It's my goal in life to create stories, to write, or to wright, to play make believe on grand scales that would make the six year old me green with envy. I wonder, though, how one creates something smaller... something more concise and direct... not a story, not a character, but a word. Just a word.

Someone invented the words we say. Lots of someones. Every so often a new word becomes a thing. It is said. It is liked. It spreads, like a virus. That doesn't make it sound good, but that's what happens. It embeds itself into a person's vocabulary and if other people like it, it carries on.

So earlier, last night actually, I was typing some stuff, some words, onto the Facebook wall of my pal, Ira (a playwright in his own right, writing about what he thinks should be written). In doing so, I typed the word 'playwrightic' --- like poetic (which I also typed), but from playwrights. And it was later brought to my attention by my friend Merri, through the delightful commenting system that now permeates society, that I should, if at all possible, trademark the word 'playwrightic.' I don't know how to, or if one can, trademark a word; but if 'playwrightic' did actually spring forth into the world in that Facebook posting, I'd like to take credit for it. If it's not new.... please let me know where you've seen it before. I like it. It's like 'filmwright' --- it's similar in tone to an existing word, but more aptly describes what I want it to describe. In this case, instead of poetic, which --- according to Merriam-Webster --- is defined as:

1
a : of, relating to, or characteristic of poets or poetry
b : given to writing poetry
2
: written in verse
3
: having or expressing the qualities of poetry (as though aesthetic or emotional impact) <her poetic beauty>

...playwrightic could be defined as the following:

1
a : of, relating to, or characteristic of playwrights or playwriting
b : given to writing plays
2
: written in narrative form, using dialogue and scene description, as designed for live staged performance
3
: having or expressing the qualities of stage plays (as though aesthetic or emotional impact) <his life is quite playwrightic with all that surprising drama>

In looking up some terms, apparently the word playwriting (the act of writing plays) is first recorded as being used in the year 1709, whereas the word playwright (the writer of plays) is recorded in use as early as 1616, which --- incidentally --- is the year that William Shakespeare died (I linked the Bard there on the extreme off chance that someone reading this doesn't know who he is --- the education system being what it is; but if you don't know who William Shakespeare is and yet you're reading my blog, I have no words to explain that paradox). Since playwriting wasn't in use until the 18th century, it makes me wonder what they called the act of writing plays until 1709. Perhaps they just called it writing. I love that the word write sounds so much like the old word 'wright' --- which  comes from the Middle English, from Old English wyrhta, wryhta worker, maker (Merriam-Webster). While that wright was more about crafting physical things, working with wood, etc., I enjoy how the idea of making something, of creation, of being the artist or craftsman who shapes something into existence is still associated with the word playwright. 'Write' means, at its base, to inscribe characters onto a surface. It also means to communicate through those characters. That's why I love that the two forms to describe what I am and what I do use the roots of both wright and write (playwright and playwriting), because I both create and communicate. Now, I'll just add playwrightic to describe a sense what that is. I don't expect it to catch on --- it's actually kind of grating said aloud... best left on the page perhaps. Still, it's fun to wright words whilst writing. Don't you think?

I'm thrilled to see my short play ADVICE TO THE HAPPY COUPLE next month in MadLab Theatre's 14th Annual Theatre Roulette Shorts Festival!

The festival is broken into three nights of short plays that rotate over the course of the month. My play is packed into a night called "Home Brew" with five other plays by central Ohio writers.

Tickets are available on the MadLab website. Show dates are May 10, 18, 23 at 8pm, and May 25 at 2pm. The entire festival runs May 9-25, Thursdays thru Saturdays (the show dates I've listed are specific dates you can see my play in the line-up). 

My third and final OU playwrights festival is coming up soon! We're already in rehearsal for the 2013 Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights Festival. That is hard to believe. I remember being at the 2010 festival not long after my acceptance into this program and to think that three years have already happened is a bit surreal. Having fun, time flies, and all that, right? Yeah... it's been but a blink and before that blink leads to tears of nostalgia and such, I'll get back to the topic at hand.

This year's festival is pretty exciting. It will feature eleven new plays, written by the MFA playwrights here at OU, myself included. My latest, FRACKTURE, you've heard me gushing about for weeks now. It will be staged on Thursday, April 25 at 8pm, the sixth play presented in the four day festival.

Here's the blurb from the program:
Would you sacrifice everything you have in order to save it? When his oldest brother dies and leaves the family with a mountain of debt, Mitch discovers what could be the answer to their prayers: hydraulic fracturing. Trying to make up for years of pain he caused his brothers, Mitch’s help causes more harm than good, forcing him to ask what he’s willing to give up to keep his family together.

As you might have seen, I just wrapped a workshop of FRACKTURE about a week ago. This next one for Seabury will be similar, but there have been some tweaks and edits (rewriting until the end). We have a new cast of OU students, including my TAGS director Thomas Daniels, who is stepping into the role of Zack (a role he helped developed during the OU workshops this school year). Joining him are Clifton Holznagel, Brenna Jenny, and Jacquelyn Baker. 

This event is FREE and open to the public. The script-in-hand staging will take place in the Elizabeth Baker Theater in Kantner Hall on the OU campus. Parking is available at meters on the street (free after 6pm) or in the public garage off Washington, at the corner of Washington & College (this garage is not free, I suggest finding a meter if you can). The show runs 1 hour 40 minutes (including intermission) and will be followed by a talk-back led by OU faculty and guest mentors for the festival.

Go to www.ohioplaywriting.org/festival.html for a complete look at the festival and descriptions of all my colleagues' wonderful new plays. The full fest runs Wednesday, April 24 - Saturday, April 27, and there's something for everyone. Take a look at the line up and if you're near Athens, stop by! 

You can also track my show on facebook at:

Frackture event page
Jeremy Sony - Writer facebook page
Ohio Playwriting Festival event page

Thanks for reading! Maybe I'll see you at the theater!

Thrilled to be working with my colleagues at Ohio University on this new play development project.

THEATER ASSOCIATION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS PRESENTS:

THE NEW PLAY PROJECT
Saturday, April 6th at Union Arts - 15 W. Union St.
We will be presenting script-in-hand productions of two full-length plays in rep as part of the Nuit Blanche Athens arts festival. Each show will be performed twice. All shows are FREE; general admission at the door.

FRACKTURE
by Jeremy Sony
Dir. Thomas Daniels
Featuring: Patrick Wagstaff, Josh Leeson, Rachel Weekley, and Emily Auwaerter
5:00 pm and 10:00 pm

BEHEADING VAMPIRE PUPPIES: A LIVING ROOM ENCOUNTER
by Greg Aldrich
Dir. Rachel Mock
Featuring: Matthew Mikita, Kat Radujkovic, and Shambrion Treadwell
7:30 pm and 12:30 am

TAGS NPP Production Team
Production Manager: Aaron Contreras
Asst. Production Managers: Rain Bidleman and Joanna Koefoed
Lighting Designer: Carolyn Voss
Scenic Designer: Deanna Smith
Costume Designer: Delta Childers-Smith (Frackture)
Costume Designer: Katie Behrens (BVP)

For more information about the Nuit Blanche Athens festival, and to see what else is happening around Athens on April 6th, visit www.facebook.com/events/539472799425997

This is more of an announcement than a blog post. For any and all playwright friends in Ohio (or within driving distance of Columbus on a Saturday in November). The Dramatists Guild is holding an all day workshop on November 17th. Some of the panels that day include awesome folks like Gary Garrison, Mike Geither, and Matt Slaybaugh (all people I hope to work with one day) and my own mentor at OU, Charles Smith. The announcement, information, and contact information on how to make reservations is below. It's free for DG members and guests. Not sure of cost if you don't fall into those categories. But if you're not a Dramatists Guild member, consider becoming one. Anyway, here's all the details. Maybe I'll see you there.

SAVE THE DATE: DRAMATISTS GUILD IN OHIO - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Saturday, November 17 from 9 to 5 PM.
The Drake Union, The Ohio State University
1849 Cannon Drive, Columbus, OH

THE DRAMATISTS GUILD OHIO REGION and THE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AT THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY present a daylong workshop

THOSE WHO CAN, TEACH
Exploring techniques, exercises, and resources that will help us share our craft Convened by Faye Sholiton (DG Regional Rep) and Jennifer Schlueter (OSU).
FREE to DG members and guests. Reservations by November 14 to fsholiton@dramatistsguild.com. 

Maybe you’re in an MFA playwriting program and are aiming at a university career.  Maybe you’re already teaching at the high school or college level and want to find new ways to guide your students’ work as writers, lyricists, and composers. Maybe you’ve been asked to teach a workshop through a theatre that’s producing your work. Or maybe you’d like to sit in on a master class with some of the top professionals in the region.

You belong in Columbus on November 17 for a one-day conference packed with workshops, Q&As, and lectures from those who not onlycan teach, but who are passionate about doing it well.

Whether or not you can attend, we invite your participation in an idea exchange. We’re looking for exercises, techniques and resources that have worked for you as a teacher or mentor. Send these “Wright Ideas” to fsholiton@dramatistsguild.com. We will share them at the workshop and then on the DG website. For each Wright Idea you submit, you will have a chance to win one of four autographed copies of a Doug Wright script: Quills, I Am My Own Wife, The Stonewater Rapture, and Unwrap Your Candy.


PROGRAM OF EVENTS


8:30 AM        Doors open. Coffee and light refreshments available.  (Drake Lobby)


9:30 AM         Welcome. Faye Sholiton (Roy Bowen theatre)


9:40 AM         “Writing the Ten Minute Play,” Gary Garrison, author of A More Perfect Ten and DG’s Executive Director of Creative Affairs. (Roy Bowen theatre)

11:00 AM       DG Updates: Conversation with Jennifer Schlueter and Gary Garrison followed by Opportunities for Ohio Playwrights: Chiquita Mullins Lee, Arts Learning Programs Coordinator, Ohio Arts Council. 

11:45 AM     Lunch break. Boxed lunches are available for $9 PRE-PURCHASED ONLY. Please note: no restaurants are open in the building. Order forms will be forwarded with registration materials. (Drake Lobby)

1:00 PM         “The Gentle Art of Mentoring,” Michael Bigelow Dixon, former Literary Manager at Actors Theater of Louisville and the Guthrie Theatre, co-editor of Playwrights Workout, and Assistant Professor at Transylvania University. (Roy Bowen theatre)

1:30  PM        Working sessions. Select ONE.

Option one: Teaching at the MFA, or advanced level. (Drake 2068)
Option two: Teaching high school and undergraduate students. (Drake 2060)
Option three: Working in the community: youth, adults, and writers in 
non-academic settings. (Drake 2038)

Confirmed panelists include: Charles Smith (Ohio U); Mike Geither (Cleveland State U); Eric Schmiedl (Spaulding U.); Michael Bigelow Dixon (Transylvania U); Wendy MacLeod (Kenyon College); Bonnie Milne Gardner (Ohio Wesleyan); Mark Evans Bryan (Denison U); Herman Farrell (U. of Kentucky); Michael London (Ohio Playwrights Circle, Dayton); Matt Slaybaugh (Available Light, Columbus); Katherine Burkman (OSU, Women at Play); Chris Seibert (Cleveland Public Theatre)  

3:45  PM        Break. Light refreshments. (Drake Lobby)

4:15 PM         Concluding remarks, featuring Herman Farrell, DG Kentucky Regional Rep; and Alan Woods, retired professor O.S.U. and Dr. Beth Kattelman, Associate Curator of the Lawrence & Lee Theatre Research Institute at OSU. Drawing for the Wright autographed scripts. (Roy Bowen Theatre)

GENERAL INFORMATION
WHEN YOU EMAIL YOUR RESERVATION, YOU WILL RECEIVE DRIVING AND PARKING DIRECTIONS AND ORDER FORMS FOR LUNCH.

• PARKING WILL BE AVAILABLE across the street from the Drake Union at a cost of $6.00 per day.

• BOX LUNCHES (optional) are coming from Panera Bread Co. We are limiting the menu to preserve everyone’s sanity.

OTHER COLUMBUS EVENTS: For those who can spend extra time, consider:

• Wexner Center for the Arts (on the OSU campus): The Builders’ Associations’ SONTAG/REBORN; and an exhibition of ANNIE LIEBOVITZ photography. Visit www.wexarts.org

• THE STORY OF MY LIFE, the story of a friendship between two men; music and lyrics by Nell Bartram; book by Brian Hill, at CATCO. Visit www.catco.org
  

Faye Sholiton
Ohio Regional Rep

If you're "the writer" in your circle of family and friends, you understand that you're the go-to for any and all writing related needs. Speeches, eulogies, toasts, birthday cards, Christmas lists --- it's what you do. Especially if you're being trained to do it.

But every so often, even a writer has to stop and figure out how to write. Because every so often, you're called to be the Best Man at your best friends' wedding. No, the apostrophe is not grammatically incorrect. Two of my best friends in the world fell in love and got married. This past weekend. And I was the Best Man. Which sounds simple enough. Make sure Groom is locked and loaded. Get Groom to church on time. Carry a ring. Don't lose ring. Stand tall and proud. Witness. Sign papers. Give a speech, a toast in fact to their very happiness, in front more than 100 of their closest and dearest friends and family. Oh, and did I mention that my two best pals happen to be accomplished writers with MFAs of their own (the Groom has two just by himself) and the Groom was my Best Man just two months ago and gave a fraking amazing speech off the cuff (people choked up -- it was that good). No pressure. 

So how does one pen a wedding toast? 

First, it helps if you have lots of warning. I've known about this since late 2010. In fact, in the time from when I was asked to be the Best Man to when I actually was, I found time to get engaged and get married myself. So finding some time to put ink to parchment or pixel to screen should not have escaped me.

But there we were, the weekend of the wedding. On the road to the venue. And I had no idea what to say. What do you say? Sure, the standard platitudes that cover friendship, a funny story, respect, and admiration for the bride and the groom's luck at finding her. That all seems good. No matter what I wrote, however, it didn't sound right. It didn't feel like enough. And perhaps that because there are times when you simply cannot, in one speech, sum up two people, their love, and the amazingness that is them.

So, to return the favor from one Best Man to another, I took the microphone and I winged the whole speech. Honestly can't recall half of what I said, but I remember I made sure not to actually look directly at either of them until the end of the speech to ensure that I wouldn't become an emotional unstable twit in front of everyone there. If anyone is supposed to cry on the wedding day, it's the mother of the bride, maybe the maid of honor, and maybe the bride herself (though I'm happy to report that she held it together on the day after a beautifully emotional rehearsal wedding the night before).

Brilliant advice this is -- basically, DON'T WRITE a wedding toast. Just do it. Yeah... that's probably not what you wanted to hear. But consider it. Think about it. I made notes, I mulled it over, I ran versions of it in my head. But the closer I got to having to deliver this toast, the more I realized that I could have penned the most eloquent, prize-worthy opus, and it wouldn't have felt as honest or as real than getting up there, taking the mic, and speaking straight from the heart. Pure, unfiltered admiration for two people who inspire me in their commitment, passion, and love for one another and who, through that love, make each other better in every way.

Just understand that if you're ever asked to give a toast for someone at something as important as a wedding, that you make sure it's someone (or two someones) that you love deeply and stand behind. It's a big honking awesome responsibility to be the person who lifts that first glass and leads an entire room in wishing two people everlasting happiness --- so just remember, it's not about you. It just feels that way for like three seconds, but really, while the room might be looking at you with that microphone, they are thinking about the happy couple. They are ready to raise a glass. And as long as you don't faint and remember why you're there --- to honor your friends and their love --- you'll get through it.

And if the "speak from the heart" approach sounds like rubbish to you, there are lots of sites online with actual tips that include a play-by-play of how to construct your speech (from intro to light joke to complimenting the bride to roasting the groom to etc.). But I'll vouch for from the heart. Because for me, until I was standing there after the wedding and really got to see them together as husband and wife, I couldn't have come up with anything better before that moment. Sometimes you just need to be in a place, in a situation, in order to figure out how to handle it. This was my third best man speech I've given over the years, and the only one I didn't write. And I will probably never write another. 

Nearly every week at Ohio University, I have the awesome privilege of writing a 3-5 minute play for something the MFA writers like to call MADNESS. Because it can be. "It" is actually our Playwrights Production class that all the grad writers at OU take every semester while in the program. You can read more about Madness at www.ohioplaywriting.org (our news blog and archive), but the short version is: Producer announces theme on Monday. Writers write to theme. Friday night, a show goes on. 11 new plays. And then it all begins again on Monday.

This week, I'm producing/hosting the night, so I have challenged my writers to tackle "NAKED" as their theme. What does it mean to be naked? How can you be naked while still wearing clothes? Just got all their scripts and I'm now tasked with ordering the night, crafting my own piece, and putting up a night of theater at 11pm tonight. With that said, I must log off and get back to producing. I'll let you know how it goes!