January 1, 2012

• 2011 Year End Playwriting Work Plan Assessment
  
   
  
  The new year is nigh and since I want to spend tomorrow writing my 2012 playwriting work plan, I thought I better get this year end assessment of 2011 in before midnight.
  
  Now, this past year I wrote a work plan for the first time and I’ve been checking in each quarter to report on how I’ve done in keeping my monthly goals. This check-in will take a look at the entire workplan and also tally all that I’ve accomplished in 2011.
  
  As an aside, I’d like to say that I think having a work plan has helped me get a handle on how to keep all my projects moving forward and it’s given me a clearer sense of how much I’ve done to support my playwriting and my playwriting career.
  
  Okay, so without further ado, here is my end of year assessment.

  2011 Playwriting Work Plan
  “Without a plan there is no attack. No attack, no victory.”–Ack Ack, One Crazy Summer

  The purpose of this plan is to articulate my playwriting goals for the year. Goals are divided into two categories.

  Writing Goals [W]
  Specific writing goals and deadlines that will help me finish plays, make progress with rewrites and generate new work.

  Professional/Business Goals [PB]
  The majority of these goals are meant to help me send my work out to festivals, theatres and essentially get my work out and in front of more people in the theatre community.

  Overall Goals
  Writing Goals for the entire year:

  • Write at least 3 blog posts a week–I’ve done this and then some. Between my own blog, guest blog posts for other theatre sites and my regular posts on Theatre Bay Area and TheatreFace I’ve most definitely exceeded my overall blogging goal for the year.
    
  • Work on a playwriting project at least one evening a week–I think I was 85% successful on this goal. There were weeks when for whatever reason (working on submissions, back pain, 9 to 5 job work load, vacation, etc.) I didn’t work on a playwriting project. Yes, it happens. But I’ll try to improve this in 2012.
    
  • Read at least one play a month–I think I almost met this goal. Yes, I should be reading more plays. But I prioritize my own playwriting projects before reading plays. Afterall, I have very limited free time.
    

  Professional/Business goals for the entire year:

  • Go to at least 2 plays a month–Yowzers, I only saw 18 plays this year (that includes readings of plays). I wish I could have seen more.
    
  • Submit Woman on Fire and American Triage to development/playwriting festivals–Done. See below for specifics.
    
  • Rejoin Theatre Bay Area–Yep, did it this summer right before I started guest blogging for them.
    

  Monthly Goals Calendar

  January
  1/14  American Triage [W]: Finish rewrites–Done
  1/14  Interact Development Commission [PB]*: Submit American Triage–Done
  1/15  Ashland New Play Festival [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–Done
  1/23  Heart Shaped Nebula [W]: Finish second draft–Done

  February
  2/1    Playwrights Horizons [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–Done
  2/11  Internationalists Playwriting Contest [PB]*: Submit Woman on Fire–Done
  2/15  Playwrights Foundation mailing [PB]: Send Woman on Fire to multiple theatres–Done
  2/28  Heart Shaped Nebula [W]: Work on rewrites (using notes from RPI workshop reading)–Done
  

  March
  3/1    Reportorio Español’s MetLife Nuestras Voces [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–Done
  3/15  HotCity Theatre GreenHouse New Play Festival [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–I decided not to submit because I didn’t have the vacation days to participate if selected

  April
  4/15  Texas State Black and Latino Playwrights Conference [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–Done
  4/30  Wolf at the Door [W]: Finish first draft–Still need to do. I most definitely plan to finish the first draft of this play in the first quarter of 2012.

  May
  5/1   American Triage [W]: Review, rewrites if necessary–Done in preparation for my end of May reading at East LA Rep.
  5/1   American Triage [PB]*: Submit to Sleepwalkers Theatre–Done.
  5/1   High Tide Festival [PB]*: Submit Woman on Fire–Done.
  5/15  Heart Shaped Nebula [W]: Table reading–Did not do because the Playwrights Foundation’s Residency Playwright Initiative (RPI) showcase allowed me to use that experience as a sort of table reading/mini workshop for the play.
  5/31  Urban Theater‘s Festival of Cordelia’s [PB]*: Write and submit monologue–Done.

  June
  6/1    The River Bride [W]: Begin writing–Done
  6/13  AlterTheater‘s AlterLab [PB]*: Join–Done
  6/21  Theatre mailing [PB]: Send Woman on Fire to multiple theatres with the help of the Playwrights Foundation–Done
  6/25  Public Reading–Playwrights Foundation RPI Showcase [PB]*: Heart Shaped Nebula–Done

  August
  8/1   Marin Theatre’s Sky Cooper Award [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–Done
  8/1   Aurora Theatre’s GAP [PB]: Submit American Triage–Done

  September
  9/1   Playground Writers Pool [PB]: Submit application–I decided not to apply since I’m participating in AlterLab this year and didn’t feel I’d be able to fully participate. My thoughts are it was better to open up a spot in the writers pool than participate half-heartedly.
  9/15  Julie Harris Playwrights Awards Competition [PB]: Submit Woman on Fire–Don’t know how I got my wires crossed, but I put off this goal and ended up missing the deadline. Bummer.
  9/15  Bay Area One Acts [PB]*: Submit Survivor’s Guilt–Done
  9/15  The Ruby Prize Southern Rep [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–Done
  9/30  PlayPen [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–Done

  October
  10/21  O’Neill Playwrights Conference [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–Done
  10/28  Teatro Luna’s Lunadas reading series [PB]*: Submit Woman on Fire–Done

  November
  11/1  Humana 10 Minute Festival [PB]: Submit Survivor’s Guilt–I didn’t submit since their new guidelines stipulate that the characters be at least 25 and my characters in this play are all teens.
  11/1  The Ground Floor–Berkeley Rep [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–Done
  11/15 Sundance [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–I decided not to submit, mainly because I didn’t have the free time to work on the application.

  December
  12/30  Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latino Prize [PB]: Submit American Triage–Turns out the prize wasn’t given last year so my 2011 submission was carrying over to be read for this next year.
  12/30  National New Play Network Smith Prize [PB]: Submit American Triage--I didn’t do this. December turned out to be a hectic month personally. And I decided I could live without submitting to this award.
  12/30  Mickey Kaplan New American Play Prize [PB]*: Submit Heart Shaped Nebula–I had hoped to work on this while on holiday break, but turns out my holiday was just too hectic.

  *These goals were added to the work plan after the initial document was first written. My work plan is a living document ergo I added these opportunities as I learned about them.

  
  

  2011 Highlights

  • Was interviewed by Adam Szymkowicz as part of his playwright interview project
    
  • I joined Twitter
  • I co-hosted 3 Bay Area Playwrights Pub Nights
  • Blogged for Playground
    
  • Became engaged with the 2amTheatre community
  • Began contributing blog posts to 2amTheatre‘s website
    
  • Wrote a blog post that was mentioned on Gawker
  • Really got into Pablo Neruda
    
  • Wrote a monologue pastiche riffing off of a monologue written by my favorite playwright: Jose Rivera
    
  • Began submitting my work to London’s Bush Theatre via their online portal Bush Green
    
  • Began guest blogging for Theatre Bay Area
  • Was moved to tears by Shotgun Player‘s production of The Care of Trees
    
  • Created a playlist for Heart Shaped Nebula
    
  • Heart Shaped Nebula reading as part of the Playwrights Foundation’s RPI Showcase
  • Wrote one of the best poems I’ve ever written
    
  • American Triage reading presented by East LA Rep
  • Invited to join AlterTheater’s inaugural AlterLab
  • Attended the Bay Area Playwrights Festival
  • Began participating regularly in a reading salon
    
  • Participated in a performance of Liz Duffy Adam’s Talkback
    
  • Invited by TheatreFace to join their blogging team
    
  • Was interviewed by playwright Carlos Manuel as part of his Teatro Latino Conversations podcast series
    
  • Wrote a guest blog post for NaPlWriMo
    
  • Heart Shaped Nebula reading presented by Impact Theatre
    
  • Wrote a blog post that was mentioned on Huffington Post and was part of a national dialogue on cultural sensitivity in theatre
    
  • Taught 4th graders how to develop a play
    
  • Participated in the 2nd Annual San Francisco One Minute Play Festival
  • Invited to participate in Bernal Yoga’s Literary Series in February of 2012

  
  

  Well, there you have it. This was my 2011 playwriting year. All in all, I think I accomplished quite a lot. I raised my online profile, networked with theatre artists across the country, made progress on rewrites on several fronts (Heart Shaped Nebula, American Triage) and began working on a new play (The River Bride). Yep, a pretty great year, in fact. And I have a feeling 2012 will be even better.

  -M
  

  • 2:51 am
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