Well, I'd better tell you. Before you hear it anywhere else. So remember I was telling you in a previous post a month ago about working with students from the School of Cinema-Television, commenting on their screenplays to be entered for the Sloan Foundation's fellowships? Here's a reminder of the Sloan's statement of purpose in this endeavour:
The goal of the film schools program is to influence the next generation of filmmakers to create more realistic and dramatic stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers through the visual media. With Foundation support, prizes are now awarded at six leading film schools to stimulate top students to write and produce new film and television shows about scientists and engineers: American Film Institute ; UCLA School of Theater, Film,and Television ; Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama ; Columbia University Film Department ; NYU Tisch School of the Arts ; and USC School of Cinema-Television . In addition to screenwriting and production awards, there are now prizes in animation and a first feature film.
Well, it turns out that the Sloan also supports similar efforts in Theatre. See some of their descriptions of their work at this link. I knew about this for a while (although not the full extent until just the other day). They support, for example, the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in commissioning and developing new plays. See this link for more information. The statement of purpose:
The Magic Theatre / Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Initiative has been created with a generous three-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Sloan Initiative is designed to commission, develop and produce compelling plays exploring the worlds of science and technology, to foster long-term relationships between scientific and artistic institutions, and to challenge the stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the public imagination. The Sloan Initiative will be awarding more than $40,000 in commissions each season.
Recall also that I've been working with a playwright, Oliver Mayer, for all those reasons I keep blogging about concerning science and the public, science outreach, science education, science and the media, etc, etc. I've been telling you, for example, about the wonderful process of having real actors read your words, and how interesting and instructive the whole experience is. See posts here, and here. Just before I flew off to hide in Taiwan for a month, in December, Oliver and I dashed off a quick letter to the Magic Theatre, together with a draft of the first act of the play, entering it for consideration for one of those grants. I forgot all about it for several months. So here's the punchline. A month ago, while in the act of actually filling in the forms to accompany the students' screenplays that they were entering into the Sloan's competition, I got a call from Oliver: We won one of the Magic Theatre's Sloan awards to develop the play. I did not tell you about it sooner, since they wanted to do an official press release. That came out a week or two ago, and here's an extract:
SLOAN INITIATIVE PROPOSAL COMMISSIONS '06 These are works that will be written upon this commission and will be in development to become full-length plays through in-house readings and dramaturgy over the Magic's 06-07 Season
Here is the blurb they wrote about our play:
DARK MATTERS Playwright: Oliver Mayer Science Advisor/Collaborator: Clifford Johnson Two particle physicists share the same eureka moment. Who got there first? And what mysterious dark matters come into play when they come into close contact? Exploring not only ideas of string theory but the intimate lives of the theorists, DARK MATTERS uses two scientists and Donna Summer's back-up singer to describe and test the bounds of supersymmetry and the darker parts of dark matter -- in the cosmos and within the human heart.
Dramaturgy. ( n. The art of the theater, especially the writing of plays.) I never knew that word before. Learn something new every day. So apparently getting this is a Really. Big. Deal. I'm very excited, although I've no real idea what it all means. Got a letter from the Provost on Monday, signed with real ink, congratulating us. Not sure how his office heard about it. I feel a bit of a fraud.....Does this all make me a real playwright now, or am I just an imposter? Hmmm, this is another fine mess I've got myself into. Must meet with Oliver soon, to down a strong drink and talk it over. And plan. And write. -cvj
