DG National Report: New Jersey by Stephen Kaplan
@dramatistsguild @bystephenkaplan
How many of your New Year’s Resolutions include writing more? It’s certainly top of my list.
Motivation tends to be the most common obstacle I’ve found and, from experience, one of the best motivators is having someone else hold you accountable. That’s where writer’s groups come in.
Writer’s groups come in all different shapes and sizes and no two are exactly alike –each has its own temperament and personality and is not a fit for everyone.
This month I wanted to highlight two writer’s groups that DG members belong to and the great work that they’re doing.
The Theater Project: Based in Union County and led by TPP Artistic Director Mark Spina, the Playwrights Script Development Workshop includes many DG members like Susan Barsky, Stephanie Griffin, Luigi Jannuzzi, Ed Lataro, Joe Vitale, and Mary Jane Walsh. Members meet privately once a month to read scenes from works-in-progress, giving the writers the opportunity to discuss their scripts with other playwrights, actors and directors. Each month, one play is chosen for a public script-in-hand presentation at the Cranford Community Center, which includes a discussion between the author and the audience.
In November and April, TPP offers ten-minute play festivals made up of work from the group, along with one or two selections from their annual Young Playwrights Competition (TPP authors help judge and offer free tutorials to students). The group also runs THINK FAST, a competition for adult writers who are not part of the group, which is a way for new writers to introduce themselves to the group.
Member Mary Jane Walsh writes, “Right off the bat, when I joined TTP, my strange little solo play, My Sister’s Back Is Killing Me, was up and running in the Project’s first short play competition. That was two years ago, and the pace hasn’t slowed down since. There are always TTP production and public reading opportunities that motivate me and others in the Project’s playwriting group to keep on working. Nothing stagnates. Group members offer each other insight and expertise to help get around the snags and over the bumps that obstruct our work. The encouragement is sincere, the critiques are kind and the results can be seen on stage.”
For more information on being part of TPP, visit them at www.thetheaterproject.org and e-mail Mark Spina at mark@thetheaterproject.org
The Grange Playwrights: Based in Howell, The Grange Playwrights grew out of The Grange Playhouse, located in a 19th century schoolhouse. The Playhouse is now the home of a collective of producers, writers, directors, actors, musicians and designers, and produces a new show each month.
Led by executive producer and artistic director Jade Greene, The Grange Playwrights meet quarterly to delve into the scripts that each member is working on and read by actors attending the meeting. Writers critique each play, and DG member Pam Munson Steadman, who’s been part of Grange since the Playhouse first produced her play, HomeFront: Between the Lines, says, “This is the very first group that I have worked with where animosity does not rear its ugly head. It truly is the most supportive group that I have been involved with in my many years of writing and playwriting.”
Among its many productions featuring work from the writer’s group are thematic one-act festivals and a yearly sampler show that highlights five pages of writer’s scripts and audiences offer feedback and help guide future theatre programming. The Playhouse’s audience has grown greatly over the past few years, attributing their attendance to the fact that they enjoy seeing original plays as opposed to the more familiar plays performed by other regional theaters close by.
One additional special feature of the group is an e-publishing catalogue, offered as a tool for The Grange playwrights to put their plays available for others to read and produce.
For more information on The Grange, visit them at http://www.thegrangeplaywrights.com or http://www.thegrangeplayhouse.com and e-mail Jade Greene at cafetheatrenj@gmail.com
These are just two of the many groups that NJ hosts – if you’re a member of another group, please e-mail me and I’d love to feature you and your group in a future Report.
Happy New Year and happy writing!
[photo caption: TPP Writers: Front Row (L-R): Mary Jane Walsh, Jewel Seehaus Fisher, and Susan Barsky, Back Row (L-R) Luigi Jannuzzi, Mike McGoldrick, Chuck Denk and Joseph Vitale]
[photo caption: The Grange Playwrights: Company of Work]