BY ANDREA STOLOWITZ
Well it happened. This January’s inaugural Fertile Ground Festival presented 37 world-premiere events from fully produced plays, to rehearsed concert readings, to late night and lunch time readings. But more than the apparent success of the festival and the fulfillment of the artists involved, the event seems to have started a buzz of interest around new work. One workshop production by a local performer is moving to become a fully staged part of a theatre season next year and another Portland theatre has decided to open up several fall slots for readings of new plays by local playwrights. The feeling on the ground during the festival was one of excitement. For two weeks there were world-premiere events happening all around the city and it truly had a festival feel: see a show, get a drink, hear a reading, have a coffee, meet some fellow theatre go-ers, read about great shows to see. Repeat.
Devoting a festival to world premieres is an interesting concept. The organizers felt that “another fringe festival” wouldn’t do much to help further the cause of new work by local writers or necessarily encourage an interest in new work. This world-premiere festival model which did not focus on local writers, but did focus on new work seems to have done the trick in terms of increasing interest in new work. This excitement will hopefully translate into productions and other forms of tangible support for the talented writers bopping around Oregon.
In an effort to capitalize on the energy the festival was creating and to channel it, Steve Patterson and I decided to organize the Dramatists Guild events to coincide with the second weekend of the festival. Portland Center Stage graciously hosted us and allowed us to use their lovely Ellen Bye Studio Theater as a venue for the meetings. First we had the Dramatists Guild information meeting which consisted of a business portion presented by the ever charming and humorous David Faux and a member information portion presented by Gary Garrison and Roland Tec. Later in the afternoon we had the big Town Hall meeting moderated by Mead Hunter where we invited the theatre community to come and brainstorm about what playwrights in Oregon need and how to begin implementing some of that.
The business and Guild info meetings attracted about 50 Portland writers and DG members eager to hear about business matters and about what the Guild could do for them. The business presentation was especially useful as it explained the ins and outs of contracts and helped playwrights understand their legal rights.
The town hall meeting was a significant event. Our panelists consisted of Lue Douthit from OSF, Michael Rohd from Sojourn Theater, and Gary Garrison from the Guild. The guests spoke about ways to develop new work and ways in which their organizations support playwrights. Michael Rohd broadened the conversation by talking about ensemble generated work and the changing model of new play development and the field of playwriting. Ultimately the panel seemed to conclude that self-production or artist initiated productions seemed to be the way that playwrights these days are getting new work onto the stage. The meeting was then opened up to the 100 plus people in attendance to brainstorm about ways the theatre scene in Oregon could grow to include playwrights. While no final conclusions were reached, the community formed by this event will allow for more substantial future conversations, plans and actions.
It was a busy month in the rainy Northwest.
astolowitz@dramatistsguild.com
Portland – The Fertile Ground Festival & Dramatists Guild Meetings
BY ANDREA STOLOWITZ
Well it happened. This January’s inaugural Fertile Ground Festival presented 37 world-premiere events from fully produced plays, to rehearsed concert readings, to late night and lunch time readings. But more than the apparent success of the festival and the fulfillment of the artists involved, the event seems to have started a buzz of interest around new work. One workshop production by a local performer is moving to become a fully staged part of a theatre season next year and another Portland theatre has decided to open up several fall slots for readings of new plays by local playwrights. The feeling on the ground during the festival was one of excitement. For two weeks there were world-premiere events happening all around the city and it truly had a festival feel: see a show, get a drink, hear a reading, have a coffee, meet some fellow theatre go-ers, read about great shows to see. Repeat.
Devoting a festival to world premieres is an interesting concept. The organizers felt that “another fringe festival” wouldn’t do much to help further the cause of new work by local writers or necessarily encourage an interest in new work. This world-premiere festival model which did not focus on local writers, but did focus on new work seems to have done the trick in terms of increasing interest in new work. This excitement will hopefully translate into productions and other forms of tangible support for the talented writers bopping around Oregon.
In an effort to capitalize on the energy the festival was creating and to channel it, Steve Patterson and I decided to organize the Dramatists Guild events to coincide with the second weekend of the festival. Portland Center Stage graciously hosted us and allowed us to use their lovely Ellen Bye Studio Theater as a venue for the meetings. First we had the Dramatists Guild information meeting which consisted of a business portion presented by the ever charming and humorous David Faux and a member information portion presented by Gary Garrison and Roland Tec. Later in the afternoon we had the big Town Hall meeting moderated by Mead Hunter where we invited the theatre community to come and brainstorm about what playwrights in Oregon need and how to begin implementing some of that.
The business and Guild info meetings attracted about 50 Portland writers and DG members eager to hear about business matters and about what the Guild could do for them. The business presentation was especially useful as it explained the ins and outs of contracts and helped playwrights understand their legal rights.
The town hall meeting was a significant event. Our panelists consisted of Lue Douthit from OSF, Michael Rohd from Sojourn Theater, and Gary Garrison from the Guild. The guests spoke about ways to develop new work and ways in which their organizations support playwrights. Michael Rohd broadened the conversation by talking about ensemble generated work and the changing model of new play development and the field of playwriting. Ultimately the panel seemed to conclude that self-production or artist initiated productions seemed to be the way that playwrights these days are getting new work onto the stage. The meeting was then opened up to the 100 plus people in attendance to brainstorm about ways the theatre scene in Oregon could grow to include playwrights. While no final conclusions were reached, the community formed by this event will allow for more substantial future conversations, plans and actions.
It was a busy month in the rainy Northwest.
astolowitz@dramatistsguild.com