eBULLETIN
MAY 2014
I was talking to my friend on the street the other day and he's Japanese as well so you know we were talking... in Japanese and this old man he gave us... well, he look at me an what did? Oh, he said 'you come to this country you learn our bloody language'. Yeah I think he thought I don't understand. So I say 'can you repeat in Maori please?' He walk away after that.
from Chop/Stick by Jo Holsted and Michelle Ang.
Kia ora <<First Name>>
This month’s report from the Ministry of Playwriting brings the news that we are negotiating new office space in Auckland. We won’t be moving very far – just going elsewhere in the same building. Is moving twice in the in the same year a sign of moving ahead? It feels positive so let’s say that is true. Also we’ve made a lot more progress in the audit of client records and we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll get through all of them before the year is over. We’ve covered the records of more than 900 scripts devoting 1.5 hours per day. There’s 1500 scripts left – that’s 175 hours to go. If a train travels… It’s a mammoth task. We’ve also been preoccupied with the results of the Playwrights b4 25 Competition too and the shortlist is announced below.
Sadly the full exchange with Playwriting Australia will not be happening for 2014 but there’s news below of an opportunity for two playwrights to go to Edinburgh this year as part of Creative New Zealand’s Momentum programme. Stuart Hoar will attend the Playwriting Australia Play Festival in Sydney next month and Playmarket will continue to stay in close co-operation with PWA.
Playmarket’s biennual retreat is almost upon us and we’ll be selecting the lucky playwrights form the applications next week. A number of exciting plays have been written on the retreat and gone on to have successful seasons.
Two weeks ago Salesi attended the Drama New Zealand conference and mixed with the fine educators who are promoting New Zealand plays to their students. This week I’m off to a gathering of Creative New Zealand Arts Leadership organisations to share visions, successes and challenges. Creative New Zealand has confirmed its commitment to fund Playmarket through December 2016 so happily, this provides us with security to sustain the work we do.
Perhaps the most significant news this month is that Aneta Ruth has decided to spend time with her family and not to return to the role of Licensing Administrator at the end of her maternity leave. We will be saying farewell next month but suffice for the moment to say she will be missed. Advertising for her replacement will be in the usual places this week.
Nga mihi mahana
Murray Lynch - Director of Playmarket
NEWS 
PLAYWRIGHTS b4 25
Playmarket is excited to announce the shortlist of our Playwrights b4 25 competition.
Henrietta Bollinger – Bedtime Monsters
Sam Brooks – The Construct
Adam Gooddall – Kill the Dark
Andrew Gunn and Rosie Tapsell – God-Belly
Fran Olds – The Fence
Isabella McDermott - Watercolour
Jess Sayer – Crunchy Silk and Hanged
Finnius Teppett – Rainland and Ushers
Each shortlisted playwright will be offered some development assistance and this year there is a $600 prize donated by the founders of Playmarket. b4 25 is open to any New Zealand citizen/permanent resident aged 24 and under at time of application. Winners will be announced in the June eBulletin.
PLAYS FOR THE YOUNG
Do you have an original and inventive play written for young people, whether you are new or experienced in writing for the young? We are seeking the best of all plays that fall into this category, including plays written by teachers especially for the classroom, and the most searing explorations of adolescence written by teenagers themselves.
There are 3 categories and a winner will be awarded in each category.
- Plays for 3 - 8 year-olds
- Plays for 8 - 12 year-olds
- Plays for teenagers
Submissions close 31 July 2014. For more information see our website here
MOMENTUM NEW ZEALAND PROGRAMME
EDINBURGH FESTIVALS 13 - 18 AUGUST 2014
Creative New Zealand and British Council are calling for Expressions of Interest from New Zealand practitioners and artists to participate the Edinburgh Festivals international delegate programme MOMENTUM from 13 - 19 August.
The programme provides a platform to engage and build relationships with organisations and individuals in Edinburgh. Selected delegates will be able to take advantage of a range of activities; from bespoke itinerary planning and access to in-demand shows, to high-level meetings with relevant cultural figures, including directly engaging with the directors of Edinburgh’s twelve major festivals and arts organisations.
Seven delegates will be supported to travel to Edinburgh through an open call process. They are seeking playwrights and emerging or mid-career practitioners.
Closing date for Expressions of Interest 23 May 2014
Read more here.
KEEPING IT FRESH – THEATRE VOICES IN SCREEN WELLINGTON
 Script to Screen is bringing together a panel of actor/writers who work across both film and theatre, each of whom have been praised for their original voice and the freshness they bring to their screen work. How has their background in writing and delivering theatre influenced the way they approach the very different art of screenwriting?
Join actor/playwright/screenwriter Sophie Henderson (I Heart Camping, Fantail), playwright/screenwriter Dean Hewison, (The Henchman, How to Meet Girls From a Distance) and playwright/screenwriter April Phillips, (STIFF, Death & Taxes) as they talk to playwright/script editor Bevin Linkhorn about working across the mediums and what filmmakers and writers can take from theatre practitioners.
Stay afterward for a slice of pizza and a drink.
Wednesday 14 May 2014, drinks 5:30pm, talk 6-7pm, The Film Archive, 84 Taranaki Street. $5 koha appreciated.
CONGRATULATIONS
 Congratulations to April Phillips whose short film Letter for Hope has been awarded an Honourable Mention at the Sunset Film Festival, Los Angeles. Letter for Hope has also been selected for screening at the 2014 River Bend Film Festival in Indiana and the 2014 Sarasota Film Festival in Florida.
 Congratulations to Whiti Hereaka whose novel Bugs has been selected as a finalist for the 2014 NZ Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Whiti will be featuring in the upcoming New Zealand Post Book Awards Festival and Finalists Tour for Children and Young Adults on Saturday 24th May at Te Papa, Wellington, where she will be signing copies of Bugs.
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ARTICLES
SHOULD HIGH SCHOOLERS PERFORM THE GOAT OR WHO IS SYLVIA?
Alice Stanley for HowlRound.com
When an American drama teacher assigned The Goat to his advanced drama class for scene study and performance a group of parents took objection and filed a complaint with police. What is “too mature” or “inappropriate” for students in the Internet age when everything risqué is a mouse click away? Do teachers have a greater right to teach curriculum they find pertinent than parents have a right to censor said curriculum? Is it ridiculous to censor a critically acclaimed work of art, or can certain theatre be justifiably deemed inappropriate for high school students?
Read more here
WHY BRITISH THEATRE IS NO LONGER SKIPPING SCHOOLS
Matt Trueman for theguardian.com
The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court are introducing schoolchildren to a different class of educational theatre – with plays that are at the heart of their programmes
Read more here
THE SEXIST REALITY THAT THE TONY NOMINATIONS JUST HIGHLIGHTED
Michele Willens for The Atlantic
The 2014 Pulitzer Prize for theatre was awarded this month to Annie Baker for her play The Flick. The runners-up were Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori for Fun Home, and Madeleine George for The Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence. All those works have two things in common: They were written by women, and they didn’t play on Broadway. Meanwhile, all five dramas nominated for Best Play at the Tony Awards were penned by men. What accounts for the gender disparity between the two big theatre awards?
Read more here
HOW CANADIAN THEATRE IS KILLING ITSELF
Fannina Waubert de Puiseau
Theatre artist Fannina Waubert de Puiseau asserts that Canadian theatre is killing itself by losing track of the direct, attentive relationship and mutual exchange between performer and spectator.
Read more here and her follow-up article here
UNPAID INTERNSHIPS, OR GETTING YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE
Greg Redlawsk for HowlRound.com
A sampling of some of the major non-profits suggests that there are at least, on average, 8 to 10 unpaid interns working at any given time in the average mid to large sized non-profit theatre. Even with conservative estimates, there are at least a thousand interns, (probably more) working tens of thousands of unpaid hours for the non-profit sector. There are hundreds of PAs. We’ve created a system that’s built on the backs of unpaid young people who just want to be a part of things.
Read more here
WHAT ARE YOUR PREJUDICES ABOUT THEATRE?
Loy Webb for HowlRound.com
We cannot be preoccupied before or during a show with differences of race, class, sexuality, etc., and assume because of these differences the lives of those we see before us are foreign territory. When we do that, we rob ourselves of what might be a beautiful and transformative experience if only we give it a chance. Instead we should keep an open mind and find the human connecting points. When we do that, we’ll find that deep down, we are more alike than we are different.
Read more here
MAKING A STATEMENT ABOUT DIVERSITY AT THE HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS
Dani Snyder-Young for HowlRound.com
Across the festival, every production I saw had a multi-racial cast; brownsville song and Steel Hammer deal explicitly with race and cast accordingly, and all the others include actors of color in roles that did not require racially-specific casting. As a result, the festival includes multiple representations of inter-racial couples and multi-racial families, all treated as unremarkable and “normal.” “That’s what the world looks like,” artistic director Les Waters explains. I could not agree more.
Read more here |
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KATHRYN BURNETT WORKSHOPS
