Philip Dawkins’ Miss Marx; Or the Involuntary Side Effect of Living will have a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf’s 2011 First Look Series.
In One Word, what is your play about?
Labor
In Two Words, where is your favorite place to write?
Post-its
Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn’s Mud Blue Sky will have a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf’s 2011 First Look Series.
In One Word, what is your play about?
Exhaustion.
In Two Words, where is your favorite place to write?
Kitchen table
Playwright Sarah Gubbins’ fml: or how Carson McCullers saved my life will have a staged reading as part of Steppenwolf’s 2011 First Look Series.
In One Word, what is your play about?
Awakening
In Two Words, where is your favorite place to write?
back porch
On Friday we enjoyed run-thrus of all three First Look shows. It was a marathon day that had me reflecting on the phases of production. Moving into tech and prepping for an audience generally means the window of opportunity for radical changes is closing.
–Sidebar; there’s a whole discussion to be had about the assumptions that a show needs to be locked. But that’ll be a future post.–
But here in the present I wanted to share this image:
Read More» Posted by Aaron Carter | 1 responsesAaron Carter is the Literary Manager at Steppenwolf, and the editor of Massive Draft.
Editor’s Note: With First Look 101 coming up, Polly Carl and I started discussing (via email and in person) the intersections between First Look 101 and Massive Draft. In an act of egregious retroactive continuity, I’ve crafted those discussions into a polished question and answer exchange. Join us in pretending this actually happened.
Aaron Carter: Let’s clear up some terminology. We’ve got First Look. We’ve got 101. And we’ve got Massive Draft.
Polly Carl: I’ll take the 101 portion.
AC: Great. I’ll start with First Look. That’s three brand new plays in rotating rep. The idea as I see it is that new play development doesn’t stop because we’ve added set, lights and costumes. In fact adding those elements is part of how the playwright & the creative team deepen their understanding of the play. So First Look is a way to continuing to develop the play through adding production elements –
PC: And adding the audience.
Read More» Posted by Aaron Carter | 0 responsesAaron Carter is the Literary Manager at Steppenwolf, and the editor of Massive Draft.
I’m obsessed with process, so I often find myself attempting to divine the series of discoveries and decisions that led to a particular moment on stage. Sometimes it’s because I can’t fathom how a human could create something so brilliant. And sometimes it’s because I can’t fathom how a human could create something so misguided.
Tell me I’m not alone in my obsession. Have you ever seen a peformance that got you wondering exactly how that experience came to be?
Posted by Aaron Carter | 1 responsesAaron Carter is the Literary Manager at Steppenwolf, and the editor of Massive Draft.
Welcome.
Massive Draft is your portal to the workshops, readings, writing, thinking, and dreaming that takes a play from inspiration to production. Welcome to play development writ large.
Read More» Posted by Aaron Carter | 0 responsesPlaywright Lisa D’Amour’s Cherokee is currently in development at Steppenwolf.
In her play Cherokee, Lisa D’Amour explores what happens when people come in contact with the power of the natural world. The exploration isn’t limited to Cherokee. She recently completed How to Build A Forest with regular collaborator Katie Pearl. For that project, the two artists built and deconstructed a forest installation every day for a number of weeks. As part of that project, they asked “Have you ever had your ass kicked by nature?” on their website. Add your answers to the comments below. To see responses from How To Build A Forest, click HERE.
Posted by Aaron Carter | 1 responsesPlaywright Lisa D’Amour’s Cherokee is currently in development at Steppenwolf.
Q. Where were you born? Where do you live now?
A. I was born in St. Paul, Minnesota while my Dad was in grad school, and then spent my early years in Morgantown, WV before moving to New Orleans (where my mom grew up) when I was 10. Now I split my time between New Orleans and Brooklyn.
What is the oddest job you’ve ever had?
Installing new computers in various tiny Western Union offices all over the Seattle / Tacoma area one summer after grad school.
Playwright Tanya Saracho’s “Untitled Tanya Saracho Project” is currently in development at Steppenwolf.
Q. Where were you born? Where do you live now?
A. I was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. (Los Mochis means land of the sea turtles, by the way.) Currently, I live in Chicago. I adore Chicago. We are a fit. Even the weather is a fit. I have a hashtag on twitter that reads #chicitymycity because I couldn’t be more proud to be an adopted daughter of this city with the big shoulders.
What is the oddest job you’ve ever had?
I can’t tell you. Since my mom and dad got laptops and have learned to use Google, I must be more careful about revealing my former identities.