3rd Annual La MaMa INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRIGHT RETREAT
July 30 - August 9, 2009
La MaMa Umbria International, Italy
Click Here for Application Form

Facilitator: Charles L. Mee, Jr.

Charles L. Mee, Jr.

Charles L. Mee, Jr. has written Big Love and True Love and First Love, bobrauschenbergamerica and Hotel Cassiopeia, Orestes 2.0 and Trojan Women A Love Story, and Summertime and Wintertime among other plays--all of them available on the internet at www.charlesmee.org. His plays have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, American Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Public Theatre, Lincoln Center, the Humana Festival, Steppenwolf, and other places in the United States as well as in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Istanbul and elsewhere. Among other awards, he is the recipient of the gold medal for lifetime achievement in drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and of the Richard B. Fisher Award. His work is made possible by the support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher and Richard B. Fisher.

Workshop Description

We will certainly have some conversations in the shade of the olive trees about the best playwriting tricks of Euripides and Shakespeare and Brecht that we can consider stealing for our own plays, but, for the most part, our workshop sessions will take us some steps further. We will look at what tricks of composition we can steal not just from playwrights, but also from choreographers and physical theatre makers like Pina Bausch and Romeo Castellucci and Pippo Delbono. But, most of our time will be taken up with going even further and looking at what playwriting strategies and tricks we can steal from the work of a visual artist, like Leonardo or Michelangelo or Perugino or Pinturicchio. And, as part of that, we will take the life's work of a single artist and, over the course of our workshop days, make a piece together to perform on the last day of our time in Umbria.

Playwrights will enjoy ten days living and writing in the Umbrian countryside at La MaMa Umbria International, Ellen Stewart’s artist residence in Italy. During the week participants will have ample time to work on new or existing material. Each day, a master playwright will meet with the playwrights to facilitate discussions, workshops and exercises designed to help the writer with whatever challenges they are facing. Group readings are also possible and feedback if requested by the playwright. Much time is reserved for writing and quiet reflection in the tranquil surroundings.

Participants reside at La MaMa Umbria, a 700 year-old convent that has been transformed into a work center and residence for artists.  It is located in the Umbrian hillside just outside the town of Spoleto, less than 2 hours from Rome.

La MaMa Umbria is a nonprofit cultural center founded by La MaMa ETC Artistic Director Ellen Stewart in 1990. The area includes rehearsal and performance spaces alongside the living quarters. Bedrooms are doubles and triples with shared bathrooms. Communal kitchen and dining rooms, a gallery and music room are also part of the structure. Attendees eat meals prepared on-site or at nearby restaurants.

Attendance at performances at local festivals, dinner at country fairs, tours to nearby Umbrian towns and other activities are also possible during the week. But it is anticipated that most of the time will be used for creative renewal and enrichment, for working on writing theatrical works and for enjoying a respite from one’s traditional lifestyle.

Check out Randy Gener's Article about La MaMa Playwright Reteat in American Theatre magazine here!

FEE
The admission fee for the Retreat is US$ 2,300. Fee includes workshop, housing and meals for 10 days, ground transportation from the Rome airport to and from La MaMa Umbria, and excursions by bus, van or car.

CREDIT
The Symposium and Retreat are fully accredited programs of Sarah Lawrence College (2 credits for one session of the Symposium and 1 credit for the Retreat) For more information about Sarah Lawrence College, please visit www.slc.edu.

ABOUT SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE
Located in Bronxville, New York, Sarah Lawrence College is a long recognized pioneer in creative education, as a liberal arts college with a focus on collaborative undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts. The learning process emphasized utilizes a diverse, global vocabulary, as students explore individual artistic techniques and experiment with connections among theater, writing, art, music, dance, and emerging technologies. For more information about Sarah Lawrence College, please visit www.slc.edu.
      

Application Process

Playwrights who wish to participate in the retreat fill out the attached Application Form and resume and return it with a $500 deposit by May 1st, 2009. You will notified about your acceptance into the program by May 15th, 2009. The balance of your payment is due by June 1st, 2009.

There is limited space available, so please convey your application so it is received by our office no later than the deadline date.      

Participants will be selected based on their commitment to the process and the case they make on the application as to how this program will help them with their creative process. Subject matter of the plays developed will NOT be a criterion for acceptance, nor will theatrical style, number of characters, nationality, perceived ethnicity, race or gender.

If you are not accepted into the Retreat, your deposit will be returned in FULL. If you are accepted and choose not to attend, you will receive a refund of all but a $100 registration fee, provided you notify us by June 15th. After that date, we cannot provide a refund of your payment.

Click here for Application Form