Re: RAT Playwriting Opportunities & Dramaturgs

[Michael Wright <myquagga@yahoo.com>]

dennis, thanks for such a fine articulation.  the
valorous playwright/director hacking away in the
art-war trenches is a great image and one to
absolutely treasure.  having come up through
experimental work in the early 70s, you speak exactly
the beliefs i held then and hold, mostly, now.

however, i need to speak to your opening assumptions:
the work of development and dramaturgy is not about
perfectibility.  or at least this is how i see it. 
that work is about giving the playwright all the
needed tools to keep true to her initial vision, that
spark of recognition or "holy fuck" or whatever it was
that triggered the play in the first play.  often,
rewriting or laboring alone can blur that first spark
and the work i've treasured most has been when a group
of co-artists (and 'turgs are valorous war-artists as
well) help create the space and context in which the
playwright can get back to that original vision with
her best abilities.  now, are there people in the
field who think all plays are flawed but for their
kind ministrations?  yes, but they're misguided idiots
and form a minority.  in the majority of new play
development programs--and in many theatres where new
work is done--the aim is to deliver the playwright's
vision as completely as possible, not to "perfect" it,
but to open the vision out as the playwright dictates.
 most programs i've visited have said, in one way or
the other, "here the playwright is king/queen/god." 
and they mean it, and they do it.

in some ways, i think the misapprehension of
dramaturgy is that it has gotten mixed up with the
notion of play doctoring (neil simon did this for a
long time, earning his nickname "doc") and the
out-of-town tryouts of a broadway that died a while
back and continues to kill itself off even as we
speak.  dramaturgs are not play doctors--and never
have been.  

okay enough: whoever has been suggesting that we hold
a massive dramaturgy/rat conference somewhere on the
planet has a great idea.  there's a huge office space
in d.c. that's not being used at the moment--called
"the transition headquarters" or something.  why not
there?

michael wright (with signature block again, because my
new book, playwriting master class, is in part about
the nature of process for the individal
playwright--the subtitle of the book is "the
personality of process and the art of rewriting," and
shows enough models, i hope, for pretty much every
playwright.  and there ain't a dramaturg in sight...)

--- DennisLMo@aol.com wrote:
> i guess its this abstract idea of perfectibility.
> the cool eye of the 
> dramaturg, the intelligent other person to bounce
> off ideas, get an insight, 
> find that ineffable structural twang, o so butiful
> and so fine, just made it 
> so perfect... the vision finished now, the music box
> ticking over plunk, 
> plunk, plunk... not a messy, messy, talented mess no
> more...
> 
> now then sometimes, for some of us, theater is war
> and you have the fog of 
> war. generalisimo playwright, and generalisimo
> director, and valorous, naive, 
> idealistic, give it what you got, pedal and petal to
> the metal actors... 
> taking orders, sometimes, and also talking back to
> naive, idealistic, pedal 
> to the metal, flower loving, generalisimo playwright
> and papa doc director...
> 
> i guess it's the neat box routine, the apolonian
> balance, the who would not 
> want a third reasonable eye all over their work
> respectfully asking delicate 
> leading questions here and dere, mannerly, sweet,
> cause art and life's so 
> sweet...
> 
> maybe bourgeois theatre needs the tidying hand
> (dramaturge) in a regional 
> theatre setting, so that work will not provoke... or
> provoke a subscriber 
> revolt in La Jolla or another place where the money
> is? (i pose a socratic 
> question).
> 
> after all we know brecht's entourage was no sweet
> thing... and weren't the 
> kings men rough and ready... look what happened to
> marlowe, and how about all 
> those rock'em sock'em females in the present day
> theatre scene...
> 
> love,
> dennis


=====
Michael Wright, (918) 631-3174. Shameless Self-Promotion Department: my new book, PLAYWRITING MASTER CLASS is out! (yes, in time for the holidays...)  PLAYWRITING IN PROCESS, also published by Heinemann is #4 on Amazon.Com.UK's top playwriting book list! THE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO 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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