‘I paid people with pints and chips’: Georgina Duncan on the prize-winning play she tapped out on her phone

Stage | The Guardian: It took Georgina Duncan a few seconds to realise that Indhu Rubasingham, when announcing the winner of the Women’s prize for playwriting last week, was talking about her drama, Sapling. The 30-year-old recalls the moment: “The first sentence I heard her say, I was like, ‘That could be any of the plays.’ Then I was like, ‘Holy shit! This is the maddest thing that’s ever happened to me.’”

Take Two for a Milestone Moment for Asian American Playwrights

TDF: 2020 was shaping up to be the year of the Asian American playwright in New York City. Then COVID-19 hit and all the productions shut down—most before they even opened. After six painfully turbulent years for the theatre industry and its artists, there’s a welcome feeling of déjà vu this month as four new plays by Asian American women and nonbinary dramatists bow Off Broadway simultaneously.

Writing Across Taiwan and Macau: An Interview with Taiwanese Playwright Chiao-Jung Chen

The Theatre Times: It’s very hard to define Chiao-Jung Chen as one kind of artist, for she is someone who works fluidly across genres. She has worked as a playwright, a librettist, and a lyricist on various productions for the past ten years, with her plays and musicals being staged in both Macau and Taiwan. Outside the theatre, she is a comics writer whose work Sea You There and Us has garnered a worldwide fanbase. Her versatility makes any attempt to confine her to a single title seem blasphemous of her devotion to storytelling.

Tom Stoppard Wrote Dialogue for Indiana Jones and Obi-Wan Kenobi

The New York Times: Whenever a playwright’s last name becomes an adjective, it’s a pretty clear sign that we the audience have learned what to expect. Terse and incantatory and a bit end-timesy? Beckettian. Terse and sinister and pause-ridden? Pinteresque.

AI set to revive French playwright centuries after sudden death on stage

The Independent: What might 17th-century French playwright Molière have penned next, had he not tragically collapsed on stage while acting in on of his own plays. This tantalising question has finally been addressed thanks to a unique collaboration between French scholars, artists, and an artificial intelligence firm.

24 Hour Plays Are Coming Back to Broadway

AMERICAN THEATRE: The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway are an intensive theatrical endeavor in which artists write, direct, and perform six original short plays within 24 hours. The creative process begins the evening before, when the actors, writers, directors, and production staff gather for a meet and greet. With an hour to brainstorm, each participant shares a prop and costume, actors show off their special skills, and share something they’ve always wanted to do on stage.

Latinx Playwrights Circle Names 5 Artists in Residence

AMERICAN THEATRE: The Latinx Playwrights Circle has announced partnerships with five new artists in residence. They are Rebecca Aparicio, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Alisha Espinosa, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, and Janio Marrero. The residency is part of the Creatives Rebuild New York Artist Employment Program, which seeks to support employment opportunities for artists in New York state.

The Success of Margot Robbie's Screenwriting Lab Is Just the Beginning

Collider: It’s a feat worth popping the champagne for: All six female-identifying screenwriters who participated in the screenwriting lab co-founded by Margot Robbie have sold their scripts. That’s five feature films and one television series from a group of experienced female screenwriters graduating from the inaugural lab and making an impact in an otherwise tumultuous year in movies.

100 playwrights and actors join forces in new theatre project challenging Australian identity

Stage | The Guardian: Richard Frankland, Nakkiah Lui and Suzie Miller are among 50 Australian playwrights joining forces with 50 actors including Miranda Tapsell, Jack Thompson and Tasma Walton to challenge Australia’s sense of identity post-coronavirus in a new series of plays.

Modelled on a project run out of Ireland’s Abbey Theatre, Australia’s national playwriting organisation Playwriting Australia has commissioned the writers to produce, for specific performers, a series of original monologues that “get to the heart of where our nation is and where it might go”.

Now & Then

Pittsburgh in the Round: South Park Theatre is a bit of a drive from Pittsburgh proper, but I recently caught their production of Now & Then by Sean Grennan. This show, directed by Allison M. Weakland, was an interesting combination of some of the different possibilities in theatre.

Writing Great Characters

Breaking Character: What do Lady Macbeth, Hamlet, Hamilton, Willy Loman, and Blanche DuBois all have in common? They are all great characters. The ability to write unforgettable characters is key to being a playwright. Ultimately, it is the recognizable yet surprising and unique character that leads our readers or audience forward.

I Shouldn't Judge a Play About Antonin Scalia Until I See It, Right?

www.clydefitchreport.com: Let me start with the premise that ethics still mean something in America. You may wish to sit for the rest of this read, or else, if you can manage not to collapse, please stay with me.