Re: RAT Re: obscurity

["chris mac" <cmacdona@adobe.com>]

Hi Karen:

I've been watching these comments fly by and I just wanted to say that your
last posting seems to be the most honest: you have unencumbered yourself of
all the perceived trappings of being a writer. You have loosened up. But I
disagree with you when you say that theater writers work alone.

I think we are all at our best when we collaborate together. I mean what
play comes out fully and perfectly formed? You learn from a staged reading,
you make changes, you learn from first productions, you make changes again.
I guess I'm advocating for the Carol Churchill/ Joint Stock process, where
plays are written and rewritten based on feedback from everyone involved.
(This line doesn't communicate what I wanted theatrically; how do I make it
better?)

So don't feel so all alone. Find a local group to do your stuff. If you
can't find a local group, create one. The best way to improve your writing
for the theater is to get involved with the production of your plays. So do
what you need to do to make that happen. Maybe get off the net for a while,
go do some gardening, clear your head, and figure where and how you can get
your stuff in front of people.

I'll shut up now.

...C
----------
>From: "Karen Cronacher" <kcron@ix.netcom.com>
>To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>Subject: Re: RAT Re: obscurity
>Date: Tue, Feb 23, 1999, 1:15 PM
>

> oh no no no.  i'm an actress too.  i just mean, i don't have to wait to get
> cast or wait to get a rehearsal space to write...i can do it by myself,
> anywhere.  i practice my acting only when i'm working on a solo piece..and
> then i need my director around to edit my choices.  i don't know that actors
> and directors have to do their craft everyday...but writers and musicians
> have to...maybe i'm wrong...if so then i stand corrected.  the writer is the
> only craftsperson in theatre who works alone, everyone else is doing
> communal work.  i don't mean to be disrespectful to the arts of acting or
> directing, or privilege writing.
>
> --Karen
> ----------
>>From: thadd@cstone.net (Thadd McQuade)
>>To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>>Subject: Re: RAT Re: obscurity
>>Date: Mon, Feb 22, 1999, 7:47 PM
>>
>
>>
>>
>>Karen Cronacher wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> number three:  just as i have a wild and cluttered busy inner life as a
>>> writer, i happen to have an external life that does not allow time for
>>> "hanging out".  please, i am a woman!  i mean no offense here, just
>>> explanation.  like other artists, my whole life is art, and full of
>>> meaningful projects,im in my 30s, etc.i am renovating a house, gardening,
>>> and i have two dogs, a talking parrot, and a cat.  i put all my spare time
>>> into writing, two hours a day if i can get it!  And writers (not actors or
>>> directors) have to do that.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>I'm sorry, perhaps I'm just dazzled by the brilliance of your writing.  Are
you
>>meaning to suggest that writers need to work on their craft everyday, but
actors
>>and directors need not?
>>
>>
>>Thadd McQuade
>>Foolery
>>Charlottesville, VA.
>>thadd@foolery.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> The auality of the script, as it reflects the mind of the playwright, is
>>> everything.
>>>
>>> --Karen
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>