Thursday, October 03, 2013
On Becoming a Playwright-Producer
HowlRound: As many (if not most) of us working in theater know, being posed with that seemingly baseline conversation starter—“what do you do?”—can send us into the stratosphere of far fetched examples, false oversimplifications, and instantly regretted comparisons that receive glazed over stares or polite nods from the questioner who, more than likely, works in a non-arts sector. - See more at: http://www.howlround.com/on-becoming-a-playwright-producer#sthash.4PNS7yrt.dpuf
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
What I really think this author was trying to get across in their article is that playwriting and producing are two different things. Where playwriting is much about building a body of work to improve and for yourself, producing is about showcasing works in a fair and universal way. Producing is about giving opportunities out to people who can use them to continue their body of work. This doesn’t extend to just theatre but past theatre as well. It is about allowing artist to flourish, despite, sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, finical status, and art form. Producing is much more about other members of the community where as playwriting seems to be much more about yourself. An I think this is important to note the discussion of this. In directing the class covered how selfish this art and art in general is. It is much more about doing something for ourselves and justifying why it is for others, than it is us doing something for other and justifying why it is for ourselves. I think this is what the author was trying to get at, how with her change in perceptive she has a different role in art and the art community.
I think it's honestly fascinating to hear somebody talk about producing work as a tool to cultivate their own artistic vision. I don't view myself as an artist (though my classmates could dispute the existence of art within management), but I do find it interesting that somebody could find artistic fulfillment and growth within a more administrative side. Especially since I view a playwright to be more of a sort of raw artist and less of an artistic interpreter of a sorts. Being able to administer to a creative process rather than be core of the artistic substance is really very intriguing. Especially since I find that all kinds of varying focus' in theatre somehow manifest into producing one way or another, even if it's just dabbling.
Post a Comment