Beckett's Babies

Let's talk money! In this episode, Sam and Sarah discuss how playwrights can earn a living writing plays and what is really out there for a playwright. We could only pack so much and we feel this conversation is ongoing so we'd love to hear your thoughts on this as well! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting or the subject of the episode and we might discuss it on our next episode. We'd love to hear from you! Follow us on social @beckettsbabies Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com Related Links: Paying Playwrights More Than Play Money by Diep Tran https://www.americantheatre.org/2014/12/10/paying-playwrights-more-than-play-money/ Amazing Resource: Open Source Document showing salaries across a range of theater jobs by Jenna Clark Embrey https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p_zsGz-DlLTV-TEPb4dtdLowxW0TVwgeeASvX-cz1-8/edit#gid=0

What's it like to rehearse a new play? Sam and Sarah share their own personal experiences with rehearsals and its pros and cons when rewriting a new play. How do you feel about rehearsals? Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. We'd love to hear from you! Follow us on social @beckettsbabies Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Playwright, Ph.D. candidate and Artistic Director of The Navigators Theater Company, Bella Poynton, brilliantly shares with us her knowledge and love of theater on this week's episode of Beckett's Babies. Learn how Bella’s love for science fiction and search for truth lead her to not only seek a Ph.D. degree but to create her own theater company with her fellow collaborators. BELLA is a playwright, director, and instructor of theatre studies. Her playwriting often focuses on science fiction of speculative themes. Bella’s plays have been produced and developed at the Great Plains Theater Festival, New Perspectives Theater, The Science Fiction Theater Company, Otherworld Theatre, the Pittsburgh New Play Festival, The Alleyway Theatre, The Antaeus Company, Madlab, Road Less Traveled Productions, Quantum Dragon Theatre and many more. Bella has been a finalist for the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, the Heideman Prize, The Christopher Brian Wolk Award, and the Samuel French OOB Festival. She has been a regional play

Do you ever feel stuck and want to write something new but don't know where to even begin? How could one even start generating ideas? Have no fear! Sam and Sarah look to news headlines of the week to brainstorm possible stories for a new play. Try it out yourself and tell us what you thought about the exercise! LINKS New York Times - “My Daughter Was a Preschool Biter” https://parenting.nytimes.com/preschooler/preschool-biting Los Angeles Times - “A 102-year-old woman faces eviction so the landlords’ daughter can move in. It’s completely legal” https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-woman-evicted-20190523-story.html USA Today - “Trump, first lady have tea with Prince Charles” https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2019/06/03/trump-first-lady-have-tea-prince-charles/1330067001/ Entertainment Weekly - “Anderson Cooper forgot to tell his mom he was coming out: 'You could've given me a heads up!' https://ew.com/celebrity/2019/06/05/anderson-cooper-forgot-mom-coming-out-story/ Washington Post - “He as

In this episode, Brooklyn-based playwright and screenwriter Monica Trausch shares insight into her life in New York, writing her play "The ABCs", and why she writes. We also play a fun game called "Premises" and you won't want to miss what Sam and Monica have to say. To learn more about Monica Trausch, visit her website www.monicatrausch.com and follow her on social @monicatrausch --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

For the days when we don't feel like writing, we look to others to inspire us. In this episode, we share words of wisdom from other writers. FAVE ESSAYS, BOOKS, ARTICLES, CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WRITING “Pitching and Moaning” https://catapult.co/stories/pitching-and-moaning-a-guide-to-submitting-your-writing SLP Elements of Style https://collaboratoryseriousplay.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/suzan-lori-parks-experimental-essays/ Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (book) On Writing by Stephen King (book) Octavia Butler’s notes to herself https://hugohouse.org/octavia-butler-writing-advice-contest/ “Draft No. 4” and “On Structure” by John Mcphee http://jsomers.net/mcphee-draft-no-4.pdf “Communicating with Theatres” - Mary Sue Price https://pwcenter.org/playwriting-toolkit/communicating-theaters-letters-inquiry-cover-letters-follow-emails A conversation with Paula Vogel https://pwcenter.org/playwriting-toolkit/conversation-paula-vogel Jose Rivera’s 36 Assumptions on Writing Plays http://allbleedingst

Every play has an ending and in this episode, we try to understand what makes an ending work and memorable. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

In this episode, Columbus-based playwright and director Chris Leyva (also a fellow Iowa Playwrights Alum!) joins our show to share what his life has been like after graduate school and his journey into writing theater for young audiences. As playwrights, we were able to relate to so much of Chris' experiences including working day jobs, finding the time to write, handling rejections, and the journey we all take to find our voice as writers. Listeners, you don't want to miss this episode! To learn more about Chris Leyva and his work visit: http://www.chrisleyva.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our

In this episode, we discuss the beginning of a play. What do you think is considered a beginning? How long should the beginning be? What makes the beginning of a play memorable? We share our thoughts on this very important and serious episode. GLISTENS: Sam's - "Running Out of Children, a South Korea School Enrolls Illiterate Grandmothers" by Choe Sang-Hun (NY Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/world/asia/south-korea-school-grandmothers.html Sarah's - "Wedding planning is taking over my life and I can't deal." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

In this episode, we speak with native Bay Area actor, singer, educator, a Resident Artist at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and a company member at Ubuntu Theater Project-- REGINA MORONES! A talented actor and great collaborator to playwrights, Regina shares with us her audition experience into the MFA Acting program and her life after. To learn more about Regina and her work visit: www.reginamorones.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Sam Collier and Sarah Cho share their experiences when it comes to rewrites and revising their plays. What goes into rewriting a new draft of a play? How can we all become better writers through revisions? Rewriting is a personal process that every writer goes through. Find out how we rewrite our plays in this episode! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please support Beckett's Babies by reviewing, sharing an episode to your friends, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies And as always, we would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info, visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Director and playwright Nina Morrison joins us to share how she got into the world of theater and explains how her directing experience lends itself to playwriting. She also wants you to know that you shouldn't listen to any rules about playwriting. Find out why in this episode of Beckett's Babies. Nina Morrison is a playwright and director. She is a University of Iowa Provost's Postgraduate Visiting Writer 2019-2020. Her play Féminaal is being presented May 10-18 by the Grumble Theater, MSP, produced and directed by Alison Ruth (grumbletheater.org tickets available now) . Nina is currently based in Iowa City, before Iowa, she was based in New York City for 17 years. Some NYC credits are: Nina wrote and directed the plays Arrow In and Girl Adventure: Parts 1-4 both presented by Dixon Place, The HOT! Festival of Queer Performance and the Little Theatre series. Nina was a Dixon Place Artist-in-Residence, and she was a WORKSPACE Writer-in-Residence, a residency program of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Hosts Sam Collier and Sarah Cho celebrate their 10th episode of the show the only way they know how... by also celebrating Samuel Beckett's Birthday. Samuel Beckett, the Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator was born on April 13, 1906. In this episode, we take a glimpse into Samuel Beckett's life and work as we try to figure out why we named ourselves after him. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listeners, we'd love to hear your thoughts on all the matter we discussed on the show. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Happy April Fools! Even though it's April Fools, life as a writer is no joke. In this episode, we share our personal thoughts on the idea of a "starving artist", day jobs, and social media influencers. A real 'smorgasburg' of an episode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listeners, we'd love to hear your thoughts on all the matter we discussed on the show. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Playwright, Poet, Performer, Dramaturg, Teaching Artist and Arts Administrator Micah Ariel James joins us to share her philosophy on theater, playwriting and stage directions. She also shares her two cents on how no two productions of a play should ever be the same. Yeah, she said it folks. No two productions should be the same for Micah and we are so glad there’s no two Micah. Join us! Check out Micah's podcast Hancher Presents to learn more! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hancher-presents/id1152552384?mt=2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

"What do you mean plays can be 10 minutes long?!" That's right, listeners. Plays can be ten minutes long too. In this episode, we discuss the 10-minute play, its structure, and the benefits and drawbacks of writing plays in ten minutes. ----------------------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like The Kids" from Audio Network

Dramaturg and Director Alison Ruth joins us in this episode of Beckett's Babies to share her thoughts on dramaturgy, playwriting, and directing. We discuss what makes theater unique from other art forms and how dramaturgy can lend itself to directing. We loved having Alison on the show! She's a wonderful human being and that's our favorite type of guest on our show. Check out the episode! Grumble Theater: http://www.grumbletheater.org/ Episode 6: "Writing a Pillow Book" Playwriting Exercise from Alison Ruth ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com

Almost every writer submit their work to be considered for conferences, residencies, and publishing. The question is, how do you handle the rejections? Join hosts Sam and Sarah as they share their personal coping mechanisms they may (or may not) have when it comes to dealing with the rejections. Also included are a few helpful links to help you start submitting your plays! ----------------------------------- Helpful Links: New Play Exchange: newplayexchange.org/ Playwrights' Center: pwcenter.org/ Kat's Play & Musical Submission Central: www.facebook.com/groups/172232179854587/ Episode 5: 10 Seconds/ 1,000 Years Playwriting Exercise ----------------------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com For more info and playwriting exercises visit our website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like The Kids" fr

Playwright, dramaturg, producer, and educator Kristin Idaszak joins us to discuss her play, "Strange Heart Beating." Idaszak also shares her approach to starting new plays, her passion for climate change, and her role as artistic director at Cloudgate Theatre. Join us for this new episode of Beckett's Babies... as we all try to figure out playwriting. To learn more about Kristin Idaszak, visit www.kristinidaszak.com ----------------------------------- Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting and we might discuss it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com Website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like The Kids" from Audio Network Additional Links Mentioned in the Show! The Story of Storytelling by Ferris Jabr https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/the-story-of-storytelling/

Hosts Sam Collier and Sarah Cho dive into discussion about rituals and routines. In this episode, we explore how we stay motivated to write every day and share our own personal tips in getting inspired. Listeners, we would love to know... what's your favorite beverage of choice when you write? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: @beckettsbabies We would love to hear from you! Send us your questions or thoughts on playwriting or writing and we'd love to share it on our next episode. Email: contact@beckettsbabies.com Website: www.beckettsbabies.com Theme Music: "Live Like The Kids" from Audio Network