Hi, everyone! Hope you're looking forward to the Vigils Club Woolly Night, this Friday--February, 9th. (Look for the review in the Washington Post on Wednesday if you're curious.) In the mean time, we have a few words from Jaclyn, one of our new interns, about choosing the 2007-08 Season:
Hey blogfans! I’m Jaclyn, the new lit intern at Woolly Mammoth. My job is to assist Elissa Goetschius, Woolly’s Literary Associate, with script evaluations, new play development, agency contacts, and whatever else happens to come along. In the next few weeks I’ll be gearing up to work on the dramaturgy for Woolly’s next production, David Greenspan’s She Stoops to Comedy. It’s so exciting to be part of the production process—and the Shakespeare Festival in Washington to boot.
It seems that I’ve come at the perfect time. The east coast premiere of Noah Haidle’s Vigils is just opened, and I’ve been lucky enough to watch it evolve from the designer run through the preview week. Working on a new play—with the playwright present for revisions!—is exhilarating and unique. Things can quite literally change from one moment to the next, and it’s amazing to see how much can be accomplished when you put together a solid group of artists with complementing visions.
Choosing those artists, however, can sometimes be a little tricky. My arrival also coincided with one of the most stressful times in any theatre’s year: choosing the lineup for the coming season. Like Jen said in her last post, there are so many factors to weigh that it’s easily overwhelming.
Along with the more point-blank concerns—script quality, subject matter, adherence to Woolly’s mission of producing new and edgy work—season planning deals with a lot of amorphous, make-it-or-break-it factors: whether the rights can be obtained, how many world premieres can be produced in a season, the various effects of pitting certain plays against each other, whether the budget can contain a desired cast, whether there is already a director or designer associated with the project, etc. etc. etc.
At this point we’re left with so few scripts in the ’07-’08 consideration pile that the nuances of each play have become incredibly important. The selection process, which involves a good deal of roundtable discussion (and sometimes a change of heart that can alter things completely), is still so organic despite its financial implications. I think that I like the roundabout nature of the decision process the best; sure, it can be stressful, but the amount of consideration that so many people put into creating the best art possible is really affirming when so many theatres now are forced to rely on commercial factors alone.
It’s also a great way to get a taste of what goes on during new play development. So few venues commit to producing new plays with the vigor that Woolly demands, and I can already tell that being a part of it for the next few months is going to change the way I look at theatre completely.
Hey blogfans! I’m Jaclyn, the new lit intern at Woolly Mammoth. My job is to assist Elissa Goetschius, Woolly’s Literary Associate, with script evaluations, new play development, agency contacts, and whatever else happens to come along. In the next few weeks I’ll be gearing up to work on the dramaturgy for Woolly’s next production, David Greenspan’s She Stoops to Comedy. It’s so exciting to be part of the production process—and the Shakespeare Festival in Washington to boot.It seems that I’ve come at the perfect time. The east coast premiere of Noah Haidle’s Vigils is just opened, and I’ve been lucky enough to watch it evolve from the designer run through the preview week. Working on a new play—with the playwright present for revisions!—is exhilarating and unique. Things can quite literally change from one moment to the next, and it’s amazing to see how much can be accomplished when you put together a solid group of artists with complementing visions.
Choosing those artists, however, can sometimes be a little tricky. My arrival also coincided with one of the most stressful times in any theatre’s year: choosing the lineup for the coming season. Like Jen said in her last post, there are so many factors to weigh that it’s easily overwhelming.
Along with the more point-blank concerns—script quality, subject matter, adherence to Woolly’s mission of producing new and edgy work—season planning deals with a lot of amorphous, make-it-or-break-it factors: whether the rights can be obtained, how many world premieres can be produced in a season, the various effects of pitting certain plays against each other, whether the budget can contain a desired cast, whether there is already a director or designer associated with the project, etc. etc. etc.
At this point we’re left with so few scripts in the ’07-’08 consideration pile that the nuances of each play have become incredibly important. The selection process, which involves a good deal of roundtable discussion (and sometimes a change of heart that can alter things completely), is still so organic despite its financial implications. I think that I like the roundabout nature of the decision process the best; sure, it can be stressful, but the amount of consideration that so many people put into creating the best art possible is really affirming when so many theatres now are forced to rely on commercial factors alone.
It’s also a great way to get a taste of what goes on during new play development. So few venues commit to producing new plays with the vigor that Woolly demands, and I can already tell that being a part of it for the next few months is going to change the way I look at theatre completely.
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