Mom. Playwright.

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This entry’s inspiration is provided by a mom playwright I actually know personally and think is fabulous!

A hearty, “Congratulations!” to Vynnie Meli, whose play, JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS, has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition. A story centered around  the members of an all-female, “mixed-race”  jazz band touring through the Deep South during World War II, JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS will be produced as a part of the Essential Theatre’s 2009 Power Plays Festival this summer at Actor’s Express.

Check out the video below to hear from Essential Theatre artist director Peter Hardy, the play’s director Betty Hart and Vynnie herself at 2:15 into the clip. If you’re in or plan to be in Atlanta July 5-August 2, put this on your summer must-see list.

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I said a couple of posts ago that if my 10-minute play submission was selected, you’d hear it here first. Well… some time has elapsed since the announcement, so actually it was heard here first. Sorry. Such is the life of a mom playwright, however well-meaning.

If you’re in the Atlanta metro area and are so inclined to save the date, please do so, and let me know which performance day strikes your fancy. I’d love to meet you.

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If you’ve been following this blog for a little while, you know I’ve been participating in a playwriting workshop over this past month. In the midst of what turned out to be unexpected and extreme circumstances with my husband being called to NY (we’ll be reunited this Saturday–yea!), I managed to learn much about myself as a mom and a writer through the creation of my 10-minute play, Emancipation Evacuation, that had a public reading this past Sunday evening. I’m still flying high over the positive reception it received, and I’m forever grateful to fab actors Jo Howarth, Megan Hayes and Theroun Patterson (find them on Facebook!) for giving voice to my words. What a gut-wrenching, educational process!

Having just come through this workshop experience, I was more than interested in the From the Desk of … column from Gary Garrison in the Sept/Oct 2008 education issue of The Dramatist. As mom playwrights, we don’t often have the luxury of time to take writing classes or participate in workshops. So if and when we make the decision to do so, it’s important that we choose wisely among the myriad of offerings out there for maximum return. I would invite you to get a copy of the journal to read completely the checklist advice Mr. Garrison offers, but here are the fundamental questions he suggests you get the answers to as the basis of your litmus test:

What is the real “what/why” of your studying?

Who is teaching?

How many students are in each class?

What is the tone of the workshop and how is it taught?

And, once you’re enrolled, is the class working for you?

Seemingly simple questions, but the depth comes in the subquestions they birth, and what you decide to do with the subsequent answers.

I’m now post-evaluating the workshop I just completed with Mr. Garrison’s questions. The answers are giving me valuable feedback to share with the facilitators. I believe it will be appreciated. I just love the serendipity of full circle moments.

Thanks, Gary!  And “Happy Getting Educated” to you, mom playwright!

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Busy, busy, busy. Running, running, running. Writing, writing, writing.

This past weekend, en route to the Alliance Theatre to see and review Gem of the Ocean, I talked with my friend Theresa about how quickly it seems 2008 has flown by. We agreed how much we’d love to find the time for a brief Mommy respite–a chance to inhale and exhale before being steamrolled into the it’ll-be-here-before-we-know-it holiday season.

I’m still in that mode of thinking, which may be why I was led to discover this online piece written by Sue Frause for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog about Hedgebrook.

Hedgebrook is a 48-acre writers’ retreat for women nestled on Whidbey Island, found thirty-five miles northwest of Seattle, Washington, facing Puget Sound. For the last 20 years, women writers the world over of diverse ages, ethnicities, levels of experience and genre interests have spent time at Hedgebrook to relax, relate and release their writing out into the world–or at the very least onto the page.

I devoured the information on their website, and learned that among other activities and programs, they’ve held an annual Women Playwrights Festival. Hmm…

See the details for yourself. If you dream of even just 2 weeks away from your life as you know it, why not complete an application to be competitively considered for a residency at Hedgebrook in 2009. Mark your calendar–the postmark deadline is September 25, 2008.

And even if travel to Hedgebrook isn’t in the cards for you right now, you can see about sampling where their custom Yakima Valley red wine, Hedgebrook Cedar Deep, can take you. Produced by Whidbey Island Vineyards and Winery, a glass of this vino and a bubble bath may be all that’s needed to induce, “Ahhh….”. Sue says the label on the bottle reads it’s a place “where a writer can go to be still, draw from the creative force of nature and let her thoughts loosen and take flight.”

Cheers, Hedgebrook!

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Like many Americans, I have been seeking information and reactions about the Republican party pick for U.S. Vice President, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. As a matter of fact, it has scarily become a little obsessive.

So while I try to extract myself from the fray, check out these non-partisan details about the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, a gathering of playwrights, actors, directors and theatre enthusiasts from the world over that takes places annually in Palin’s fair state–specifically in the city of Valdez. The 17th Annual Conference is scheduled for June 13-20, 2009.

By all accounts, the Conference’s approval rating among past attendees is high, what with all its fabled master classes, panel discussions, evening shows and post-show receptions.

Like the fate of Palin’s VP quest, how the Last Frontier Theatre Conference 2009 will shake out remains to be seen, as the conference schedule is still in the planning stages. Hence registration links aren’t yet live, nor are the Play Lab selections and featured artists yet named.

But the LFTC website suggests that playwrights get on Gary Garrison’s mailing list to stay in The Loop. I did some months ago, and unlike what’s playing out in this U.S. presidential election year, the decision that it was a good choice is uncontested.

Have any of you readers been to the Last Frontier Theatre Conference? Does it get your vote? Leave a comment below.

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Friday?! Whew! Where does the week go?

This past Wednesday evening, I attended a private reading of Mountain Greenery by prolific playwright and fellow WTP affiliate Evan Guilford-Blake. It was a comic look at corporate America and self-discovery and made for a good evening of playwriting/theatre exchange. Watch for it…

When I got home, Hubby wanted to know all about the reading. As I shared, I got to thinking about how much easier it would have been had he joined me, as I prefer exchange to exposition.

But alas, this time around he was home with the children, so that I could have the benefit of going out and enjoying and learning from the evening. Go it solo, or go-it-together-and-do-the-sitter-scramble: this is the decision we make with every performance I look to attend.

And with my recent selection as an Alliance Reviewer for the 2008-2009 season, we’ve already pretty much exhausted our sitter resources (I’m delighted, though–don’t get me wrong).

With this in mind, I offer my kudos to Nightwood Theatre and American Repertory Theatre for implementing an idea whose time has come: offering babysitting services to patrons.

Now granted, I’m sure the market isn’t a giant one, but I’ll bet it’s one that will prove worth tapping.

Nightwood will be launching its onsite babysitting program this season, with select matinee shows. It offers the service free to donors and those with season passes. American Repertory also positions babysitting as a subscriber perk for its select Saturday matinee performances, at $10 per child per show.

If one of the theatres already on my “I Like Their Work” List offered babysitting as a benefit of their season subscription program, the scales would very likely tip in their favor to receive my membership dollars. It is my sincerest hope that this idea will catch on like wildfire. As it’s said, “The family that family that plays together stays together.”

Do you know of any other theatres, American or otherwise, that offer a childcare perk? Would you be enticed to become a season subscriber with this benefit?

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Today it was back to school in metro Atlanta. My son started pre-K, so I’m in an educational state of mind.

My family attended a children’s theatre performance this past weekend that I’m still trying to process, as far as how to share with the company’s powers-that-be how poor the experience was–constructively. I thought I’d do it here, as a blog post: Top 10 Tips for Successfully Engaging Young Patrons and their Parents at Your Show. But two days later I’m still having difficulty not coming off as snarky, and that is not my intention.

So I’ve tabled the idea and decided that I will just email the artistic director, as it was she who solicited our attendance in the first place. And lest you get the wrong impression, know that it wasn’t necessarily the show itself with which I took issue, but all the lacking supportive factors ’round it that prevented a pleasantly professional theatre outing.

Suffice to say that as I addressed my husband’s question of, “We drove all the way out here for that?!” on the ride home, I regretted not taking our children to see a closing weekend performance of Sleeping Beauty at the Center for Puppetry Arts instead, given the free tickets I’d been offered. I’d just wanted to give “the little guy” a chance–the same chance I’d want afforded to me as a fledgling playwright.

The thing is, we have to recognize opportunities to shine when they’re presented and seize them. Otherwise, the patron or production lost may be our own.

Class dismissed.

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If you’re a playwright in the metro Atlanta area, this post’s for you. If not, read anyway and consider relocating for a month.

I received the following email message in my inbox from Jill Patrick, Managing Artistic Director Extraordinaire of Working Title Playwrights, the premier play development group to which I belong (despite the absence of my name on the still-yet-to-be updated Affiliates page… I’m told it’s being worked on! ). The message was announcing THE KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT TWO–The Second Installment of a Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Five Parts.

I participated in ACT ONE earlier this year, and I will be forever grateful for the experience. I highly recommend this workshop series to anyone who is serious about designing a playwriting life.

I’ve reserved my space. Will I see you in class? No matter if you didn’t attend the first installment–you can jump right in now. When you register, tell ‘em Lisa B. enthusiastically sent you!

Working Title Playwrights Presents

THE KICK-ASS SERIES: ACT TWO
The Second Installment of a
Gonzo Playwriting Workshop in Five Parts

With Pamela Turner and Hank Kimmel

• Consider your life…
• Now, consider your writing.

In both cases, you may be jumping ahead before you’re ready

With the first, you’re on your own, Baby, but with the second, We Can Help.

* The most common complaint expressed by theatres is that too many submissions are underdeveloped and/or full of deadly mistakes.

* Our remedy is applied over four consecutive work sessions and then a workshop reading.

* First, through writing exercises, group critique, and “example mentoring”, you will start and finish a 10-minute play. Instruction will focus on “the character’s journey” and will emphasize the unique “rules” for a 10-minute play. You will have reading assignments and writing assignments both in and outside of class time.

* Second, you will hear your play performed by professional actors in a public reading followed by a formal critique conducted by Pamela Turner, Hank Kimmel, and a guest reviewer.

The Course Sessions and 2008 Schedule

September 6, 1-4 pm Part I – SETTING SAIL – The idea
September 13, 1-4 pm Part II – THE CALL OF THE SIREN -The characters
September 20, 1-4 pm Part III – BEYOND THE HORIZON – The story
September 27, 1-4 pm Part IV – FINDING LAND – The structure
September 28, TBA Workshop Reading and Response

SPACE IS LIMITED!
COST: $175 PUBLIC/ $150 WTP MEMBERS
CALL 404.441.2716 or e-mail Managing@WorkingTitlePlaywrights.com
TO ASSURE YOUR SEAT TODAY!

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Summer colds, unexpected South Carolina treks and a home improvement project have tipped the scales more toward “mom” than “playwright” these last couple of weeks. It’s all good. Such is life.

Shifting back into my groove today I had the pleasure of taking in readings of Psychology of Chromosome X and A Lovely Malfunction by Shontina Vernon, as a part of the National Black Arts Festival’s Discovery: A New Play Development Project.

Whew! I’m no prude, but there was a whole lot of sex talk goin’ on that got me to wondering how much I could handle as I questioned where I stood among the characters presented. I loved that! I enjoy being challenged and pushed to defend or further consider my stances and examine the root of their origins.

This is why I love and appreciate theatre–I grow from every encounter. Be sure to keep an eye out for Shontina Vernon’s work and dare to go bare.

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