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Re: RAT Playwriting Opportunities & Dramaturgs
megan, it's up and available on amazon and friends
have spotted it in bookstores in chicago and nyc;
don't know about minneapolis, but if you see it let me
know. the cheapest way to get it is through the
heinemann.com website, where they discount books 20%
to people who are ordering on the web.
thanks for the request, and thanks too, for the
response. i just keep smiling at how wonderfully rich
this discussion has become. amy ludwig's response
today is just fantastic--what a working relationship!
michael
--- Megan Monaghan <meganmonaghan@email.msn.com>
wrote:
> Michael, where could I get a copy of your book? The
> Playwrights' Center is
> holding a class in rewriting techniques this spring,
> and it sounds like your
> work could be a terrific addition to the resources
> we're offering.
>
> And, back on topic, thank you for your beautiful
> articulation of the
> dramaturg as war-artist. That rang a very true
> emotional chord for me as
> soon as I read it.
>
> Megan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Wright <myquagga@yahoo.com>
> To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> <rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com>
> Date: Saturday, December 02, 2000 8:54 AM
> Subject: Re: RAT Playwriting Opportunities &
> Dramaturgs
>
>
> >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.
> >
> >__________________________________________________
> >Do You Yahoo!?
> >Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of
> Products.
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>
>
>
=====
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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Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
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