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eBULLETIN
FEBRUARY 2013
Fans tend to think of artists as "stepping into some Pure divine state... And occasionally there is transcendence involved, but almost every artist is a mass of neurosis and self-doubt, petty concerns, strange competitive urges and feelings of dissatisfaction. And yeah, I still get them. I'm a flawed human being. You want to be brave and confident, but, if people only knew.
Neil Finn quoted in The Sunday Star Times January, 2013
Kia ora <<First Name>>
We have hit the ground running on return to work in this unusual consistently warm summer – well unusual for Wellington anyway. Other centres are more used to enjoying the same thing.
As I announced last month there are now three full time staff positions at Playmarket working with me as the Director/Agent. I am pleased that Aneta Ruth has returned full time in the position of Licensing Administrator in the Wellington office and Stuart Hoar to full time Script Advisor in the Auckland office. Stuart is first port of call for script development and Aneta issues all licences and processes the collection and distribution of royalties. She is also running the bookshop, and managing databases and membership. At the close of 2012 we advertised for someone to fill a third full time position. I am thrilled to announce that Salesi Leota will be joining the staff this month in the Client Promotions role. Salesi brings wide industry knowledge and a skill set well suited to the job in which his main duties will be to manage circulation of scripts (last year we sent out over 2,000 scripts), special projects and events, the schools programme, and information services: bulletins, media releases, etc.
This new structure increases the focus we can give to script development and script circulation. This change does not increase expenditure; nor reduce hours, programmes, or the capacity of the organisation.
In December I held some focus groups to help formulate our programmes for Maori, Pasifika, and Asian playwrights. As a result we have some more fully developed plans and partnerships; and the first initiative to come out of this is a new playwriting group in Wellington for Maori and Pasifika playwrights - Te Tiri Ta. There is full information on this below.
In a couple of weeks I will be heading to Playwriting Australia’s Play Festival in Perth. The event moves from state to state annually and was held in Melbourne last year. I returned from it last year with a playwrights’ exchange programme in place and many new contacts. An Australian playwright attended our retreat last June and this year Rachel Callinan has been selected to attend the festival, which has a specific focus on writing for youth.
Among the articles with links below are some fine discussions on what dramaturgy means, adapting for the stage, David Henry Hwang, and several others. Here is a special extra link to Renee’s Wednesday Busk where she shares her new novel Too Many Cooks.
Meantime, keep reading and writing in the sunshine…
Nga mihi mahana
Murray Lynch - Director of Playmarket
NEWS
Do you have a complete draft of a new play ready and waiting for some attention?
Do you know someone who does?
Playmarket’s Brown Ink is looking for Maori and Pasifika Playwrights from throughout New Zealand with exciting and original work to show.
Hit the workshop floor with a professional script advisor and actors dedicated to helping you develop your play.
For more details contact Script Advisor Stuart Hoar here.
Submissions close Friday 30 May 2012
TE TIRA TA MAI TE UPOKO
Te Tira Ta Mai Te Upoko is Playmarket’s new writers' group for Maori and Pasifika playwrights in the Wellington region. Having the support of a writers' group can be invaluable to the development of a playwright and their work - it is place where you can debate their ideas, learn new skills and, most importantly, hear your work.
Leading the group is Whiti Hereaka. Whiti (Ngati Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa) is a Wellington based playwright and holds an MA in Creative writing (script) from the IIML and also won the Bruce Mason Award in 2012.
She says “I was lucky to be a member of Writers Block for over a decade. In that time I enjoyed the company, generosity and friendship of talented writers. I hope that Te Tira Ta will tautoko writers in a similar way.”
The group will be meeting every second Saturday of the month at Playmarket's Wellington office.
The first meeting is on 9 February 2013 11am - 1pm.
Please come along with your ideas, work and kai to share.
SUPPORT THEATREVIEW
NZ’s pre-eminent performing arts review website – www.theatreview.org.nz – is facing a funding gap at its busiest time of year with 181 theatre and dance shows lined up for review nationwide (so far) for the six weeks from 1 February to mid-March.
These will include reviews of the Auckland Festival, Auckland Fringe and NZ Fringe (Wellington) - to be closely followed by the Dunedin Fringe. Many of these productions will only get reviewed on Theatreview.
If you would like to support Theatreview’s work visit their pledge me page here before 14 February to make a donation.
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ARTICLES
The man who can make Bruce Lee talk
Alex Witchel for The New York Times
A quarter-century after M. Butterfly won him the Tony Award, David Henry Hwang, a first-generation Chinese-American, still bends under the lifelong weight of expectations from his high-achieving immigrant family. He will come to sparkling life on a panel or at a lectern; he will give a pithy quote about multiculturalism to the media. But the real Hwang, the one with the wicked sense of humor, the soaring emotionalism of an opera diva and the pounding anger of a neglected child, is glimpsed almost exclusively onstage. So today, in his new play Kung Fu, it is Bruce Lee who gets all the best lines, the ones Hwang would never even consider saving for himself.
Read more here
Nicholas Hytner: 'The arts are on a knife's edge'
Charlotte Higgins for The Guardian
Nicholas Hytner has had a phenomenally successful run at the helm of the National Theatre, this week picking up an armful of awards. But it's his outspoken attack on the government over the future of the arts that's making all the headlines.
Read on here
Hannah Hessel: Dramaturg
Spotlight in 2Amt
How do you explain dramaturgy? This is always the difficult question. I’ve been explaining dramaturgy for so long to so many people that I have no set way of thinking about it, though I did explore it in a recent post for 2amtheatre.
I think that dramaturgy is a tool. I like the idea that dramaturgy is a way of intellectually and creatively engaging with a work of art. It allows the user to see the piece as a whole and understand the steps needed to move it forward.
For myself, I’ve been attempting to come up with a name for what I do (or think I do) without using the name dramaturg. I would love to have a way of explaining myself that didn’t sound like you need to have a master’s degree in theater to understand (though I have a master’s degree in theater and still don’t fully understand). I fully believe that what I do is an art, but I rarely see myself as the primary artist.
Read on here
The shifting landscape of theater for young audiences
Kim Peter Kovac for Howlround
In the world of theater for young audiences, the ground is shifting under our feet: unstable and unfamiliar, far less funding, and the zeitgeist is way different than just a few years ago. As we look ahead, we have little idea what the future will look like. This is very scary.
And very exciting.
Read more here
Theatre is a place of here, now and destiny
Andrew Upton for The Australian
Theatre is now. It is of now and therefore, inevitably about now.
That is the most abiding characteristic of the form for me. 'Now' is its it-ness. It happens now, in front of you and is gone forever. Forms of recording drama have evolved mighty quickly into other forms in their own right.
Theatre remains. Now only. A deliberate live act, witnessed by an audience. And the audience is vital too actually because the theatre bear does not shit in the woods unless it is being watched. Rehearsals are not performances and performances are only cancelled when no-one turns up to watch them. If someone turns up, the show must go on.
The definition of theatre's now-ness gets increasingly complicated and elusive the more an attempt is made. Because it is now but it is a special kind of now. It is a now that has been talked about, planned and discussed.
Continue reading here
Theatre sells carrots for performances instead of tickets to avoid higher taxes
Mary Beth Quirk for The Consumerist
After the government slapped a 21% tax on theatre tickets, one theatre in a small town came up with quite a clever way to avoid shelling out extra cash — he sells carrots instead of tickets, and then “gives” performances away for “free.”
The theatre director was worried no one would come to see shows with such a hefty price on tickets and unemployment becoming more common. Since he didn’t want to see the theatre go dark, he hatched the carrot plan.
Read more here
Adapting for the stage by Caleb Lewis – part one
Griffin Theatre Blog
Caleb Lewis is the writer of Rust and Bone, which is the current show at Griffin produced by Griffin Independent and Stories Like These. Rust and Bone was originally a set of short stories by Canadian author Craig Davidson and in this essay Caleb discusses the art of adapting work for the stage. Caleb’s essay will be in 2 installments.
Read the first here
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KINGS OF THE GYM 
MICHAEL JAMES MANAIA
BLACK FAGGOT