Two of my former students went on to school in NYC. Now they’re both ready to graduate and go into the biz. One is going to float around the city for a while and see which of his several project offers looks the most promising. The other is returning to Atlanta to make a summer theatre she started a few years ago into a full time enterprise. Both of them wonder if they can justify the time and money spent on their training.
This idea of investment versus result came up again during a conversation with Atlanta-based playwright Vynnie Meli, who was one of those selected from more than 300 applicants to bring her new musical Plagued—A Love Story to the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. She and composer Casey L. Filiaci watched their script come alive for seven performances at TBG Theater in October. The coveted audience members included prospective producers, artistic directors, and the press. This is a dream come true for any playwright with only one real caveat (other than the realization that in this hyper-collaborative genre, “writing a musical is rewriting a musical”): Meli had to raise $25,000 to pay for production fees. She’s put her money where her mouth is, and now that she’s had a taste of how things can be, she definitely wants more. Fortunately, Plagued got a very positive response from those on both sides of the footlights, so it should just be the beginning for this story of Cinderella and Prince Charming twenty years after the glass slipper incident.
In talking about all of this to a group of fellow playwrights who had been privy to the play during its development, Meli broached the subject of “success.” She’s had professional productions of three of her plays, the first one in NYC in 2003, and she was wondering about what point in a career a playwright could use the “S” word. Margaret Baldwin, with several professional productions of her own (and one scheduled for the 2011 Horizon Theatre season), suggested that each playwright has to “define what success means to you,” as there isn’t necessarily the same marker on every writer’s path or even a consistent marker for anyone. Baldwin mentioned that getting the opening “right” for the play promised to Horizon is going to feel like success for her and that when she despairs about not doing enough, there is a tough-love friend who says, “A production a year for the last five isn’t enough?” Baldwin admitted that she has to fight the urge to discount any work done at (even a stellar) college theatre.
Playwright Ray Fast brought up his recent selection as a resident artist at the famous Hambidge retreat as a personal sign of success. Both his work and his potential were recognized, and “the experience, at least in the eyes of some people, has raised my credibility,” he says. Fast’s investment was the two weeks of precious vacation time he is allowed each year from his day job, and he doesn’t yet know if the “unbelievable amount of writing I got done” will lead anywhere, but he considers it a fair return. With the attention he’s getting lately, I agree. Coming out of this conversation, I remembered that teaching is also an investment and began to fantasize about some former students jumping on a hot tip about this fab new musical.
Atlanta
Two of my former students went on to school in NYC. Now they’re both ready to graduate and go into the biz. One is going to float around the city for a while and see which of his several project offers looks the most promising. The other is returning to Atlanta to make a summer theatre she started a few years ago into a full time enterprise. Both of them wonder if they can justify the time and money spent on their training.
This idea of investment versus result came up again during a conversation with Atlanta-based playwright Vynnie Meli, who was one of those selected from more than 300 applicants to bring her new musical Plagued—A Love Story to the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. She and composer Casey L. Filiaci watched their script come alive for seven performances at TBG Theater in October. The coveted audience members included prospective producers, artistic directors, and the press. This is a dream come true for any playwright with only one real caveat (other than the realization that in this hyper-collaborative genre, “writing a musical is rewriting a musical”): Meli had to raise $25,000 to pay for production fees. She’s put her money where her mouth is, and now that she’s had a taste of how things can be, she definitely wants more. Fortunately, Plagued got a very positive response from those on both sides of the footlights, so it should just be the beginning for this story of Cinderella and Prince Charming twenty years after the glass slipper incident.
In talking about all of this to a group of fellow playwrights who had been privy to the play during its development, Meli broached the subject of “success.” She’s had professional productions of three of her plays, the first one in NYC in 2003, and she was wondering about what point in a career a playwright could use the “S” word. Margaret Baldwin, with several professional productions of her own (and one scheduled for the 2011 Horizon Theatre season), suggested that each playwright has to “define what success means to you,” as there isn’t necessarily the same marker on every writer’s path or even a consistent marker for anyone. Baldwin mentioned that getting the opening “right” for the play promised to Horizon is going to feel like success for her and that when she despairs about not doing enough, there is a tough-love friend who says, “A production a year for the last five isn’t enough?” Baldwin admitted that she has to fight the urge to discount any work done at (even a stellar) college theatre.
Playwright Ray Fast brought up his recent selection as a resident artist at the famous Hambidge retreat as a personal sign of success. Both his work and his potential were recognized, and “the experience, at least in the eyes of some people, has raised my credibility,” he says. Fast’s investment was the two weeks of precious vacation time he is allowed each year from his day job, and he doesn’t yet know if the “unbelievable amount of writing I got done” will lead anywhere, but he considers it a fair return. With the attention he’s getting lately, I agree. Coming out of this conversation, I remembered that teaching is also an investment and began to fantasize about some former students jumping on a hot tip about this fab new musical.
Pamela Turner
pturner@dramatistsguild.com