Every time someone asks me to explain what I do I get flummoxed. Though I could probably avoid the word, I feel obligated to inform them that I am a dramaturg. The desire for avoidance and obligation are somewhat related. I know that mentioning the word “dramaturg” will lead to...
ideas
In my role as executive director of the South Florida Theatre League, I regularly get asked why South Florida doesn’t have a fringe festival. If we can support one of the largest and most important art festivals in the country, why aren’t we able to support a fringe? It’s an...
Each time my theatre company has taken a show to a fringe festival, it’s been one of my own scripts–the playwright works cheap, which helps. But there’s a difference between self-producing at home and self-producing for fringe, especially if you plan to take the show to more than one festival....
I’ve been lucky enough to experience many different aspects of fringe marketing. I’ve promoted my own shows, reviewed shows (a questionable choice), and was brought on this year to be the Social Media Manager for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I had the opportunity this year to explore new networks in...
One of my favorite things about summer in an arts organization is that you get a couple of precious weeks where, in between the planning and the subscription mailings, there’s a little fallow time where you can sometimes rise above the fray and say, HEY. What are other people doing...
I should be writing other things. And I hate to have two posts in a row reacting to Michael Kaiser’s posts at Huffington Post. But here we are. Instead, here are some quick reactions to Kaiser’s latest post about social media directly from Twitter. [View the story “Social Media on...
Somewhat by accident, I stumbled into a weekly twitter conversation about new play development (hashtag #newplay) despite the fact that I am not a playwright. What I am is a university professor who for six of the ten years I spent in academic administration led a large theatre/film school whose...
A lot has been said about the Guthrie’s season announcement, and probably a lot more will be. I want to focus on one part of it. But first, I want to say that while I don’t disagree with most of the criticism the Guthrie has worked hard over the last...
I’ve been thinking more and more about my responsibility as an artist. And just typing that feels a little weird—the idea that artists have responsibilities other than to their art. But our work does more than just sit there in our heads. It wanders out of our skulls and into...
So you’re at the Humana Festival of New American Plays and you’ve got a few minutes. You’ve seen the art, you’ve looked at the gifts, you’ve had a bourbon. Maybe you’re in the mood to play a game. Maybe you’re looking for something to engage audiences at your own theatre...