Re: RAT Re dramaturgy

[Cara <cgr9456@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>]

A discussion of the discussion.  How masterbatory.
Just a little irony...

xo Cara

>wow, you know, there is this amazingly smug tone to
>some of these communications.  like, what's being said
>here, that one person's opinion is less valid because
>he's got professional credits or likes to include his
>bona fides in his communications?  there's been a kind
>of hipper-than-thou thing on the rat list for some
>time now and it's really bush league.  when you talk
>to jeff sweet, you're talking to someone who knows the
>history of theatre inside and out, who has done more
>to promote playwriting and theatre of the fringe than
>most people, and maybe for one minute you ought to
>pull back from your lonely tower of self-wonderfulness
>and get some perspective.
>
>this whole discussion has been fascinating, hasn't it?
> there's thems what don't need dramaturgs and aren't
>afraid to show how superior they are to the whole
>thing, and then there's the rest of us who kind of
>think theatre is a continually evolving collaborative
>art form that should be inclusive and embracing of all
>voices, and so are willing to put up with the
>self-superior ones--until they start to get really
>stupid and insulting.
>
>i mean, what is it all about now--signature blocks?
>wow.
>
>michael wright (signature block included below, a
>number of lines long)
>
>-- nick <nick@nickspix.com> wrote:
>> Sorry Sweetie,
>>
>> I got my adjectives and nouns mixed up.  I meant to
>> say pedantic
>> professional, not professional pedant.
>>
>> And I don't mean to be rude, exactly.  It's just
>> that you're not my ideal
>> reader.  Too many lines in your email signature.
>> Nothing left to speculate
>> on.
>>
>> --nick
>>
>>
>> At 03:14 PM 11/29/00 EST, DgSWEET@aol.com wrote:
>> >In a message dated 11/29/2000 2:59:55 PM Eastern
>> Standard Time,
>> >nick@nickspix.com writes:
>> >
>> ><< I'm so glad that the professional pedant remains
>> a part of the audience
>> >here.
>> >  >>
>> >
>> >Thank you.  I am a professional.  I make most of my
>> living as a playwright.
>> >I am also a pedant in that, yes, people actually
>> pay me to teach this
>> stuff.
>> >And seem to be happy to do so since a lot of my
>> students have done pretty
>> >well.
>> >
>> >Notwithstanding the wisecracks, "playwright" is
>> still the noun and
>> >"playwriting" is still the verb most commonly used
>> by the folks who do this.
>> >
>> >>> And that any writing without a reader or
>> audience or production as its
>> >endgame is an act of masturbation.
>> >
>> >Or possibly an act of hope.  People write for a lot
>> of reasons and out of a
>> >lot of impulses.  As long as the work turns out
>> well, I don't care what the
>> >impulses are.
>> >
>> >I am sorry you think that to be either a
>> professional or a pedant is
>> >something worthy of snidery.  But making rude
>> comments about others opens
>> >yourself up to rude speculations about you by
>> others.
>> >
>> >----------------------------------
>> >Jeffrey Sweet
>> >Resident Playwright, Victory Gardens Theatre
>> >Faculty, Actors Studio at the New School
>> >Council, the Dramatists Guild of America
>> >DGSweet@aol.com
>> >www.jeffreysweet.com
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
>=====
>Michael Wright, (918) 631-3174. Shameless Self-Promotion Department: my
>new book, PLAYWRITING MASTER CLASS is out! (yes, in time for the
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>PLAYWRITING OPPORTUNITIES (2nd Ed., co-edited with Elena Carrillo) is
>available; (802) 867-2223 or Fax (802) 867-0144 to order.
>
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