The Thaumaturgy Department

Something Borrowed …Something Blue: New Voices at the Abbey Theatre.

If the stage of the Abbey Theatre is seen as the heart of the National theatre, then its Literary Department is very much the pulse. Tucked away on the upper floors of the Abbey Street theatre, the Literary Department is very much a haven for new writers, for new stories and for new voices. Aideen Howard, Literary Director, talks to Barry Houlihan and Writing.ie about the work of the Literary Department, about supporting new plays and new playwrights and about finding that new voice in Irish theatre. In an average year, some three hundred unsolicited scripts find their way to the Literary Department of the Abbey, each hoping to be lifted from obscurity and to see their work produced. If anyone thinks that a play is submitted, read and then magically appears on the stage in the following season, they are sorely wrong. Aideen Howard explains the mammoth task of sifting through these plays, reading, assessing and responding to each and every one and working with those few chosen for further development. She is quick to point out her work as Literary Director is a long-term investment in the Abbey’s and Irish theatre’s future. The fruits of this work may not be fully seen for a number of years to come….

Follow the link for the rest

(Source: writing.ie)

“Triple Threats”: Playwright Leaders

The history of the world stage has seen theatres run by actors, producers, directors and that relatively recent creation, the artistic director. But apart from Molière and Brecht, one species of theatremaker we haven’t typically seen at the helm of many theatres—particularly not U.S. resident theatres—is playwrights.

For 22 years, Emily Mann has been one notable exception, heading Princeton, N.J.’s McCarter Theatre Center while continuing to write and direct her own work there (Having Our Say, Execution of Justice, Mrs. Packard) and directing the works of Nilo Cruz, Edward Albee, Danai Gurira and Christopher Durang. When, this past year, two theatres—Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE and Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater—named playwrights to their artistic helms, it looked at last like Mann might no longer be so alone.

American Theatre sat down last month with Mann and Chay Yew, the playwright/director (A Language of Their Own, Porcelain, Red) who began this year as artistic director of Victory Gardens, to see if these two writer/producers—one seasoned at the juggling act, another just starting—had advice or questions to share.

American Theatre: Kwame Kwei-Armah just started as artistic director at CENTERSTAGE, but I can’t think of many other playwrights who run theatres in the U.S….

From a discussion hosted by TCG & American Theatre Magazine, moderated by Rob Weinert-Kendt. Follow the link for the rest of this extensive conversation with Emily Mann and Chay Yew. 

(Source: tcg.org)