Re: RAT Re: Jeff Jones info.

[nick <nick@nickspix.com>]

Laurel, Mitch, Lee, Chris, Rob,

My friends.  Why are we talking to Jeff in the third person?  The reason we
read his posting is because he is on the rat-list.  And I think all our
praise here is making him blush.  Also, Mitch, I imagine that he has a
*password* at the web site for his scripts because…. but now I'm talking
about him in the third person. 

Erik has said that a play is a gift that a playwright gives to a theater; a
production is a gift that a theater gives to a playwright.  The difficulty
in trying to put together a RAT Playwrights Database is not just how to
preserve that sentiment, but expand on it.   Playwrights don't make a
living from their work, but they need to be able to discriminate on whom
they grant productions.  Publication, whether at a web site or elsewhere,
becomes a factor in that process.  How?  

We are going to launch a new and improved RAT web site in a few days.  The
RAT Playwrights Database will be there as a projection only, but I really
would like to see it become a reality.  One of its possibilities is to help
define a new way for playwrights and producers to initially meet one
another. Now that it's so easy through the Web, the public part of
PUBLICation is a new and scary thing.  Playwrights aren't quite sure if
they want their scripts so easily available to be read by everyone.  I have
a sense that the RAT Playwrights Database needs to define who is reading as
much as who is presenting the scripts. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Best,
Nick

PostScript to Jeffrey Jones.  Thanks for the thoughtful Re: Joyce posting a
few days ago.  I worked awhile on a response, but got bogged down with some
other work and had to set it aside.  I'll get back to it soon.  Basically,
it's about the definition of "the act of reading".  Redefined most acutely
this century by Joyce.  It's a great metaphor having the near blind Joyce
dictating Finnegans Wake to his then secretary Samuel Beckett -- and later
_Waiting for Godot_ also presenting our century with a very difficult and
rewarding read.