@dramatistsguild @BrentEnglar

On Saturday, April 9, DC rep Allyson Currin and I held a joint-regional meeting in Baltimore. (Thank you to Amy Bernstein for securing the room.) Including Ally and me, sixteen members attended—commuting from southern Pennsylvania, northern Virginia, and as far west as Hagerstown—plus one prospective member (who, following the meeting, promptly asked how to join). For those who could not attend, this column summarizes the main points of discussion.

Now as then, I shall begin by relating a memory from the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s 2016 convention, where I and three other reps—Nancy Gall-Clayton (Kentucky), Josh Hartwell (Denver), and Kim Stinson (North Carolina)—gave a panel titled “What the Dramatists Guild Does & Why.” As we discussed the Dramatist’s Bill of Rights, a young woman in the back of the room raised her hand. Recently she had written a short play for her college’s new works festival, but she had been unable to attend rehearsals. She was therefore distressed when, at the first performance, she discovered the director and actors (also students at her college) had rewritten her play, changing lines and intentions. At the same time, she hadn’t known whether her feelings were justified—aren’t plays changed like this all the time? Simply learning that she, and only she, has the right to artistic integrity proved a great relief.

I have no idea if this young writer will ever join the Dramatists Guild. Regardless, she benefits from our presence, our solidarity, and our work to educate others about truths that, unfortunately, are not always self-evident. And if someday she does join the Guild, she’ll have opportunities to attend the kinds of programming that we discussed next at April’s meeting. (How’s that for a transition!)

-By the time you read this, the “spring season” of Baltimore Footlights will have concluded and I’ll be soliciting requests for the fall. Between March and June we organized public readings and talkbacks for four regional playwrights. If you’re interested in receiving a reading between September and December, please contact me ASAP for more details.

-Likewise, if a show you’ve written is being produced at a regional theatre, please let me know. It’s been months since our last “dinner and a show,” and I would love to organize more such gatherings.

-Also at April’s meeting, I emphasized my desire to continue reaching out to local colleges and universities, to help educate students about dramatists’ rights and the Guild (and, perhaps, to lay the groundwork for future memberships). To that end, my regional ambassador, Ann Fraistat, and I are organizing a new works festival at the University of Maryland, College Park, tentatively scheduled for February 19–26. If you’d be interested in serving as a mentor for the festival, please contact me for more details.

-We also discussed the logistics of national conferences. (I was the only person who had attended the 2015 conference, due mainly to the expense of traveling to LaJolla.) Nearly everyone was willing to attend a conference along the New York-DC corridor, but only about half would travel farther north or south or to the Midwest. Several people asked whether, prior to future conferences, the Guild could identify members living near the venue who would volunteer to house out-of-state members (a kind of DG-BNB).

Finally, Ally and I discussed topics from last February’s meeting for regional reps, in New York. We urged attendees to look out for information about the DG Institute, a print-on-demand Resource Directory, “super regions,” the next phase of the Count, and (hopefully) guidelines and best practices for new-works festivals and ensemble-generated and devised works. (Again, by the time you read this, some of these initiatives will already have been announced.)

As I’ve already exceeded my word count for this column, I will close by encouraging those who would like more details about any particular topic to contact me.

Have a great summer!

benglar@dramatistsguild.com