Operating Support
ACHF Arts Access
Increase support for Minnesota playwrights from the budding student to the acclaimed professional. Outcomes: member playwrights will have more opportunities to connect and share their work with each other and the public. Playwrights' Center fellows and Core Writers will be provided new play development resources that better reflect their working style and the needs of the particular play being developed. Playwrights' Center fellows and Core Writers will be introduced to and connected with theater leaders, building relationships that lead to commission/production. The number of member playwrights increased from 1,150 to 1,250, and the number living in Minnesota held steady at 237. We received positive feedback from members about improvements to the membership section of our Web site, informed by our members survey. We increased Twin Cities metro area and statewide participation in activities like our Members Open Readings. We received positive written and verbal feedback from fellows and Core Writers about technology upgrades and process improvements to new play development in our Lab. We received positive survey responses from participants (including 6 Minnesota colleges) in our New Plays on Campus program and from our 5 Core Apprentices and their mentor playwrights. Written feedback from visiting producing-theater leaders has been overwhelmingly positive, e.g.: I was excited by the diversity of artists and aesthetics of the group and feel I came away with a list of Minnesota playwrights I am going to keep my eye on. - Kirsten Brandt, San Jose Repertory Theatre 2: Play an integral role in the vitality of the Minnesota theatrical ecosystem by serving as a trustworthy connection to high caliber, diverse playwrights and a generous partner to organizations looking to create and develop new plays. Outcomes: Minnesota producing theaters will develop new plays in partnership with the Playwrights' Center, serving the playwright, making new plays stronger, and moving them closer to production. Producing theaters will commission, develop, and produce new plays by Minnesota playwrights. Minnesota cultural institutions and community organizations will use playwriting and new plays as vehicles for serving their communities. Assessments concluded that we had successful partnerships with our Minnesota partners - Theatre Novi Most, Walker Art Center, Minnesota History Center, Workhaus Collective, and Unit Collective. We received positive feedback about playwriting classes we provided via Veterans in the Arts. We received significant attention and positive feedback for our partnership with the City of Minneapolis to commission playwright Trista Baldwin for a new short play featured in the Bridge Project event commemorating the anniversary of the 35W bridge collapse and rebuild. Works previously developed at the Center were produced in Minnesota in the last year at Walker Art Center, the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio, and St. Olaf College. Tracy Scott Wilson's play BUZZER, developed with Pillsbury House Theater and produced there in 2012, was presented at the Guthrie as part of its 2013 season. Other plays developed at the Center were selected for productions in New York, California, and Ohio last season.
The Playwrights' Center improved and expanded services to increase support for Minnesota playwrights, from students (served through our New Plays on Campus program and the related Core Apprenticeship program) to members (19% of whom are currently located in Minnesota) to acclaimed professionals (our many fellows and Core Writers). 2: We expanded our role as an integral connection between our exceptional and diverse playwrights and Minnesota theaters and organizations using theater to reach their constituents. We served as a trusted and valued resource for a number of Minnesota theaters and cultural institutions, as well as for the City of Minneapolis. We also began formalizing our local theater partnerships into a program to be further developed in the 2014 fiscal year.
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