Use this blog to:

USE THIS BLOG TO:

*Communicate with the rest of the collective by posting comments, queries, observations, anecdotes, discoveries, cries for attention, and information relevant to your production work, as you will. * Share the site address with your casts and crews - post links to your packets and dossiers. * Use the RSS feeds which link to a number of sites of interest to us, and suggest new ones. * Recruit people you know who might be interested in joining the program. *

Thursday, June 30, 2011

News from Calamari

Good news and bad - Cal did not get the uber-scholarship, but still has the significant rewards of the first round. Good news is that she is interning at Northwestern, where she is involved with the Black Feminist Performance Institute, where she worked with my friend and former CMU colleague Stephanie Batiste. Cal has also been invited into Phi Beta Kappa (a year earlier than most).

Congrats, Catherine!

Monday, June 27, 2011

On Throwing Blame Around

Professor Boevers has alerted me to this: the heretofore-unimpeachable Julie Taymor has lodged the blame for the failure of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark squarely on the shoulders of tweeters.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110621/11242114788/julie-taymor-blames-twitte

Clive Thompson, who I believe is the same admirable wit who logged THIS conversation with a spambot, penned a dramaturgical reply in the article above.

I find this whole affair to be, really, like any train wreck - it's only enjoyable if you are a long distance away. To paraphrase Ben Franklin, "never argue with a twit; passers-by won't be able to tell the difference." But I'd love to know what you guys think about this.

-Doc


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Dramaturgs in the Seat of Power

Breanna Zwart (who dramaturged our production of PIANO LESSON) has just informed me that she has accepted a position with the US Treasury working in the Office of the Executive Secretary. Her main duty is preparing  daily briefing materials and correspondence for Secretary Geithner.

Congratulations, Breanna!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Correspondence from Mollywood

I just recieved a letter from Molly McCurdy in Hollywood which included this image, which is proof that SOMEONE is getting paid!

-Doc

Friday, June 10, 2011

Correspondence from Baltimore

Here is a packet I recieved from the pony express from the Ghostlight outpost in Baltimore. Notice how she thinks I'm as intelligent as Gavin Witt - HA! Anyway:

>> On Tuesday, I met with Gavin Witt, the resident Dramaturg and Julianne
>> Franz the education/outreach director, it was amazing! Gavin reminds me
>> alot of you, laid back but very intelligent. We just talked about how I
>> kind of fell into dramaturgy. We talked about my casebook and we talked
>>  about the dramaturgy curriculum. He was very impressed with it all. He
>>  even wrote down the name of your textbook. Julianne Franz is making my
>>  experience at Centerstage an official Internship and Witt often
>> referred to it as an apprenticeship! So, I am very excited. I get keys
>> to the theatre and an official tour on Tuesday.
>>
>> I will be working there Tuesdays and Thursdays for about five hours
>> each. I get an office (that doubles as their casebook library, very
>> cool). I will be helping the fellow read play submissions and doing
>> script coverage, maintaining their blog, helping him do research on one
>> of the upcoming productions the next season. Because I am an official
>> intern the other interns in the various departments and I will be in
>> charge of picking three plays out a play festival/contest that they hold
>> for kids. As the Dramaturg intern, I have to review the plays and
>> present my picks and their dramaturgical value. There was talk of me
>> talking to sixth graders about what dramaturgy is and why it is a great
>> field. I also might help do summer camp for a week. I am very pleased.
>>
>> My first assignment is to do two script analyses on two new play
>> submissions.
>>
>> Wish me luck,
>> Alesia Etinoff

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Graduate Study in London x2!

Here's one more; King's College.
---------------
Dear all,

Please forward to any interested students.
The School of Arts and Humanities at King’s College London is pleased to offer one full studentship to a candidate entering the MA Theatre and Performance Studies in 2011-2012. Applications are due June 15th. For information on the program and how to apply, please see
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/graduate/theatre_and_performance_studies .

Dr. Kélina A. Gotman
Lecturer, Theatre and Performance Studies
Department of English
King's College London
Strand WC2R 2LS
kelina.gotman@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7848 1773

MA Theatre and Performance Studies
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/graduate/theatre_and_performance_studies


Graduate Study in London

Ghostlighters,

A new program at RADA, where Matt Gray studied, for scholars. Those of you newly graduated or looking to graduate - have a looksie.

-Doc



------ Forwarded Message
From: Juri Nael
Reply-To: "Theatre History Discussion List - Amer. Soc. for Theatre Research"
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 08:57:04 -0500
To:
Subject: NEW!!! MA Theatre Lab at RADA

September 2011 will see the introduction of a pioneering new postgraduate course at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) - MA Theatre Lab.

After three years of development RADA has initiated this MA that is aimed at training performers
who wish to extend their craft, help sustain the sector, and have a desire to experiment with the
concepts and theories at the basis of performance practice in the western hemisphere.

MA Theatre Lab will base its training on the work of practitioners in the post-Stanislavski era. It
will offer an arena for both the improvement and attainment of skills and for the development of
new ways of working, especially within the context of a group.  It is aimed particularly at those
actors and performers who are involved in ensemble, collective and/or physically-based work but
who also want to hone and develop their skills.

This is a time when theatre, along with other art forms, is faced with the threat of cuts that may
lead practitioners to resort to more conservative content or ways of working and be discouraged
from experimentation and new work.  The ambition of MA Theatre Lab is to use the present
conditions to encourage the formation of new working practices and groups that will reinvigorate
the profession and practitioners with energy, ideas and thought-provoking work.

MA Theatre Lab will be a full-time intensive one-year course validated by King‚s College London. 
The course timetable is structured so that it will offer the opportunity for students to continue
working in order to support their studies.  There will be an emphasis on practical learning with
time given for students to reflect critically upon their work, as well as acting and performance
generally.  Students will gain new insights as well as developing a wide range of skills to generate
valuable, innovative and collaborative contributions for the sector.

For more information on the entry requirements for this course and to apply, please visit the RADA
website, www.rada.ac.uk


------ End of Forwarded Message

Monday, June 6, 2011

Etinoff to Intern with Gavin Witt

Alesia Etinoff, a mid-year transfer to the program, apparently cold-called Centerstage in Baltimore and landed a summer internship with uber-dramaturg Gavin Witt. Congrats, Alesia, and thanks, Gavin, for your continued support of our students.

-Doc