Playwright/Lyricist
As a rural southern playwright, I am often isolated from the most vibrant theatre artists in the country even though I previously lived in New York for over a decade and currently work remotely with a New York based collaborator. For the past few years, I have relocated to Chicago for a few weeks each summer so that I can participate in Chicago Dramatists programming, and that has been enriching, but I always return to my nest in the country feeling detached from my tribe. Although my quality of life is gentle and affordable, geography prohibits my eligibility for many fellowships and resident playwright programs contained in metropolitan areas. In fact, over the years the disparity between the haves (big city theatre) and the have nots (rural theatre) of the theatre world has become painfully evident to playwrights such as me.
Then came COVID-19. Like a bully, she has forced the collective national theatre community into the same train car even though we are many people living in many places. That train car is called Zoom. Because we have all had to operate from inside our homes, regardless of where that home is, we have found ourselves equally qualified to participate in many of the classes, seminars, readings and workshops that are now being offered daily and virtually to anyone, regardless of locale. Is this an act of desperation on the part of theatres? Maybe, maybe not but since the world entered lockdown, I have found myself ironically liberated where access is concerned. Even though I live in a small town in the deep south I am suddenly equally qualified to participate in professional development with a vast community of theatre artists and it has been exhilarating. Were I a big city writer, that reality might feel threatening. But this is the thing. Theatre artists as a whole are the most generous people in the world. Primary Stages, Dramatists Guild, Chicago Dramatists and others have wholeheartedly welcomed me and others into their classrooms, theatres and studios even though we live far away. Just a few days ago, I participated as an actor in a reading of Kate Hamill’s Little Women at Primary Stages with the playwright herself in attendance and chatting with us afterwards. Be still my heart.
My question is this: Once this is over, what will happen to those of us who were so collegially admitted into these exclusive rooms during the quarantine? Once theatre folk are again allowed to commune face to face, will writers like me lose access to the rooms and people we have been so interconnected with during quarantine? My hope is that theatres and their adjacent organizations will have developed a new appreciation for playwrights living outside of major theatre hubs. Surely, the efficiency of virtual cultivation will have had some sort of impact. Right? I am hopeful that others like me will not have to retreat back into the second or third tier of desirability because we choose to live in small towns and on country roads where quality of life is attractive and feasible. It may happen and it may not. Either way, I will always be grateful to those theatres and organizations that intentionally welcomed all of us into their communities during this time. I have loved interfacing with so many exceptional theatre artists. Maybe when we all “get back to normal,” normal will look a little larger than before.
Maybe.
I sure hope so.
Originally published by Dramatists Guild Blog on May 6, 2021
Link to Original Article: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/thedramatist/rooms-where-it-happens-some
As a rural southern playwright, I am often isolated from the most vibrant theatre artists in the country even though I previously lived in New York for over a decade and currently work remotely with a New York based collaborator. For the past few years, I have relocated to Chicago for a few weeks each summer so that I can participate in Chicago Dramatists programming, and that has been enriching, but I always return to my nest in the country
The beauty of getting older is that you don’t have to deal with men hitting on you anymore. The sad thing about getting older is that you don’t have to deal with men hitting on you anymore. Don’t get me wrong. Although I had a few “life of the party” moments in my youth, I was never, ever the long legged filly that all the colts were eyeing for a date. Still, when and if a gent did ever throw
San Angelo is little university town deep (very deep) in the heart of the heart of Texas. Until last week, I had never even heard of it, but since I was invited to go there, I went. Why? The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival held its regional gathering and I was invited to attend along with a group of Southeastern Louisiana University students who would be performing pieces from my first musical play, High and Mighty. How could I
Donna Gay Anderson is a playwright/lyricist whose career path has always been forged by love for the stage. Her mother was a director, so her earliest memories are of theatrical rehearsals. She worked as an actress before accepting the position of Director of Children and Teens Division at Gilla Roos Talent Agency in New York. Later, she taught theater at the high school level before becoming Director of Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts and its annual festival, Fanfare. Donna Gay is the author of High and Mighty, a musical which debuted in November 2015 at Southeastern Louisiana University, and also received multiple awards of recognition at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region 6. She was the first place winner of the So You Think You Can Write, One Act Competition in 2016 for Blues, and was a finalist in the one act play category at the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival 2016 for Shrimp and Crab. Other produced works are An Act of Charity(New York) and Formula One(Louisiana and North Carolina) and Red Red Wine(Louisiana). Her work has been presented in development at the First Draft Series at Chicago Dramatists and also by the artists from Kentucky Shakespeare in cooperation with Spalding University in Louisville. Donna Gay has served as a contributing writer for Dramatists Magazine and MusicalWriters.com. She is the founder and facilitator of The Neighborhood Book Club (theneighborhoodbookclub.com), a weekly book club program for young girls. She holds degrees from Southeastern Louisiana University, The National Shakespeare Conservatory and Spalding University, and memberships at Theatre Communications Group, Dramatists Guild of America and Chicago Dramatists. She and her husband, Tom, live outside of New Orleans with any neighborhood dog who wishes to spend the night.
Here are available external links from her publications cited:
Dramatist Guild
Arkansas Review - A Journal of Delta Studies
The Louisville Review
In the mid 1980s, two young women-Caroline and Bernie-meet for the first time in an Upper East Side church in Manhattan. On the same day, they are delighted to also meet Will, the new seminary intern, who happens to be a handsome, charming Princeton graduate. The two women and the intern become fast friends and unbeknownst to the women, the two younger gals each become romantically involved with the intern, who is of questionable character. When the possibility of a public scandal arises, the three act out as the worst of us would. One of them commits a crime within the walls of the church. Friendships, trust and hopes fracture as each character’s inner voice tries to steer them through this turning point in their lives.
The play contains strong language and is not appropriate for youngsters.
In 2019, Donna Gay and her collaborator, composer Teddy Christman, traveled to Haiti to see if the woman they had heard about was the real deal. She is. Her name is Susie Krabacher and she has granted them theatrical rights to her story. Even though the story addresses serious subject matter, the musical layers hope and love with heartbreak and humor.
In Unfolded, a Playboy Centerfold cares for thousands of disabled abandoned children in Haiti for 25 years, all in a desperate effort to purge herself of her own shameful past, one of family dysfunction, sexual abuse and exploitation. As a small child, Susie made a promise to God that if she could survive the abuse, she would find a way to protect other children who had no protector. As an adult, she honors that vow by seeking out the most vulnerable children in the world and finding them in Haiti, where she establishes an orphanage, school, feeding center and medical clinic. However, it’s not without insurmountable challenges, for as recent news demonstrates, Haiti-as well as Susie-is still constantly assaulted by natural disasters, gang violence, corruption, and babies being sold. Here are some samples of the story in song.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Unfolded+a+musical+in+development
Susie Krabacher has been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Diane Sawyer among others. She’s been honored at the White House and Kensington Palace and is supportive of the project. This project has been presented in developmental readings in New York and Louisiana plus a concert in New York in 2019. It contains a cast of 13 and 19 songs. It was a finalist for presentation at Musical Writers Festival 2022.
Donna Gay and composer Theodore Christman are also currently collaborating in the new musical, Dead Reckoning, about a WWII pilot, his mother and her defense of his legacy after his squadron is lost at sea. Early in development, the project is currently presenting as a single act full musical with ten songs. Inspired by actual events from 1945, this piece considers what it takes to heal the wounds of losing a son and whether it’s possible to heal at all.
Humans bid farewell to people, places, and things for a plethora of reasons and in countless ways, leading them to places of gratitude, shame, anger, joy, grace, fear, and reconciliation. The Way We Say Goodbye, a collage of monologues with varying degrees of separation, introduces us to fourteen women and one man who celebrate, mourn, and sometimes cluelessly navigate the farewells that clear paths to the subsequent chapters of their lives. Simple to rehearse and produce, this script is flexible in casting. Perfect for universities and community theatre.