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Went to a great meeting late yesterday with our regional representative from the Dramatists Guild of America: Tammy Ryan. She was pretty enthusiastic about her experience and what the DG meant to her and her region, which was Pittsburgh and most of the rest of Pennsylvania. The only down side is the recognition that New Yorkers somehow still consider the Midwest as some strange amalgam of people who are, for all intents, the same. I say this because someone’s wisdom was to lump Ohio into the same region as Pittsburgh; as well to provide Philadelphia with a region and stuff the rest of Pennsylvania into a Pittsburgh region. Frankly, it’s a far stretch to believe that Cleveland should represent the whole state of Ohio (and there weren’t many at the meeting who disagree with that–and there was one person from Columbus and one from Cincinnati); but the point is only more acutely made: not only is it a stretch to think of Cleveland representing all of Ohio; how much more odd to think of the Pittsburgh region representing all of Ohio?

The meeting was great, though, and I came away pretty fired up; as I think, did others. There were quite a few people represented, too, including Seth Gordon and many from the Playwright’s Unit, including Eric Coble, Eric Schmiedl, Faye Sholiton, David Hansen, Margaret Lynch; there was also Linda Eisenstein, Mike Geither, and several of the NEOMFA students.

It was a revealing meeting in that many opportunities of which I was unaware were revealed, and so, I learned that more opportunities existed in Cleveland. Also, from Ms. Ryan’s reaction, I came to understand that the Cleveland scene is pretty fortunate, developed, and cohesive. I also came away understanding that there will soon be more cohesion, as we will shortly be forming a regional unit ourselves. Cleveland has a lot going for it when it comes to theater, and soon the rest of the country will come to see it as well; just like Chicago in the eighties and early nineties.

On another note, Eric Coble’s new play is opening this weekend and I look forward to seeing it.

I opened the July/August American Theatre to an article about a theater in Maryland that partnered with three nearby colleges to create a voucher program.

The article, A Not-So-Impossible Dream, by Eliza Bent, discusses the process used by the Marlyand Ensemble Theatre: the theater sends vouchers to the colleges; the colleges distribute them to faculty, students, or staff; the student (or whomever) shows up at the theater and gives the voucher and gets in free; the theater then bills the colleges for the cost of a reduced ticket–for the colleges the money actually comes out of the student life budget.

This is one way that this theater has been encouraging younger people to come to shows and also, that the colleges have been encouraging students to see theater–especially in programs where it is important and can be tied to curriculum (an excellent example being that con-con is putting up the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child in the fall) which is always good for a literature department!

As the article rightly points out, this would be one way to combat the ‘gerification’ of modern American theaters. For convergence, as I’m learning, this is one of the main challenges for several reasons: first, it is difficult (read, impossible) to sustain operations from ticket sales alone–theaters need investment from their community and this is difficult for con-con as its appeal is not to this deep-pocketed, older market which seems to relish a more conservative type of theater, in both content and structure; second, the type of theater that con-con produces is in-your-face, usually multimedia enhanced–a type that should appeal to a younger crowd; and third, con-con runs plays that are generally out of the main stream–contemporary, experimental, ‘dangerous’, and usually regional premieres (or in my case, a world-premiere).

I have no illusions about how difficult it would be to set up something similar here, but am thinking about trying to push it with as many people as I know. Obviously, I am interested in doing this on behalf of convergence, but the fact is, this is something that would be great in Cleveland more broadly. There is a density of both theaters and colleges here and I’m sure Karamu, CPT, Dobama, Bang and Clatter, the Play House, and even more would be interested. To use business parlance, it’s a win-win for everyone!