Category: Networking

dramatists guild comes to Columbus

11/7/2012

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

Facebook Profiles Predict Job Success??

2/27/2012

I came across an article today in the LifeInc section of Today Online (something like today.msn.msnbc.com... lots of dots). Some guys created a profile analyzer that will check our your Facebook and tell an employer if you're a good worker based on factors they decided correlate. This led to a flurry of comments debating whether employers should be using Facebook and social media as a factor in deciding your future with a company. Wherever you stand on this issue, it's worth a read.

Really long link to the article on Today

As someone who once walked in the land of cubicles (and worked in communications and marketing), I learned quickly how the online world was encroaching on the way of life we knew in the corporate world offline. It was (and still is for many) a time when companies constantly redefined their social media policies. To paraphrase Maximus from the film Gladiator, what we post online echoes for eternity. But does that mean that your future boss should be reading it? Maybe you just friended someone who will become your boss. In a field like the arts, that is more than possible. Many of my FB friends are theatre contacts. We work together, but one day I might work for one of them or vice versa. So yeah, what I post matters.

As for social profiling, here's what I had to say in response to stephen-3584703's comment, "I stand by my statement. My Facebook presence should never be a factor in my ability to get a professional job. Period."

It shouldn't, but it does. I agree that if you don't want FB (or Twitter, or Google+, or any the social networking sites) playing a role in future job hunting, then you should either not have it or learn to the privacy setting and not mix business contacts with friend contacts (or just think of Facebook as what it is, a public wall of information upon which you post your thoughts and life for all to see --- even if you've set it to friends only, your friends can share what you say online and off... people still talk to each other). Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you play the game, many employers are starting to check out people's social network footprint when screening applicants. At my last job, my boss admitted to searching for my profiles to see what I was like before my interview. I only had one public profile at the time and was conscientious as to what I posted there for that very reason. She actually told me that if I hadn't been online, she wouldn't have called me in for an interview -- she was looking for people who knew the social media world to help create a presence for her organization online... that wasn't in the job description, it was just planning ahead on her part. There are some who feel this is a violation of privacy, or a mix of professional and private life, but is this so different than new friends, interested romantic partners, or old elementary school friends screening us on the personal side of things. People are curious (especially new employers who are going to see you more hours a week than those friends and family) and in an age of instant information (thank you Google and Wikipedia), why would they wait for the interview to fully judge a person? We're already screened by our resumes and cover letters, not to mention how well we dress at the interview, our height, our handshake, our vernacular, the cadence of our voice, how we interact with the receptionist, etc (I'm not saying this is fair, just pointing out that pre-screening has existed for centuries... it's simply evolving). Whether it is blatant or subtle, employers size us up from the first moment we enter into their awareness. When all else fails, they can call around and try to find out what you're like through references and the word on the street. Resumes have always been that thing that had to be perfect -- but reputation has always been equally important. If reputation comes from how you present yourself and how your peers perceive you, I'd argue that such a thing is no longer limited to the offline world. It doesn't help that more and more people are profiling us through Facebook, etc., after a chance encounter or new friendship blooms. No longer do we need to sit for hours, weeks, months, or years to truly get to know anyone -- we simply become Facebook friends, hit up our timelines, and take in the last few years of another person's life in an afternoon... without them even being there to share it with you. This behavior is simply bleeding over into the professional world as the norms of the offline world create and solidify online counterparts. Technology like Facebook is forever changing how we interact, meet, communicate, and unfortunately, it's also changing how we judge. Honestly, though, if my future boss doesn't like my Facebook profile, then they're probably not going to like me. For the record, my Facebook profile is 90% private, open only to my friends. The other 10% are public posts that are professional in nature and/or link to my twitter account. I don't friend bosses, period, and don't friend co-workers unless I am actually good friend friends with them offline. It's a brave new world for us all and we each have our own ways of navigating it. You're right Stephen, most people aren't aware of how their profiles can affect their offline world -- they should have orientation meetings about it in college (well, high school now... as I expect social profiling to begin playing a role in college admissions in the next decade) -- many do however because whether we like it or not, social profiling is rapidly becoming the way of things.

Feel free to comment your thoughts here or back in the original conversation at LifeInc.

dramatists guild comes to Columbus

Facebook Profiles Predict Job Success??

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