Notes and Action Items from the 2018 LMDA Conference Workshop: Extinction of Literary Offices in the US - How do we advocate for new work now?

Summery:

We are living in an age of a beautiful abundance of new work. Unfortunately, many of these pieces struggle to find a home as theaters downsize their literary offices and end open submission policies. With the pipeline broken, we must find new ways to advocate for new work. Join panelists to learn about new models in new play advocacy. Then we'll break into small working groups to create and discuss additional models and advocacy ideas. You will leave the session with a list of new, practical, immediately actionable ways to advocate for new work.

Led by Jacqueline Goldfinger

With panelist and small group moderators Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Jeremy Stoller, Julia Bumke, Molly Marinik

Additional statements shared from Heather Helinsky, Native Voices, Maia Directors, Powerstreet Theatre, Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA), and Orbiter 3

Synopsis of the event:

The first half of the workshop was a panel discussion where various forms of advocacy outside the new play pipeline (agent/literary office/grad school) were discussed. Those alternative measures included:

-Using university and college resources to develop work and support the next generation of artsits (Green-Rogers and Helinsky)

-Creating separate consulting firms that fit the unique needs of theater artists (Stoller, Marinik and Beehive, Maia Directors)

-Moving from social justice/advocacy work into actual production (Powerstreet, PAPA)

-Utilizing non-traditional space and resources (Native Voices and the Autry)

-Self-producing (Orbiter 3)

-Sharing work widely, New Play Exchange, Carving out new space in existing structures (Goldfinger)

The second half of the workshop, we broke into small groups, shared knowledge and brainstormed possible solutions, and discussed questions that we were wrestling with in terms of new play advocacy.

Action items:

-Begin thinking about writing locally, about local topics, as an asset. Create “locally-sourced” programming and promote it in similar ways that locally-sourced Farmers Markets, etc promote. Looking at examples like The Welders (https://www.thewelders.org) and Nightswimming (http://nightswimmingtheatre.com).

-When there is so much supply of new work/writers, how can arts orgs increase their capacity? Harness technology (like the New Play Exchange) to knowledge-share about plays. Think about student-theater partnerships for new works programs (i.e. using student actors or other ways to decrease cost to the theater but also provide new work training to the students). Think more about the power of networking and establishing your own peer pool for monthly or annual recommendations.

-Think more deeply how about script solicitations are shared and advertised. Are you building your submission process to really reach your entire community, even those with fewer resources and/or less connection to the traditional theater community. If not, think about changing how you solicit material.

-Look for topics of interest in the community before and during programming rather than looking outside for work first (at NYC, American Theatre Mag, etc).

-Hyper local in commissioning and creating new works, setting them in and around adjacent communities (for example, Boston Project - http://www.speakeasystage.com/about-us-2/the-boston-project/- and Premiere Stage Commissions)

-Create new ways to meet artists that you don’t already know. For example, One Year Lease in NYC (https://www.oneyearlease.org) is holding “open play” days at a space where community members are invited in (for free) to create as well as a learn a bit about their process. The goal is to get people in the room that the company has not worked with before, but who might be a good fit for their unique process. Another way this is happening is through Open Write at Company One in Boston (https://companyone.org). Company One is booking a restaurant space and inviting the community to come in, bring their laptops, write and chat with company artists.

-Establish closer partnerships with communities outside the theater community, and take shows into their spaces. Offer classes, workshops, etc in their spaces, and meet the artists that come to those spaces, instead of expecting everyone to come to us and our space.

-Proposal-based applications, self-branding, rather than script-based. Not being so tied to if a script “looks” right, is formatted right, etc. Instead find ways to dig into the content of the ideas and see if there is a playwrights’ mind at work. Not everyone has had the opportunity to learn the “correct” way to write a script. Asking for personal statements or short answers to specific writing prompts to get to know the writer better on the page (through an application process).

-Advocate for curriculum changes in academia: reading and watching new plays early, professors speaking to others about presenting new work, pairing plays (like HIR and I AM MY OWN WIFE or CHERRY ORCHARD and AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTRY) in order to explore new/older work at the same time, teaching taste versus storytelling.

-Decentralize what plays are read in academia.

- How do you make reader pools diverse by design and how do we get readers compensated for their time? We need paid, trained readers who can read more than the first 10 pages to make informed decisions.

-Begin a new play reading club to educate both artists and audiences about reading plays.

-Who is making these choices? Are the artists being asked what they need or are we making assumptions? Are there ways that we could trade more playwrights between companies (like the NNPN Cross-Pollination program- https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/01/12/national-new-play-network-lau...) in order to share voices in new communities?

-Thinking about access also in terms of space (if your company has space to use/share): Who is served and how? How can we make the space available / share it when we are not using it? Can we make it available to playmakers when not in use, while not stretching our resources too far. Can you support other community organizations by opening your space to them so that (a) you can support your work and (b) the members of these organizations become comfortable coming to your space so might come to your and other shows as well. Thinking more about how do you provide access while respecting the company’s capacity?

-Is there a way beyond the Open Office Hours that we (LMDA) can facilitate playwright-dramaturg matches?

-Push our organizations, even those with more staid programming, to think of delving into new work in new ways, like Shakepeare’s New Contemporaries (https://americanshakespearecenter.com/new-contemporaries/) at the American Shakespeare Center

-Include more artists in the grant-writing process so that the grant-speak and the art-speak live in harmony.

-Are there other industries that can use our skills? What would it look like to dramaturg for video game creators or in television or film? Thinking about how we can use our dramaturgical skills in previously unexplored ways.