Contents include: Q&A | Mei Ann Teo; The Kennedy Center New Play Dramaturgy Intensive 2019; Upcoming Regional Events; Call for Translators.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter/1042/thumbnail.jp

Grambo, Morgan

Teo, Mei Ann

English

Sound Ideas

University of Puget Sound Sound Ideas LMDA Newsletters: Canada and the United States LMDA Archive 3-2019 New & Noteworthy, March 2019 Mei Ann Teo Morgan Grambo Follow this and additional works at: https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter March 2019Vol. 4, No. 6 Q&A | Mei Ann TeoIn September 2018, Mei Ann Teo wasannounced as the new Producing ArtisticDirector of Musical Theatre Factory. Teo isan educator, director, dramaturg, andfilmmaker. I spoke to Mei Ann Teo after herfirst few months with MTF to check-inabout the transition and share an updatewith our LMDA community.As a theatre-maker, your experiencesprior to Musical Theatre Factory areimpressive and quite varied. Would youmind telling me a little about yourbackground?I’m a Singaporean nomad who has foundherself living in the United States. Growingup in the conservative Christian communityof Seventh Day Adventists, I was taught toseek the divine, and found it again andagain in the impulse of theatre, of findingtruth in the rehearsal room and serving mycommunity. I followed my heart and insatiable curiosity to folks living and making art inmany places including Belgrade, China, the UK, and around the US, so became a globalartist-citizen. I trained with Theatre Of Yugen in Noh and Kyogen, with the SITI company inViewpoints and Suzuki, the DAH Teatar, and by Anne Bogart and other incredible faculty atColumbia University.  I was taught by the students and faculty who I’ve met as a residentartist at Pacific Union College and as a professor of directing and dramaturgy atHampshire College. (Visit Teo’s website)What drew you toward the opportunity to lead MTF as the new Producing ArtisticDirector? What are your hopes for the future of the organization?I’m intrigued by the immense and full-bodied cultural power of the musical,  as it is themost popular live performance art form. I remember watching Deaf West’s production ofSpring Awakening and knowing that I was simultaneously going through a paradigm shiftwhile witnessing our culture transform. Leading MTF was where I could practice the politicsand ideals of moving our culture towards justice in actual policy and redistribution ofresources. I see MTF is an oasis, offering the necessary nourishment, support, andcommunity that is artist centered. By nurturing groundbreaking musical theatre makers, weplay a unique and necessary role in the cultural infrastructure of our society. We get togather and make work that seeks to dismantle oppressive ideologies, shift the culturetowards collective liberation, and do it through powerful and joyful story in song.Is there a particular MTF initiative that strikes you as especially significant at themoment?We have rolled out a brand new initiative in our MTF MAKERS inaugural cohort. We arecommitting to 6 teams of innovative MAKERS for 18 months of development support,centering queer, trans, POC makers of excellence. This program was formed through deepconversations with musical theatre artists and MTF’s artistic associates (BeehiveDramaturgs: Natasha Sinha, Jeremy Stoller, and Molly Marinik). It is significant that thisprogram was dramaturged from its inception to serve the needs of artists - long termsustained development, scheduled opportunities, advocacy, stipends, and community.Do you approach your work with a dramaturgical sensibility, and if so, how?Everything is dramaturgy. Everything. Dramaturgy is the skill of excavating WHAT IS, inmultifaceted and layered complexity. Itis necessary to the process ofunderstanding human behavior,whether it be as a director/dramaturg ona play, or as an artistic leaderdetermining the mission, purpose, andstructure of an organization. In order totake action, I must first understandcontext and the possible impact.Many members of LMDA arededicated to the process of creatingnew work, including musicals. What advice would you give to dramaturgs that maybe new to the process of collaborating on a musical in its developmental stages?To hold all you do with care; musicals take so much love and long periods of time to build.To be fearless about seeking the values that move us towards a more kind and just society.We are conditioned to a rubric of breaking down musicals by book, lyric and music. What ifinstead we led by asking what is it perpetuating? And what is it dismantling? And yes,please let it be a great story told with great music! And yes, let the storyline be clear! Buthold dear always the potential to transform culture.(Photo 1: Headshot by Michael Kushner. Photo 2: Teo (right) directing at the KennedyCenter, with Jenna Rodgers (left).) Interview by Morgan GramboThe Kennedy CenterNew Play Dramaturgy Intensive 2019                                    The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Literary Managers andDramaturgs of the Americas [LMDA], and The National New Play Network [NNPN] will hostits 8th annual New Play Dramaturgy Intensive in Washington, D.C., July 27 - August 4,2019.This will be an eight-day intensive program at the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts focusing on enriching the participants’ experience as a key resource to theplaywright, dramaturg, and director of  new work while expanding the participants’ understanding about the value the practice of dramaturgy can have on a new play andultimately society.Eligible participants are current university students [undergraduate or graduate and recentgraduates] entering the field. A limited number of places in the Intensive will be held forfaculty. It is anticipated that up-to sixteen participants will be invited.MentorsProgram Director: Mark BlyRecent Senior Mentors include: Adrien-Alice Hansel [Literary Director, Studio Theatre],Celise Kalke, [Synchronicity Theatre], Gavin Witt [Senior Dramaturg and Associate ArtisticDirector, Baltimore Center Stage], Martine Kei Green-Rogers [President LMDA], andothersDescription of Program:-Daily meetings with Mark Bly with discussions of the plays and the participant's rehearsalwork as a key resource and observer.-Assignments with mentor dramaturgs on the eight new plays being developed andrehearsed during the MFA Playwrights’ Workshop, produced in association with NNPN, atthe Kennedy Center.-Group sessions with each projects’ dramaturg.-Discussions on institutional new play development process and policy with the theatrecompanies represented on the creative teams of the MFA Playwrights’ Workshop.The creative teams are still being determined for summer 2019, but the theatresrepresented 2016-2018 included:Actors Theatre of Louisville, ArtistsRepertory Theater, City Theatre,Company One Theatre, BaltimoreCenter Stage, Studio Theatre, KitchenDog, Alliance Theatre, New RepertoryTheatre, Woolly Mammoth TheatreCompany, The Acting Company, SeattleRep, and Unicorn Theatre.Schedule:Each day’s schedule will be coordinatedwith the rehearsal blocks of the MFA Playwrights' Workshop [9:30am-1:30pm, 2:30-6:30pm], with lunch meetings and early evening sessions.Tuition and Housing:$600LMDA members will get a $200 discount; total price will be $400. Mention it atregistration!(Travel and meals are the responsibility of the participant. Shared lodging will be in theresidence halls of the George Washington University, in the Kennedy Center neighborhoodat a cost of $40 -shared occupancy- per night.)To Apply: https://thekennedycenter.smapply.io/prog/KCDramaturgy2019Application Due: May 3, 2019Invited participants will be notified by May 24, 2019.(Early submission and acceptance notification is possible if applicants’ home institutionshave earlier professional development funding deadlines. Please inquire.)Mark Bly (Director of Dramaturgy Intensive) is currently on The Artists Advisory Board ofand has dramaturged frequently for The Acting Company led by Artistic Director IanBelknap and founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley. He was from 1992-2017 theDirector for MFA Playwriting Programs at The Yale School of Drama, Hunter College andFordham/Primary Stages. Bly is an active free-lance dramaturg in the New York,Washington, DC., San Diego areas for such writers as Ken Lin (House of Cards,Kleptocracy), Andrew Hinderaker (Penny Dreadful, Colossal), and Herbert Siguenza (BirthDay, Grand Master Funk Isaac Asimov Project X).Over the past 40 years he has worked asa Dramaturg, Director of New Play Development, and Associate Artistic Director at TheArena Stage, Alley Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, San DiegoRep, The Acting Company, Yale Rep, and on Broadway dramaturging and producing over250 plays. He has dramaturged on Broadway Emily Mann’s Execution of Justice (1985)being credited by Village Voice critic Alisa Solomon as the first production dramaturg onBroadway; Moises Kaufman’s 33 Variations (2009); and lbsen’s An Enemy of thePeople (2012). Bly has served as Dramaturg for world and United States’ premieres ofplays by Rajiv Joseph, Suzan-Lori Parks, Howard Brenton, David Hare, Tim Blake Nelson,Sarah Ruhl, Ken Lin, James Magruder, Jeffrey Hatcher, Charles Randolph Wright, andMoises Kaufman. He has dramaturged new plays by Robert Schenkkan, Maria IreneFornes, Marcus Gardley, Dorothy Fortenberry, David Henry Hwang, Daniel Beaty, KevinKling, Karen Zacarias, Matthew Maguire, and Amy Herzog. Bly has appeared in numerouspublications: Yale Theatre as Contributing Editor and Advisory Editor, Theatre Forum,American Theatre, The Dramaturgy Sourcebook, Critical Stages, The RoutledgeCompanion to Dramaturgy, LMDA Review and Stage Directors and ChoreographersJournal, and Diversity, Inclusion and Representation.  He is Editorof Production Notebooks: Theatre in Process: Volumes I & II (TCG, 1996, 2001), andSpecial Editor for Yale Theatre, “Return of the Dramaturgs,” Summer, 1986. In 2019 hislatest book New Dramaturgies: Strategies and Exercises for 21st Century Playwriting willbe published. In 2010 Bly received the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the AmericasG.E. Lessing Career Achievement Award. In 2014 he established the LMDA Bly CreativeCapacity Grants/Fellowships Fund supporting interdisciplinary projects that advance thefield of dramaturgy focusing on equality, diversity and inclusiveness. He has served asDirector of the Kennedy Center New Play Dramaturgy Intensive for the past eight yearsand has conducted playwriting and dramaturgy workshops for the annual Kennedy CenterAmerican College Theater Festival. Bly is an Ambassador at Large for the National NewPlay Network and has served on its distinguished Board.For any questions or concerns, please contact Gregg Henry, Artistic Director of KCACTF,at GHenry@kennedy-center.org(Photos from the New Play Dramaturgy Intensive in 2015.) Upcoming Regional EventsEvents organized alphabetically by region. Scrolldown for details. Also, make sure to join theFacebook pages of the region(s) in which you liveand work. That way, you will receive updatedinformation: https://lmda.org/map. -CANADALMDA Canada online Happy Hour with Special GuestLaurel Green, discussing the many hats she wears(Dramaturg/Director/Producer), date and time TBA. Stay tuned for details!-FLORIDAFlorida dramaturgs will have a happy hour networking event organized around oneperformance of “The Cake” at Asolo in Sarasota in April. Stay tuned for details! -MID-ATLANTICA panel conversation on civic dramaturgy in late-spring 2019. Stay tuned for details!Contact Hannah Ratner if you’d like to volunteer to assist with thisevent: midatlantic@lmda.org -NEW YORKSpeed-networking event in NYC coming May 2019! Speed-networking applies the conceptof speed-dating to your professional life, resulting in a rapid-fire networking session whereyou can meet some of the greatest dramaturgical minds in NYC! Participants will rotatethrough a room of dramaturgs from all backgrounds and levels of experiences. You willhave 7 minutes per person to make a fast impression. Get your business cards andelevator pitch ready to make some speedy introductions! Stay tuned for details! -NORTHEASTA panel on socially conscious season planning in the late-spring 2019. Stay tuned fordetails! Contact Talya Kingston if you’d like to volunteer to assist with thisevent: northeast@lmda.org -THIRD COASTLMDA members are invited to attend the opening of WOLF AT THE DOOR at Kitchen DogTheatre on April 11! We will be offering a 50% discount for LMDA members to our openingnight show on April 11th (show starts at 8pm). LMDA members can use the code "LMDA"to reserve their $15 ticket on the Kitchen Dog site (http://www.kitchendogtheater.org).Members are encouraged to stay after the show for our opening night party, which includesfree drinks and light bites, to mingle and network. *Many of our events come from ideas suggested by members like you! Please send usyour ideas: https://lmda.org/map* Regional questions? Reach out to the VP of Regional Activity Jacqueline Goldfinger(regional@lmda.org).Your Dramaturgy Ad Here! We’re reserving this high-value newsletter real estate for our Institutional Members. Do youhave a job posting you want our readers to see, an M.F.A. program looking for a well-qualified applicant pool, or a festival you want to make sure smart dramaturgs have ontheir radar? This is the place for it! Institutional Memberships are only $200, and theycome with four individual member profiles for your organization to divvy out as you see fit.Let your organizational leadership know that we’d love them to join the LMDA party Join us in Chicago for #LMDA19Put it on your calendar now!June 20-22, 2019.Keep an eye on lmda.org/conference forinformation for next year's conference! CALL FOR TRANSLATORS As we look ahead to #LMDA20 (pssst...in Mexico City), we could use help with a fewthings - 1) LMDA members who can translate the call for the 2019 and 2020 conferenceinto Spanish/Portuguese, 2) Names/contact information for translators in Mexico City 3)Leads on potential artists to connect with in Mexico and the surrounding area.Please send any leads to Martine (president@lmda.org). Interested in contributing to the next newsletter? Have content ideas?E-mail communications@lmda.org.Want to keep up with the conversation about the latest in dramaturgical activity?Follow us on Social Media (@LMDAmericas) by clicking on the logos below!                  Subscribe to our listservThis email was sent to <<Email Address>> why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences LMDA · PO Box 586 · New York, NY 10108 · USA 

New & Noteworthy, March 2019

https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&amp;context=lmdanewsletter

New & Noteworthy, March 2019

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Sound Ideas