NW Regional Meeting 2-1-08 Minutes

THE DRAMATISTS GUILD OF AMERICA
Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting
Saturday, February 2nd
Seattle Center House, 4th Floor, Room I
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

MEETING MINUTES
Administered by Dennis Schebetta, Regional Representative


The meeting began with introductions by myself and all the other members present (see attendees list at end). It was clear that we all have various backgrounds and levels of experience, showing the inclusive nature of the Guild.

Guild Updates• Portland Regional Rep—unfortunately, we have no rep for the Portland area but we are working on it.
o This delved into a quick discussion of the fact that the Regional Representative is such a new role—a year ago only Dan Berkowitz was in L.A. and now we have them in almost every major city. The job duties are still being defined and the Regional Reps are even now still learning how to efficiently utilize each other as resources.

• Friday Night Footlights—This was an open discussion on the plan for monthly staged readings and to get further input from members on questions about it.
o Sean, Duane and John all commented on seeing readings at various other venues and wondered about how much of an audience there would be.
o Karen asked for what purpose? My answer was that it could be used however the dramatist deems—as a showcase for a finished work, a development reading, an early draft reading, for a full-length play, a series of short plays, etc.
o La’Chris asked a wonderful question about publicity and getting the word out. Does the Guild have funding in place for any marketing? At this point, I don’t know what our funding parameters are for the region. I know we have some funds available but not sure how anything has been earmarked and I suspected that it may vary region by region.
o Duane also mentioned how difficult it is to get people to readings—they are much more likely to come to productions. But the question remained, was it because the readings had a ticket price? Will we have the same outcome for free readings? My other point was that it’s the hope that these readings will somehow lead to productions, not more readings.

• Points discussed about Friday Night Footlights:
o The readings will be FREE. Free for DG members to participate (though they will have to self-produce it) and free for all audience members.
o Because the readings are free, and because the playwrights aren’t getting paid, neither are the directors and actors.
o It was suggested that the two playwrights could join forces for utilizing actors and/or directors for the one evening (one evening being two slots)
o It would be beneficial to have a list of actors/directors who are interested
 Possibility of using UW students or working with Freehold in order that the readings could be educational as well as promotional (teaching actors/directors how to work on new works)
o What would be beneficial is to have a venue that could be part of a partnership with another group or theater (Theater Schmeater, LiveGirls, Next Stage, etc.?). This would be great if we could always have it at the same space.
 Duane mentioned that perhaps ACT might be a possibility, as well.

Town Hall Meeting• Drama Guild/NPA/Seattle U. Playwriting Forum will be May 11th and 12th. Gary Garrison, Ralph Sevush and David Faux will be visiting Seattle.
• The forum and the Town Hall meeting will be free
• There will be an “In Conversation With…Steven Dietz”. This is also free.
• There will be workshops with Dietz and Braden Abraham (directing a new play). These will cost $75.
• Bryan Willis of the NPA is still finalizing the agenda and once we know more details, we’ll let you know. Unfortunately, he could not make this meeting to answer questions.
• At the end of the meeting, someone suggested a social function before the forum and the Town Hall, which is an excellent idea. I would love to see if we can find a bar somewhere on Friday night for some kind of “cocktail reception”, an informal way of meeting each other and meeting Gary, Ralph & David (depending on when they fly into town).

Goals for the region• Discuss regional meetings—we had skipped over this and briefly touched on it at the end of the meeting
• Education—I stressed the importance of the shift the Guild is making, in its language in the Bill of Rights, but also as it targets educational institutions like universities and high schools. This launched a discussion of directors and actors ignorant on how to work on new works.
o This is a vital part of some of the changes happening in the Guild. I, myself, will actually present on the Guild and the Bill of Rights later this month at the regional Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival.
o Many of us traded a few war stories about director/playwright collaborations gone wrong.
o John asked an excellent question, though, of “how do you get directors and actors to come to a workshop, even if its free, that talks about the Bill of Rights, basically saying, this is what you can’t do with the play…?” To which, I replied, “well, obviously, that’s not how we talk about it, because its not about that…They can talk to us about changes and talk to us about what’s going on…We need to ensure we’re part of the conversation. We need to make sure directors know how to collaborate with living playwrights.”
o Literary Manager Forum—only briefly talked about this. No details or date has been set.
o “Business of Playwriting”—this was tied into our conversation about working with directors and actors.
o Self-Producing Workshop.
 John, La’Chris and Sean have all self-produced and had opened the idea of mentoring other playwrights in order to teach them how to put up their own show.

• TPS at Bumbershoot.
o Sean asked about what that was, what it meant and I said I was going to talk to someone about the submission process of this for 2008 or 2009. Would it be beneficial to create a showcase of DG member works? Short comedies? Samples of work?
o John had produced in it before and said it’s a festival so there’s almost always a guaranteed crowd. Comedies work best.
o The space they use is the big one at Center House.
• Sean asked another great question; “How does a regional playwright get an agent if they are all in NYC or L.A.” This opened up a discussion about agents here in Seattle (there are none) and/or also getting your work in the door of larger institutions. Is it possible to get a NY agent to visit the region?
o I had mentioned that some DG members have taken advantage of the free space in the Loewe room in NYC, rehearsing a show out of that town and bringing it in to NYC as a showcase, and not sure how that might work in reverse.
o I offered that the DG National Meeting/Conference is in the works for next year and perhaps this could be something to think about for that? If there is a way to bring agents and literary managers to that meeting?
• Steve mentioned the idea he had brought up at the last meeting regarding having a website with a list of plays and synopsis and/or play samples (similar to Playwrights Center or New Dramatists).
o Perhaps this is something we might even be able to do with TPS?
o Later someone mentioned that we might even be able to do an online script library (possibly even work with Rain City Projects).

• John mentioned that there are two things that many playwriting organizations talk about but never do:
o 1) A social event. This could be meet for drinks at a bar or something along those lines. It is important to meet each other in friendly, relaxed surroundings, not just in meetings, readings, etc.
 This is where Sean gave the idea that an excellent opportunity to meet would be prior to the Town Hall Meeting in May.
o 2) A group that meets possibly bi-weekly to read scripts-in-progress or new scripts. This is relatively an easy thing to do, but is rarely done. Can the DG do something like that? Each playwright could have 20 pages each (or 30 minutes) and we could do 6 or 9 playwrights per session?
 Steve mentioned that they have a writer’s group in Pt. Townsend but many others did not have anything like this.


Conclusion/Remarks:

The meeting concluded with a strong sense of agreement about the types of programs we’d like to see in this area. Many members at this meeting echoed what has been said by others at the first meeting. Several of the challenges we face are simply challenges that all dramatists are facing in every region. However, the fact that the Dramatists Guild has been around for so long and is not a “start-up” liable to fold for lack of money or resources is assuring to most. The challenge, as I stated, is that even though we can trust the sustainability of the Dramatists Guild, the programs we establish in this area must be equally sustainable.

As I said at the beginning of the meeting, change is gradual, but it is happening. The Dramatist magazine is far different than it was a year ago. Members have noticed and appreciate that. In addition, all the members were enthusiastic about the new layout and categorization of the Resource Directory.

Being the second regional meeting of the Dramatists Guild, I was pleased with the level of attendance and engaging discussions, but would love to see and meet more of our members. Several had prior commitments, but it is my hope that we’ll be able to show our numbers at the Town Hall in May. That will serve as our next regional meeting, with a meeting to follow in July or August.


Attendees
Ramon Esquivel
La’Chris Jordan
Karen Kantor
Duane Kelly
John Longenbaugh
Kevin O’Morrison
Louisa Rose
Dennis Schebetta
Steve Treacy
Dave Tucker
Sean Walbeck