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Day 11 -- Because one day wasn't enough: THANK YOU, ACTORS!

12/4/2020

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So, yesterday was just not enough for all the thanks we have for actors at Seven Devils. We needed one more day!
Today is for all the actors who go the extra mile, who ...
  • are koalas, or bears, or ghosts, or get eaten by sharks
  • make acting with grey props look easy
  • make giant choices and make it magical
  • take leaps of faith on new material
  • turn on a dime with grace and good humor
  • trust the word on the page and make it sing
Again, the slideshow below is just a VERY small taste  -- but our thanks are huge, and genuine. 
Photos by Sarah Jessup
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Day 12 -- Thank you, actors!

12/4/2020

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Ask any playwright who has come to the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and they'll tell you that they are utterly blown away by the gorgeously talented actors who Jeni hires for the company. Some are famous, some aren't, but they are all very skilled at an important thing: new play development. Not all actors know that working on a new play, in a new play workshop requires a particular set of skills. (Goodness! n\No: not that set of skills.) Working on a new play requires actors to be quick on their feet, to be fierce, to be emotionally intelligent, to make big, bold choices. So today, we give another huge virtual round of applause for all the actors who bring these new plays to life. 

And now, a special word from our friend and collaborator, Ann Pittman Zarate:




Ann Pittman Zarate splits her time between Texas, Missouri and Colorado as an actor, writer, and preacher. She also works alongside her husband, Manuel Zarate, for the HBMG Foundation with whom she is co-founder and Artistic Director of the National Winter Playwrights' Retreats. She's been part of our company of actors for several seasons.
​Thank you, Ann!

Even more actors we love and admire...

There are have been so many actors who've been part of our conferences, that it would be difficult to thank each of them individually (but you can see their names on our website). Here are just a few of these remarkable and generous actors, in moments captured by our company photographer Sarah Jessup:
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Day 13 -- Thanks to all the dramaturgs!

12/3/2020

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​Our goal at the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference is to develop the play that the playwright wants to write, not the play anyone else on the team thinks they should write. The dramaturgs who work at the conference know the difference, and we are so incredibly grateful for their gentle, persistent efforts to help the playwright get to the play they want. 
 
Today's blog post takeover is by Gay Smith -- a dramaturg who has been coming back over and over to the Seven Devils conference. A playwright as well as a gifted dramaturg, Gay was one of our Writers in Residence during our 2020 Conference for her play The Bartender's Tale. 

Her work as a dramaturg includes the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and Padua Hills in L.A.  She is now Professor Emerita of Theatre at Wesleyan after founding the playwriting program and teaching for 35 years. Her publications include several articles and a few books: Lady Macbeth in America: From the Stage to the White House; George Sand’s Theatre Career; George Sand’s Gabriel; edit and introduction for Plays by Phil Bosakowski. 

​Thank you, Gay!
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Gay Smith and Alexandra Espinosa, working through a script question outside the Alpine Playhouse
It’s been a joy to be part of the Seven Devils team for possibly fifteen out of the twenty years we’ve been around. What a joy to to be at Seven Devils working and playing with O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference buddies Amy Saltz, Chris Curry, and this year Skip Mercier. And as always to be working with Jeni who had a wonderful play done at the O’Neill that inspired her to champion and execute the O’Neill process with her and Sheila’s founding of Seven Devils. 

Each Seven Devils’ playwright that I’ve worked with as dramaturg has had his or her own process, calling upon my help in ways unique to each.  I’ve always said that I have only two questions (initially) as dramaturg for the playwright:
How can I help? 
and
Can I buy you a drink? 
After that I listen, listen, listen and ask questions about particular moments or scenes when the playwright asks, or when we see and hear an actor or director stumble over some dialogue or action in the play during its rehearsal. My aim as a dramaturg is to serve the playwright and the process with questions, not with answers—those come from the playwright.

At my age (77!) I can’t recall all the names of the playwrights I’ve listened to and helped when asked, and could name some who have gone on to big careers in the theatre (or were already experiencing big careers) but I’ll always remember their openness to the O’Neill and Seven Devils process, their hunger for the benefits of hard work and collaboration with the team Jeni puts at their disposal: Paula and her team, the directors, actors, dramaturgs, scene designers, technical staff.  Brava, bravo, brava to those playwrights and teams of support— collaborating for twenty years! I’ve loved it!

- ​Gay Smith, McCall, Idaho
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Day 10 - We turn, again, to playwrights, with gratitude

12/3/2020

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We are, after all, a playwrights conference!
​During our campaign, we have gotten so many lovely letters and notes from some conference playwrights from over the years. So -- today, we're turning our blog over to these lovely writers, to let them tell you why Seven Devils deserves your support, in their own words. Thank you, playwrights!!!
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​From Larry Loebell (Girl Science, 2004)
 
I was first invited to Seven Devils in 2004 as a playwright with my play Girl Science. I returned ten times over the subsequent years as a dramaturg. At each of those conferences, I had the pleasure of being in rehearsal rooms with terrific writers, actors, and directors.  I learned something about the art of playmaking from ever one of those experiences.  My playwriting and my dramaturgical practice got better and deeper as a result of working with the amazing artists who assembled at the Alpine Playhouse for the conferences all those summers in McCall. 
​From Patrick Gabridge (Drift, 2017; Flight, 2011)
 
What I’m most grateful for about Seven Devils is the compassion of the people who run it and are part of it. My first stay at the Conference was for my play, Flight, in 2011. Shortly after I arrived, I was already in deep dramaturgical discussions with my dramaturg, Larry Loebell, and getting to know the Bistro, and hiking with my fellow writers. Unfortunately, after just a few days, I got a call from home that my father-in-law had died very suddenly, at our home in Boston. Paula and the other staff quickly helped make the arrangements to get back home to my wife and our kids. The kindness and understanding that permeates the whole Conference in their treatment of new plays and playwrights, was magnified in this moment of personal crisis. They helped make an unbearable situation a little more manageable and I will always be grateful.
 
Of course I’m also thankful that I was able to return with a different play, Drift, in 2017, and it felt like I picked up right where I left off--even though I’d only spent a few days in McCall in 2011, it still felt like the same welcoming community (with great views, hot springs, and ice cream). This time, I got the full Conference experience, relishing every moment. The list goes on. Seven Devils has a special place in my heart.
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From Michele Raper Rittenhouse (Red Rover, 2009)
 
I worked with some brilliant artists prior to the Seven Conference, but I was constantly bullied on what I should cut, not try, and most horrifyingly, that I was not the author even though every word on the page came from my typing fingers and my own memories and heart.  I felt like a tool to be used rather than an artist with a craft and vision.  And then came Seven Devils.  That first day at the read-through of my play, Red Rover, Chris and Gay pulled me aside and asked how I felt about the final scene in the play, and if I thought it was needed.  I knew that question was going to come up because I wasn't sure myself until I heard that first read-through.  And my response was, I don't know.  But I do know I feel it needs to be there.  And you all have given me the chance to experiment and find my voice through this story.  So let's keep it in and see what happens.  And it worked.  It was a lesson for me to me and one I pass to my students, use your instincts, and see what happens.  
​From James McLindon  (Faith, 2008)
The two weeks I spent at Seven Devils were among the best, most productive times of my professional life and one for which I'll always be grateful. It would have been enough to have a first-rate director, cast, dramaturg and other theater artists devoted to helping me discover what my play was all about and how best to realize its potential. But Seven Devils was and is so much more than that: a generous community of artists with whom one stays connected long after one leaves McCall.
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​From Brian Watkins  (General Store, 2012)
Seven Devils was the first place that I felt my work was truly upheld as the important center of the process. A place where writers would crawl out of their respective isolation, into a light of enthusiasm, and even collective reverence, for the playwright’s work. When I had doubts about my play, Seven Devils countered with creative support. My play left McCall with wind in its sails. For that, I am forever grateful.
From Richard Brockman (Informed Consent, 2007)
Seven Devils – is more than special.  It let me answer the question, “Am I a playwright?” With an unqualified ‘yes’.  But to say that one is a playwright - that I am a playwright, and that’s it - is absurd.  How many ‘playwrights’ are there in the world?  Playwrights who actually live, work, breath ‘playwright’ from the moment she/he wakes to the moment he/she sleeps, who don’t have to teach, wait tables, dip into savings, raid family trusts, who weren’t Broadway bound by the age of 16?   How many get to be a playwright one hundred percent?   Few.   Very few.  A very lucky few.     
 
Most of us have to find other ways to provide for the roof, the food on the table, the money for a ticket to see a friend’s play.  So, am I a ‘playwright’?  Yes, I am.   Am I a playwright every waking second of the day?   No, but for two weeks one June, in McCall, I was.   And having that gave me the lodestar to know which way lay the dream.  The confidence to say, “Yes, I’m a playwright – but there are other things that I do to feed the parts of who I am.”   The confidence to say, “Yes, I’m a playwright and….”   
 
The confidence to say, “Yes, I am a playwright, and.”
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​From Duane Kelly  (The Thing With Feathers, 2009)
 
When I was invited to participate in the 2009 conference, I had been writing plays for eight years or so without gaining much traction in the theatre world. I had little confidence that my playwriting would ever amount to more than a private indulgence.
 
Jeni’s call, asking me to come to McCall, was a pivotal event in my career, accomplishing a number of things, including:
Affirmed my life-choice to write plays, and gave me confidence that if I persevered I could write scripts worthy of professional productions.
My time in McCall showed me a responsible, effective play development process. 
 
The result? My plays got better. And there have been real commercial productions.  I have two plays going up at the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe. I am now writing my tenth full-length play. No longer do I wait around for others to embrace and develop my work. I have created a web of dramaturgs, directors, actors, and designers in Seattle that I work with. Five years ago a fellow playwright and I even founded a small theatre company in Seattle that has mounted full productions of our new work.
 
A giant Thank You to Jeni and all the Seven Devils family.
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Day 14 - Thank you, Directors!!!

12/2/2020

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When playwrights come to the conference, they're paired with directors and dramaturgs (for the dramaturg post, you'll have to come back tomorrow!). The team works together to reveal the play to the playwright -- and the director is a crucial part of this partnership. We've been very fortunate to have really phenomenal directors join us at the conference, directors who understand (and take joy in!) the development process, who are able to help the playwrights see the play on its feet, to see it breathe, and live. To all the directors who've been with us for the past 20 years, we are so very grateful for your contributions to these plays!
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Donya K. Washington, in rehearsal for The Way North
From Donya K. Washington 
(Director of The Way North, 2018 and You Will Get Sick, 2020)


I'm thankful for Seven Devils.  I'm thankful for all of the friends I've met there. I'm thankful for my visit to McCall, Idaho (such a beautiful town and the drive there is amazing!).  I'm thankful to my host family and the way I was made to feel like family.

And I'm deeply grateful for the way Seven Devils makes work.  It's a process that is focused on the play and the playwright and is about nothing else.  Everything from the structure of our workshop weeks, to how the play is cast to how we perform it is centered around the playwright. That's a remarkable luxury in this industry and I believe makes for better art.  As a director, it's a great way to work and allows me to get back to the basics of the work. 

​It's a practice I try to bring with me to other new play processes and has made for some great working relationships (and did I mention better plays?).


A special note of Gratitude from our good friend and frequent collaborator, Christy Montour-Larson:

I still recall the first time I emerged through the canyon into the valley -- where the Payette Lake opened up to me and reveals beautiful McCall, Idaho for Seven Devils Playwright Conference. It was 2008. For twelve years, being a part of Seven Devils has been a life changing organization for me.

Seven Devils has given me a chance to explore, the freedom to fail, the safety to jump. It has given me exceptionally dear friends, lots of belly laughs, incredible stars, Burgdorf Hot Springs and Bistro 45. The world’s largest cinnamon roll. The teary smile on a playwright’s face because they saw their play cherished, honored and well cared for. Most importantly, Seven Devils has given me stories. Stories that stir my imagination. Stories that make me think, laugh and cry.

And today, we need stories more than ever. Thank heavens Seven Devils exists during this challenging time. For when theatres are able to reopen, our communities are going to need theatre makers and new stories more than ever. I can’t wait to see what American playwrights will share with us.

Since Seven Devils has given me so much, I easily became a Devils Advocate and made a $20 a month donation. Won’t you join me in supporting new plays?

Christy Montour-Larson has directed 22 readings at Seven Devils, including SUICIDE, INCORPORATED, GENERAL STORE, SWIMMING WITH WHALES, FATA MORGANA, NO MORE SAD THINGS, THE OPEN HAND, MINNEAPOLIS/St. Paul, THE SECRETARY, and THE ROBERTASSY. She has served on the Board of Directors for 9 years, President for 6 years.

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Day 15 - A HUGE #GivingTuesday Thanks to Fay Todd!!!

12/1/2020

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Though you may not realize it, in its early years, Fay Todd literally made Seven Devils possible. In fact, it would not at all be an exaggeration to say that, were it not for Fay, we might not be here today. A lifelong philanthropist with a special interest in teaching, arts and writing in particular, Fay did something rather remarkable all the way back in 2001:  she believed in us. Thanks to Fay, we came out of the first Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in the black. Not only that, we had the wherewithal to fund raise for the following year, and the next. That Fay supported us in these early years enabled us to survive long enough to become eligible for grants that often require a three- to five- year history before making an investment in a company.

Even more remarkable, Fay, who lived in New Jersey, actually drove across the country more than once to attend the Conference. She sat in rehearsals, talked with artists, and endeavored to learn all she could about what we were doing and why. On a personal note, Fay was a friend whose wisdom and advice was invaluable. She was committed to our survival. It mattered to her. She inspired me, and all of us, to live up to the faith she had in us. 

When Seven Devils signed on to support a newly-formed arts scholarship, created in honor of a McCall student who had grown up doing theater at the Alpine Playhouse, Fay agreed to match - dollar for dollar - the funds we raised.  She did so each subsequent year until she passed away in 2014. This tradition of matching donations became such a part of the fabric of the Conference that it continues to this day, thanks to a handful of donors and businesses (including another person I'm tremendously grateful for, Carol Tiffany, who introduced me to Fay and who now sits on our board). Fay didn't just make things happen, she helped to make them matter. Now they continue to happen, even after her passing. I suspect that's just what Fay would want.

In light of all this, it should be no surprise that in her memory, her family created a scholarship fund in her name, the Frances Starr Todd Fellowship. Because Fay cared so deeply about education, the Fellowship focuses on supporting our internship program, most notably through the Frances Starr Todd Design Fellowship, which you can read about below.

On this Giving Tuesday, I can think of no one more deserving of gratitude. I wish I had a photo of Fay to share, but she was never one to have her face billboarded up on the things she supported, so perhaps it is fitting that the remainder of this post focus on work that is the legacy of her efforts on behalf of the Conference. 

If you've ever attended the conference, you'll have heard me express my thanks to Fay Todd and the AK Starr Charitable Trust. Through Fay, the Trust was the first foundation to support the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference - support that made the entire endeavor of Seven Devils possible.  
- Jeni Mahoney, Producing Artistic Director

About the Frances Starr Todd Fellowship

​The design fellowship, made possible by this generous trust, provides an opportunity for student designers to attend the conference and work on renderings of a more fully realized set for the staged readings. These Design Fellows take part in a design meeting with the playwright, director and dramaturg to discuss what the world of the play looks like, feels like, smells like, the quality of light, the colors, the emotional quality of the set, and so on.

This work is not because we intend to 
create that fully realized set, but, rather, to have an in-depth conversation about what that could be, what it means for the play, what more the playwright and the whole team can discover about how this particular play works, or make discoveries about what it could be.
The Design Fellows then work on a set rendering that we display in the lobby of the Alpine Playhouse so that the audience can see what a set might look like, what the functionally neutral gray furniture and props stand in for.

To the right is a slide show of some of the Design Fellows and their work (2017, Sabrina Reed; 2018, Shay Dite; 2019, Katherine McCann; 2020, Jay Tyson). ​​
We hope you will join us in honoring Fay, her family and their support for these amazing student artists.
​We are grateful for every donation.
Donate today!
Learn more about the Frances Starr Todd Fellowship on our webpage.
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