@dramatistsguild

Salt Lake City is a rather good theatre town, one that does a lot of new work and new work by local writers. As a result, local playwrights do not have a difficult time getting readings. They do, however, have a difficult time getting development opportunities. How playwrights themselves might take steps toward solving this problem is what our local chapter of the Dramatists Guild focused on.

We agreed that there is a difference between staged readings and development. Most readings are not particularly helpful to development. They provide ten hours or less of rehearsal and a stand-up reading before an audience. And while that’s appreciated, development is something different. Before the play gets to the point of a reading, it needs more time with other professionals and less focus on a public reading.

With all this is mind, we invited 25 actors to join our meeting of about 20 playwrights. These were actors who had expressed an interest in working on new plays and a willingness to go down the long road with writers for the sake of the play.

It was gratifying to see the enthusiasm in the room. All of the actors were more than willing to help in any way they could. They were excited, in fact, to be included in such a meeting and pleased with the possibility of what might happen next. Over and over again, they spoke of how much they liked working with new plays. “It’s our chance to be there on the ground floor,” said one. Another expressed how important it was to keeping their skills sharp. “Sometimes we go quite a while between gigs,” she said. “This kind of work is our chance to practice our craft. We love it. We are grateful to be included.”

Likewise, playwrights were enthusiastic about the possibilities, although they repeatedly talked of not wanting to burden others with their early drafts. That trepidation, as it turned out, was inappropriately placed. All artists have a process, and most of them are uncomfortable with exposing it. Yet actors are even more vulnerable than playwrights. Much of their process is on display in the rehearsal room. They are, therefore, in a position to understand process better than most, even the mysterious process of writing.

What we all concluded was that we need more trust in ourselves, in our fellow collaborative artists, and in the process itself. It might be frightening, but it does not need to be deadly. Working with others might in fact be the best thing for our work and its future.            

jjensen@dramatistsguild.com