ACC Drama September 2020 Newsletter
NEWS and UPDATES
Letter from the Department Chair
Marcus McQuirter
Greetings all,
 
Here we are. I hope the fall semester has gotten off to a good start for everyone. It’s different, but I am seeing a lot of creative approaches to… well to life as of late. Despite the general state of crisis in the world, I am encouraged to see folks unearthing positivity and meaningful change, things that we can keep even as we push forward through these extraordinary times.
 
Our department is doing this work on a number of fronts. This fall, for example, we are experimenting with radio drama.  Radiopidemic is a 12 part collaboration with the Creative writing department and local playwrights. Season One will start September 16. Yes, Season One… We’ve launched our Digital Green Room YouTube channel to showcase the work of our students, faculty, and community partners in the absence of access to a physical stage. We’ll extend our Makers and Methods events into the digital sphere with visits from professional artists like Lisa B Thompson and Michael Love. We’ve built and continue to build dedicated online classes in performance, tech, and design, alongside specialty courses like Theater Appreciation sections for Peace and Conflicts Studies and for Global Studies. And we’ll continue something new we started last spring, our end of the semester Digital Showcase. Our students and faculty have embraced the imperative to discover something new, and I am excited. Hope you’ll join us this Fall. 
 
Take care of one another
mm

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT:
LAURA NEILL




Interview by Jamie Rogers
Headshot photo credit: Jaymes Sanchez
Where are you from? What schools have you attended?

I was born near Boston, MA and grew up on Long Island (New York). I attended Dartmouth College for my BA in English, Brown University for my Master of Arts in Teaching, and Boston University for my Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting. I spent my whole life in the northeast until moving to Austin in 2019, when my husband Jaymes Sanchez landed a fellowship at the Michener Center at UT Austin and I was hired to teach at ACC and St. Ed’s.

How did you become involved in theatre?

I came to theatre in college after having written poetry and fiction for most of my childhood. I auditioned for a Shakespeare acting troupe, the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals, and they took a chance on the kid with no acting experience. I fell in love with the process of creating stories with and for a community.
 
How did you get interested in playwriting?
 
This came from two places: one, I was lucky to be able to go on a foreign study program to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art while I was in college, and spend all summer in London watching plays. As I watched more plays, I realized their incredible potential to bring communities together. At the same time, I also had a story I needed to tell: there was (and is) a serious problem with sexual assault at my school, and I was seeking a way to tell the stories of survivors and bring the community together to talk about it. That was how my first full-length play came to be—it was written to be produced on campus during my sophomore year.
 
What other schools have you taught and what classes?
 
I’ve taught Creative Writing at Boston University, Introduction to Theatre at Boston College, Languages of the Stage at Emerson College, and Writing and Rhetoric 1 at St. Edward’s University; I was the playwright-in-residence at the University of Tulsa through the WomenWorks program in 2017. I’ve also worked with students at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the Massachusetts Young Playwrights Project as a writing coach, and I’ve taught workshops on playwriting and writer’s block for the Dramatists Guild, the O’Neill National Theatre Institute, UT Austin’s Informal Classes, and Austin’s own ScriptWorks (upcoming in October).
 
How long have you held a Faculty position in the ACC Drama Department and what do you currently teach?
 
I started at ACC in Fall 2019. I currently teach Theatre Appreciation to my wonderful ECHS students, and I teach Playwriting through the Creative Writing Department, including plays for audio and stage.
 
Where have your plays been presented? Have any been published? How difficult is it for a playwright to have your plays developed and produced?
 
I developed my play Winter People at the 2019 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Before the pandemic hit, I was working on creating the site-specific play Public Property with the support of a ScriptWorks Groundwork Grant and the Pease Park Conservancy. Past commissions include Just Cause (SpeakEasy Stage Company) and DIVAS (OperaHub). Other previous productions include Skin and Bones, workshopped with the Wilbury Theatre Group, and Don't Give Up the Ship, premiered by Fresh Ink Theatre. I am represented by Katie Gamelli at A3 Artists Agency.

My ten-minute play We the Sisters is published in the Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2019 anthology with Applause Books, and I have monologues in the Best Women’s Monologues of 2019 and 2020 anthologies as well.

Getting a play developed is easier than getting one produced—it’s as simple as getting friends together to have an informal reading in your living room (or, during the pandemic, over Zoom). Work gets you more work, so if you have informal readings and spread the word about your plays, making connections with local theatres, you can segue from there to having more formal readings at theatres, and eventually productions. There are also usually formal submission processes for production and development opportunities (see link under “advice” question below). I also post my work to the New Play Exchange, an online collection of scripts for literary managers and schools, and have received a few productions (usually college and high school productions) from that site.

Don't Give Up the Ship at Fresh Ink Theatre
photo credit: Emma Young
Workshop at Boston Playwright's Theatre
photo credit: Kal Zabarsky
Can you tell us about the process at the O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference and what the process is for a playwright to be accepted there?
 
The O’Neill is a five-week conference—eight playwrights are each invited to workshop a play, with each play getting a week of rehearsal and two staged readings at the end of the week. The beautiful thing about the O’Neill is that all the playwrights are in residence all summer, so you’re able to build community with other playwrights and work on developing other plays as well, and the literary department facilitates informal developmental readings of your other pieces as needed. It’s a playwright-centric process.
 
To be accepted to the O’Neill, you’ll first submit your full-length play through the open play call, which you can find at this link—it’s open soon!-- https://www.theoneill.org/npc. Once you’ve submitted your script and development goals, your work goes through several rounds of reading via a national network of readers, to semi-finalist, finalist, and finally selected play. The process begins next week (September 17), and final decisions are made by April or May. Readers for the O’Neill are often literary managers, dramaturgs, or directors at theatres across the country, so even if you are not selected, you are exposing your work to a wider theatrical network. About 1400 playwrights apply each year, so it may take a couple of years to be selected—I submitted four different plays four different years before being accepted with Winter People.
 
Are staged readings of your work helpful? Have you found that some play development methods/practices work better than others?
 
Staged readings are helpful! The key to a great staged reading process is a) having specific goals that you want to work on; and b) having a team who are working toward helping you achieve those goals—and challenging you when you need it. If the collaborators all understand and believe in the playwright’s intention with the script, their critical feedback can help the script reach new heights. Audience feedback can be useful as well, when received through a moderated conversation process that helps audience members feel heard and the collaborators receive the information they need. And audience reactions while watching the play are gold.
 
Are you currently working on writing a script now?
 
I have a few scripts-in-progress at the moment, and a new project on the horizon that I can’t talk about just yet. One of my current scripts-in-progress is Professors, a comedy about two adjunct faculty couples that shows just how far folks will go to get a job with health insurance. 
 
What kind of themes/issues do you find that are you drawn to in your playwriting?
 
I write woman-centered, multiracial plays that tackle societal issues through human stories. Winter People looks at racism and economic divides on Long Island through the voices of five young women; Just Cause is a horror comedy that delves into gentrification in Boston via a human-eating tunnel monster; The End Will Hurt tackles technology and the anxiety of being a woman in the US through the stories of a grandmother, mother, and daughter. Each of my plays has a different structure based on the story it needs to tell, but I often experiment with dual realities, giving more power to characters in their imaginations than they might have in the real world.
 
Can you tell us a bit more about your involvement in the radiopidemic Season 1: Tales from the Congress Bridge? How did the idea get started? What has been the process so far? Who is involved in writing the radio plays?
 
Radiopidemic is Marcus McQuirter’s brainchild. It was a fortunate meeting of intentions—I wanted to teach more playwriting classes and start working with students on audio plays (in addition to stage plays) due to the pandemic, Marcus was seeking to begin an audio drama series for the ACC Drama Department, and Charlotte Gullick, head of Creative Writing, was excited to share this opportunity with our students. I am so thankful to Marcus and to Charlotte for the opportunity to help create this process for our student playwrights.
 
I taught a Summer 2 course on audio drama, and after learning about dramatic writing and what audio plays entail, each student pitched a series concept for an audio drama. The class voted to move forward with Maggie Gallant’s great idea, the Tales from the Congress Bridge concept. Each student playwright then crafted an episode under that umbrella, writing at least two drafts, with feedback from me and from other writers, before the scripts went to Marcus for selection. Any playwright in the class who wished their work to be considered had the opportunity to submit their script.
 
The fall playwriting class begins on September 21, and the enrolled playwrights will have the opportunity to pitch new series concepts, vote on the winner, and write episodes for the spring series!
 
Ever think of writing for film or television?
 
I have a TV pilot rattling around in my brain… so, maybe.
 
What advice would you give a current ACC student who wanted to start a career as a working playwright?
 
Here’s a little primer on how to submit your work that I created for my students. Get your work out there, collaborate, and keep writing. Keep in mind that every play you write is another step on the journey to becoming a stronger writer, so writing another play is an active career move. But theatre is also a collaborative art form, so have readings of your work and submit those plays! See work (online for now), meet with literary managers and directors when you travel to new cities (or on Zoom, for now), and grow a local network of folks you love to work with.
 
What are your future plans?

I’ll keep writing plays—particularly audio plays for my next commission—and branch into a webseries and maybe TV.  And of course, I’ll keep teaching! My dream is to help build a full playwriting program that supports students from all economic backgrounds, and helps folks find joy in their intention and their voice.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:

CASEY ZAKIN




Interview by Jamie Rogers
Where are you from?

Bloomington, Indiana! [Go Hoosiers!]

Were you involved in theatre in when you were in high school? Any past theatre experience on stage or behind the scenes?

I got my start in high school theatre! I’ve been a FOH mixer for productions of Beauty & the Beast & The Mystery of Edwin Drood & stage managed a production of Guys & Dolls.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in audio engineering?

When it was time to apply to college, I’d been mixing shows around town for a couple years, and I was quite keen on learning all I could. It felt like the only thing I was really ‘qualified’ to do at that point, so I embraced it, and when I was accepted to an audio program, it just felt like the next logical step.

Can you tell us about your broadcast television experiences?

I started working part time for the PBS affiliate in town while still in school; their engineering department needed an A2 (audio assistant) and I was curious to see how audio for TV worked, as the audio program I was in focused on music. We taped 3 shows a week in studio, were responsible for the in-house broadcasts for all of IU’s football & basketball games, and worked a number of university events (commencements, etc.). The in-studio shows allowed me to really dial-in my skills, as the show formats from week to week were so similar, while the live events we did taught me a lot about fast & effective problem solving - you can’t have equipment malfunctioning & delay the start of a game with tens of thousands of people in attendance. 

What were the reasons you decided to enroll in the AAS Degree program at Austin Community College? 

I had realised that broadcast television wasn’t something I was incredibly passionate about; I’d learned a lot in those seven years, but ultimately, I felt that I could retool my audio skills into a career that was more theatre-focused. While I have over a decade of live-events experience, theatre is a different beast, and I wanted to fill in those gaps in my theatre knowledge & establish a baseline before continuing on. It just so happened that the AAS Degree Program was just starting up, and it felt like fate!

Any favorite classes in the Drama Department and why? Important things you have learned so far?

Full disclosure, I’ve only taken a handful of classes in the department, and they’ve all been fantastic! History of Technical Theatre was (so far!) my absolute favourite; I’m a huge history buff, so seeing what’s been done throughout time with the resources they had, and what of that we’re still using today, was fantastic. It really drove the point home that we’ve been telling stories for ages, and that is so important to who we are as humans.

Additionally, I learned so much from Theatre Workshop [theatre practicum?], I can’t overstate how important that experience was for me!

You were the sound designer for our Spring 2020 production of Harry and the Thief. What was the design process like?

The design process for this show was such a wonderful learning experience, and so fun; I’d never sound designed a show before this, and Marcus [McQuirter] had a very specific vision that he wanted for the show. I took his direction & various points of the script, then sourced or created sound effects. Marcus had built a playlist that I would listen to repeatedly, that was to be both pre/post show music & a style guide for the tone of the production. I feel incredibly lucky to have landed this gig, and am really looking forward to working on more productions with the department! 

Casey in the booth working on Harry and the Thief
photo credit: Dwayne Barnes
Any favorite ACC Drama Production?

Harry & the Thief is the only one I’ve seen! I’m quite fresh to the department, but very excited to see theatre return.

Do you attend school and have outside employment? If so, how do you find a balance between work and drama department involvement?

Juggling work, volunteering, and schoolwork is tricky - I’ll be the first to tell you I’m still finding that balance, still figuring out the best ways to structure all that; especially working from home, can often feel like you’re “home-ing from work”, too. If someone’s nailed down the balancing act, let me know how you do it!

How has the transition been to online learning for Fall 2020?

[*insert cackle here] At least for the fall, we expected it! I learned quickly last semester that I do not learn well in an online environment, that I need the physical separation of ‘home’ and ‘school’ and ‘work’ to be at my best & most productive. So I reconfigured some things at home, took less classes than I’d otherwise planned to, and taught my cat ‘sit’ in the hopes she wouldn’t interrupt my zoom-classes. I’m grateful to ACC for keeping the health & safety of their students, faculty, & staff the utmost priority, and only allowing minimal folks back on campus.

Any overall advice to give to current Drama Majors on ways to get them involved in the Department?

It can be scary, but it helps if you put yourself out there! The ACC Drama Department faculty & staff are a tremendous resource, ask them questions! Offer up your skills, or if you’re just starting out, enthusiasm goes miles! I got my very first A2 job in college, on a Big Ten Network broadcast, because I met with the hiring manager for this gig and told him “Hi, I’ve never done anything for television before, but I’ve done audio for live events for years, and I want to learn.” In my experience, people respond to sincerity & curiosity, & if you’re a good listener & follow directions well, they’ll want to work with you again. Keep an eye on the ACC Drama Dept Youtube Channel, reach out to your classmates if you have a video idea but you’re not quite sure how to make it. Theatre is the most collaborative art form - we need each other to make it work!

What does the future hold?

I’ll be applying to graduate schools later this semester; there are a couple stage management programs I have my eye on, as well as a few applied theatre programs. Ideally, I’d like to help tell stories that change the world for the better - isn’t that what we’re all here for? If there’s a crossover of theatre and activism, I’d like to be there.

GREG ROMERO's full-length play, Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms, will be presented as a reading by Hyde Park Theatre on Tuesday, September 29th at 8pm. This event is the culmination of work in my year as a pilot member of Hyde Park Theatre's Playwrights Group.

The performance ensemble also includes ACC student Sabeen Noorani.

You can find more information about the play and the event here: 


CALLING ALL ACC DRAMA ALUMNI!

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