 I don't want to go. I'm sorry, that's because I'm live now. I feel like I have to go. You still have to go. But I'm not going down. I'm going to go looking for what that feeling is. Just that. Cool. We're ready. We're good. What can you say? Yay, thank you Molly. Alright. This is what you work. It's five million things, including a play in which we're going to create the action that I want to get into. Mostly, mostly, mostly, it's a free writing class. It's so fun to see you like twice in a day. But it's a free writing class in which we focus on your writing. And, first, what we do is we write together. And then we talk about your writing. So the idea is that we're going to spend some time, 20 minutes writing together. And we're going to spend the remainder of the time trying to figure out how to get you going where you're not going. Or make you feel good about your writing. Or your work in general. And if you want to tweet us, because there's some people who watched as we live streamed, by the way, at HowlRound. Right, Molly here helping us out today. Molly's going to tell us how to tweet our questions. To tweet your questions to Susan Murray, you can use the hashtag HowlRound and direct your questions to you at WatchMeWork. I keep that. I guess I have to work on it. You know, I forgot my little special timer, so we're going to use our phones, okay? And just, as everybody knows, I always suggest a timer other than your phone, because your phone is cracked. But we're going to use the crack phone. All right, we're ready? Let's go. 20 minutes, here we go. I'll take questions now, so I have to sit before it. It's about your work and your creative process. And if you want to experiment with that, you can ask me a question about my work and I'll make it about you. You said that we have this, right? I remember before, when you first started giving me this, a long time ago, I would shout. That was a secret. But anyway, does anybody have any questions? Did you get any? Oh, it's very... That's not your work. That's your character. It's her work. We'll talk about her work. Anybody else? Anybody have a question? An answer? In theory? In theory. Anybody want a conclusion? Cool. Let's just take a question. Yeah, I'll tell you how to say, Kimmy D. I'm stuck with my play. Probably needed to be read by a dramaturg. Suggestions? Kimmy D. Kimmy D. So, I'm stuck with my play. Kimmy says I'm stuck with my play. It probably needs to be read by a dramaturg. Suggestions? A question mark. Well, if you... I mean, since you got in your posse or your tribe, if you've got a lot of dramaturgs in your tribe, Kimmy D. You know, and you like one of them particularly well, and she or he, the dramaturg, loves you more than they love seeing our ideas in your play, then sure, I've said, sure, give it to one of your friends. One of your friends who adores you and wants to see you succeed. That's what I suggest. But if you think, you know, if you don't have a lot of dramaturgs in your career or your posse or your tribe and you think you should just kind of approach a dramaturg who you maybe really respect but don't really know very well, then I say pause. Because this is what I and my wonderful people, and why you reminded me of this earlier today, this is what I'm talking about. This is what I was earlier today. This is what I tell them, that you know more about your play than anybody. Believe it. Believe it. You know more about your play than anybody. You know more about your play than I do for anybody. Anybody, any smart person can give you notes. But you have the answers within you. You just have to listen for them. What a smart dramaturg or colleague or friend can do is they can ask you lots of questions and they can be talking and maybe rewriting and writing more about your play. So, if you have a friend who's a writer that might be a good place to start. They don't have to be a certified dramaturg. Certified dramaturgs are awesome. But they don't have to be a certified dramaturg. They can be just a friend who is, you know, who wants to read your work and maybe a group of actors might want to read your work aloud for the whole, some hot roles might be. There are lots of routes. There are lots of ways to go. Maybe you can tweet us again and give us a little more information. But that's a really good question. Yeah, I would say if you have friends who are dramaturgs then that's a great way to go. You know, they may be just a good friend who starts a new role. Very important. But thanks for tweeting. Yeah. I generally go and see a piece of theatre. And if it's really good, then it's inspiring and it makes me want to write because I want to be just like that. Or if it's really bad, then I think that was really bad. I could write something better than that. And this got put on stage. There you go. Right, so Jasper goes to see other people's plays. And if they're really good then you can continue. And if they're not so good, Jasper's like, I could cut that. That works too. Yeah, that works too. But that's a great idea. Yeah. Or you can also, if you're short of time or short of money, you can read some plays and maybe get inspired by some plays you read or you can even read your play. Reading plays is just a good idea too. It's a free way to get inspired. Or you might want to play the game, you don't have so much to go through. So we can have the same experience for free. Down to Simone Johnson says, I'm developing the work. I'm biased towards lens-wise. But I'm trying to remain objective and open-minded on the advice. I'm developing a work that I love like mystery. I'm developing a work that I'm biased towards. Like you have, you kind of already made your mind about it. Is that like maybe what you mean? Not totally sure what you mean. But I would suggest focus on the characters. Focus on the characters and focus on what the characters are doing. Donna. Donna, focus on the characters, Donna. Donna. And focus on what the characters are doing because it's finally that the characters are bigger than you and they have more going on than you think they might. So they'll lead you on a wonderful journey. If you focus on the characters and what the characters are doing instead of what you think the play is about. So just try to stay focused on the characters and the story. Tell yourself the story of your play over and over and over. And immerse yourself in the specifics of the story. And, you know, I think everybody, when we write something we're biased toward it, we have like a feeling about it, you know, or a feeling about being so in a character. So that's kind of, I think everything we write we're going to feel a certain way about it. Quite certainly. But if you want to do something that's fine, we're here. I know you're thinking about things that we don't know each other yet. I did. So I'm just like, trying to be more sort of, sort of, that might be right. That's curious. I think that is what you're talking about. I do know what you mean. So Elizabeth is writing a musical, right? You're wondering how to go about sort of bringing more people onto the team. Not the creative team, but maybe the producing team. You know, maybe how to find that wonderful drama chart or how to find those wonderful producers who are going to help you form with your project. And she had an experience with a producer where they didn't really know each other and she told her a little bit of it and we started getting notes. And we were like, hey, those are very beautiful notes. It's like people say, ah, she can have sex on her first date. Sure, he cares, but maybe for some other side of the idea. Right. So that would be a good idea for you, right? For the person who can go to is a great idea. But not for you. Because that's what it's like. It's who you want to get intimate with. It's real intimacy. You're letting them into your world that you've spent several years creating, right? And I would say what's really good is that you have already a sort of boundary thing. A good boundary thing, right? You know when it's a little too much too soon. So that's a good thing to have. No, thank you. Aware that if you meet a really dazzling producer you might be, those boundaries might kind of fall away a little earlier than you'd like them to. So I'd say start surrounding yourself if you haven't already. You maybe have with people again who care about you more than they care about seeing your ideas in your work. You have people like that around you. Yeah. Did you go to one of those programs, schools, or no, no, really did I. So it's not necessary. I'm just asking because what good do you have a writing group or anything? Okay, okay. There are people who care about you and want to see you succeed, right? So you might bring them into the process of just talking about your play. Because before you go out and get producers, you want to at least know oh what I got here. Are you pretty sure I got this and it's all written in and all written? Yeah. So you've already gone hard out of the road with them and you want to see like many things like what is it? Sure. You've done it three times on your own work. What about the people in that you're a fellow at a program? What about those people to see what connections they might have because they know you as a writer? And they would have sort of avenues and they can you can lean on their relationships to get to know more people. You see that's what, it's all about relationships really, it really is. So you don't just want to go in cold and just start handing your script. I mean you could do that. Do you understand? So you're in a group right now of writers and people who are giving you a fellowship saying hey I've got this music on. Put it up three times and I'm interested in taking it to Broadway whenever you dream so far. How would you suggest going about it? Because they know your work. Do you understand what I'm saying? So really you'll make the less secure the more. Yeah and then sometimes you're like oh yeah, yeah, I didn't think about those people because they're only to sit in this part of me. And actually those are the exact people who you should at least talk to to start out with. And they might say wow, why don't you talk to folks at ART in Boston or the Huntington in Boston so they know those people. So they could probably put you in contact with the folks at ART or the Huntington or maybe the other wonderful hitters in Boston. So come down to Boston. So Ellen asks SLP any advice for brand new theater companies developing new work? How can we support one another? A brand new theater company just starting out how can we support each other? Thank you for watching all the way from the University of Oregon. I think you guys know though, I think you know you're going to do what you know is right. You're going to stick up for each other you're going to get together regularly to I don't know if you're mostly writers or a whole bunch of actors, directors and writers you know how to support each other already I think. It's a tricky it's a tricky question because I have a feeling that you already know what to do come together for this brave adventure and you're going to travel forward together and you know how to care about each other already or if you don't you have someone in the group who will remind you on a regular basis you know. You want to go to everybody's place whether they're produced within the group or outside of the group you want to give people smart caring feedback and not to worry about whether or not you see their notes and your work again same thing you want to be there for each other you want to be honest you know that staff and it's going to be hard you want to encourage each other you know you know I want to know the name of your theater company that's what I want to know what did they say? what did they say? tell us the name I'm excited congratulations anybody else? right what's the name? John Lewis screenwriter and how long has he said? and she's getting into playwriting and she wants to know how to apply for fellowships in playwriting when all of her credentials are in screenwriting and fiction and I would say it's a little tricky I mean you could submit screenplays as part of your application for a playwriting fellowship and say in your bio or manifesto I've done most of my work in screenwriting and fiction and I'm looking to step into theater and this is my idea for my first play my new play you could do that you could stand on again you stand on the steps of the things you've already developed so you're going to mine the community that you already have and you're going to mine what you've already done or write that new play write the play and then use that play as something to send out I don't know off the top of my head but I know there's a resource that lists various fellowships and I don't know what's happening but TCG used to put out and maybe they still do a really lovely resource online now of playwriting fellowships the ones that sound most like you and so they're there and really speak to all the work you've already done and this is a sort of a new venture that you know this is a new thing that you're trying this is your play that you want them to look at as an example of the new way that you're going to work but people do it all the time people write screenplays and novels so sure thank you fellowships and grants and things to apply to but one of the best resources that I know of is there's a place on Fifth Avenue at number 79 I think sorry 79 Fifth Avenue I think don't quote me on that it's called the foundation center and it's basically a massive library filled with databases and books and things resources there are scholarships for college and it's fantastic and it's completely free you can just walk in and use the computer and find a grant that's the 79 Fifth Avenue that's called the foundation center thank you Jessica that's a good and they will probably just give you lots of stuff that's like perfect destiny to apply for because that's libraries there are research what are they called now information specialist what are they called now they used to call them libraries anyway just folks there have noticed it and they're going to help you figure out and find your way that's great this is why I love this and it actually works it's interesting how it is collected anybody else yes Carol said dramatist stole newsletter that's great that's the that's the resource book that comes out okay that's the CCG anyway drama skill drama drama source book that's what it's called that's what it's called thank you and then newsletters they're online the online newsletter the dramatist skill that's good like you said already you've already written the play so it's great about what you've done already you're not waiting around for someone to give you the fellowship so that you can write a play you went ahead and wrote it good for you and that's going to put you in a really cool stand you're self motivated that's what we need to be Posse again if you've got some of your screenwriting quotes or if you know some actors who can read it and give you a reading you know to get some life other than your life around it I think it's good but I don't think you have to produce yourself producing if you're a part of a theater collective that does that kind of thing you know but I wouldn't do like one or the other I would think first I have to do all this stuff and write for a grant because you could just in your artist statement say if this is a play about whatever whatever whatever and then someone of a community can read it and go yeah let's give her a grant so it totally often works like that thanks for asking Kate there's a function over there that I think that works should be it's a lot of work it's a lot of help on this party but I wanted to do this part of that things like producing myself asked not in New York but I'd love to know like with any advice I mean I feel like there's lots of you know actors, auditions writers I've said this writers as a director as far as I know they know it's like you're hanging around it's like a band how did that happen how did that happen well I just hang out with a lot of people who play you know what I mean so a director would hang out with a lot of people who play so maybe there's a playwriting group that does plays and you get to know the playwrights we go to new play readings which are all over town most of them are free you know you get to know up and coming in emerging writers you get to know those folks and you start talking to them and they say well I'm having a reading I'm going to do a reading in my play for some you know you want to direct it okay great and it's small and you said professionally you know for a while it might not be getting paid hardly anything that's amazing but you're going to hang out with people who play and then we'll come to know and have this opportunity or you get invited to direct something for a class that isn't new and you get to know more people that way it's kind of I think it's the same way I'm not a director but I think it's the same way as finding people to play in a band with you just hang out with people in the play and that's you know that's just and not necessarily on a high level like you know going to see ghosts in Japan or whatever doesn't kind of count in the same kind of way like if I'm going to do like Eric Platt just tell what you count you know what I'm saying I'm talking about people I would play with people and it's fun you need to have fun a lot of the way I mean hopefully you do you know right right most important thing in breaking it is about relationships you know that's an important thing that's sort of a program a program like they do relationships you know but I am at the mind that it's well it's relationships and it's having the work having done the work because you know those people at the cocktail parties they're hanging around and they can smooth really really well they got a lot of great relationships and they seem to get invited to direct all kinds of plays but when the moment comes when they're doing the work when the moment comes for them to turn in their script they're not so good when the moment comes for them to be on stage to be that character they're better at schmoozing so you gotta I think you gotta be good at both and I would I would suggest err on the side of the work you know what I mean make sure your work is solid and then spend time schmoozing don't go without schmoozing every night I would suggest any questions willing to one of the thing is I volunteer at theaters and it's great because first of all you get to see play great which is great there's like a hundred theaters in New York that do that and also because you have a theater doing a job you sort of end up meeting people like you just end up talking to the director of the play that you just saw or the house manager the staff, a lot of who are also writers and directors and stuff trying to break into the business and stuff so yeah you go and you stand for an hour before the show and end up programs and talking about that and they ask you how long it is and then you want the show to be great and then you can talk to people after this and you meet lots of new and friendly people that way all of the game in New York but I would suggest in addition that this is a great idea which is a great idea I just got to do with each other more I guess active because that's a great place to do the more active I'm going to do a new play with you I'm going to sit in the audience as an audience person and I'm going to get to know the school and play rights after a couple years it was just great for me to play at 13p and start hanging out with them and stuff like oh yeah we all know each other so both ideas are good I want you to keep it more active because it's easier to just take it totally on the lady's question because I'm finishing up a grad program a lot of us are in that position of we want to make our 13p that literal thing and it feels like 13p was this like unicorn this group of people who all complimented each other so perfectly in some way that they made a functional company that could produce things while creatively supporting each other and that seems really hard to me am I overthinking it? I think so you could make a 13p I mean they're not 13 people in the class that you have right now but you could make a great collective out of the writers in your class that I know they make a great collective supporting each other yeah but there was that like thing that put them on an extend beyond the writers because they had producers they had producers how do you find those how do you find those you have a finishing program you have a theater program yeah I have a program don't they have a finishing theater program find the people in the program that's a good way to do it contact somebody in a producing office from the studio right here have to give you the name of somebody you have to go and say who are your young producers people who want to work with you're not an American writer who might want to form something that echoes the following concepts of a 13p who are those people who want to do that because producers, great producers are gold and you just want to find them and they're out there looking for things they're excited about also places like art, snow, they have festivals and the people who do the what you smile you're always beautiful yeah you know they love to work with you they love to work with you so you get your writers and you get your producers and then you start finding directors there's one right there you know and you start working on that one it only looks totally special and perfect because you're looking at it from a distance and wow there they were but they just started they just got together and you guys can do this no problem yeah she said this is here for anyone who wants to make them look for you in a company like we did and it's like 40 minutes they talk to all the playwrights and the producers and people and yeah it sort of demystifies and it hits you are welcome to the information today so also the woman from Oregon who was tweeted but that so the 13p documentary on Sarah rules website talks about r-u-h-l is how it's called s-a-r-a s-a-r-a-h 2-5-8 s-a-r-a-h we just had 13p documentary about how to film also in the theater that's great who knows Albuquerque and Corbin and it's called studio yay studio we're gonna do a shout out studio right but can't wait to hear about more about you guys thank you you know also like this is questions this is good one thank you we're done we're done okay thanks you guys for coming thank you