Tags: Dear Dramatist

Dear Dramatist,  I just read John Thomas Oaks’ letter in the Jul/Aug issue of the Dramatist, and I want to say – actually, I want to yell it – “Thank...

Dear Dramatist,    Terrence McNally's idealistic "we're all in this together" quote (#6) a couple of issues ago no longer rings true. There is thick irony everywhere. We could write plays about it if there was still such a thing as free speech. If the theatrical community ever was a common ground where calm disagreement and reasonable discussion were possible, I fear it has instead become a stretch of scorched, salted...

Dear Dramatist,  I’m glad The Dramatist is focusing on regions that are not New York. It is great to see what is happening around the country and know that you can create theatre where you are. In the recent issue [March/April 2020] centering on the Pacific Northwest theatre scene, however, you...

Dear Dramatist, It’s understandable that more and more festivals and contests, overwhelmed by the volume of submissions, have introduced caps: only the first 100, or 200, or 500 received will be considered. And there are more and more examples of those caps being reached with astonishing speed; entering a script becomes a quick-draw contest. ...

Hard Work and Sacrifice Dear Dramatist, As a playwright who entered an MFA program in playwriting to learn the craft in a structured, supportive learning environment, I found Jeffrey Sweet’s Op/Ed “Regarding MFAs” [The Dramatist, page six, March/April 2019] disturbingly judgmental. I attended Spalding University’s low-residency program in playwriting—primarily because they gave me a partial scholarship for my first full-length play, which...

Dear Dramatist, I enjoyed reading what playwrights had to say about staged readings [Sept/Oct 2018, page 38]. It is a subject dear to my heart. I have directed over 100 staged readings of one-act plays at Play With Your Food, our popular lunchtime play-reading series in Westport, Fairfield, Greenwich, CT. My book on the topic, Staged Reading Magic, was published in 2017 by...

DEAR DRAMATIST, I especially enjoyed reading “The Book of Norman and Moses and Jarrow” in the Season in Review.