Winning things: plays on stages and in boxes

Campus is quiet and covered with snow, but the playwrights of Carnegie Mellon are busy winning things.

Some graduate writing programs require students to refrain from script submission while they're in school. My philosophy is the opposite. The expectation is that you are daily beating your work into shape and sending it out to find collaborators beyond the walls of the School of Drama.

Some of these opportunities come from invitations extended specifically to this program, while others come via our participation in the Playwrights' Center's "New Plays on Campus" membership program.

• Liz Ellison (MFA '11) will be traveling to Aspen in January with her play Ten Minutes to Boston as part of Theatre Masters, a program dedicated to advancing emerging playwrights at select schools. Theatre Masters will subsequently remount the play in New York. 

• CMU will be represented by no less than three plays at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival regional festival at Towson University: Quick and in My Arms by Peter J. Roth (MFA '12), The Insect Fear by Liza Birkenmeier (MFA '12), and Shrouds by Julie Tosh (MFA '09).

• In March, Time Bomb Play by R.N. Healey (MFA '12) will be included in the 32nd Annual Mid-America Theatre Conference in Minneapolis. It was picked from a field of 70 submissions.

• Dan O'Neil (MFA '11) has been commissioned by the fascinating Articulture program. Inspired by the Community Supported Agriculture movement, where consumers buy a share in the output of a local farm, interested collectors/consumers will receive three "share boxes" of locally-produced artwork at three winter pick-up events.

To say nothing of the possibility of finding true love

Choosing to be a playwright comes with few perks (oh, you noticed?) — so being accepted for a residency at an artists' colony can be hugely rejuvenating. It's more than an opportunity to run away from your scrappy existence of staying late at work to steal postage from the copy room and get dinner from the vending machine. Suddenly the universe seems to be affirming your identity as an artist: you have a right to be here, having someone bring you your lunch in a basket and leave it quietly outside your door so as not to disturb your work.

Not only do you find a supportive community of other artists, but chances are they will be from disciplines foreign to you. Believe me, nothing can make you feel better about being a playwright than hearing a little about the career struggles of a composer or sculptor.

Cheers to Carolyn Kras (MFA '10), who will be in residence at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois in March.

from the classroom to OOB in five and a half weeks

The Dramatic Writing MFA program is dedicated to preparing playwrights to enter the profession at the highest level. That's why the constant submission of students' scripts to professional production opportunities is integrated into the coursework.

For the 10-minute play assignment in Theatre Lab this fall, first-year MFA student Murphi Cook wrote Nothing Says Happy Like, a post-apocalyptic comedy about a dedicated Spam salesperson. Five and a half weeks later, the play is being produced Off-Off-Broadway as part of a short play festival. Go see it.

On not shooting yourself in the foot

This may be the best blog post ever from David Bower. Read the whole thing.

Only submit worksamples that represent you well. Does it have your spirit? Does it have your voice? Does it match the level of thought that you put into the work you put on stage or on the page? A worksample that seems out of synch with the company will confuse the panel. A worksample that seems out of synch with the application will create distrust. A worksample that is poorly chosen, produced, or executed will irrevocably turn them off. No matter how much we talk on these panels about the challenges of getting good documenation of work in this sector, people ARE figuring out effective ways to represent themselves and those people remain standing at the end of the worksample reviews. The rest fall off the list.

A great opportunity - New Dramatists seeks spring interns

Bernard B. Jacobs Internship Program 

New Dramatists seeks interns to assist in all areas of administration in supporting a company of resident playwrights. The New Dramatists internship experience offers a unique opportunity to learn the ins and outs of a professional, non-profit arts organization in New York City. As essential members of the New Dramatists staff, the interns provide administrative, maintenance, creative, and clerical support. They serve as the first face of New Dramatists, staffing our front office and serving as liaisons to the many professionals who seek out our resident playwrights’ work. In addition to stage managing for play readings and workshops, the interns work as full-time assistants in our Literary, Casting, Development and Administrative offices. While the interns are not hired within a specific department, their professional aspirations often guide their experience to be focused on a particular discipline.

The New Dramatists internship program provides crucial early-career training to theatrical professionals and has proven to be a reliable stepping stone to careers both within the field as well as at New Dramatists specifically. Two of our current staff members previously held internships here: Morgan Allen (General Manager) and Erin Detrick (Artistic Programs Administrator). Several of our current resident playwrights also once held New Dramatists internships: David Adjmi, Zakiyyah Alexander, Jason Grote, Deborah Stein, and Anne Washburn.

An internship with New Dramatists provides great exposure to the playwright’s process, and serious involvement in the many workshops and readings that happen in the building. Our interns are invited to all of New Dramatists’ public events and are given access to complimentary tickets to Broadway and Off- Broadway productions. Throughout the season, we offer several intern workshops led by our resident playwrights and staff. These workshops focus on the craft of playwriting, on issues affecting the industry, on careers in the theatre, or on topics of interest specifically voiced by the interns. Recent workshops include sessions with Daniel Alexander Jones, David Grimm, Adam Bock, Sarah Ruhl, Anne Washburn & Dominic Taylor.

The best candidates will thrive in a fast-paced environment, have strong written communication skills, computer and general office skills, work well independently, and be incredibly organized. Self-motivated, enthusiastic individuals excel in such an environment, because an internship at New Dramatists is truly what you make of it.

Application Details: A complete application should include: 1) the application form; 2) a statement of interest; 3) two letters of recommendation from theatre professionals; and 4) your resume. Visit our website to fill out an application. The application deadline for the spring internship (January 3 – May 27) is December 1. (There are also internship periods in the summer and fall.)

Self-selection at work on Governors Island

Winter Miller

The Sundance Institute is offering free (really? yes, apparently) playwriting classes with four distinguished dramatists including Winter Miller (no stranger to 13P) and Cori Thomas (no stranger to Pittsburgh). I expect a self-selecting group of playwrights who actually enjoy interacting with other human beings, because you have to actually make a phone call to get the information.

Scientists betting on reality. No, actually betting real money on it.

If I was writing a screenplay for the Sloan Screenplay Competition sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for the Public Understanding of Science (which I would be if I was a student in the dramatic writing program, and hoping to win the $20,000 prize which goes to a CMU student each year)... I might well discover a plot in this story from the Economist in which bookies actually make book on scientific discoveries and disasters. Think you know many polar bears will die this year? It's one way to make money from climate change. There's a range of bets on what the Large Hadron Collider will detect. And then there's the story that begins this way:

The story was different, though, for the fifth wager—that gravitational waves would be detected. News that the bookmaker was offering 500/1 against this happening spread rapidly among the small group of physicists and astronomers searching for such waves.

For people who want to play. And are not scared of deadlines.

CALL FOR ARTISTS: 8MINUTE MUSICALS

8Minute Musicals is launching a new workshop and performance opportunity for musical theatre artists, and invites submissions from writers, composers, directors, musical directors, performers, management, and support staff.


We will be developing and producing eight new musical theatre shorts from September 24th – October 5th at the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival. We are interested in working with artists who can bring a fresh approach to what this genre can be. If you’re an experienced musical theatre writer, or even if you are a playwright or poet or pop songwriter or whatever who has never written a musical, but think it could be fun to try, we want to hear from you—this could be a great chance to test the waters. We seek artists with a high level of craft as writers or composers who are interested in collaboration and willing to dive into the creative process with a sense of abandon. That means we are looking for people who want to play. And are not scared of deadlines.

On October 4th & 5th, at the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival, we will present 8 new short musicals created through a ten-day collaborative workshop process. Here's how it works:

- 8 composers and 8 writers are paired on a Friday evening
- They are given guidelines to create a short musical theatre piece
- Their first drafts are sight-read by 10 performers that Sunday
afternoon
- The writer/composer teams have 3 days for rewrites
- The performers have 4 days for rehearsal with 2 directors and 2 music
directors
- Only 10 days after the first meeting, we present the new pieces to
the public

Our goal is to support and nurture the next generation of musical theatre writers and composers by providing them with the opportunity to meet new collaborators, explore new ways of working, and see their work performed off-book and fully staged in front of an audience. Inspired by the Jonathan Larson Award-winning Raw Impressions Music Theatre, which premiered over 150 new short musicals from 2001 to 2006, 8Minute Musicals is a program of Artists WithOut Limits (AWOL) Theatre Project.

If you are interested in participating, please see the submission guidelines.

Composers, Writers, Directors, Music Directors, Management and Support Staff, please email applications to submissions@8minutemusicals.org.

Performers, please email pix/resumes to casting@8minutemusicals.org.

Submissions are due by August 20, 2010. You can also find more info at 8MinuteMusicals.org.

We hope to hear from you!

Best,
8Minute Musicals Producers:
Jane Abramson
Masi Asare
Kristen Gongora
Laura Penney Shamir
Amy & David Southerland

A couch for playwrights

An opportunity — deadline extended to June 7. Fighting the good fight, possibly. ("Fellows work one-on-one with our artistic director and staff," eh?)

But who could resist "Prime real estate on The Realm couch"?

The Playwrights Realm Writing Fellows Program