For serious playwrights seeking a craft-based program combined with the benefits of working without distraction, Artistic New Directions (AND) offers a five-day intensive program this summer, at the Sunny Oaks Hotel in Wood Ridge, N.Y.
AND is focused on identifying the craft problems that plague writers, and is designed for serious professionals looking for techniques to help them get over the common obstacles that playwrights face.
The training at AND is run by Jeffrey Sweet, who teaches dramatic writing for the Actors Studio and the University of Iowa. A Back Stage contributor, Sweet has authored two books, "Dramatist's Toolkit," which deals with the craft of playwriting, and "Something Wonderful Right Away," which chronicles the history of Second City. He also co-edited the "Best Plays Annual" with Otis Guernsey, and is a produced playwright.
"The distinctive part of the program's method," says Kristine Niven, the artistic-producing director for AND, "is that we believe that playwriting is an outgrowth of the actor's craft and the journalist's craft, as opposed to the craft of the novelist or short story writer." Niven adds that Sweet also teaches the value of improvisation, and that AND offers a concurrent program in musical theatre.
"We also have Michael Montel, who is a Broadway and regional director," Niven says. "Michael comes up for a few days in the program and does dramaturgy. He will be working with each of the participants."
Niven explains that AND participants bring in original work, where it is read and discussed. Then they go back and work individually before returning with their plays back for subsequent sessions.
One of the difficult problems in playwriting, and something that is commonly addressed at AND, is managing exposition (factual information), and making it sound natural‹not like the playwright was trying to get facts into the script just to get some point across. Niven says that many playwrights need help making their exposition sound natural.
Sweet's approach to the craft of playwriting is based on the idea that anyone can be taught how to use techniques to overcome obstacles. In this way, AND believes the program can help when playwrights get stuck by letting a character get boxed into a situation that the writer can't get the character out of.
Niven says that Sweet also covers techniques like learning how to negotiate ways of putting energy or life into a scene, including the use of objects. "For instance, you can place an apple in a character's hand," Niven explains, "and how they toss it back and forth, their visual behavioral manner, gives you a sense of what the character means."
The tuition fee for Artistic New Directions is $340, which covers five days of instruction. The program runs Aug. 1-6. Room and board is not included and is arranged by participants directly with the Sunny Oaks Hotel, which Niven describes as being in a delightfully rustic setting. ("Think "Dirty Dancing,' she says.") Sunny Oaks is located near Monticello, N.Y., approximately two hours north of New York City, and is accessible by car or bus. Prices for five days of room and board range from $260-$325, depending on your selection.
Artistic New Directions‹for information/application forms‹Att'n: Kristine Niven, 250 W. 90th St. (15G), NYC, 10024. Phone: (212) 875-1857; E-mail: artnewdir aol.com.
Directors and Actors as Peers
Physicality and structure are key subjects of focus at New York City's Playwrights Horizons Theatre School (PHTS), which is offering a comprehensive two-part program this summer, tailored for professional playwrights. The full summer program at PHTS is divided into Section I, "Creating Original Work: A Theatre Composition Laboratory," and Section II, "Playwrights Workshop."
The first section offers playwrights the unique opportunity to work directly with directors and actors as peers. In the lab, playwrights collaborate with actors and directors who read and perform the playwright's original work.
"The course involves playwrights in the overall process of theatre through acting classes, and by developing voice and movement skills and building upon existing acting technique," says Michael Lonergan of Playwrights Horizons. "A large component of the class is creating original work. It gives directors and actors the opportunity to stretch and to work with different types of text to create a different type of piece. In the past, we have even used Shakespeare sonnets and news clippings to create a theatrical event.
Playwrights in this class collaborate with the directors and the actors on their original works. They learn through actors and directors how to deal with different obstacles, like dramatic structure and theatrical convention. These are things that can only be discovered when you're working with actors and directors, as opposed to how a playwright normally works‹which is independently, on a computer. "They get to work as a peer with directors and actors in these classes and it deepens their understanding of the whole theatre collaboration."
Lonergan says that the Theatre Composition Laboratory is taught by Marleen Pennison, a director-choreographer who runs her own dance company, the Marleen Pennison Dance Theatre. A six-week program, the lab is offered at Playwrights Horizons in midtown Manhattan. The workshop comprises an intensive, 40-hour week, and runs from June 28-Aug. 6, Mon.-Fri., 9 am-6 pm.
The second section, Playwrights Workshop, is run by Stuart Spencer, whose play "Resident Alien" was presented at the 1998 Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Ky., and is now being developed into a film. The Playwrights Workshop is described as a "safe environment in which the writer is encouraged to explore his or her own voice within the context of a rigorous examination of form and structure." Participants explore form and structure as ways of "freeing and focusing the creative impulse," rather than as roadblocks to the creative process. Structural exercises and spontaneous writing games are also used as tools to investigate these ideas. In terms of developing works, playwrights in the program are encouraged, although not required, to complete a short play.
Lonergan says that interaction between the two sections of the summer program is also encouraged, and that plays written in the workshop are produced at the end of the session.
A six-week program, the Playwrights Workshop, too, is offered at Playwrights Horizons. The workshop runs three days a week for a total of 15 hours a week. The program is offered June 28-Aug. 6, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10 am-3 pm.
Together, the lab program and the workshop comprise PHTS's full summer program. The fee for the full program (both sections) is $2,500. Section II, the Playwrights Workshop, can be taken separately and is offered on its own for $600. While playwrights at the workshop-only level will still interact with actors and directors in the full program, their participation is limited somewhat and the level of collaboration is not as intense.
Playwrights Horizons, Att'n: Michael Lonergan, 440 Lafayette St. (4th Floor), NYC 10003. Phone: (212) 529-8720; E-mail: phtschool aol.com.
Subtle Changes
The one thing about EST Institute that sets it apart," says Ensemble Studio Theatre's Maria Gabriele, "is that it's connected to the leading developmental theatre in the country. It's been producing and discovering playwrights for over 25 years."
While certain participants and topics in this summer's lineup at EST's Summer Conference are still being worked out, there will be the familiar EST format of six one-week labs and four weekend workshops. Some of the subjects that will be addressed as topics for each of the six week-long labs include such subjects as: individualized playwriting instruction (with writing, readings, and critiques) that focuses on structure, imagination, rehearsal, and production; an actor's intensive workshop concentrating on the Meisner Technique; a writers' gym, which will focus on exercises to explore characterization, dramatic action, and plot development; a lab on one-act plays, focusing on the craft of creating character and development in a 10-minute play format; and a theatre lab designed to stretch artistic muscles and develop ensemble techniques.
The weekend workshops will feature a variety of topics, which are still being determined. In the past, EST has offered a writing workshop for women; a two-part workshop covering audition technique, as well as the "art of the one-person show"; a lab dedicated to the reading and creation of new works; and a workshop that employed acting and writing exercises to discover the "detailed life" necessary to create a character and to propel action in a play. Similar fare is planned for 1999.
"To get an idea of the program, the best thing is to look at the theatre's membership," Gabriele says. "The list includes names like Edward Allan Baker, Leslie Ayvazian, Ellen Barkin, and Curt Dempster."
Gabriele said that while there are a few changes from the popular EST lineup, many regulars will return this summer. An example is Curt Dempster, who will be back this year with his playwriting lab. Dempster is the artistic director of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and is involved in EST's annual one-act play "marathon," which will feature 12 plays this May and June.
In terms of the summer training at EST, Gabriele says the conference is "the most intensive program I've seen. For a whole week, you have the freedom and liberty to concentrate on the work and yourself. You're also in a group of people who want to the do the same thing, so it makes for great creative energy. Within one week, incredible work starts to develop, and in some cases, the groups keep going on after the summer and some of the plays have continued to develop." Gabriele says there are nine hours of daily instruction, with evenings off for writing and assignments.
The prices for EST's week-long labs run $425 each. Weekend workshops cost $195 each. These prices include room and board. The EST Summer Conference takes place in Lexington, N.Y., in the Catskills near Hunter Mountain. Conference participants book ahead directly with EST and Gabriele says that, while advance booking is recommended in all cases, lab participants sometimes carry their stays over to continue individual collaborative projects. In such cases, room and board is billed at $25 per day. Extended stays are only possible if there is space available. EST encourages participants to take additional labs and workshops and offers a discount for packages.
Ensemble Studio Theatre, Att'n: Maria Gabriele, 549 W. 52nd St., NYC 10019. Write to apply or to get on EST's mailing list (the Summer Conference brochure comes out soon); or call (212) 581-9409, and leave Gabriele a message.