
So starts the article, which goes on to quote The Inkwell's Artistic Director Jessi Burgess with a defense of incubation processes.
Well, we at The Inkwell are not leaving the last word to Mr. Pressley. Instead, we've invited him to join playwright Callie Kimball, Round House Theatre Artistic Director Blake Robison, and Theater J Artistic Director and playwright Ari Roth for a lively discussion about his article at The Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival.
So please join us on September 1st at 6:00 p.m. in Rehearsal Room One for another lively panel discussion, Playwrights: Pampered? Patronized? Pushed Aside?
And check out the other activities we've got planned as The Inkwell celebrates its first birthday at Page-to-Stage.
"Too much talk, too academic, too haughty, too unsure of itself, whether it was funny or sad. . . ." — comments in rejection letters about Margaret Edson's play Wit
My apologies for the silence, dear blog readers. I have very much wanted to tell you all about what's happening with The Inkwell. It seems we're now knee-deep in a rich and heated discussion about new play development… what's working and not working here in America.
I need to take about back more than a month, when The Inkwell hosted its third and final panel discussion at the Source Theatre Festival. On July 6th (again, my apologies for the great delay in reporting), we asked Arena Stage's David Dower, Literary Manager for Wooly Mammoth Theatre Elissa Goetchius, The Washington City Paper Theatre Critic Trey Graham, and Source Theatre Festival Producer Jeremy Skidmore to talk about their views about new work in Washington. The discussion quickly broadened to the way new plays are created, developed, and produced in America… and the search for the perfect model.
David Dower knows a lot about how theaters across America are approaching new plays and emerging playwrights. He's one of the founding members of Z Space Studio in San Francisco, an incubator for all sorts of new theater work, as well as director and producer. (It's fun to read about his collaboration with monologuer Jeremy Kornbluth, author and performer of Haiku Tunnel…scroll down to "Benjamin Franklin: Unplugged.") As an Artistic Associate for Arena Stage focused on new play development, he's traveled the country, talking with literary managers and artistic directors. He thinks that the problem of "development hell" (where playwrights find their work constantly work-shopped and never produced) is old news. There are millions of dollars flowing into play development efforts, he says. The problem is that resources aren't aligned across the country. So a playwright may be invited into a rigorous play development process, see their work produced once, and then it's over. The problem right now is creating momentum behind a play so that it gets a second, third, and fourth production. And that the playwright still has time to fine tune the piece along the way.
David has written a lot about a "distributed development" model on Arena Stage's New Play Blog, discussing how theaters are now starting to work together to bring a play along through a series of productions. He also talks about his experience participating on our panel!
Elissa Geotchius discussed how Wooly Mammoth — which is entirely focused on producing work that hasn't been seen before in Washington, DC — engages with playwrights. To put it simply, she gets around the country and sees a lot of plays. She also keeps a "stalking list" of playwrights that she feels fit with Wooly Mammoth's aesthetic. Wooly Mammoth is committed to working with playwrights to see their work produced (they won't develop a piece that they won't produce, she said), although she freely admits that the Wooly Mammoth team struggles to figure out how to increase interactions with playwrights in the development process.
Trey Graham wondered out loud about the sustainability of play labs (he cited the famous Eugene O'Neill Center in Connecticut in particular) and how you can fairly compensate playwrights. If the only real income that comes from royalties, how to split the pie fairly, especially if more than one play lab or theater is involved in the development a play. For the most part, the playwright is the one short shrifted in royalty arrangements, because everyone takes a cut. By the time a play is produced commercially (a rare occurrence), the playwright receives no more than 30 percent of royalties.
And what is the role of the critic in the process? Trey believes he's supposed to clarify for the theatre-going audience the choices made by a director and playwright in a production of a new play, not in the writing of the play itself. He'll leave that task to the dramaturges.
Jeremy Skidmore heaped praise upon the way playwrights are support in Canada (Jeremy is an admitted and ardent fan of the Canucks). First, the government provides relatively more generous funding to theater than in America, allowing Canadian theaters to take more risk. Second, every play that is produced is published, so plays are easily distributed across the country. Third, there's a model for shared theater space for small companies, reducing one of the major expenses of any theatre group and creating a hub for sharing new works.
Asked the question about the state of new work in Washington specifically, all agreed that a basic infrastructure for DC playwrights is missing. There's no center for practice and there's no advocate for local writers.
(Hmmmm…. I wonder who can fill that role?)
So this is just the start of the conversation. Since the panel, Theatre Critic Nelson Pressley has written a rather provocative article in The Washington Post, positing the claim that new play development processes merely coddle the playwright.
"Does the American theater treat its playwrights like babies? You might think so, considering the elaborate midwifing infrastructure that has been erected around play development in recent years."
So starts the article, which goes on to quote The Inkwell's Artistic Director Jessi Burgess with a defense of incubation processes.
Well, we at The Inkwell are not leaving the last word to Mr. Pressley. Instead, we've invited him to join playwright Callie Kimball, Round House Theatre Artistic Director Blake Robison, and Theater J Artistic Director and playwright Ari Roth for a lively discussion about his article at The Kennedy Center's Page-to-Stage Festival.
So please join us on September 1st at 6:00 p.m. in Rehearsal Room One for another lively panel discussion, Playwrights: Pampered? Patronized? Pushed Aside?
And check out the other activities we've got planned as The Inkwell celebrates its first birthday at Page-to-Stage.
