collaboration
Stacey Isom Campbell
The Gift of Collaboration

For my 50th birthday, my friend and long-time collaborator Lisa Neely, brought me to Austin to do a workshop and reading of my new play 1999 with her company 3rd Course: Theatre. Collaboration with friends was the best she could’ve given. MAC Arts also supported our endeavor with a generous grant which helped provide a budget for food, copies, and dramaturgical support. We’re so lucky in Greenville to have a thriving arts community, in large part because of MAC Arts’ generous funding.

The Gift of Collaboration
Stacey Isom Campbell
Long-term Collaborations

I'm in Austin working with my favorite theatre company, 3rd Course: Theatre, on Dough & Cookies. Our collaboration on this play began in 2012. It's been a wild and joyous experience, as usual. I'm reminded of this quote from Erik Ehn and Sarah Ruhl from "Dirty Thoughts About Money" about long-term collaborations: 

Long-term Collaborations
productions, Commissions
Stacey Isom Campbell
My First New Play Commission!

I'm excited to announce that I have been commissioned to write a new play for the Lee University Theatre. Chris (Dr. Christine Williams) and I have been tossing around this possibility for a couple of years. Finally, this summer the idea started to seem like something we could pull off. 

Details have been arranged, contracts have been signed, and we are officially doing this! 

My First New Play Commission!
Stacey Isom Campbell
Kenyon Playwrights Institute

In June, I had the opportunity to visit Gambier, Ohio, where I spent a week at the Kenyon Institute. I was really excited and nervous for the opportunity to be a student again. I knew my students would get some perverse pleasure from the idea that I had homework and deadlines and all the things they face. 

Despite the intense schedule and homework, I was reminded by how privileged we are when we have the opportunity to be a student, especially when we get to learn from great teachers. So, I really wanted to soak up everything.

Kenyon Playwrights Institute
writing process
Stacey Isom Campbell
Redefining Success

I've always believed that a writer's success should be found in the act of writing rather than external validation. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with validation, but I have tried to find success in things that I have some control over: am I writing nearly every day and am I getting better in the craft from year to year? The first one requires some kind of writing discipline and process; the second one has to do with pushing myself to try new forms, new ideas, or new themes -- constantly challenging myself to exceed my grasp. 

I think for the most part this approach works for me. I practice it and I teach it to my students. But lately, I've been questioning this paradigm as the way in which I measure my success as a writer. What about those seasons in life when writing isn't possible? The time or the emotional energy just isn't there?

writing process

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Finding Artistic Support

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I’m so happy to announce I received a grant from the Metropolitan Arts Council that will go a long way in helping me develop my new play 1999. The money will be used toward a developmental workshop and reading in Austin, Texas at 3rd Course: Theatre in November!  

I’ll get to work with long-time collaborators Lisa Neely and Leslie Dovale, as well as other company members. Working with 3rd Course: Theatre is such an amazing gift because over the last 15 years their audience has seen quite a few of my plays. So, they are able to have a dialogue with me about my body of work in a deep way. I find long-term collaborations, which don’t happen often enough in mainstream theatre, essential to my development as a writer. I’m so grateful to @macartscouncil for their foresight in allocating money for artists to collaborate. In my case, they are giving it to the part of the process that, by design, is unseen by a wide audience but is necessary to get it there.

One of the things I love about Greenville is the focus on supporting the arts. For a small city, there is a thriving arts community and an emphasis on supporting arts events for a Greenville audience. While my reading will take place in Austin, I hope it’s just another step toward future readings and productions in Greenville and beyond!

  • “This program is funded in part by the Metropolitan Arts Council which receives support from the city oil Greenville, BMW Manufacturing Company, SEW Eurodrive and the South Carolina Arts Commission.”

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Playwriting workshop with Erik Ehn

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“Do the small things well, be present for the beginning things.”
— Erik Ehn, workshop

I had the opportunity to take a workshop with Erik Ehn at GPTC. It was genuinely one of the weirdest 90-minutes of my writing life. But there were also so many things that have found their way into my subconscious mind about writing.

We stood in a circle and did some shintito martial arts kind of movement — walking slowly toward the middle and backwards again, breathing exercises, and other kinds of movement. If you know me, you know that I’m a quiet, internal person who’s not overly comfortable performing or doing things that might get me noticed. So I was out of my depth, but actually there was something in the monk-like person of Ehn that made it okay and even seem normal.

After that, we sat in chairs in our circle and created our own alphabet while breathing. Why? No idea, but it was fun. I’ve since learned that there is something about drawing or focusing your creative mind on a task like drawing that translates to the kind of focus you need to write.

He said we should write with the pace of drawing.

A couple of other quotes I wrote down by Ehn: “Theatre’s purpose is to learn to get over yourself.”

“Theatre is an occasion where a community can discover itself.”

After all of this we did some writing that resembled a play. I don’t think I wrote anything particularly good. But I learned a ton about process, about being focused and present with my writing in a new way.

It was so cool. I would love to continue to learn from him.

Dramaturgy

I just finished a phone meeting with Heather Helinsky, dramaturg. I learned so much, and I want to share it with my playwriting friends.

I first met Heather at GPTC in 2012, where she was the dramaturg for my play On the 8's. I was totally impressed with her then. She's scary smart, and I came away from that experience with the impression: this woman knows her stuff.

Recently, I felt stalled on my play, The Memory of Ice. I had read on FB that she was working with another play that had a science base about global warming. So kind of on a whim, I reached out to see if she took on clients. And she said yes!

A Bullet Journal for Writers

If you haven't heard of the bullet journal phenomenon, search bujo in Pinterest or Instagram and behold the latest craze. Enter with caution -- it may take over your life! It's become something the founder of this system probably never envisioned. My version is painfully simple and embarrassingly plain in comparison to the creations of those with more time and better artistic ability. So, it is with a bit of apprehension that I share my version of the bujo.

I never planned to share this on my blog or admit to this level of geeky obsession. But I was having coffee with a former student this week (Anna Kholod), and she asked me how I make time to write while working a full-time job -- the struggle most of us are trying to navigate. So, with a little hesitation, I pulled out my bullet journal to show her my humble system of trying to make my writing goals tangible and real. And we frankly nerded out! 

Redefining Success

I've always believed that a writer's success should be found in the act of writing rather than external validation. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with validation, but I have tried to find success in things that I have some control over: am I writing nearly every day and am I getting better in the craft from year to year? The first one requires some kind of writing discipline and process; the second one has to do with pushing myself to try new forms, new ideas, or new themes -- constantly challenging myself to exceed my grasp. 

I think for the most part this approach works for me. I practice it and I teach it to my students. But lately, I've been questioning this paradigm as the way in which I measure my success as a writer. What about those seasons in life when writing isn't possible? The time or the emotional energy just isn't there?