Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Through an open submission process, Middlebury Acting Company is looking for three new plays for our second American Dreaming New Play Festival. This festival aims to amplify three unproduced, unpublished plays that address the question: What does the American Dream mean today? The selected plays will each receive two rehearsals, dramaturgical feedback, and a culminating public staged reading followed by a carefully moderated talkback with the audience.
***
We are inviting submissions for our first 10-minute drama anthology titled ‘HEARTS & GUNS’ . The anthology will be published in e-book as well as paperback formats. Please submit your work as per the following guidelines:
a) The anthology covers the theme of world wars in general and wars in particular, so 10 minute plays revolving around or refering to these broad themes are welcome.
***
The subject of reproductive justice is one too often simplified by our current dialogues. And too often the voices and perspectives of the people most affected by restrictions, legislative prohibitions, and cultural prejudices are excluded from our artistic institutions.
A is For seeks to change that. We believe that theatre is a powerful platform through which to share stories, debunk myths, and create lasting change. We believe that theatre can transform. We want to challenge the abstract, politicized, and stigmatized ways people think about abortion and reproductive justice. We want to amplify voices which can reframe the conversation. We want to support and promote artists who can dispel myths and misconceptions. We want to hear the stories you want to tell.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site at https://www.nycplaywrights.org ***
*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
June Bingham New Playwright Commission ~ This commission opportunity provides
resources and support toward the creation and development of a new play by
early-career women/femme and/or non-binary storytellers. The opportunity will
culminate in a 60-minute 2-person play that will be workshopped and presented
as a reading for an audience at L&IC’s Fall Retreat in September of 2023.
***
FRESH WORDS 5 MINUTE PLAYS ANTHOLOGY ~ We are open for submissions for our Special
5 Minute Play Anthology 'CONTEMPORARY NEW YORK PLAYS-2022' .
1. The 5 Minute Play can be about:
a) Social,/cultural/ economic life in New York.
b) Literary trends in New york.
c) New York theatre life.
d) Migrants in New York.
e) New York and American Dream
f) Individual and New York city.
g) New York & human values
h) New York and broken dreams
i) New York and writers/artists
j) Any other topic of interest that is not covered above but deals with New
York.
***
Musical Theatre: Live & In Color is looking for playwrights, composers, and
lyricists of color and/or other underrepresented communities interested in
developing their new musical.
The selected musical submission will have a two-week workshop in the fall at
The Bingham Camp in Salem, Connecticut culminating in a staged presentation to
an invited audience.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** IN THE PIT ***
The number of musicians in a Broadway pit orchestra has always been a point of
contention between the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802 and the League
of American Theatres and Producers. These two organizations have had many
collective bargaining agreements that have helped dictate and alter the size of
orchestras on Broadway. On one side you have the musicians, who are concerned
with preserving jobs and the musical integrity of a show, and on the other you
have the producers who are trying to ensure the overall and financial success
of the show. This thesis examines these orchestral changes through a
technological, economic, and societal lens to help understand the basis for
these change
More...
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_dist/87/
***
A PEEK AT THE ORCHESTRA PIT: Not only does The Producers have the largest
orchestra (21 members including the conductor!) since our very first Broadway
show, My Fair Lady, it's also the largest orchestra currently performing in the
Chicagoland area. No small feat. Get a peek inside the orchestra pit in this
video hosted by Producers Music Director and Conductor Tom Vendafreddo. It's a
rare look into a small space that's home to some huge sounds!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O9Ao9NuhdE
***
Audiences rarely see one of the most memorable parts of a live production.
Most theater and dance performances feature live musicians tucked in a
sub-stage orchestra pit, blasting and crooning melodies that enhance the show
without audiences often realizing it.
But this wasn’t always so.
As part of The Smith Center’s ongoing blog series exploring the history of
theater magic, discover below how the orchestra pit originated.
A CROWDED STAGE
When the advent of opera in the late 1500s transformed live performances, it
led to an unexpected dilemma: a crowded stage.
Orchestras accompanying the performances were often placed on stage alongside
the actors, with as many as 50 musicians sharing the spotlight.
“Monteverdi's ‘L'Orfeo’ probably had 40 or so musicians sitting on the stage in
a hall that had an audience of about 200,” says theater writer Brad Hathaway.
By the late 1700s, some theaters seated orchestras in front of the stage —
which led to referring to a theater’s main level as the Orchestra Level.
But this only proved dangerous for musicians.
“Patrons could be quite demanding and threatening,” Hathaway says. “Musicians
in Boston printed a notice asking the ‘thoughtless or ill-disposed not to throw
apples, stones and other missiles into the orchestra.’"
More...
https://thesmithcenter.com/explore/smith-center-blog/the-invention-of-the-orchestra-pit/
***
Getting work as a musician on Broadway (1996), either as a regular or as a
substitute, is not easy. As is the case with many job searches, it is often
knowing someone that counts. "The whole business is set up on a referral
and networking basis," Mr. Russo said. "But often musicians go on the
road first to break in."
That's exactly what Mary Stephenson of Greenwich is doing. In July she joined
the Raoul Company for a one-year national tour with "Phantom of the
Opera." She moves every six to nine weeks, recently having left California
for Arizona.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/14/nyregion/it-s-a-long-trip-to-the-orchestra-pit.html
***
Broadway, looking to regain its prepandemic audiences, is relying on boldface
names such as Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, Sarah Jessica Parker…and Mike
Boschen.
Mr. Boschen is in the current revival of “The Music Man.” He is a trombonist,
and they are having a moment.
In “Hadestown,” trombonist Brian Drye appears on stage and interacts with the
cast. (As one theater observer noted on Twitter: “Phenomenal cast and all, but
the trombone is the real star.”) In “Chicago,” trombonists Bruce Bonvissuto and
James Burton III have coveted places on stage with the rest of the orchestra.
“We can feel very viscerally the energy coming from the audience,” says Mr.
Bonvissuto.
Then, there’s Mr. Boschen in “The Music Man.” “This is probably the coolest
trombone part I’ve ever gotten to play” on Broadway, says the 48-year-old
journeyman, who has performed with about 40 productions in a career that
includes shows both familiar (“Cats”) and forgotten (a musical adaptation of
Aristophanes’ “The Frogs”).
More...
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/whos-sliding-into-a-big-role-on-broadway-trombonists-11647802145
***
Seymour Red Press remembers the days when Broadway shows were bankrolled by
mobsters, when marijuana was a staple of the pit, and when brilliant maniacs
like Jerome Robbins, Jule Styne, and Charles Strouse were creating the world’s
greatest musicals. Theater may be ephemeral, but Red’s woodwind lines will live
forever on the original cast albums of shows like Gypsy, Mame, Chicago, and
Dreamgirls. In Mack & Mabel, he played the melancholy saxophone solo in
“Time Heals Everything”; in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, he played the
sublime, bluesy riff at the beginning of “My Time of Day.” Now 93, Red shows no
signs of slowing down. He has hired the musicians for every Encores! show since
the series’ inception and is an unparalleled source of musical theater lore.
“He’s like Yoda,” says Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel. “When Yoda
talks, you listen.” On a recent afternoon, we did just that.
CITY CENTER: How did you get your first Broadway gig?
SEYMOUR RED PRESS: I grew up in the era of the big bands. When I was 13, Benny
Goodman was like Elvis Presley; it was the best music I’d ever heard in my
life. As soon as I put a saxophone in my mouth, I knew that it was what I
wanted to do. My dream was to play with Benny Goodman—and I did, in 1957 at the
Waldorf Astoria. That same year, I got married and got my first Broadway show,
The Body Beautiful. It was a flop, but it was the beginning of a career I
couldn’t have imagined.
More...
https://www.nycitycenter.org/About/Blog/2017/Yoda-of-the-Orchestra-Pit/
***
TIPS FOR THE PIT
Have all of your equipment with you in an easily accessible place. This
includes instrument stands, pad blotting paper or cigarette paper (very
important – I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used my music to wipe off
condensation from my pads in a pit-related emergency), a set of tiny
screwdrivers (you can pick these up from the dollar store), ear plugs, pencils,
and small bottles of water. You likely will not have a lot of space to store
these things so try to bring a small bag that can be draped over the back of
your chair for essentials. I really like to use a simple drawstring backpack
for this purpose.
More...
https://racheltaylorgeier.org/2018/08/03/tips-for-the-pit/
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*** OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLAYWRIGHTS ***
Sundog Theatre's longtime, interrupted-by-the-pandemic series "The
Originals" continues this winter on MakerPark Radio's internet-based
station in NYC. Sundog is seeking plays that actors will read, broadcast live
on the web, and heard/seen throughout NYC, the US, and worldwide in January
2023.
***
The West Side Show Room is seeking new 10-minute works which will be presented
in a staged reading on January 19-21, 2023 in Rockford, Illinois. We accept
spoken word poetry, plays, monologues, stories— or anything written for live
performance.
***
The Atlanta Shakespeare Company is launching a new playwriting initiative for
historically marginalized artists. The "Muse Of Fire Playwriting
Festival'' invites playwrights of the global majority to create a full-length
play that reimagines Shakespeare’s themes and plots through the lens of BIPOC
America.
*** FOR MORE INFORMATION about these and other opportunities see the web site
at https://www.nycplaywrights.org
***
*** DEMOCRACY ***
In the Sophocles play “Antigone,” King Creon, after ordering the execution of
his niece for betraying him, asks, “Am I to rule for others, or myself?”
Haemon, Creon’s son and Antigone’s lover, in his shock and grief, replies, “A
State for one man is no State at all.”
This simple exchange, written around 441 B.C., demonstrates how one character
came to challenge the autocracy of another in early Greek theater, and how
Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides nurtured the idea of fairness and
representation for all during the brief two centuries of Athenian democracy.
Their plays, among the 32 that survive from what are thought to be thousands
from this era among many writers, are the earliest representations of how
democracy helped change Western civilization.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/world/europe/greece-democracy-theater.html
***
Frayn's play is densely historical, an information-fat study of the
"Guillaume affair" that upturned German politics in the 1970s. The
dialogue about coalitions – met with knowing titters on press night – comes
early, when West German chancellor Willy Brandt (Patrick Drury) is struggling
to hold together his government. As in real life, Brandt and his advisers
(William Hoyland's party elder Wehner; David Mallinson's ambitious cabinet
member Schmidt; Aidan McArdle's oily yes man Guillaume) come to have bigger
problems. East Germany, with which left-leaning Brandt seeks an entente, has
put a spy in Brandt's government. It's Guillaume, a man so close to his boss
the two share evening wine and confidential telexes. They even holiday
together.
More...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jun/24/democracy-frayn-review
***
Theater and democracy were born in the same place at the same time – in Athens
2,500 years ago — and that is no coincidence: One led to the other.
The creation of theater festivals in the 6th century BCE brought the four
warring tribes of Athens into a common space to share a common experience,
which engendered a new sense of unity, and of community. ( “In a characteristic
attempt to ensure full participation by the citizens,” one source notes, “those
eligible were paid to attend the dramatic performances.” !!)
Democracy took root shortly after these festivals began. Athens’ unprecedented
period of citizen power and engagement developed simultaneously with its
unmatched burst of theatrical creativity led by the playwrights Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides.
More...
https://newyorktheater.me/2021/01/10/theater-and-democracy-born-together-both-now-under-attack/
***
When exploring the benefits and limitations of representative democracy through
art, what better way could there be to do so than by having the audience of
said art engage in that kind of democracy themselves? Students used this unique
format during “Democracy Theater — City Council Meeting,“ a play born out of
the fall freshman seminar FRS 143: “Is Politics a Performance?”
Staged as part of Wintersession on Monday, Jan. 25, the play was a reenactment
of a city council meeting in Trenton, N.J., in which the audience itself
participated as actors. It was meant to invite reflection on the character of
representative democracy and the power imbalance it creates between those who
are represented and those who represent them.
The play opened with a recorded video of an apolitical person expressing their
dissatisfaction with electoral politics. The narrator tried, through his use of
persuasive rhetoric, to convince him that democratic institutions are worth
participating in. The video then cut to black as the creative team called on
members of the audience to participate as actors in the play. Some of the
actors became councilors, while others became members of the public, and all
volunteers were given scripts. The rest of the play was about the interaction
between these two groups of people.
More...
https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2021/03/democracy-theater-politics-local-gov-freshman-seminar-review
***
The earliest instance we have of the Greek term for demagoguery (demagogia)
appears in the Knights. It meant initially no more than “leading the demos,”the
demos being the largest political class that is by definition the poorest and
so the least educated. But “demagoguery” soon came to have the same odor it has
for us. A demagogue is an unscrupulous master of slippery rhetoric who, for his
own ends, plays the crowd like a cheap fiddle. As a character in the Knights
puts it, “demagoguery no longer belongs to a man acquainted with the things of
the Muses or to one whose ways are upright / But to somebody unlearned and
loathsome.”
In the play Cleon is dubbed “Paphlagon” (roughly “Blusterer”), a servant of the
Athenian people who are presented as a single householder, Mr. Demos. (Think
Uncle Sam.) Athens’s two greatest generals at the time, Demosthenes and Nicias,
also appear as servants of Mr. Demos and so see first-hand the dirty tricks
Paphlagon-Cleon is up to. In cooperation with the upper-class knights, these
great military men plot to restore Athens to something like the grandeur of its
past. Make Athens Great Again!
More...
https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/52300/demagogues-democracy-an-ancient-comedy-for-modern-times/
***
“The Minutes” had its official opening Sunday at Broadway’s Studio 54, in a
juicily subversive production directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Taking place during
a closed city council meeting in mythical Big Cherry in Almost Anystate,
U.S.A., this sterling comedy-drama starts in unassumingly sedate fashion.
Ninety minutes later, it explodes like a meticulously wrapped gift that had
been hiding a live grenade. What unfolds in between is a scathing satire of the
American way — which is to say, the official predilection for denial, denial,
denial of the country’s historic sins, particularly as they concern the cruel
treatment of its original inhabitants.
“Democracy’s messy,” Big Cherry’s mayor, played with impeccable control
freakiness by stage and film actor Letts himself, opines to the council’s
dissenting member, Mr. Peel (an outstanding Noah Reid). That declaration is a
smokescreen for the ongoing effort to perpetuate Big Cherry’s Big Lie —
concerning the town’s origin story — which playwright Letts exhilaratingly
brings to light, point by mendacious point.
More...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2022/04/18/the-minutes-tracy-letts-broadway/
***
Theater is the essential artform of democracy...truth comes from the collision
of different ideas and the emotional muscle of empathy are the necessary tools
of democratic citizenship.”
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater in New York, speaks to
the importance of dialogue in theater to give perspective and empathy, that
truth is not held within one person, but by the conflict of various points of
view.
https://live.stanford.edu/2020-digital-season/oskar-eustis-why-theater-essential-democracy
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