Please see below the Press Release for Gary Garrison's visit and the upcoming Town Hall Meeting in Portland, January 31, 2009. David Faux will also give a "Author as CEO" lecture on intellectual property rights.
If you have any questions regarding the area or the event, please contact the new co-reps, Andrea Stolowitz (astolowi@yahoo.com) and Steve Patterson (splatterson@mindspring.com)
I hope some of you might be able to make the drive down there and show support!
Cheers,
Dennis
PRESS RELEASE :
Representatives from the Dramatists Guild of America, including Gary Garrison, Executive Director of Creative Affairs for the Guild, will visit Portland on January 31, 2009, to hold a Dramatists Guild Town Hall Meeting for Oregon's Guild members and other interested playwrights, followed by a Portland Theatre Town Hall Meeting,
inviting Portland's theatre community to discuss development of new plays. Both events are free and open to the public.
Mr. Garrison's visit emphasizes Portland's growing reputation as an incubator of new work and coincides with Portland's innovative, inaugural Fertile Ground City-Wide New Works Festival, which was recently profiled in American Theatre Magazine and the Dramatists Guild's The Dramatist Magazine.
The Dramatists Guild Town Hall Meeting will begin at 1:00 PM, featuring with an information session that will detail an overview of the Dramatists Guild, discuss plans for its future, and then an open Q & A for Guild members. In addition to Gary Garrison, speakers will include David Faux, (Guild Director of Business Affairs), Roland Tec (Guild Director of Membership), and Steve Patterson and Andrea
>Stolowitz, Portland's Regional Guild Representatives. From 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, David Faux will present "The Author as a CEO": a short lecture, which will review the main points of dealing with a playwright's portfolio of works as intellectual property assets.
After a half-hour break, the afternoon will resume from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM with a Portland Theatre Town Hall Meeting. Moderated by Mead Hunter, Portland Center Stage's Director of Literary Programs, the Town Hall will feature a panel discussion with Mr. Garrison, Lui Douthit of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Michael Rohd of Sojourn Theatre, discussing trends in local and national theatre, playwriting, and dramaturgy. The meeting will then open up as a brainstorming session for the panel, Portland theatre leaders, and the audience to address how to foster development and production of new plays in Portland and Oregon.
The Dramatists Guild Town Hall and Portland Theatre Town Hall will both be held at Portland Center Stage's Ellen Bye Studio Theatre, 128 NW Eleventh Avenue, Portland, Oregon.
For more information on both events, please contact the Dramatists
Guild's new Portland co-representatives: Andrea Stolowitz (astolowi@yahoo.com) and Steve Patterson (splatterson@mindspring.com) >[or contact Steve Patterson at 503-312-6665].
Showing posts with label meeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meeting. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, December 5, 2008
Meeting tomorrow, NPA reading Monday & Lee Blessing is coming!
Don't forget, we're having our Seattle regional meeting tomorrow at 11 am at the Seattle Center House. And also, readings of new works at the Rep next Monday night, December 8th (see below):
Northwest Playwrights Alliance & Seattle Rep
present our 5th annual Literary Salon featuring
Jim Lynch (author of The Highest Tide) reading from his new, soon-to-be published novel.
Poems by Alaska's best: Arlitia Jones
1 glorious poem by Karen Kunkel
short plays by
Sean Walbeck - dir. Deane Shellman
Jody Peterson - dir. Mark Kuntz
Schatzie Schaefers - dir. Tammis Doyle
Dan Erickson - dir. John Longenbaugh
Monday Dec. 8 @ 7 p.m. - Seattle Repertory Theater's
Poncho Theater
115 Mercer - please use main entrance
FREE ADMISSION
And if you haven't seen or heard about this already, you may want to look into booking your slot for the LEE BLESSING workshop next year. (And if you don't know who Lee Blessing is, shame on you--one of the best playwrights working today and teaches the MFA program at Rutgers).
Lee Blessing Playwriting Workshop
When: Aug. 9 - Sunday 2-5 p.m.
Where: Seattle Rep - Poncho Theater
Workshop Limit: 25 (and yes, people are already signing up)
Cost: $75
Do I really need to sign up so early? To guarantee your spot, Yes.
Will NPA still exist in August? Yes, we promise
Contact: Bryan Willis - willis@olynet.com
Northwest Playwrights Alliance & Seattle Rep
present our 5th annual Literary Salon featuring
Jim Lynch (author of The Highest Tide) reading from his new, soon-to-be published novel.
Poems by Alaska's best: Arlitia Jones
1 glorious poem by Karen Kunkel
short plays by
Sean Walbeck - dir. Deane Shellman
Jody Peterson - dir. Mark Kuntz
Schatzie Schaefers - dir. Tammis Doyle
Dan Erickson - dir. John Longenbaugh
Monday Dec. 8 @ 7 p.m. - Seattle Repertory Theater's
Poncho Theater
115 Mercer - please use main entrance
FREE ADMISSION
And if you haven't seen or heard about this already, you may want to look into booking your slot for the LEE BLESSING workshop next year. (And if you don't know who Lee Blessing is, shame on you--one of the best playwrights working today and teaches the MFA program at Rutgers).
Lee Blessing Playwriting Workshop
When: Aug. 9 - Sunday 2-5 p.m.
Where: Seattle Rep - Poncho Theater
Workshop Limit: 25 (and yes, people are already signing up)
Cost: $75
Do I really need to sign up so early? To guarantee your spot, Yes.
Will NPA still exist in August? Yes, we promise
Contact: Bryan Willis - willis@olynet.com
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Next Meeting Saturday December 6th at 11 am
The next Seattle regional meeting will be on Saturday, December 6th from 11 am to 12 pm on the 4th floor of the Seattle Center House, room C.
We will have some coffee and light snacks and a loose agenda.
The purpose of this meeting will be to mingle/chat/commiserate as well as update you on some recent developments of the Guild and talk about future events for 2009.
I do hope that most of you will be able to attend and if there is anything you would like to discuss, please let me know and we can put it on the agenda.
See you soon!
Dennis
We will have some coffee and light snacks and a loose agenda.
The purpose of this meeting will be to mingle/chat/commiserate as well as update you on some recent developments of the Guild and talk about future events for 2009.
I do hope that most of you will be able to attend and if there is anything you would like to discuss, please let me know and we can put it on the agenda.
See you soon!
Dennis
Monday, February 4, 2008
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
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
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Next Meeting Feb. 2nd @ 1:00 pm
Just a reminder that our next Regional Meeting is scheduled for February 2nd at 1 pm at the Seattle Center House, 4th floor, Room B.
(Please note we are on the 4th floor of the Center House. Allow for some extra time for parking and a very slow elevator...)
We'll talk about a few upcoming things like the Playwriting Forum in May, Friday Night Footlights, and other issues.
Hope to see you there!
(Please note we are on the 4th floor of the Center House. Allow for some extra time for parking and a very slow elevator...)
We'll talk about a few upcoming things like the Playwriting Forum in May, Friday Night Footlights, and other issues.
Hope to see you there!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Next Regional Meeting Feb. 2nd
Mark your calendars for the next regional meeting of The Dramatists Guild of America for the northwest members. The location is still tbd (we're working on it!) but the time will be at 1 pm.
Hope to see you there!
Hope to see you there!
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