A Message from Josh Gershick

Greetings ,

As the Dramatists Guild’s outgoing Southern California Regional Representative, I’m grateful to have been of service to my fellow writers. A DG Regional Rep is an enthusiastic cheerleader, a willing thought partner, a careful listener, a patient shepherd, a trusted confessor, a generous matchmaker, and a tireless educator. And it’s a pleasure to be helpful.  

One of my central objectives was to guide members through the destabilizing, acrimonious upheaval that resulted from Equity’s erasure of LA’s historic 99-seat waiver plan. The fallout was nothing short of tectonic, and I laid out new, practical, achievable pathways to production for members to follow. And here we are again, at another uncertain moment. I’m confident that we’ll get through this, too. There will be theatre, post-COVID-19.  In the meantime, we’ll adapt – and keep writing.

In Southern California – the Guild’s second-largest region – most of our members are working writers, employed not only in the theatre, but also in journalism, TV, and film. The majority of our members have been produced principally on 99-seat stages. Going forward, I’d like us to think about how we, as a writing community, can help everyone get to the regional table. How together we can network and lift all boats. How we can share our resources so that everyone has an in – especially people of color and women, as well as older, differently-abled, and LGBTQI writers. We must ensure that everyone has a seat at the table – not just the favored few from exclusive, principally East Coast schools, who graduate already well connected.

Further, I’d love to see the DG create theatrical partnerships in LA for the hosting of DG events, including Footlights. LA is an expensive town: Even churches and synagogues charge market rate for their spaces. Our event budget is too small to be competitive. Having dedicated theatrical partnerships in LA would ground the DG geographically and facilitate event production. (Theatres in San Diego and the OC, including New Village Arts, Diversionary Theatre, and Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, have been in the vanguard, generously providing such space.)

Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to our crack Southern California ambassadorial team – Aleta Barthell , Diana Burbano , Thelma Virata de Castro , Jeanette Farr-Harkins , Susan Lambert , and Stephanie Liss . It takes a village.

Josh

Nominate Your Next Regional Rep

We hope that you'll join us at the Dramatists Guild in celebrating all of the work and sustained programming tha t Josh Gershick has done to support playwrights and DG members in his region. Nominations for our next Southern California Regional Rep will be due on Thursday, July 9 at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Following that deadline, nominees will be contacted to accept or decline their nomination. We will then collect bios from the nominees, so that members in the region can consider each candidate. Once this process is complete, a ballot will be assembled, and sent out shortly thereafter, thereby enabling all members in the Southern California region to participate in a general election.

The Dramatists Guild promotes the core belief that the theatre should be a diverse and inclusive place that holds a mirror up to the world, endorsing the principles of equal opportunity for all who work in the theatre. To these ends, we encourage the nomination of persons of every race, color, culture, age, gender, physical disability, and sexual orientation, in order to move towards achieving a theatre industry, both on and off stage, that reflects the full diversity of American society. We encourage our members to make this a priority when submitting nominations.

Benefits of Becoming a DG Regional Rep:



Requirements of a DG Regional Rep:

Jordan Stovall

Manager, Regional Rep Program