Wrapping up 2017

With 2017 winding down, so has my journey to the Ph.D. I realized when logging in that I hadn't followed up the post about heading off to my dissertation defense. I received a unanimous "pass" and have been working for the last few weeks on revisions and reformatting of the thesis for final submission and publication. That process was completed tonight.

So 2018 will begin with all requirements for the doctorate complete and graduation just over the horizon. I can't wait to get started on the next projects and to continue improving myself in the year ahead. To that end, I am sharing a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin, which I read for the first time tonight (hat tip to The Art of Manliness Twitter feed):

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." - B. Franklin

Happy New Year, everyone!

Power up!

This morning I wished our Amazon Alexa a "good morning" to which she replied that today is Shigeru Miyamoto's birthday. The creator of Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and Mario Brothers achieves level 65 today. In celebration, Alexa wished me a day full of power ups. And today, a power up is exactly what I plan to achieve.

Its defense day.

Reflections on a Road Traveled

In eight days, I will begin the end of a very long, laborious, and incredibly rewarding, journey. While sitting to reflect upon this moment, I am flooded with imagery of roads, and cannot escape the idea of the "end of the road". Cue Boyz II Men... or Shel Silverstein... or Robert Frost... or any of the other road/path/trail/journey metaphors that come to mind. In thinking on these I've noticed that the path typically comes in two varieties: the road that ends and the road that doesn't. For much of my life I have thought that I was following Mr. Frost's suggestion in taking the latter, but recently came to understand that I've really only understood the former.

This is not to say that I view a road as the path to some kind of finite end. There is only so much life experience a person can have before realizing that this cannot be the case. Far from it. Yet it is interesting to see that while I was provided with the example of the road less traveled, my expectations have been closely tied to the cause and effect logic of the traditional road map:

• go to school, get career, get married, get family

When I recently eclipsed a "mid-life" milestone and looked back on a life lived so far, I awoke to the realization that there's much, much more to that equation - more so to the idea that equation isn't quite so logical anymore.

To put this another way, when I was younger, I dreamed of what I might become and the things that I might do, but never fully understood that there would be twists and redirections along the way. What's more, I had turned 40 and recognized that any plans I had in life had stopped at some vague age that I had probably passed long ago. A line from the song "My Shot" in the musical Hamilton has resonated with me recently - "See, I never thought I'd live past twenty" - with Hamilton's twenty being the moment when I reached the end of the road map above. And the funny thing about that "road map" is that as I sat here writing it, I struggled with what punctuation to use at the end of the sentence. Is that the end of a sentence and punctuated with a period? To finite. Perhaps an ellipse to signify the continuation of the path? Or maybe it is as my wife has lately and so poignantly suggested about this entire year of reflection: that what is needed is a comma to signify that there's more to come. That this spot, this moment, this job, this whatever is not meant forever, but is instead just a part of the larger story. I like that idea (and that's a smart person there, my wife).

Yet, as I wrote the words and paused to consider what to do next, I was drawn to the flashing cursor sitting there waiting, rhythmically for me to continue. It was an placeholder, simultaneously active and passive, ready for me to get oriented and move again in a specific direction. If I've learned anything in the process of traveling through life, coming to the end of one road is not a symbol of "the end", but a chance to take - or better yet, to MAKE - some new way forward. It is relieving to realize that now and frustrating to have waiting so long to come to this understanding. But I am here now: ready and excited to take a new way forward and see where else I might go and what more I might learn. And this time, I will move ahead with an idea in mind and the clarity to know that while there might be stability in following a more-traveled path, it is always ok - perhaps nowadays even preferred - to take out a machete and make my own way... Cue Frank... or Kermit and Fozzie... or whatever else might be...

Surprises

The past two weeks have been rough. I lost out on a few opportunities I had hoped would work out, but they aren't meant to be at this time. This will pass, of course, but the sting of losing these projects stings. Especially with so many rejections a row.

Turning toward the positive, I am thankful for my wife's understanding and encouragement. She has mourned with me and has been quick to shed light on the brighter side of things. My kids have also seemed to know the right times to say, "I love you, Dad." Another source of encouragement has come in the unlikeliest of places - at the gas station/convenience store down the street.

There are two regular attendants at the gas station - one of them is Charlie. I don't know anything about him, but imagine that just like all of us, he has some difficult days; regardless, he's there with a smile and a kind word for everyone who stops by his corner of the world - even for the briefest moment. So when I swing in for biweekly fill-ups, I try to get a pump in Charlie's section. I like hearing his heartfelt "you have a great day" or even "God bless." The words don't really matter as much as his energy does. A few days ago he noticed that I was dressed for an important meeting and told me to "go get 'em today!" It meant a lot... even though the meeting did not go as planned.

Add to that a small surprise. On Tuesday morning I forgot to pack something for breakfast and went into the mini mart to grab a breakfast sandwich before filling up the car. There were too left in the case and I grabbed the one that was not labeled "sausage." I didn't know exactly what the sandwich was until removing the label that read "beef and cheese charbroiled sandwich" and found that essentially, it was a cheeseburger for breakfast. What can brighten the day more than a surprise cheeseburger for breakfast?

www.pixabay.com

And with all of that, I'm ready to get back into the arena. I am pushing hard for better results next time around, but understand that there will be more set backs. No matter what may come, it is important to remember to enjoy the good things - the large and the small - and remember that sometimes, if I'm really lucky, I might just get a cheeseburger for breakfast.

Get your program listed on The Young Playwrights Map

As you may know by now, I administer a reference site for young playwrights called The Young Playwrights Map. The endeavor began in the middle of my dissertation research in 2014 when I noticed that there were plenty of opportunities for young playwrights in the United States to submit their work, but not a central resource for students to find these programs. So, I pulled together the information into a Google Map and The Young Playwrights Map was born.

To date, The Map has gone through three separate updates. The most current update was completed May 31 and lists a total of 88 programs, festivals, competitions, and other opportunities for young writers ages 19 and under.

There will be one more Map update this year, which I plan to have done before school begins again in September. I also will make the Map international with the addition of programs from across the globe!

Data is being collected through a Google form located on The Map website. You can also access it directly via this link: http://theyoungplaywrightsmap.blogspot.com/2017/06/get-on-map.html. Any programs already listed on the site are encouraged to complete the form to update their information. If you are not currently on The Map, please submit!

Please contact me directly with any questions. You can also connect with The Young Playwrights Map via Twitter and Facebook.

Young, Emerging, Submurging

http://www.clipartpanda.com/
clipart_images/
moving-question-mark-clipart-6247647

How do we define a particular group of playwrights? Are they "emerging" or "young" writers? Or perhaps they are something different altogether. This is one of the question I have considered throughout the dissertation research. Generally, I have found that the preference for one term over another, as well as the definition of each, depends in large part upon geographic region and the age of the playwright. However, even those aren't definitive rationale for using one term over another.

And then there are the occasions where a term is used, but the context leaves little clue as to what exactly it means. (I'm looking at you, Audible. The $5 million in commissions is great, but who do you mean when you say "emerging playwrights"?)

In the end, I think that each term refers to a group of writers who are "new" to the work both as writers who have never crafted a script before and those who are just becoming known to the larger audience. Here is an interesting blog post from the Emerging Writers Festival in Victoria, Australia that offers a new suggestion, the "submerged playwright":

http://www.emergingwritersfestival.org.au/rmit-gazette-emerging-established-submerged/

Welcome!

Welcome to the website for Jim DeVivo, an artist, educator, and researcher in the field of educational theatre. Please use the tabs above to navigate through the site. Updates are posted via the blog below.

A Walk in the Woods

Ths family of geese decided the water
was a better place to be than on the
bank with a bunch of Cub Scouts!

The early afternoon was spent on a hike with my oldest and his Cub Scout den. This was our second time hiking with the Scouts, but the first full hike with gear. We had a great time - despite the abundant ticks - and were grateful that the morning rain didn't make things too muddy to walk the trail.

I was reminded of how much I enjoy being in the woods and embarking on an adventure. As a kid, I took walks in the woods behind my house whenever I felt the need for a little adventure, or to simply clear my mind. Eventually, my two closest friends and I made annual summer journeys hiking and canoeing in the Adirondacks.

Tree tops above the fire pit where we
ended the hike. The sky was gorgeous.

The summer before my senior year of college, I climbed to the top of Mount Washington with one of these friends (who was training to be a mountaineer) and his brother. Mount Washington stands as the tallest peak in the White Mountains of New Hampshire at 6,289 feet. That is about 2,000 feet above the tree line where trees can no longer grow. The view is one I will never forget. I have no idea what possessed me to make this climb (and descent), especially all in one day; it was a big challenge and a whole lot of fun. To this day, I chuckle at the bumper stickers that proclaim: "This car climbed Mount Washington." Oh, yeah? So did my knees!

I have been longing for a trek like this for a while now and am glad my son had such a good time. Can't wait to get out in the woods again! (This time, I'll bring some bug spray.)

Finding Fairy Tales

Since teaching my first TYA course about four years ago, I've been reading more about the history and critique of fairy tales and their influence on 20th century theatre for young audiences. My two oldest children have also learned to read during this time (the third is getting started) and in a family that enjoys all things Disney, it has brought about some interesting reading and discussion.

Little Red Riding Hood
from
Children's Hour with Red Riding Hood and Other Stories
Edited by Watty Piper (1922)
Retrieved from Project Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11592/11592-h/11592-h.htm

This summer I am revising my curriculum ahead of the TYA course I will teach at NYU in the fall. There was a bit of time between gigs yesterday, so I took a quick spin through the local library to see what I could find by Maria Tatar, Marina Warner, and Jack Zipes (among others). The catalog search (I almost wrote "card catalog") returned a wealth of resources, but only a few at that branch. I made some reserve requests and walked over to the shelves.

As I searched the shelf I noticed something interesting. Fairy tales (at 398 in the Dewey Decimal system) are preceded by books about rituals (holidays, etiquette, and weddings) and followed by books about language. That's a logic location for fairy tales, which I hadn't noticed before. As I get better footing in the world of fairy tales and folklore, I would be curious to learn more about the ways in which these areas relate. And the next time I am in the university library, I will see what precedes and follows fairy tales in the Library of Congress system.

Because it's June!

"June is Bustin' Out All Over"

from the film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL

(Click the post title to see the video)