Added Bonus

classic films will be screened all summer at the lavishly restored Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus. The schedule for the week of the retreat:

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Aug. 15 7:30 p.m., Aug. 16 2 & 7:30 p.m.


Spellbound (1945) Aug. 19 and 20, 7:30 p.m.


Gold Diggers of 1933 Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m.


Evil Dead II (1987) Aug. 21, 11:00 p.m.


Ben-Hur (1959) Aug. 22 7:30 p.m, Aug. 23 2 & 7:30 p.m.


and they sell popcorn!

2009 Retreat Announced

Announcing the 2009 ICWP Playwrights’ Retreat!

Location:
Department of Theatre
The Ohio State University
Drake Performance and Event Center
1849 Cannon Drive
Columbus, OH 43210

Dates:
August 16-23, 2009

Program:

Columbus performers will gather nightly to do cold readings of works-in-progress by participants at the retreat. There will be late afternoon workshops on writing and performance topics for those who wish to attend. Participants will have full access to computer labs (for free) and copy facilities (pay). There will also be the famed Ohio Sweet Corn Roasts at retreat beginning and end. For past retreats, see http://icwpohioretreat.blogspot.com/

Costs:

The retreat is free. Housing available in dorms across the street from the theatres, at the following rates:

Air-Conditioned Rooms: Non Air-Conditioned Rooms:
All rates are per person per night/week All rates are per person per night/week
Full Linen Service Full Linen Service
(includes bed linens and towels) (includes bed linens and towels)
Single $52.00/$260.00 Single $46.00/$225.00
Double $26.00/$130.00 Double $23.00/$115.00
Multiple $21.00/$125.00 Multiple $19.00/$110.00

Limited Linen Service Limited Linen Service
(includes bed linens) (includes bed linens)
Single $46.00/$225.00 Single $38.00/$190.00
Double $23.00/$115.00 Double $19.00/$95.00
Multiple $19.00/$110.00 Multiple $18.00/$90.00

Student Linen Service Student Linen Service
(no linens or towels) (no linens or towels)
Single $38.00/$190.00 Single $36.00/$185.00
Double $19.00/$95.00 Double $18.00/$90.00
Multiple $18.00/$90.00 Multiple $17.00/$85.00

Contact us for rates at nearby motels.

For further information, contact Alan Woods, woods.1@osu.edu or alan0198@yahoo.com or at

Department of Theatre
The Ohio State University
1089 Drake Union
1849 Cannon Drive
Columbus, OH 43210
614/292-5821

2009 Retreat planning now underway

The summer retreat for members of the International Centre for Women Playwrights will take place in August, 2009; the exact dates will be announced shortly. As in previous years, there will be a daily workshop or informational session in the late afternoon, followed by cold readings of the scripts/scenes/speeches being developed by participants, with community performers who generously donate their time and talents. Housing again will be available in dormitories near to the Drake Performance and Event Center, and its theatres and rehearsal rooms, and meal plans will be available in the cafeterias nearby. And, of course, the retreat will open and close with the eagerly awaited Ohio Sweet Corn Roasts; see photos below from the 2007 retreat, with happy playwrights and sweet corn rampant. Check back for detailed information, which will be posted as soon as it is available. As always, there's no fee for the workshop, other than housing and food costs; academic credit is available for those needing it (and there are fees involved if credit is to be earned, of course). Participants will have access to computer labs and to the University Libraries. And there's much to do in Columbus, now Ohio's largest city (although the metropolitan area's population isn't included -- if it were, Cleveland remains much larger), from a rich theatrical and visual arts scene, to shopping and fine dining (and the vegan restaurant rated as one of the ten best in North America is here, along with the international headquarters of both White Castle and Wendy's hamburger chains). Check out http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/ for some more information about the city. Ohio State University remains the largest single campus in the country, with a very large foreign student population -- which means that within walking distance of the campus are a wide range of dining and shopping options, for those moments when you need a break from writing.

No 2008 Retreat

It's with regret that we can't host a retreat for playwrights this summer; it's been a rough year, with enormous work loads, and then a series of crises that encompassed the personal and professional spheres, as well as organizations in the community that we're heavily involved with. So the retreat just wasn't possible this year--sorry to everyone! But let's all plan for 2009--

Alan

Alan Woods
ICWP Archives at the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute
Preserving the art of the present for our great-great grandchildren

The Ohio State University
1430 Lincoln Tower **
1800 Cannon Drive
Columbus, OH 43202-1230

614/292-6614 VOX
614/688-8417 FAX
614/371-4215 VIATOR

http://alan-ohio.blogspot.com/
http://library.osu.edu/sites/tri/
http://osureadings.blogspot.com
http://playsbyalanwoods.blogspot.com
http://summerprentice.blogspot.com

ALL OVER BUT THE CORN

And so the 2007 ICWP Ohio Retreat is now history. All the playwrights have left, the computer lab is empty, and the New Works Lab is again free for students working on their own projects. The last gasp was the Ohio Sweet Corn Roast today. Among us, three playwrights, three volunteer actors, one host/corn roaster, two spouses and a friend consumed two dozen ears of corn, roasted in their husks, spread with melted butter and/or sprayed with hemp oil, seasoned with salt/spike/kelp flakes, and consumed. A little bit of rain (well, at the start, a lot of rain) dampened things a bit, but didn't harm the corn.



Playwrights with corn at the ready: from left, Nancy Gall-Clayton, Mrinalini Kamath, Amy Lynne Holland.


and I roast the corn; photo by Nancy Gall-Clayton

Going Out With a Bang!

Full evening tonight; no photos--too busy listening and absorbing, and by the time I remembered the camera, I was driving away and the playwrights were headed out for Indian food.

New scenes tonight from Cynthia Wands and Amy Lynne Holland; exciting to watch these plays being developed, scene by scene, over the space of the week. Amy also brought in a short piece, Driving with Goats,
inspired by a news story she found about a foreign driver being arrested for driving 110 miles an hour--and explaining that the reason he was going so fast was that there were no goats getting in the way. A very funny, and charming, piece! Then Nancy Gall-Clayton brought in a full length she'd been revising since early this morning--an intense family drama, with a series of issues about aging and family acceptance, powerful, but with rich humor. We, alas, only had time to read the first act; Nancy promised to bring the second act next year!

Thanks to all the playwrights who attended, and who did such exciting work. A richly rewarding, and heady, week. And thanks to the volunteer actors who participated and made the words come alive; all the playwrights expressed warm appreciation for hearing the words spoken. Cynthia was particularly eloquent on how important it was for her to have the actors' contribution, and how their work revealed a wide range of new facets and possibilities.

So all that's left is the farewell Ohio sweet corn roast tomorrow. Unhappily, Cynthia and Cheryl Conner will be leaving early, so only Amy Lynne Holland, Mrinalini Kamath, and Nancy Gall-Clayton will be able to share corn with volunteer actors. And a great thanks to the playwrights who participated during the week:

Kathy Burkman
Vicki Cheatwood
Cheryl Conner
Emily Davis
Nancy Gall-Clayton
Amy Lynne Holland
Geralyn Horton
Mrinalini Kamath
Kathy Coudle King
Diane Rao
Cynthia Wands

And also thanks to the volunteer performers who turned out:

K Adamson
Mary Bade Von Coeur
Cate Blair-Wilhelm
Irene Braverman
Ryan Britton
Joe Cofer
Jo Fell
Kristina Kopf
Gloria Kraus
Kyle Jepson
John Kuhn
Alex Mack
Kevin McClatchy
Jane Mowder
Ellen Nickles
Angela Palazzolo
Bob Pettigrew
Kal Poole
Carol Shelton
Jessica Studer
Peggy Williams
Sarah Worthington
Tatyana Yassenov

PENULTIMATE NIGHT

Nancy Gall-Clayton joined us tonight, having driven up today from Louisville. And we said farewell to Kathy Coudle King, who left this evening, and are saying goodbye to Geralyn Horton, Vicki Cheatwood, and Diane Rao, all three of whom depart tomorrow. Geralyn tells us that all the playwrights recorded long enough for her podcast that two of them will use material recorded here--one devoted to the retreat, another to the trials, joys, excitement, challenges (and fill in whatever you want to add!) of being a woman playwright in North America in the first part of the twenty-first century. So watch/listen for them at http://glhorton.podomatic.com/ (the current podcast has Geralyn talking about coming to Columbus, recorded before her departure for this year's retreat--should be interesting to compare her before and during podcasts, not to mention an afterwards, should she do one!


The scoreboard of The Ohio Stadium looms in the distance to the northeast of the Drake Performance and Event Center, center indeed to the creativity of ICWP writers this week, even as the OSU campus is chock-a-block with high school sports and cheerleading camps.


no computer lab for Mrinalini Kamath! She prefers to plug in her laptop in the hallway of the Drake, with large rivers overlooking the Olentangy River. And those who've been here for various ICWP events will note the new carpet, installed last winter!


scripts in hand, Cynthia Wands, Kyle Jepson, and Jessica Studer read a new scene from Kathy Coudle King's Campanieras--the piece about the dirty war in Uruguay that grows more chilling each night. Volunteer actors Kal Poole and Joe Cofer look on approvingly.


Veteran Columbus actors Irene Braverman and Gloria Kraus are part of the grannies in the next scene from Geralyn Horton's Against the Dying of the Light. It's been terrific watching the play grow, day by day, over the past five days.


Cheryl Connor, Vicki Cheatwood, and Emily Davis enjoy the reading of Emily's inventive short piece about cows who are roommates, as they prepare to go to work at the milking posts--brushing their hair, sharing secrets, etc.-- Girl Talk

We also heard more from Diane Rao's piece about the world boggle champ, Amy Lynne Holland's very funny Apoca-Lola, about a secretary in Hell who becomes one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Cynthia Wands' play that started out to be about Will Shakespeare's lost years, but is now turning into something entirely different, much to her surprise. And the delight of those of us looking on, watching the process of change and growth in all these plays.