Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Plot Thickens

Well, my fellow writers, we have been at this whole StageWrite business for a few weeks, and I hope everyone is having a great experience and feeling at least a little pressure to finish that project you've been hiding in the back of your mind. If you haven't felt the pressure yet, allow me to up the stakes. From here on out, we're having a friendly little competition. Each week, we all bring a dollar to put into the pot. If you have written the most pages that week, you will be exempt from putting a dollar in, AND you will win the pot! Woohoo! Treat yourself a nice meal at Wendy's...because that's all that us starving writers can afford to give you.

Keep up the good work, writers! See you at the workshop.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Here We Go!


Thanks to everyone who came to our first official meeting for StageWrite. Feel free to invite any and all people who want to come. Spread the word! We feel strongly that all creative types can benefit from a little peer pressure...ahem...I mean, HELP from a group.

For those of you who missed the meeting, not to worry! We have our first workshop coming up this Wednesday from 6 to 8, and we would love to have you. We're meeting in room GT636 on UVU campus, and we'll leave a seat open for you and your closest friends and writing buddies. Just bring something to write with, whether it be a laptop for you technologically-savvy people, a typewriter for you crazy people, or a quill pen and parchment paper for you old-school purists. OH! And don't forget to bring something to work on--a story idea (or more) that you've been toying with or a script you've already started on. It's time to get those ideas on to paper, and to finish up those halfway-written plays! We'll see you at 6 on Wednesday, April 13th!


Monday, April 4, 2011

What is Stage Write?

Stage Write is a new organization at UVU which uses a workshop environment to write theatrical scripts (plays or screenplays) on a consistent basis.

One of the biggest enemies to the aspiring script writer, whether you’re writing for fun or because you want to do it for a living, is structure. It’s hard to find time to write consistently and make progress on any work when it’s not your primary profession, or not your number one priority. Things get in the way. Despite the grand declarations to yourself that you will write every night for at least 3 hours, or will wake up at 7 am to write for an hour before work, the snooze button gets hit.

Stage Write is a group designed to bring 2 hours of disciplined focused writing time into the lives of the amateur writer per week.

Stage Write meets every Wednesday from 6-8 PM in the Gunther Technology Building at UVU, in room GT 636. You do not have to be a UVU student to be a part of the group.

The workshop process is all about solving conflicts, brainstorming as a group and focused writing time. It begins with each writer pitching a project to the group that they want to turn into a finished script. Each meeting will start with a review of how each project is going and questions the writers have been trying to answer. Then we will spend time writing - just writing. At the end of the meeting each member of the group will account for what he or she accomplished and set goals for the next week’s session. It’s a simple format that we hope will yield great results.

After the writing process has had time to work, the second half of our workshop is to see the work in action. We will stage readings of the work, and a certain number of plays will be chosen to make up our 2011-12 Theater season. Even though the workshop is for both plays and screenplays, the production arm of our group will only apply to those scripts that could be adapted to and produced on the stage.

We will be having our first meeting this Wednesday April 6th at 7:00 PM in GT 636. We would love to have you join us!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

For Starters

Welcome, welcome. We're excited to get this whole thing rolling, and we need the help of all y'all who can contribute to the cause of creating cool collaborations...and stuff. (Don't worry. The onslaught of alliteration has ended. ) We are looking for anyone who would like to join this fantastic new club, dedicated to helping playwrights get past their own perfectionism and finish what they start. Know anyone who is interested? Great! Here's some information:

StageWrite is a UVU-sponsored club, but that doesn't mean only UVU students can join. We'd love to include anyone who really wants to become involved. Our whole goal is to work together to motivate each other and get our works produced. We will hold weekly workshops to help keep us writing and working toward the end result.

(Doesn't that sound exciting?! WORKSHOPS?! )

Spread the word! We will be having our first meeting on March 30th at UVU, and we want you and your closest playwright friends to be there. We'll keep you updated with more information as it comes up.

Until then, keep writing.