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)