Dramatists Guild Foundation

This Women's History Month, we're taking the opportunity to revisit The Legacy Project and the incredible female theatre writers who have made an impact on the history and future of American theater. WATCH longtime collaborators Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford join Georgia Stitt for a conversation about songwriting, consciousness raising, and feminism in this episode: https://buff.ly/3hWuvUj Consider subscribing to DGF on Youtube!

Did you see Jane Fonda's incredible speech at the Golden Globes last night? The actress and activist spoke of storytelling as an essential tool for healing as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award: This part is sticking with us. "You know, we are a community of storytellers, aren’t we? And in turbulent, crisis-torn times like these, storytelling has always been essential. You see, stories have a way that they can change our hearts and our minds; they can help us see each other in a new light, have empathy to recognize that for all our diversity, we are humans, first, right?"

Actress L Morgan Lee performs "Unremarkable," from the new musical MISS STEP, written by Kit Yan and Melissa Li (former DGF Fellows and recent Kleban Prize recipients). MISS STEP is a heartfelt '80s dance musical comedy featuring a transgender/non-binary (TGNB) cast, live aerobics, stunts, competition, and exercise. The performance was featured in DGF's first virtual benefit, Write in the Dark.

If you are a theater writer -- or know any theater writers -- who have been affected by the extreme weather in TX, MS, OK, and other states, Emergency Grants are available to help quickly with insurance premiums, home repair costs, increased electric bills, and other unexpected expenses due to the storms. Visit our website or call for more information. https://dgf.org/programs/grants/grants-for-writers/

ICYMI: revisit Christiana Cole's Fellows Spotlight on the DGF Blog https://buff.ly/3pj5V3w "I like to write about things that only make sense on the stage. I like to write roles that actors feel excited to tackle because they’re unlike anything they’ve done before. I like to write melodies that feel cathartic to sing."... We hope you enjoy keeping up with our current class of fellows. Stay up to date on Christiana’s work here: https://www.facebook.com/christianacolenyc www.christianacole.com

Join us for Day 2 of the "Everyone's A Playwright" Symposium, starting off with a welcome address from Tony Award-winning Playwright David Henry Hwang. David Henry Hwang's work includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is a Tony Award winner, three-time OBIE Award winner, and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. https://fb.watch/3vR-HTo6k7/

Join us LIVE with Caleen Sinnette Jennings to kick off the "Everyone's a Playwright" Symposium! Caleen is an actor, director, playwright, and a founding member of The Welders, a D.C. Playwrights’ Collective. Dramatic Publishing Company has published eight of her plays, and her work has appeared in seven play anthologies. https://fb.watch/3uxw9dR3aQ/

Tune in this weekend for keynotes from Caleen Sinnette Jennings and David Henry Hwang LIVE, right here on DGF's Facebook Page as part of the Everyone's a Playwright Symposium! *Caleen Sinnette Jennings: Saturday, 2/6 at 12PM ET *David Henry Hwang: Sunday, 2/7 at 12PM ET... And don't forget, registration is still open for all symposium sessions! aate.com/playwright-symposium

Sheldon Harnick is one of the many theater legends featured as part of the DGF Legacy Project, a series of interviews featuring prominent contemporary American playwrights, lyricists, and composers. Each interview offers an intimate look into the lives and creative process of these writers of the theater. Consider subscribing to our Youtube Channel (link in bio) for a suite of episodes and new videos from events, workshops, and much more. https://buff.ly/2GHY2E1

We're so moved by Liz Callaway's rendition of "Old Friend" from "I'm Getting My Act Together..." by Nancy Ford & Gretchen Cryer (DGF President Emeritus) for Stars in the House this week. Watch her performance here: https://buff.ly/3dsLaO0 In this episode of the Legacy Project, Ford & Cryer discuss writing "Old Friend": https://buff.ly/3hWuvUj

Blog Throwback: Reflections on the Writer's Inner Critic "The inner critic can emerge at any stage of the writing process, questioning our writing’s worth, its execution, and our own artistic abilities. Unfettered judgment combines with physical discomfort to form a lethal combination that can hamper the creative process, or worse, convince us not to write at all." So what's a writer to do? Full article here: ... Tell us how you manage your inner critic in the comments.

"Artistic mirrors may not exist, or worse, provide warped, inaccurate reflections of ourselves. Playwriting allows us to build our own mirrors, ensuring that our stories are told as authentically and effectively as we see fit." Read "Writing for the theater as self-care" on the DGF blog. We're revisiting this article that explores why writing plays helps us make sense of ourselves in the world.

Blog Throwback: The History of MAC Cosmetics and Broadway John Demsey is Estée Lauder Companies’ Executive Group President. He also serves as MAC Cosmetics Brand President and as Chairman of the MAC AIDS Fund, fostering relationships between the MAC Cosmetics artist relations team and the Broadway community. He has partnered with and integrated MAC Cosmetics into a variety of productions. ... That’s right, Elphaba’s signature green is none other than MAC PRO Chromacake Landscape Green. (And yes, there is a MAC template online for how to get your own green Elphie glow.) While theaters remained closed, it's important to remember the many roles behind the scenes that are affected by a shutdown of this proportion. Consider the look of a show. From set to costumes and makeup to poster design, every aesthetic choice has a critical impact on the way we experience stories. Read more about the relationship between MAC and Broadway here: .

It seems that with every experience with a powerful musical theater song, there's new meaning and deeper emotion to be found. How do these words resonate with you right now? "When all the world is a hopeless jumble And the raindrops tumble all around Heaven opens a magic lane.... When all the clouds darken up the skyway There's a rainbow highway to be found Leading from your window pane To a place behind the sun, Just a step beyond the rain. Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby." Ciara Renée (FROZEN, BIG FISH) performs "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg, at the 2019 Dramatists Guild Foundation Gala.

Thank you to Nicholas, a recent DGF Emergency Grant Recipient for sharing this beautiful meditation on theater with us. Learn more about DGF Emergency Grants here: https://buff.ly/35Zl6Vw Read Nicholas' full testimonial below: ... When I applied to your grant on March 24, I had $138.77 to my name. Total. I had been living like this for years. Employed full-time, 60 hour work weeks. Hand to mouth. So many trips, in the words of Tracy K. Smith, "walking to work on payday like a woman journeying for water from a village without a well." I am deeply appreciative to the Dramatists Guild Foundation for granting me these emergency funds. And so quickly. Thank you. It is deeply necessary and continues to go a long way. I haven't been living lavishly, but the relief of this grant has afforded me the time to reflect on our world, to bear witness through my writing, to challenge our industry, and to make changes in myself. As a small token of my gratitude, I wanted to share this passage that I love from Todd London’s "The Art of Theatre". Please enjoy. We are all keepers of the spirit of the theatrefrom the artists who identify and articulate our core human impulses, to the administrators who make homes for art; from the trustees who secure those homes and create the bonds between artists and the larger community, to the audiences, without whom there can be nothing called theatre. Sometimes shouldering the responsibility for this most consistently endangered, ever-ephemeral endeavor can feel like carrying burning embers wrapped in leaves through a rainforest. If the necessary spark goes out, how will we light the fire around which we gather, night after night, place after place? That spark is what we have; it’s the art of the theatre, your theatre, any theatre. And so we carry and protect it, fan it to flame, watch it die down to a faint glow, wrap it up and carry it again, always hopeful, always together. - Nicolas A, NYC Emergency Grant Recipient

Follow the Fellow: Kyoung H Park! Kyoung's Pacific Beat (KPB) invites BIPOC members of our community and our white allies to Whiteness on Fire: A Cultural Reconstruction, an evening of online art and social convening on Monday, October 5th from 7pm-9pm EST. This program will feature Suck My Violin, an original music video produced virtually during this pandemic, to kickstart the developmental process of KPB's new work-in-progress NERO, an epic theatricalization of George ...W. Bush's War on Terror as the rise and fall of Nero's Roman Empire. "Suck My Violin" will be followed by an in-depth conversation that shifts our current culture forward. Participants must register online here: https://buff.ly/3cJREHC Due to COVID-19, KPB’s 2020-2021 season will be held virtually to fully observe social distancing. We will administer our own online registrations to facilitate digital privacy and safety. NERO’s development is supported in part by a grant from the MAP Fund, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a 2019-2020 Dramatist Guild Fellowship. Image: "Dave Gelles in Kyoung's Pacific Beat's NERO. Image design by Marie Yokoyama."

"I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road" is a musical by Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer (DGF President Emeritus) that premiered off-Broadway in 1978. Though Cryer and Ford discuss in their episode of the Legacy Project that the show was not designed as a political piece, the musical is generally seen as an evocative piece of feminist theater. (Full episode available here: https://buff.ly/3hWuvUj) Fun Fact: Andrea Martin (OKLAHOMA!, NOISES OFF) and Catherine O'Hara (yes, THE Emmy-award winning Moira Rose herself) parodied the musical for Second City TV in 1981 as "I'm Taking My Own Head, Screwing It On Right, and No Guys' Gonna Tell Me It Ain't."

How do children learn that their voices matter? In what has become a school year like no other, we express our support and gratitude to the educators helping students continue to grow. In revisiting this blog post from last year, it becomes more apparent than ever that "helping tomorrow’s citizens find their voices today ensures the theater will thrive for years to come." ***... During the first year of our New Voices program, students wrote plays on the topic of immigration as part of their social studies curriculum. One of the teachers at PS-1, Diana Alvarado, explains Our school is in a neighborhood that has become the new home to many immigrants looking to start a new life. Most of my students are first-generation Americans. As the children of immigrants, they come from homes where parents don’t speak English and have difficulty helping their children with school work. Despite their many obstacles, these children come to school each day happy and excited to learn within a classroom that provides the integration of English as a New Language instruction. Learn more about New Voices on the DGF blog: In revisiting this blog, it is more apparent than ever that "helping tomorrow’s citizens find their voices today ensures the theater will thrive for years to come." How do children learn that their voices matter?

Blog Throwback: Reflections on the Writer's Inner Critic "Ignoring the critic for just a little while won’t suddenly destroy your capacity to critique and improve your work. Nor do we think you have to diminish your goals about how good your work can be. The critic doesn’t have to lower its standards, but it needs to know when it’s time for input and when it’s not." Read on, writers!

"All that I have are my skill and my name And this chance to make both of them known This is my key to the portal How I can leave something immortal Something that time cannot make disappear... Something to say 'I was here'" Revisiting this powerful performance from our 2019 Gala. Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (KISS ME, KATE, RAGTIME) performs "I Was Here" from THE GLORIOUS ONES by the brilliant Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Watch the full performance and more on the DGF Youtube channel. https://buff.ly/38w1I4H