May 2012
86 posts
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GUEST BLOGGER #5: Kai Raisbeck on Happiness
THE HAPPINESS OF MY ART
Before we start, a little about me I suppose:
My name is Kai Raisbeck and I am a theatre and filmmaker originally from small town Tasmania. I recently graduated from the directing course at NIDA and was an Affiliate Director with Griffin Theatre Company in 2011. Current works include directing The Hiding Place by Kendall Feaver at atyp’s Under the Wharf season (find more...
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FESTIVAL OF NEW WRITING SPECIAL: PRACTICAL MATTERS...
Do you know anything about the legal or business side of your artistic being?
I certainly don’t.
The first thing that sprang to mind when I heard the title of this forum was a glue-gun and a hammer.
But apparently knowing about tax is even more practical.
There are so many things I don’t know.
How do you get super if you’re a self-funded artist?
Can you get a tax deduction...
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Getting Stuck - More Anne Wisdom
In the course of events it is natural to become overwhelmed and incapable of taking action. Getting stuck is natural. It happens. And from time to time getting stuck can be exceedingly productive. Wallowing in the mud of necessary confusion is part of the creative and innovative process. Sometimes standing still is the only way to move forwards. The discomfort of being stuck is a necessary...
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ATTENTION PLAYWRIGHTS: A LESSON IN FRENCH KISSING
This isn’t really a lesson in French kissing. It’s about Kevin Jackson’s review of LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. But the play is set in France. And there’s a lot of kissing.
Long story short: KJ dug this production.
What is more interesting are his thoughts on the importance of this script as a lesson for playwrights on the craft of playwriting:
Observe, study, Mr...
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You're fired, language.
Whilst updating myself on the beautiful James Waites’ musings on his blog, I came across his unique contribution to the Every Breath debate:
Just because you ‘feel’ something as you are writing (an emotion) or ‘think’ something (an idea), it doesn’t mean you have actively captured that feeling or thought (or both) in the words you have just put down on the...
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WHY?
Ms Bogart, again.
The playwright and performer Taylor Mac is constantly developing multiple new projects. He is at work now on a twenty-four hour concert about the history of popular music. He spoke to my students at Columbia University recently and told us that he is looking for two hundred and fifty songs from twenty-four decades, music from the 1770s up to the present decade. I asked Taylor...
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Guest Blogger #3: Melita Rowston on The Dramaturg
Without the turg, there’s too much drama.
Workshops, rehearsal processes…. For some writers, they are the stuff of nightmares. I’ve always been a little nervous and a lot excited just before a workshop or rehearsal process commences. I love working with actors and I love hearing my words come to life. Although, sometimes I have not loved anyone very much after a workshop – especially when the...
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LOVELY UGLY
So you may or may not have noticed that our Festival of New Writing is right around the corner. Probably the most exciting event (they’re all exciting but they’re not all as interactive as this one) is going to be Lovely Ugly.
“Last year you may have been one of the lucky few to experience our one-night only production of Heartbreak Hotel, which took the lovelorn into every nook...
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BRAIN FIRE: Anne Bogart on the loss of Cafe...
OK, so there’s this lady. And her name is Anne Bogart. And she wrote a book called And Then, You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World which I can say, unequivocally, is the book that has convinced me to dedicate my life to theatre.
She is responsible for adapting the Viewpoints theory for stage acting with Tina Landau. That’s fine. She also founded SITI in 1992 with Tadashi...
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GRANTS GRANTS GRANTS MARRICKVILLE GRANTS
MARRICKVILLE COUNCIL GRANTS CLOSE ON MAY 30.
Not only are they offering:
Arts and Cultural Grants
Arts and cultural projects that contribute to the Marrickville local government area. Funding of $1,000 - $7,500 per project is available for each program.
But they are also offering:
Independent Artist Grants
This grants program encourages local emerging artists to maintain an independent arts...
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Guest Blogger #2: Ildiko Susany on the Emerging...
In the Quest for Truth
Last week, I was very graciously invited to be a guest blogger on this fantastic artist’s forum. I think a large part of this was due to my serendipitous meeting with the effervescent Griffin Artist Card Co-ordinator who just happened to be interning with me at Playwriting Australia’s recent National Script Workshop. I think the other part derives from my ongoing foray...
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Fresh Ink: Jessica Bellamy on claiming your...
This is a fab piece written by Bellamy for AYT on the importance of stamping your mark on what you write.
William Butler Yeats, Lindsay Lohan and a miniature schnauzer puppy walk into a bar…
What sort of joke could possibly come out of this sort of premise? Only one that I – schnauzer-lover, celebrity gossip and Yeatsophile – would want to write.
What is the role of individuality, or perhaps...
Sydney theatre culture is really set and forget...
Something I overhead a director say in the Griffin office. Interesting.
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Day three: Of rehearsals, forests and a 5 am city.
Last night I came home. I spent rehearsal with my sides hurting from laughing so hard- possibly not the professionalized way to direct, but I don’t direct anyway. I relax in the back of the boat enjoying the breeze and occasionally tap the rudder. Watching Scarlet up the contrast, clarify the intent, tiny one line tinkerings.
But when I am on a consistent 3/4 hours sleep all week, and my...
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Part One: On Writing A Play (as Alli Sebastian...
On writing a play:
This play happened in two afternoons. And it happened without a name.
On Names:
I love names. Most of my projects start with a title, ‘The Hideous Dimise of Detective Slate’ started with it’s title and grew into a beast that lived in my life for years, and is yet still slumbering waiting to rise again. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest Dragons’ started as just that, and...
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