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.
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:
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!
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.
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?
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.
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.”
