Is it Essential?

Teaching at home (both my students and my children) has been, to put it simply, an adjustment. No major crises to report, however. Perhaps, in some ways, the fact that both my wife and I are teachers has contributed to quicker adaptation to the new normal in the time of social distancing. We are finding it not just a complicated time where common errands are now accompanied with mild anxiety and masks, but also an opportunity to reflect on everything: our well-being and work, but also on what is and isn't important to us as a family. Or, to use a phrase we hear everyone right now, the "essential".

That word "essential" is all over the news (well, last I checked... I've made it a point to stop following the news and found it refreshing). I've noticed the word used as a divisive term, but have also found it to be a lens through which to reflect on all aspects of life from work to family, Boiling down curriculum to the essential was a matter of necessity and my wife and I find our teaching all the better for it. In fact, I am eager to see how these revisions will further adapt my work to once we are able to return! Before everything was shut down in mid-March, we were a family constantly on the move - home to school to activities to extra work to other activities to family events to home, etc. With no where to go but home, there has been time each day to reflect and seek out ways to spend our time once school work is complete. For me, that time has been for reading and writing... which really means time for reflecting. It has meant time to seek out, and finally focus on, what is truly essential.

This all leads me to the work I have been doing over the last three weeks leading up to this post. Since 2015, I have managed an online resource of writing and contest opportunities for young playwrights (ages 8-18) around the world. This was a side project during my doctoral research that compiled basic information about the field of work being done that had ancillary relevancy to what eventually became the dissertation. It has been difficult to gauge who is behind the over 3,500 hits that the Young Playwrights Map has received in that time, but someone is finding their way there and using its information. About two years ago, I considered shutting down the Map, but a news article announcing that a young writer in New Jersey would have readings of her work in young playwrights festivals in Arizona and New York (both of which were listed on the site) prompted me to keep it going. It was not until social distancing that I had the time to do a proper update of the information listed, which I completed in mid-April. A conversation with a graduating senior from Niagara University (my alma mater) sparked my curiosity about the potential for the Map to do more than just be a listing of information. I have since embarked upon a series of changes that will transform the site again.

On May 1, the Young Playwrights Map will officially become the Young Playwrights Guide. I have a schedule of insights, advice, and video-recorded conversations that will soon populate the site with a renewed purpose to provide tools for young creators to embark upon, and eventually share, their works. I am so excited by this shift and it has been difficult to keep things under wraps. However, in order to maintain our new family schedule, I am beginning to roll out these changes with small updates to the existing online platforms. The Map website got a makeover this afternoon; social media platforms will follow. I'm also putting together the first few video conversations on a branded YouTube channel and will delve into the world of Instagram, too.

It is interesting (and perhaps a bit morbid) to think that if it were not for a global pandemic, I may not have the time to do the work that I have done. (And I am certainly empathetic to the opposite reality that others may face right now). Reflection is an important part of my work as an educator, artist, and researcher, but also having the time to read Ryan Holiday's The Obstacle is the Way launched me into the right mindset to re-brand the Map into the Guide. As Holiday notes in the book - and in other articles about the idea - It is a matter of how we use crisis, or failure, to reflect on what is essential to revise and to keep moving on.

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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.

Publishing articles about young playwrights programs

This past month I had published two articles about the growth of young playwrights programs in the United States:

The first is an encyclopedia-style entry about the burgeoning regional programs in the late 1980s, which is published as part of a crowd-sourced timeline celebrating the 30th anniversary of Youth Theatre Journal. You can link to the article here.

The second is an article about the current field of young playwrights program that draws from data I have gathered in creating and updating The Young Playwrights Map. This is published in the NYU Program in Educational Theatre online journal, ArtsPraxis, and can be found here.

I am excited to share this work and to document the tremendous field of playwriting programs for youth that are present in this country. Looking forward to wrapping up my dissertation exploring the impact of these programs and to continue to advocate for the unique opportunities and experiences provided within this field.

The Young Playwrights Map 2.0

Introducing The Young Playwrights Map!

Ok... so, actually you may have already met the Map. It has been online for almost a year now with the most recent updates posted last week. There are currently 69 different opportunities listed there with at least one program for students in 33 different states. And ten of those listed accept scripts from young writers across the nation. I'm always looking to expand the resource, so the plan is to reconnect with those organizations already on the list again in August.

This afternoon I will share the Map during a session at the NYU Forum on Educational Theatre. My paper presentation will discuss the history of young playwrights programs in the United States (briefly), how I came to build the map, and some results of a recent inquiry I made into the way in which the programs included on the Map conduct their work with young playwrights. I'm looking forward to sharing the news and receiving feedback on the project.

I am also thrilled to announce that the Map will move foward with a new name: The Young Playwrights Map. While it is still focused on programs available to writers in the US, the title will allow for planned inclusion of programs around the world. (I will likely begin that work in 2017.) Also, the Map now has a home on Facebook and Twitter (@TheYPMap), so look to connect with the project there!