5-25-07
Dramatists Guild: Walking the Walk
Playwright Marsha Norman addressing playwrights at the Dramatists Guild conference.
Over the weekend of May 5 and 6 the Dramatists Guild came into town, embarking on an outreach effort to connect with playwrights across the country. Accused of being too New York-centric and out of touch with the rest of the nation, Guild staff, including the new executive director of creative affairs, Gary Garrison, have decided this is the year to make a concentrated effort to address the needs of all playwrights in the U.S., not just the ones living within a 50 mile radius of the Guild’s Manhattan offices.
Events were held all weekend at theatres throughout Chicago. They included a town hall meeting; several “conversations” with working playwrights Marsha Norman, Rebecca Gilman and John Weidman; two performances (Water by Alice Austen at Chicago Dramatists and Cynical Weathers by Douglas Post at Victory Gardens); and a panel discussion on new play development. The weekend culminated with a meet and greet so that playwrights could network with area stage directors.
The town hall meeting, held Saturday, May 5 at Chicago Dramatists, featured virtually the entire senior staff of the Dramatists Guild, plus a new addition: Douglas Post, ensemble playwright at Victory Gardens, who has been appointed as Chicago’s liaison to the Guild. It is the Guild’s hope that by having a local representative, playwrights’ concerns may be addressed more quickly. The issues Post may not be able to help resolve, he will communicate to the main office back in New York.
Douglas Post, Tari Stratton, co-executive director Gary Garrison, Guild president John Weidman and co-executive director Ralph Sevush at Chicago Dramatists during the conference’s opening.
The Guild discussed many new programs that they hope to implement in order to address the needs of the greater community. Some of these include:
- Holding an annual national conference, first in New York, then in different cities around the country;
- Overhauling the Guild Web site to include a place where playwrights can store their scripts, chat, download audio and video conferences and download standard contracts;
- Setting up a series of seminars in Chicago similar to the ones already being held in New York, then perhaps in other cities as demand warrants;
- A new initiative for Women in Theatre (WIT) to address the concerns of women playwrights and getting their work produced (see sidebar).
Concerns expressed in the meeting by local playwrights included copyrighting, protecting forms of digital rights to their work, problems surrounding undisclosed submission fees for competitions, health insurance and the potential smoking ban on stages throughout Chicago.
One particular issue that was addressed was in regards to the Wonderland one-act festival produced by You Are Here Productions in New York. When the competition first advertised with the Guild, there were no submission fees attached. However, as playwrights submitted their work, they were being charged a $15 reading fee and a $185 registration fee. On top of these hidden fees, contest winners would be given a list of YAHP artistic personnel and were expected to produce their play themselves as part of this competition.
The Guild does not accept advertising from any organization that charges a submission fee, unless that fee is transparent (ie. the organization specifically states that your $10 fee is used to pay the readers directly for their time). Due to the outcry from members, the Guild has formally requested that all fees be refunded to Guild members who submitted their work. As of the Town Hall meeting, that request was still pending with YAHP.
Sunday evening Victory Gardens hosted a panel on new play development moderated by Lenora Inez Brown of DePaul University and featuring literary managers from several large and small theatres.
Some of the issues raised by the membership for discussion by the panel included:
• A desire for greater transparency in the submission and review process;
• Building relationships with other theatres that produce new work;
• Referral list for input from other creative professionals such as directors, designers and choreographers during the writing process.
Although people overall did not feel the process of new play development was “broken,” several ideas were expressed to improve it, and especially to improve a play’s chances for that ever-elusive second production.
One organization that Brown mentioned was the National New Play Network (www.nnpn.org), an alliance of nonprofit professional theatres that “champions the development, production and continued life of new plays for the American theatre.” Prop Thtr is Chicago’s NNPN theatre.
It is the phrase, “continued life” that gets the most attention from playwrights, as getting a world premier is relatively easy compared to getting a second (or third or fourth) production of your play.
Locally, Kevin Heckman, producing artistic director of Stage Left (and PerformInk listings editor) noted that it is much less of an economic risk for him to workshop and produce a new play than it would be for one of the larger theatres. “I only need 49 people to have a full house…so I have a capacity to take a risk that other people can’t take.” He then suggested, “I’d almost be willing to be the Goodman Theatre’s minor league and have a more formal arrangement.”
As the representatives from the Guild said throughout the weekend, they are now making a concerted effort to reconnect with playwrights nationwide. Although many of the desired programs will take some time to come to fruition, they ask for patience. They also noted that most programs will begin in New York, because that is where the Guild has the most resources and the greatest knowledge base—sort of a reverse of the out-of-town tryout. They plan to experiment with new programs in New York City and work out the kinks before taking them to the rest of the nation.
As Garrison said, though, “Don’t let us off the hook.” It is important that Guild members hold them accountable for the changes that they plan to make, and call them on it when things lag behind.