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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Young Playwrights Map: Update

Image created by Jodomondo
Accessed on Wikimedia Commons

The summer has provided me with much needed time for updating the Young Playwrights Map, which had been neglected for too long as I wound down school-year responsibilities at the theatre and at the high school. However, I have not yet updated the old listings as my social media and internet news alerts have brought to my attention a number of previously unknown opportunities within the United States, Canada, and the UK. These have been added throughout the month of June and the Map has suddenly grown from an off-shoot of my dissertation research into an international resource of 117 opportunities for young writers ages 18 and younger.

I enjoy adding programs both new and established and there have been a share of both this past month. It still surprises me that programs with histories of multiple years are only now becoming visible to me. I would think the almighty Google would pick up those hits automatically, but nevertheless, I am grateful to find them now.

What I am uncertain about at the moment is how useful the Map is for young writers. To date, the Young Playwrights Map has 3,206 views since it was first shared in May 2015. That's roughly 1,000 views per year. Google analytics help me see where views originate, but I don't know how the information is being used, or if it is useful at all. Programs are excited when I contact them to be added (although I did have one program refuse to give information and the head of an organization offer to share information only if I was a member). Playwrights are thrilled with the idea of finding new places to share their work. Some of the playwrights with whom I've worked in the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival have plays produced at other festivals, but I do not believe they connected with those organizations because of the Map. Information about how the Map is used is something I am working on. If you have any suggestions, please do share them.

I also would like to conduct another overview of the field similar to what I did in Mapping the Field of Young Playwrights Programs, which was published in ArtsPraxis in October 2016. However, that may need to wait until the start of 2019 while I wrap up some other projects. In the meantime, I look forward to continuing to update the map and reaching two milestones: 100 programs in the United States and 120 listings overall. With any luck, those will come before the summer is out!

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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.