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eBULLETIN
DECEMBER 2016
Kia ora <<First Name>>
I have just finished reading the responses of American playwrights and artistic directors to facing a post-election reality that have been published in American Theatre magazine.
Comments range from playwright Madhuri Shekar:
“The morning after the election, I thought my writing career was over, because it just seemed too painful to continue engaging with the world. Luckily, that feeling passed. As scared and worried as I may be, I am excited for the art that we are going to create. Let’s continue. Let’s challenge ourselves to expand our understanding of the world, illuminate its complexity, and open our hearts to different lives and experiences. Let’s try and make each other laugh.”
to playwright Christopher Shinn:
“I know theatres are worried about alienating subscribers by doing plays they won’t like, but given that the election results shocked so many people, now is a good opportunity for artistic leaders to say to their audiences, “We need to produce work that more accurately reflects the vast ideological diversity of our country. The theatre has to do more than entertain, express conventional wisdom, and gently challenge us. It has to confront us with new, unexpected, and radical points of view. This may be uncomfortable and even unpleasant, but it’s necessary.”
and Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, California:
“I was really shocked by this last election. I knew I was in a bubble—I knew I was in a coastal, liberal, art, urban bubble, but I didn’t realize how profound that was, how vast the gulf is between the way I see the world and the way almost 50 percent of our country sees the world. Lots of people are trying to stand up to destructive change, and I think that’s important. I also think there’s another thing that we have to do as arts organisations, which is foster a conversation across both sides of the divide. Talking to our own half of the country repeatedly is very empowering, but I don’t know if it’s going to solve many problems…what kind of conversation can we have that would help bridge, unite, and create deeper connections between people, and more sense of community?”
With so much change in the global conversation we all need to take these thoughts to heart and review what we stage and how we make theatre. I encourage all our playwrights and producers to create brave theatre.
Previously in the same universe and prior to Monday’s 12.02am Kaikoura earthquake Playmarket held our Accolades event. We launched two new books and celebrated the work of the year as well as farewelling Stuart Hoar and anointing Sam Brooks as the 2016 Bruce Mason Award winner. It was a wonderful celebratory event.
Allison Horsley is now familiar with the furniture in our Auckland office and coming to terms with reading more than eighty entries to the Adam NZ Play Award. Two external judges will soon be at work to help select the winners in this highly-regarded competition. We’ve also held a few clinics since our last bulletin and we’re deep in preparation for some of our 2017 events. So there’s not been too much time to dwell on earthquakes although we all send our thoughts out to those who have been forced out of their homes, businesses and farms.
It has been exciting to have seven New Zealand works on simultaneously on the professional stages in Wellington this month. There’s heaps of work by our clients that will be on our stages next year but wouldn’t it be good to see every town in the country producing a New Zealand play every month!
Happy writing and holiday-ing everyone
Nga mihi mahana
Murray Lynch - Director of Playmarket
PLAYMARKET ACCOLADES
Thanks to all those who came and helped make the afternoon such a success.
The Bruce Mason Playwriting Award was presented to Sam Brooks. The award exists to recognise early success in the career of the winning playwright; to encourage their continued exploration of the theatre medium and grants a $10,000 cash prize.
Sam is one of New Zealand’s most exciting and prolific young playwrights. Only in his mid-twenties he has already had ten of his plays produced, as well as winning Playmarket’s b425 competition twice and being Highly Commended in the prestigious Adam NZ Play Awards in 2014 for his play Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys. His recent work includes the site-specific industry love letter Wine Lips, the autobiographical Stutterpop and the black comedy Burn Her, a brilliant exposé of New Zealand’s contemporary political scene. He’s a fearless critic and commentator on the theatre scene in The Pantograph Punch, The Wireless and The Spinoff, and was named Auckland’s Most Exciting Playwright by Metro Magazine in 2014.
You can read more here.
NEWS
PLAYMARKET HOLIDAY DATES
The offices will close at 5pm on Wednesday 21 December 2016 and reopen on Monday 9 January 2017.
NEW IN OUR BOOKSHOP
SHIFT
Plays by Alison Quigan, Vivienne Plumb and Lynda Chanwai-Earle
Mum’s Choir by Alison Quigan is a story of laughter, singing and tears. The irrepressible family of a deceased matriarch reunite and discover they have less than three days to deliver the musical send-off Mum would have wanted.
When Honey begins sleep-talking in a language she can’t understand, her whole world begins to change. The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleep by Vivienne Plumb follows Honey and her husband Howard as they are confronted with twists and pitfalls that could change their whole marriage.
Inspired by true events, Man in a Suitcase by Lynda Chanwai-Earle is set in a post-earthquake Christchurch. Foreign exchange student Wen is caught up in a plot that goes horribly wrong and irreparably impacts the lives of those around him.
SHIFT is available here.
BEST PLAYWRITING BOOK EVER
by Roger Hall
Best Playwriting Book Ever is a practical manual for novice and experienced playwrights – anyone who aspires to bring stories to the stage. Roger Hall shares tips and tricks that have helped him become our most successful writer for theatre and a household name. This new and improved edition of his acclaimed guide offers a wealth of insight about breaking into the playwriting scene and finding a unique style. The book covers the principles behind crafting a winning plot, creating engaging characters, and atmosphere that will have audiences glued to their seats.
Best Playwriting Book Ever is a must-have for playwrights and screenwriters alike. Available here.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to our clients and associates who have been selected for the longlist for the 2017 Ockham NZ Book Awards:
Vincent O'Sullivan for And So It Is
Courtney Sina Meredith for Tail of the Taniwha
Damien Wilkins for Dad Art
Greg McGee has been longlisted for the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award for his novel The Antipodeans.
Congratulations to Steven Page, Tom Sainsbury and Chris Parker whose feature film projects have been selected for development by South Pacific Pictures and Vendetta Productions.
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ARTICLES
WHAT CAN THEATRE DO? A POST-ELECTION COLLOQUY
American Theatre
American Theatre asked a wide cross section of the nation's playwrights and artistic directors—those who write plays and those who program them—how they are planning or intending to respond to the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency as theatre artists and leaders, and what they think theatre can do to shape and direct the national conversation.
Part One available here and Part Two available here
SOUNDING A SANATORIUM: THE WAIPIATA PLAYSCRIPT
Emily Duncan for Corpus
Playwright Emily Duncan on writing her latest play, Waipiata.
Read more here
TALA TUSI: THE TELLER IS THE TALE
Poet and academic Selina Tusitala Marsh powerfully explores the relationship between our stories, ourselves, and the fate of our literature if we ignore the wisdom offered by ‘tala tusi’ in her 2016 New Zealand Book Council Lecture.
Download Selina's speech here.
LONG BEFORE ‘HAMILTON’ BROUHAHA, THEATER WAS ANYTHING BUT POLITE
Eliza Maddock Dillon for The New York Times
Attending the theater before 1850 or so in the United States was far more akin to attending a football game today than to attending contemporary theatre.
Read more here, Vulture's Jesse Green asks 'Should theatre really be a safe space?' here and Abraham Lincoln reacts to Mike Pence's 'terrible theatre experience' here
ALIENATING OUR AUDIENCES EARLY
Mia McCullough for HowlRound
Playwright Mia McCullough discusses how teaching classic plays in high school alienates future young audiences, and advocates for contemporary playwrights to craft comprehensive anthologies of their work
Read more here
DEATH OF THE HATCHET JOB
DJ Taylor for The New Statesman
Book reviewing used to be a blood sport. How has it become so benign and polite?
Read more here
HAVE I GOT A PLAY FOR YOU
Jordana Williams for Slate
Flouting copyright law to bring the brilliance of Company to West Hollow Junior High School.
Read more here
THE BEST SONGS CUT FROM HAMILTON, OKLAHOMA!, INTO THE WOODS, AND 10 OTHER BELOVED BROADWAY MUSICALS
Jesse Green and John Verderber for Vulture
Songs cut from Broadway musicals are usually cut for a valid reason: They’re not very good. But sometimes it's the case that great songs simply don’t fit the moment or the performer or a change in direction.
Read more here
NEW YORK TIMES & WALL STREET JOURNAL PREPARE TO SLASH ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE AND STAFF AS PRINT ADS VANISH
Jeremy Gerard for Deadline Hollywood
As print advertising revenues continue to fall off the cliff, reviews and features related to film, theater and the rest of the arts are being cut at New York’s two prominent broadsheets, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Read more here
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