I'm trying out a new thing this year. Promoting a play before it's done. Maybe that comes with the territory when it's your thesis, or when it's a story set against the back-drop of a hot-button topic. In any case, as I continue to re-draft 'Frackture' and prep for the next step in this play's development, I have been talking about it more and more with journalists both here at OU and in other lovely places, like Washington, D.C.

Maybe this happens all the time to some playwrights, but discussing a play this much while it's being developed and workshopped is an entirely new experience for me. I'm stoked about this one, so I'm trying to keep expectations on the level. It's easy to ramble on about characters and hype a story you love telling, but hopefully the story will still be exciting and fresh when audiences finally see it. It's finding the balance between the buzz and the "pre-buzz" of the play that has become an unexpected, yet welcome, part of my writing process.

If you would like to read more about 'Frackture' and what I'm up to on that front, I invite you to visit the following links (the last one goes to a paid site fo.

• New play contemplates the impact of "fracking" on family
  by Taylor Evans, Ohio University Compass 10/10/12
  This story was republished by WOUB Public Media on 10/17/12
• Ohio playwright delves into 'Fracktured' family's struggle*
  by Pamela King, EnergyWire 11/14/12
  *Subscription-based news site

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 [email protected]. 

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 [email protected]. 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