From the Executive Director

Investment Counseling

By Teresa Eyring

In October, TCG Books celebrated the landmark publication of August Wilson’s collected works. The Century Cycle brings together 10 of Wilson’s plays, each dedicated to a decade in 20th-century African-American life, in an elegantly crafted boxed set. To mark the occasion, a small gathering took place in the lobby of the August Wilson Theatre, attended by producers who helped bring the plays to life, actors who performed in them, journalists who have covered Wilson’s plays, writers who wrote forewords to each of the plays in the set, and TCG staffers, including publisher Terry Nemeth and editor Kathy Sova. The energy in the room was palpable, as everyone took a moment to hold within one hand (or perhaps two, depending on the strength of the bearer) the life’s work of this theatrical giant. The spirit was one of warmth and generosity—there was the sense of a widely woven family of individuals who helped bring stage life to these scripts over and over again.

There were many stories—everyone had at least one—connected to the August Wilson legacy. Nemeth recalled his 2005 discussions with August about publishing the collection. He quoted August’s statements about the urgency of working quickly, foreshadowing the news we would all soon learn—that Wilson had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Constanza Romero, August’s wife, held the collection and talked about what the moment would have meant to August. Director Marion McClinton championed the idea of seeking out playwriting talents who may not be a part of the mainstream, and advocated fiercely for supporting the playwright, the artist, the person—and a body of work—rather than focusing on just a single project.

The nurturing of August Wilson as a playwright is a true example of McClinton’s call to action. After his first workshop at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Wilson began to develop a lifelong partnership with producer Ben Mordecai and a “production-sharing” methodology that began with Mordecai and director Lloyd Richards at Yale Repertory Theatre. Through this process, not-for-profit professional theatres across the country mounted and shared productions of Wilson’s world premieres as they made their way to commercial runs on Broadway.

In recent months, the conversation has buzzed around playwrights, theatres and play-development processes. Debates have emerged about how playwrights and theatres can best work together on development—how to avoid “workshopping plays to death”; what to do about “premiere-itis”; how to ensure future productions; how much (and which) theatres or producers should benefit financially from a script for which they’ve taken an initial financial risk.

The production-sharing of August Wilson’s plays came to represent an important model for how a playwright and his work could be successfully shepherded through development, production, publication and multiple future productions. And yet this particular model has rarely been replicated. The National New Play Network, formed in 1998, offers a related approach to extending the life and development of new plays. The goal is to guarantee more than one production of a new play, a feat that is accomplished through the “rolling world premiere.” As many as five theatres commit to producing a new play and share the world-premiere moniker, simultaneously giving the play a wider national audience and each theatre a hand in the promulgation of new writing.

The focus upon a writer and his or her body of work has long been at the center of the mission of Signature Theatre Company of New York, which dedicates entire seasons to a single playwright, as it did to Wilson in 2006–07. Companies such as Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago support playwrights through a playwrights’ ensemble—12 writers are a part of that company, and their work comprises about half the company’s season. In addition, some funders are beginning to look more carefully at play development and how to best support theatres and writers in generating a body of work that can have a life beyond multiple workshops and first productions. The Edgerton Foundation’s New American Plays Awards, established this year, provide funding for theatres with a track record of producing new work on main stages. Grants allow theatres to add rehearsal time for new plays, with the full production teams in residence. The foundation’s hope is that more development time in rehearsal will contribute to stronger first productions, thereby improving chances of future ones. Twenty-two theatres received grants in the first round.

Often a playwright’s best hope is simply for an actual production of his or her work—but in the matter of subsequent productions and publication, distribution channels and awareness become important considerations. Playscripts.com and Plays for Young Audiences are examples of licensing ventures that help bring new work to a wider potential producing audience.

As the conversation about playwrights and plays continues to unfold, it will be exciting to see how we might collaborate nationally to bring about more success stories in developing, mounting and extending the lives of new plays—and, as McClinton so eloquently urged, investing in the playwright.