The Playwright's Forum

NEWSLETTER

December 2011 - 21.6

SPRING 2012 REGISTRATION:
FORUM 1 & FORUM 2

FORUM 2. Forum 2 members must register with the application form on this page to continue or re-activate for the next 4-month session. The fee is $120. Do try to include full or half payment as indicated. Bi-weekly meetings are at 6:30 p.m., Wednesdays, at St. Mary's Armenian Church, D.C

FORUM 1. To insure your place in the upcoming Forum 1 session, please fill out and mail the application form on this page. Current members please notify us by January 13th. Do try to include full or half payment as indicated. If you have any problem with that pre-payment, don’t hesitate to call Ernie at 301-816-0569. The fee is $120. Forum 1 will include three groups of 8-10 members, in 6 bi-weekly meetings. Our faculty includes, for the Fall, Ernie Joselovitz and Allison Pruitt.

Tuesdays. Bethesda Elementary School. 6:30-9 p.m. January 24th to April 3rd. Joselovitz.

Wednesdays. St. Mary's Armenian Church. 7:00-9:30 p.m. January 25th to April 4th. Pruitt.

Thursdays. Cleveland Park Library, D.C. 6:30-9 p.m. January 19th to March 29th. Joselovitz

One-on-One E-Mail Option. Joselovitz.

How to Register:
We will confirm your place in one of our groups. For any enquiries, please call Ernie at 301-816-0569 or Allison at 703-448-0209, or e-mail pforum7@yahoo.com. 1. Current members who wish to continue are given priority. Please register by January 13th. 2. Members who discontinued at the last session will be offered the first chance to fill vacancies. 3. Associate members and then all others will be welcomed into the Forum's remaining openings.

THE FORUM - SPRING 2012 REGISTRATION

Please register ________________________________________
for the upcoming session of
___ Forum 1
___ Forum 2

___ I am a current member.
___ I was a member of the Summer 2011 Session.
___ I am an Associate Member.

My preference is for the group at ___________________
on _______day.

I prefer the one-on-one email option _____.

I’ve enclosed a pre-payment of _____$120 _____ $60

Telephone Number ______________________________
E-mail ________________________________________

Street Address (if new member)
______________________________________
______________________________________

Send check and hard-copy of form to: Playwrights Forum, P.O. Box 5322, Rockville, MD 20848.

PLAYWRIGHTS FORUM HANDBOOK!
Sixth Edition

The Learning Environment. Your guide to getting the most from the full range of Playwrights Forum activities.

The Craft. The PF methodology, along with expert advice and handy tips from “How do I start?” to third-draft woes.

The Market. The “how-to” from letters of inquiry to surfing the up-to-the-minute guides to today’s playmarketing.

_____YES! I want my copy of PLAYWRIGHTS FORUM HANDBOOK 6. I’ve enclosed $7.50, which includes mailing costs. Send it to:

Name ________________________________________

Street Address (if new member)
______________________________________
______________________________________

Make check to Playwrights Forum. Mail to: Playwrights Forum, P.O. Box 5322, Rockville, MD 20848.

WORTH NOTING

Two Halves of a Circle: Ronald and Nancy Reagan (commissioned as part of the Reagan Centennial Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery) by Forum 2's Martha King De Silva. Directed by Michael Kramer. Featuring Naomi Jacobson and Jeff Allin. Monday, December 5th at 7:00 pm. Nan McEvoy Auditorium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center (DWRC) for American Art and Portraiture (National Portrait Gallery), 8th and F Streets, NW. No admission, but you must make a reservation: (202) 633-8520.

Forum friend Bari Biern helped put together Arlen Blues & Berlin Ballads, running at the Atlas Performing Arts Center's Sprenger Theater December 2-11, part of the In-Series. Further info: www.inseries.org.

Former Forum 2's Allyson Currin will see her newest play, Hercules in Russia, premier at Doorway Arts Ensemble Theatre on February 10th. Directed by Forum friend Jessica Lefkow. Further info: www.doorwayarts.org.

Adventure Theatre, now celebrating its 60th year, is seeking volunteer House Managers for its matinee performances. See DC favorites perform for free. If interested, please send a note about your experience and desire to learn about theatre, and your contact info to cmorrison@adventuretheatre.org.

FORUM ON-LINE

Facebook group “DC-Area Playwrights,” recommended by Forum member: www.facebook.com/groups/225391870819610/

ADDENDUM TO DRAMATISTS GUILD CONFERENCE

What Makes A Good Musical Theatre Song?
by Adrian Verkouteren

At the Dramatists Guild's first national conference in June, Stephen Schwartz, composer/lyricist for Broadway musicals such as Godspell, Pippin and Wicked, spent two sessions talking about musical theatre. One of his topics was what distinguishes a musical theatre song from a pop or stand-alone art song.

First, a musical theatre song has a purpose beyond entertainment; it generally serves one of several functions within the show; and unlike pop or other stand-alone songs, a musical theatre song has context. It draws meaning from what comes before and gives meaning to what comes after. It is, therefore, part of a longer-form work and must fit into a larger musical, as well as dramatic, structure.

By organizing storytelling and making it entertaining, a song can speed up time by pushing through scenes that separately would take much longer. "A Weekend In The Country" from A Little Night Music combines four successive conversations among five characters in various combinations. Just as music can compress time, it can also stretch it to stress the importance of a moment that calls for emphasis. Soliloquy songs like "I'm Not That Girl" from Wicked often step outside time for just this reason.

A song can (and often does) illuminate character by telling who someone is or what drives him or her, as does "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man" from My Fair Lady.

A song can also express an important idea, as "Tradition" does in Fiddler On The Roof, or South Pacific's "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught."

Sometimes writers use a song just to kick up the energy of a scene (although tying this to a significant event makes the moment stronger). Any choreography number has this function. "One Short Day" from Wicked raises the level of its scene at the same time it marks the completion of a bonding between Elphaba and Galinda.

A technical difference between musical numbers and the pop songs heard repeatedly on recordings and the radio is that writers of a theatre song know the audience will hear it in real time; so they must be able to understand the lyrics in one sitting. To make this possible, songwriters need to build in ways to let the ear “rest” during the song. Instrumental breaks and repetitions such as refrains in the chorus and song reprises let the audience process what it has just heard. Mr. Schwartz credits Stephen Sondheim, known for the density of his lyric writing, with also being an expert at allowing his audience's ears to rest.

PLAYWRIGHTS FORUM'S 18TH PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE:
THE NEW GENERATION

For those who wish further information about the theatres and theatre organizations, all showing concrete interest in producing new plays, which participated in our Playwrights Conference last month:

Adventure Theatre. www.adventuretheatre.org/
Baltimore Playwrights Festival. www.baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org/
Capital Fringe. www.capfringe.org/
dog & pony dc. www.dogandponydc.com
Doorway Arts Ensemble. www.doorwayarts.org/
Flashpoint/Source Festival. www.flashpointdc.org/
Georgetown Theatre Company. www.georgetowntheatre.org/
Live Garra Theatre (formerly InnerCircle Repertory). www.bonifanttheatrespace.org/id10.html
Spooky Action Theatre Company. www.spookyaction.org
Taffety Punk. www.taffetypunk.com
Theater Alliance. www.theateralliance.com
Venus Theatre. http://venustheatre.org/

READINGS SCHEDULE

Public:

February 13 - On Michigan Avenue by Art Luby. Directed by Mary Suib. 7 p.m. Monday. MetroStage/Alexandria.

February 27 - In The Dust, God's Rumpled Shadow & Five Plates of Palachintz by Charles Fenyvesi.7 p.m. Monday. Iona Senior Services Center, Tenleytown, D.C.

In-House:

December 5 - Workshop Reading Series. Cold readings of script selections by Thomas Mason, Jr., Lisa White, and Charles Fenyvesi. Directed by Mary Suib. 7 p.m. Monday. Twinbrook Recreation Center, Rockville.

January 9 - Son by James Beller. Directed by Gillian Drake. 7 p.m. Monday. St. Mary’s Armenian Church.

January 16 - Body in the Trunk by Larry Sifford.   7 p.m. Monday. St. Mary’s Armenian Church, D.C.

January 30 - The Longest Night of the Year by Thomas Mason, Jr. Directed by Catherine Aselford. 7 p.m. Monday. St. Mary’s Armenian Church, D.C.

Frequent addresses for meetings and readings:

St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church, 4125 Fessenden St NW, Washington, DC 20016.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 6701 Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815.

Iona Senior Services Center, 4125 Albemarle Street NW, Washington, DC 20016.

Round House Theatre’s Education Center. 925 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Twinbrook Recreation Center. 12920 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20851.

MetroStage. 1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Centro Nia.  1420 Columbia Rd., NW, Washington DC 20009

FORUM 2 SCHEDULE

December 14 - Round table discussion
December 28 - NO MEETING
January 11 - Round table discussion
January 25 - Round table discussion
February 8 -Round table discussion

*All meetings at 7 p.m., St. Mary’s Armenian Church. All members, active and associate, are invited to readings when at these meetings.

KVELLING pronounced exactly as it's spelled. Yiddish: to gush, to swell. Here is where you will find tidbits about Forum members and Associate members. Good things that have happened to our colleagues inside and outside the Playwrights Forum neighborhood. Send it all <sheilah.kleiman3@verizon.net>.

Forum 2's Karen Zacarias and Ernie Joselovitz were the panel discussing "Playwriting as a Profession," moderated by Forum 2's Rich Amada, sponsored by the Dramatists Guild, on the afternoon of December 4th.

Former Forum 1 member Susan Middaugh saw her Old Goldilocks & The Two Bears performed in Reisterstown, MD.

Chuck Knauf's Seasons in the Glen has been touring for the Tri-Cities Opera's Education Program.

Barry's Weinberg (Forum 1) will see his play, End Papers, workshoped by the Theatrical Mining Company (Forum friend Barry Feinstein) in Baltimore.

SPOTLIGHT ON....

GETTING YOUR AUDIENCE

The discussion that follows a Playwrights Forum public reading of your script is the single-most important opportunity to understand how an audience hears the play and imagines the seeing of it fully staged. So that having an audience, enough of an audience, is an essential part of the ongoing developmental process. That might not be easy. Here's how some of our playwrights have brought that audience to their readings:

Ted Groll

For my readings, I invariably trust you to come up with a top-notch director who in turn can be expected to come up with a top-notch cast. I keep a invitee list of former colleagues and long-time friends who expect that I'll write a play that is based for the most part on our shared experiences in the Foreign Service. In other words, they know what I'm trying to say, are familiar with where I'm headed.

The wine-and-snack bar my wife and I furnish during the intermission period also helps keep my audience in a good mood. Lastly, in almost all of my work, I try to both educate and entertain, and if that is successful I've attracted a following.

Paula Stone

I truly love public readings and the discussion that follows. I learn so much! So I put a lot of effort into creating a welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels that I value his/her contribution to the development process—which I honestly do! For starters, I have a good email distribution list of potentially interested audience-goers/friends. Then I take the time to convey to invitees the importance of his/her presence at both the reading and the discussion afterwards. I put a lot of advance thought into what I want to gain from the discussion; and during the discussion, I intentionally try to stay focused on the hard questions, listen carefully, and acknowledge comments made. Finally, I send out thank-you's afterwards and may follow-up with individuals about specific comments.

In general, I suppose I take nothing and no one for granted. The actors, the director, the audience—everyone gives me an enormous gift with their participation. In return, I want everyone to have a fun, interesting, and intellectually challenging experience. A nice reception, with good food and drink, is another way I express my appreciation.

Molly Schuchat

I belong to an organization, the Asian American Forum, that read (with rehearsals including proper accents) an earlier play of mine. They liked it and wanted more, even though not about Asia. So some of them have come to different readings, often with interesting suggestions. Then the building where we have lived for the last 6 years, a very large building, somehow learned about my occasional readings and—with my own reminders—have been very positive. So a varied group of some of them attend. Then I have relatives and old friends who are "forced" to attend, although they seem quite happy to do so. That is who comes to my reading.

Marilyn Millstone

All I do is send out a broadcast e-mail to all my friends, telling them how long and hard I've worked on the play and how much their attendance would mean to me. I think it's important to let your potential audience know how important their feedback—not just their attendance—is for the development of the play. People respond best when they really feel they're needed.