Getting writers and directors on the same page.
Without the drama.
Pam Koslow |
Saturday October 1st,
12noon to 6pm
TRU Writer-Director Communications Lab
Taught by producer Pam Koslow (Jelly's Last Jam, Jane Eyre, Yank!)
and TRU executive director Bob Ost.
Writer deadline: Wednesday September 21!
Paul Michael's The Network
242 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor, Studio 6 |
One of the most important - and most sensitive - relationships in theater is that between playwright and director. In some ways, the entire success of a show can hinge on the shared understanding, trust and mutual respect between these two artists. The director and the writer need to see the show with the same eyes, otherwise their collaboration won't work. This is important to establish in the initial meetings.
TRU has created a new, experimental program that will train theater artists in the crucial skills of communication.
In this Lab we will team ten directors with ten writers prior to the Lab itself. Playwrights will email us a synopsis, pitch and production history, plus 3-5 sample pages of a script; directors will select a project that interests them from those submitted, request and read the script and prepare for a preliminary director-writer discussion about the play. We will watch and guide that discussion in the Lab. You will:
• Discover your personal communication style
• Learn to identify the style of the person you are with, and adjust to it for maximum mutual understanding
• Explore non-threatening ways of discussing text, communicating and listening
• Identify your domain of authority, and determine protocols
At the end of the workshop, ten writers will have watched the style and learned the artistic approach of ten directors; and ten directors will have learned about ten writers and their projects. We will make certain that this is a safe space, and we will encourage honesty. We will lay out the ground rules at the start to try to keep writers from being overly defensive, and directors from being overly authoritarian. People will be encouraged to speak frankly and openly. And we will be diligent about stopping conversations and asking thiongs like "Is that what you really think, or is that what you think the other person wants to hear?" It will be like couples counseling.
Lab Directors include: Robert Carver, Stefan Dzeporaski, Ben Harney, Joshua A. Kashinsky, Anthony Laura, Mary McGinley, Aaron Pratt, Jonathan Warman (click here for available bios) - 2 more may be added. Now we need a good mix of projects for these guys to fall in love with. How about yours?
Directors: if you are interested in being in this or a future lab, email us at TRUnltd@aol.com
COST: $75 if accepted ($60 for TRU members)*
Price is the same for directors and writers -
we want everyone to feel like they are equal partners in this lab.
*WRITERS: If you are accepted into this Lab, and you also apply for the 10/16 Speed Date,
you will be guaranteed a slot in the upcoming Speed Date,
and you can pay for both events with a 25% discount.
Writers, CLICK HERE for Writer Application -
writer deadline Wednesday 9/21
To apply as a writer, fill out application and email to TRUnltd@aol.com with 3-5 sample script pages from the project you are submitting. If possible, paste script sample at the end of the application so we can forward it all as one document to the participating directors. Directors will choose projects; if you are not chosen this time, we will submit you for future labs.
IF ACCEPTED, you may send a check to:
Theater Resources Unlimited, 309 W. 104th Street 1D, NYC NY 10025.
On-line payment (Paypal or credit card) at www.truonline.org/store-new.html
by making a "donation" in the fee amount.
Paul Michael's The Network
242 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor, Studio 6
Arlene Corsano and I have almost completed 3 days of auditions for her musical which was invited to be in the Strawberry Festival of Riant Theatre, TriBeCa We open Sun 7/31 at 3pm and will vie to go on to the semi finals and beyond. When Arlene and I met at TRU's lab the show was called Write On Rosie! Is now titled It's Gonna Work Out Fine, also an anthem title in the show. Our TRU relationship, born in your excellent lab, continues with me acting as dramaturg. Arlene's a wonderful writer, and very malleable. Show had to be cut from two full acts to 30 minutes, Arlene got right to it and came up with a superb, tight one-act that with a little tweaking is being birthed right now! I can't wait to get into rehearsals, we have some beautiful young artists on board. Thanks again for your lab, and for all that you do for all us migrant arts workers! ~Elizabeth Falk
This was a great experience and everyone I spoke to felt the same. The way you set it up and the and manner in which the directors and producers gave their input created a positive learning atmosphere. It was a great lab. I thank you, Gary, all the directors and the producers, and anyone responsible for making it so. ~Arlene Corsano, writer
I really enjoyed the workshop and glad I did it. I will certainly recommend it to people…. I very much enjoyed Pam and Robert's input and was glad to get to talk with them. Nice meeting the other people too. There are even two of the projects that interest me. ~Brent Buell, director
It was a wonderful, very worthwhile experience. Many interesting contacts and potential friendships were made. I think you did a wonderful and insightful job in moderating the [workshop]. I'm sure it was much appreciated by all. Most certainly by me. I would definitely join another workshop of this kind again. ... I have been in many playwriting groups and workshops, etc. I have never been in one like TRU. If there are others that provide a similar concept and the kind of support that TRU offers, I have not heard of them. It is quite possible that TRU is unique. That's pretty special. ~Mary Ryzuk, writer
Andrew Carter and I are moving forward with my play. I've re-titled it, and just yesterday sent him the latest draft but we have a cast and have even met producers who hopefully will be interested. ~Marina Barry, writer
CLICK HERE for more testimonials |
|
|
PAMELA KOSLOW co-produced YANK! the musical at the York Theatre (nominated as best musical of the year by the Outer Critics Circle and the Lucille Loertal Award) and JANE EYRE THE MUSICAL at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in NY. Her additional Broadway credits include the Tony® Award-winning musical JELLY'S LAST JAM written by George C. Wolfe and starring Gregory Hines. Ms. Koslow produced FLOATING RHODA AND THE GLUEMAN written by Eve Ensler, author of the long-running and internationally-acclaimed VAGINA MONOLOGUES. She served as executive producer for HANDSHAKE, a new American play premiered off Broadway in Manhattan and was a producing consultant for THE HENRY PROJECT, based on the music of Henry Mancini, conceived and directed by Otis Sallid. Other producing credits include CAPTAIN LOUIE, based on the children's book by Ezra Jack Keats, music by Stephen Schwartz, presented at The York Theater in Manhattan., SMART ALECK, MONA ROGERS, and HOW I GOT THAT STORY.
Pam has served on the boards of Manhattan Class Company, Second Stage Company, American Tap Dance Foundation and New York Theater Barn. |
|
|
PARTICIPATING DIRECTORS (as of 9/8) |
STEFAN DZEPAROSKI is an alumnus of Directors Lab (2011) at the Lincoln Centre Theatre in New York. Stefan holds an MFA degree in Directing from University of Alberta, and an MA Degree in Theatre Studies from University of Arts in Belgrade. Most recently he directed SoulSeek for the 6 time Dora Award winning company BirdLand Theatre (www.birdlandtheatre.com) where he is also a Resident Director. Prior to SoulSeek Stefan worked as the Production Dramaturge for Assassins by Stephen Sondheim (produced by BirdLand Theatre 2010 Dora Award winner for the Outstanding Production of a Musical) directed by Adam Brazier and is Assistant Director to Daniel Brooks on Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje. Focus of Stefans’ directorial aesthetic is use of projected media as dramaturgical tool for creating stage narratives that go beyond traditional linear text based theatre. In theatre he is looking for poetic reasoning that is closer to the principles on which thought develops. His other selected directing credits include: Roberto Zucco (Studio Theatre, Edmonton), Anime (Lucid Productions, Edmonton), The Creation of the world and other business (The System Theatre, Edmonton) and After the Fall (Studio Theatre, Edmonton). In Europe he also directed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (showcased at the Belgrade International Theatre Festival-BITEF in 2005) and Quartet by Heiner Muller. |
BEN HARNEY - Founder, Director of By All Means Save Some (BAMSS) Theatre Works in Brooklyn, NY.
Director: Children of God (6 nominations at MITF). Guys and Dolls, The Vision, The Jackie Robinson Musical (in development), Dreamgirls, A Raisin in the Sun, The World’s Oldest Man, Shore to Shore, Godspell, Annie, Last Train to Nibroc, The Wiz, TRIGGERS!, P.O.V., I See My Bones, Give And Take, Confirming the Search: That Girl’s Still Here Somewhere.
Artist-in-Residence at Fordham University Lincoln Center, NYC, Visiting-Assistant Professor at Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, NY, Harvest School of Performing Arts, Los Angeles, CA, teaching artist and program developer for NYC public schools, Director of the Drama Dept. Christian Cultural Center, Brooklyn, NY.
Performance: Broadway principal credits include: The Wiz, Treemonisha, Pippin, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Dreamgirls (Tony Award, Drama Desk nomination), Tap Dance Kid (Bay Circle Critics Award, NAACP nomination), Brownstone, Williams and Walker (Audelco nomination) and District Attorney Peter Ramsey on ABC’s All My Children. |
JOSHUA A. KASHINSKY - Upcoming projects include Ghost Dancer by Robert Hecker (The Show Goes On/Mint Theater) and a reading of The English Bride by Lucile Lichtblau (Luna Stage). Recent projects include the new musical Honestly Abe by Robert Hecker (La Muse Venale/Mint Theater) and a reading of Dead and Buried by James McLindon (Luna Stage). Recent producing credits are McCarter Theatre’s High School Rep and The Mad 7 by Yehuda Hyman (dir. Mara Isaacs) in the NY International Fringe Festival. Other directing credits include McCarter Theatre's Youth Ink! Festival and MCC Theatre's Youth Company. Josh was recently a Directing and Producing Assistant at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ where he assisted Des McAnnuff, Amy Morton and Nicholas Martin. As a playwright, his work has been seen in California, New York, Maine and Ontario. Most recently his play Heels in the Sand had a reading at Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre. He is the recipient of the Lipkin Prize and is a Corwin Award winner. Josh is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. |
| ANTHONY LAURA (playwright/director) has written, produced and directed several short and feature films that have been featured in festivals all around New York City. His film credits include “E-mail My Heart” starring Esther Nubiola, “Schizo” starring Marcienne Dwyer and “Choice or Consequence” starring Ali Skye Bennet. His theatre credits, both writing and directing, include “The Confession”, "Close Encounters", "Katarina", "The Girl With The Red Hair", "When It Rains", "Where The Smoke Blows Black" and “The Third Step." His production company, A.M.L. Entertainment also produces web-series in addition to film and theatre. More information about current and upcoming productions can be found at www.amlentertainment.net |
MARY MCGINLEY is the Producing Artistic Director of the Carolinian Shakespeare Festival. She has worked as a director, dramaturg, performer and administrator at many regional theaters across the country and in the New York area, including George Street Playhouse where she served as Literary Manager. She currently teaches acting at Actors Real World Studio in NY. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab and teaches at Kean University in New Jersey. She received her M.F.A. in Directing from Mason Gross School of the Arts and her B.A. in Acting from Rutgers University. |
AARON PRATT is delighted to be a part of the TRU Director's/Writer's Lab. This year, Aaron directed and produced Disenchanted, a new musical by Nikki M. Jenkins for the Planet Connections Festivity with an additional performance at Cherry Lane Theater and in September, directed the HB Studios "New Voices" Series production of Chopsticks and Dirty Laundry. Aaron's performance and production credits are varied and include performances and residencies with regional, Off-Off and Off-Broadway playhouses including The Irish Repertory Theatre, HB Studios, Theatre for the New City, North Carolina Theatre, Burning Coal Theatre, Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy and Loessin Playhouse. Production highlights include I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; Merrily, We Roll Along; Miss Saigon; Hair; Hedda Gabler; Flora, The Red Menace and Chicago. For more information, visit www.aapratt.com. |
| LUCAS SYED's first experience as a director was behind the wheel of a production of Arthur Kopit's 'Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad' at the Richmond Shepard Theatre with the student-run Theatre Collective of the New School University. In the fall of 2009 he directed a Tennessee Williams One-Act, Adam and Eve on a Ferry, as part of a fundraising performance for the New School production of Camino Real the following spring, for which Lucas composed a musical score as well. In the summer of 2010 he produced and directed his my own play Summer Breezes in the City of the Dead as part of the Strawberry One-Act Festival at the Theatre at St. Clements. "I find that directing another writers' work forces me to confront my own aesthetic inclinations and opinions from new perspectives, and in the best instances this results in theatre pieces that thrive on their own unique sensibility." |
JONATHAN WARMAN - New York Theatre: Andru’s Head (new musical, featuring Brooke Elliott “Drop Dead Diva”) (NeoNeo Theatre, FringeNYC), Struck / Break (Emerging Artists Theatre), American Fabulous (NeoNeo Theatre, FringeNYC), Groupies (FringeNYC), The Women of the Mahabharata (eyeBLINK), In Loco Parentis (FringeNYC), 348 (Dixon Place),The Physics of Love (TOSOS II), Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws (La MaMa ETC and Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, upcoming), Kitchenette (TOSOS II, reading featuring Jackie Hoffman),The Jamb (HOT! Festival @ Dixon Place, staged reading featuring Mike Albo). International: Dreams Reoccurring (Clubul CFR, Iasi, Romania and Nu Festival, Timisoara, Romania), Break (Dublin Gay Theatre Festival). Regional: Heads (Omaha Magic Theatre), The Strangest Kind of Romance (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, with upcoming national tour), Struck/Break (New Orleans Fringe Festival), Rogan Gosh (Star of the East, Omaha), Mad Forest, Hamletmachine (University of Nebraska at Omaha). Notable assistant credits: Stage Directors & Choreographers Society 50th Anniversary Gala (Assistant to SDC Board President Karen Azenberg),Three Sisters (La MaMa ETC, dir. Richard Schechner), Rosencrantz si Guildenstern sunt Morti (Teatru National Vasile Alecsandri, Iasi, Romania, dir. Ovidiu Lazar). Member of Emerging Artists Theatre and TOSOS II, and associate member of SDC. He has served as Artistic Director of NeoNeo Theatre Company and Literary Manager for Access Theater, and is conceiver of White City, a new musical with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend of The Who, currently in development. For more info, see jonathanwarman.com |
MORE TESTIMONIALS ABOUT THE LAB
Thanks again for the communication lab. I got a lot out of it and it was great to meet such wonderfully supportive people. I especially enjoyed meeting and talking to Claude [Brickell, my Lab director], and I thought he made a tremendous effort to come support me…. I want to say that the afternoon never felt draggy, and it passed almost too quickly. So, kudos to you and Pam and Bob. ~Damon Chua, writer
Damon [Chua, my Lab writer] and I have connected and will be getting together later. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and benefiting from both Bob's and Pam's contribution. They were thoroughly terrific. ~Claude Brickell, director
You created a wonderful space for us writers. And, personally, it could have not gone better for me and the relationship I hope to have started with Mark [Robinson, my Lab director]. He gets my words written on paper and that's fantastic. ~Jonathan Citron, writer
Thank you for the incredible workshop this past Saturday. It really turned out well and I met some incredibly talented people. Laura Italiano and I have really hit it off and have decided to keep working together on her script. ~Kevin Lambert, director
|
Click here to pay at the TRU Store.
About TRU | Newsletter | Networking | Officers | Links | Photos | Home
Join TRU Now | Get the TRU Update
Questions or comments?
Send an Email |
