Day 24 - Gratitude for our conference playwrights!

11/22/2020

There are so many fantastic playwrights that we've had the joy and pleasure to work with over the past 20 years -- so today, your humble blog writers are turning over the blog to some of our playwrights who've been with us, working on their plays. While they speak of gratitude for the conference, we are, indeed, grateful for them, for sharing their beautiful plays, for trusting us in developing them. So -- get a cup of coffee, and enjoy!

VEILS by Tom Coash, 2009 Conference

Playwright Tom Coash

Gratitude...for some reason this word is making me want to burst into song. God only knows why? I’m definitely not a singer. My voice is decidedly not dulcet even if my thoughts are. Certainly the other patrons here on the coffee shop patio would not be grateful. Or...or...maybe if they knew the Seven Devils New Play Foundry the way I do, maybe they would join in? A joyful chorus of fulsome praise? Les Mocha Miserables? Americano in Paris? My Fair Latte?

Ok, maybe I’ve had a sufficiency of espresso. Maybe it’s because I’m working on a musical? My first. My composer/songwriter explained to me that songs in musicals are used to express those emotional moments that are just too big for regular dialogue. When one's heart just has to burst forth with love, with joy, with...gratitude!

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."

What does this all have to do with the Seven Devils?

Let me sing their praises. I’ll put some musical notes here...♫♪♫... because my heart does swell up and want to burst forth in a snappy show tune when I think of all that Seven Devils has done for myself and other playwrights.

I've had many wonderful moments with Seven Devils: working on my play, Veils, in beautiful McCall, Idaho with an amazing group of theater professionals; backroom readings of my plays at Jimmy’s in NYC; getting to mentor high school playwrights, continual support of my work and career, and most lately, the honor and joy of being accepted to the Board of Directors...♫♪♫...!

This last year has been a dark, dark time in the theater, in our country, in the world. It's been really hard. However, even though theaters have been closed, playwrights (perhaps under the influence of Turkish dark roast and quarantined emotion) have been writing like mad. They need us, a chorus of support, to help raise their voices and get their plays seen and heard.

Seven Devils is one of the very few new play development programs still standing through these hard times. They were able to put up a terrific online residency this past summer and are continually inventing new, imaginative ways to help playwrights of all ages, ethnicities, genders, disabilities, etc. to burst forth in their own unique, heartfelt Songs.

Please, I want to ask you to join me in thanking Seven Devils and all the supporting cast of this valuable endeavor. Sing along with us. Raise your voices, put a spring in your step, dance and donate to the cause! Donate the price of a double mocchiato..or a show tune on Spotify. $5? $10? Or more! It all adds up and is greatly appreciated. Please be grateful...like me...♫♪♫...!
Tom Coash

From Ramón Esquivel (¡O Cascadia!, 2019)
Theatre is about collaboration between artists who are creating an experience for a live audience in a shared space. Playwriting often begins that process, and yet it can feel very lonely. Seven Devils invited me and other playwrights from around the country to join them in a lovely, small, mountain town in Idaho, so that we could do the solitary work of writing in the warm company of others. Hearing the audience's laughter and seeing their tears in the tiny Alpine Playhouse, I felt encouraged to continue working on my play, when I once wondered if anyone would care about it except me. Thank you, Seven Devils, for believing in playwrights."