Discussing outrageous fortune with live playwrights

Editor's Note: Since November of 2008, Joshua Humphrey has been recording freewheeling interviews with performing artists all over town. MinnesotaPlaylist is proud to direct you toward his work—beginning with a topic dear to our heart: The life of the American playwright.

Christina Ham, John Heimbuch, Brian O'Neal, and Joshua Humphrey discuss Chapter 1 of the comprehensive study from the Theatre Development Fund, Outrageous Fortune

00:00-03:30: I introduce myself and fellow panelists and we start in with an outline and Christina shares her experiences with participating in the survey that lead to the publication of Outrageous Fortune.

03:30-07:38: We move into Chapter One: Dialogue in the Dark, Playwrights and Theatres. Brian leads us into our first discussion point, homes for playwrights and forging relationships.

07:38-11:54: We discuss the disconnect between theatres and playwrights and how each expects a play to function.

11:54-14:51: Conversation here centers on the submission of plays and how every play is not built for every theater.

14:51-18:11: We talk about the “culture among younger playwrights,” how John and Christina first became interested in becoming playwrights, and John supplies me with a zinger.

18:11-23:28: Conversation touches on Joseph Papp and how he created relationships with playwrights and supported work that spoke to him.

23:28-26:05: John begins discussing the leadership of the mid-large size theaters from their scrappy beginnings to their current incarnations and the growing disconnect with a generational divide between older administrators and younger artists.

With an older generation of theatre administrators and audiences, where is the place for young audiences to grow along with similar playwrights? Self-producing is discussed as one of many answers to this problem.