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Edd
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| Joined: | Sat Jun 10th, 2006 |
| Location: | Denver, Colorado USA |
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Posted: Mon Aug 14th, 2006 03:17 pm |
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edd: IT IS AN HONOR AND A PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE TO YOU MR. JASON GROTE, INTERNATIONALLY PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED PLAYWRIGHT AND EDUCATOR. HE IS A MEMBER OF NEW DRAMATISTS AND A CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR AMERICAN THEATER, THEATREFORUM, and THE BROOKLYN RAIL. WELCOME TO OUR FORUM AND TO THE GREEN ROOM, JASON.
Jason_Grote: Thanks. I look forward to your questions. Fire away!
edd: Some of our members are very interested in getting published.
Jason_Grote: The best way to get published is probably to get a high-profile, reviewed production.
edd: Tell us when the best time is to get published and how to go about it. Thanks.
Jason_Grote: Theatrical publishers don't really operate like regular publishers. Playscripts.com has an open submission policy, though you can only submit one play at a time. The other publishers, like TCG, Dramatists' Play Service, and Samuel French will usually find you after a production or productions, provided they garner enough positive attention. It's probably better to seek productions, and the publications will follow, unless you specialize in something like theater for young audiences - then there are companies like Baker's Plays, who are listed in the Dramatists' Sourcebook.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: What are the benefits of publishing one's work?
Jason_Grote: Obviously, the work has a greater level or exposure and distribution - it can be taught in classes, and can be found by people in bookstores. But it's extraordinarily rare that playwrights start out publishing first. It's better to get as many productions under your belt as possible. They are plays, after all - even after publication, the object is for those to lead to more productions.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: Thanks. I was just wondering as I always say no to publication and use my agent to push my work. I like the ephemeral nature of theatre... how it just disappears after each show.....
Jason_Grote: Financially, the benefit is more educational productions, which tend to be more lucrative, though again, unless the play has a fair amount of notoriety from commercial or nonprofit theatre, the colleges and amateur theaters tend not to even know about it.
edd: There is no one lined up right now so let me ask a question. you have a distinguished record of serving on some very prestigious panels care to tell us about some?
Jason_Grote: Just to clarify, by panels, do you mean play selection committees and things like that?
edd: yes what is the process?
Jason_Grote: Well, it's different based on each submission procedure. In general, it's not uncommon for playwrights to be readers - for instance, at New Dramatists, every playwright has to serve on at least one selection committee. It also depends on the dynamic of the people in the room - I don't know of any contests or selections that are only made by one person.
edd: How many are discarded by readers in general before they get to you?
Jason_Grote: For Soho Rep, we have an open submission process, and we get about 150-200 submissions a year. There are 4-5 slots for playwrights. Much of the work can be dismissed out of hand because it's derivative, or clearly the playwright has no idea what Soho Rep does and is just going through the submission list in the Dramatists' Sourcebook. Edd, it doesn't exactly work like that - for Soho Rep, we have a couple of trusted readers, and we all read the scripts at the same time. We get down to a final 15, which we give to Soho Rep's current artistic director, and we all choose together.
edd: So then the playwright needs to do serious research on where they are sending their play.
Jason_Grote: Edd, again, it's always a good idea to know what kind of work a theater does before submitting to them. It takes a lot of effort to figure out what sort of work a theater does, but it's invaluable. I try to see theater whenever I travel, and I learn from friends of mine who have worked with them, as well as email lists.
playfull: Hi Jason, What's the best piece of writing advice you have ever recieved or can give?
Jason_Grote: Don't give up, basically. Unless you want to give up, in which case you should.
playfull: I really should
Jason_Grote: It's not really rewarding enough to pursue unless you're really obsessed with it. But if you are obsessed with it, and you're willing to change and revisit your own work, then persistence will rule the day. That counts more than talent or connections or anything else. Like many playwrights, I started as an actor, and the second I started pursuing it professionally, I realized I hated it - no shame in quitting if your heart isn't in it.
playfull: Thanks.
Rhinoceros: My question is have you ever self-produced? What do you see as the pros and cons of self-producing for the contemporary playwright?
Jason_Grote: Lots of playwrights self-produce all the time. I have self-produced, and I don't at the moment because I don't have time, but playwrights as well-regarded as Adam Rapp and Mac Wellman self-produce all the time. If nothing else, it's a great way to learn how to collaborate with other artists. A lot depends on where you self-produce. I had some success with the NY Fringe, but after URINETOWN there are a lot of companies and artists looking to cash in, pretty much, and it becomes hard for a smaller show to get attention.
Rhinoceros: I wondered if there were some stigma attached to it.
Jason_Grote: There is no stigma associated with self-producing, but lots of people are doing it, so you have to be pretty savvy in order for it to be successful by most measures.
Rhinoceros: And what makes it successful? Ticket sales ... reviews?
Jason_Grote: In NYC, there is a cottage industry to places looking to make $$$ off of naive and ambitious young artists - places like the Producers Club - and then there are legitimate self-producing venues like HERE, Walkerspace (Soho Rep), or the Ohio (Soho Think Tank). Success mostly means artistic success - is it an interesting show, good on its own terms, do a reasonable amount of people see it. Success also means who saw it, who's talking about it, did you lose a lot of money on it, press exposure, things like that. But I believe that success depends on what your goals are when you start out - did you fulfill those goals? Even if it was just to have fun, if you do what you set out to do, then It’s a success.
Rhinoceros: Thanks, Jason.
Jason_Grote: Sure.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: Can you tell us about your play (ANTIGONE) and the influence and lessons you feel classical Greek theatre has for us?
Jason_Grote: I would generally advise as much knowledge with classics, folktales, myths, and fairytales as possible. I'm fond of adaptation because I think that stories tend to be universal - forms vary from culture to culture (for example, Middle Eastern and South Asian narrative structures are very different), but the basic models of stories are there to use - what is personal and unique are the details.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: What did you bring to Antigone?
Jason_Grote: Antigone is perhaps the first extant play about war, and about the values of the family vs. the state, and everything since then tends to have something or other to do with it.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: It is a great story! Did you take any of the structure of Greek theatre? Their rules appear very rigid to us......
Jason_Grote: Anubian Nights, I wrote a draft of it that later became MOLOCH AND OTHER DEMONS. I went back to it a couple of years ago, and I thought the best metaphor for the current war, and for our times, would be that Antigone still went through the thru-line of the original, but there was no body there. So there are still chorus speeches - I tried using spam e-mail for them, but it didn't really work - and the basic plot is there - though there are the trappings of modern consumer society. And there is a void at the center of the play - Antigone hasn't buried the body but has to die for it anyway, which seemed to be something of a metaphor for these weird times we're in. As far as rules go, I tend not to pay attention to them. Anyone that presents an artistic principle as a rule strikes me as, well, dumb. Each play makes its own rules. Within that structure, one should be aware of breaking the rules that one has set up - but even those rules aren't inviolable.
anubian_nights_theatre_co: Rules are sometimes good as they make one think in a 'box' that culturally we might never inhabit, such as Kabuki or even Kathakali.....
Jason_Grote: For every stated rule, there is an example of a successful play, story, novel or film that has violate...
nubian_nights_theatre_co: Exactly! LOL!
alexc: Yes, some rules are nice challenges: "I load myself up with chains then try to get out" - some poet. (Austin Clarke?)
Jason_Grote: OK, there are specific rules that make something Kathakali or Kabuki, but I'm a modern-day American - I can possibly reference those theatrical forms but no matter what I do they won't be "authentic." I think that Brecht and Artaud both made some really great theatre based on really wild misinterpretations of Asian theatrical forms. Alexc, rules can be very useful, of course - in fact, I confess I do set out specific rules before starting a new piece, usually something totally different from what I did on my last project, but they're only a good idea if you find them useful...
Will: I live in Rural West TN. You can count Theaters here on one hand. And even the productions I have had do not get much more than local significance, regardless of how well they do. What advice would you give to someone looking for productions?
Jason_Grote: Will, I don't mean to sound glib, but really the best thing you could do would be to move to Nashville, which has some interesting small theater. I know that isn't easy for everyone - it took me years to get to NYC, and I'm from New Jersey. But if you can find some way to get to a small city that has a viable theater scene, there really is no substitute for it. NYC is preeminent (in the US, anyway), but LA, SF, DC, Chicago, Austin, Minneapolis, and Atlanta all have ample theater. Barring that, there are grad programs, and you can always look at the Dramatists' Guild Resource Directory or the Dramatists' Sourcebook and submit nationally. Thank you.
Will: Do plays debuting in Nashville get enough credibility to get noticed by publishers?
Jason_Grote: Again, I would say that publication isn't really a worthwhile objective. I'd advise getting involved with one of Nashville's smaller theater companies, which sometimes will bring shows to NYC or elsewhere. Really, once you start getting involved with a theater scene, things tend to lead to other things. It's a pretty small world. Depending on where in TN you are, you might want to consider an internship or some other working relationship with Actors' Theatre in Louisville, KY. Their Humana Festival is one of the largest and best-regarded new play festivals in the USA, and they do publish those plays every year - through Smith & Kraus, I believe.
edd: Jason, may I address Will?
Jason_Grote: Sure.
edd: Will, for the moment I think we can get a good start by you taking part in our 30 day submission binge.
Will: Thanks. I really should do that.
alexc: Jason, your MFA is from Tisch DDW. I'm about to start there. I have a few full-length productions in the US, one-acts in US, London, Montreal, so more interested in craft side than marketing side. Any insights on Tisch teaching of craft?
Jason_Grote: Tisch is an enormous program, partially because NYU is so monstrously huge and partially because they combine playwriting with TV and Film. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. Tisch does tend to be very structure-oriented, which I wasn't crazy about.
alexc: Does that mean, 'insistent on rules'?
Jason_Grote: It's OK if you're writing a screenplay, but I prefer language-based playwriting. Some teachers were really insistent on rules. I tried to avoid them when I could, unless, again, we're talking about a TV writing class. All of my favorite professors on the playwriting side were more "experimental."
alexc: Is there less toleration for experiment in the supposedly more commercial forms, then?
Jason_Grote: Yes, definitely - look at the most commercially successful plays of the last 20 or so years, in the US and UK anyway. Very frequently, "experimental" work, like that of Caryl Churchill or Tony Kushner, becomes very commercially successful, but much "experimental" drama is by and for a relatively small group of people - which is perfectly fine.
alexc: Thanks very much!
Jason_Grote: Sure!
scenedreamer: I just wondered how screenwriting and playwriting intersect? Commercially and artistically. I mean are playwrights often good screenwriters? Or the other way around?
Jason_Grote: Well, that's a pretty big question. There are lots of really successful playwrights whose work I'm not crazy about, who are basically writing movies for the stage. One of them, Martin McDonaugh, has admitted that he tried to break into screenwriting and couldn't, so he became a playwright, and now that he's achieved success, he's going into movies, which is where I think he belongs. Many playwrights go into TV writing - Six Feet Under and Weeds were/are staffed largely by playwrights. Eric Overmeyer, who was a big "experimental" playwright in the 80s, runs Law & Order. There's obviously lots of overlap, but the economics of TV and film - which I thoroughly enjoy - require such different things than playwriting. When I go to a play, I don't want what I can get from a movie or a TV show - I want something that only a play can give me. Sometimes this is what Erik Ehn called "Big Cheap" - that is, magical effects achieved mostly with imagination - movement theater like The Flying Machine, musicals, really nonlinear language-based theater.
edd: Jason, thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, and thanks to all our very courteous members. Let us all give Jason a round of applause.
Jason_Grote: OK, out of time! Thanks, everybody - great to be here.
alexc: {{{applause}}}!!!
scenedreamer: Applause!!
edd: Thank you, Jason.
thain: Thank you, Jason.
edd: Will you come back at some future date?
Jason_Grote: Sure!
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