[NEohioPAL]Inside the Simon Studio

Wed May 22 08:06:02 PDT 2002

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Sister and Mister Listers--

I recently spent a week as artist in residence at The Simon Studio in NY 
workshopping/developing my two newest full-lengths, Where the Sky Ends and 
Paradise Lost.  I'd found the information about the studio in the December 
2001 issue of Market Insight for Playwrights.

We worked daily, spending one day on PL and the rest of the time on WSE, a 
large cast (11 + extras).  On Saturday, we had a reading of WSE for the 
entire studio.  Under the guidance of Artistic Director Roger Hendricks 
Simon, the actors, directors, and playwrights gave me excellent comments 
about the strengths and weaknesses of the scripts.

I'd expected to work the script a scene or so a day, but Roger scheduled a 
reading of the entire play each day.  This was valuable, as it gave me a 
chance to hear how my previous night's rewrites impacted the entire script.

Something else I hadn't expected but found helpful was that Roger used a 
new cast daily and even changed the readers from Act I to Act II on the 
same day.  I was better able to decide if a part was or wasn't working 
because of the text or because of the interpretation.

Comments as well as the tone of the comments varied with the groups, and I 
wasn't satisfied with the comments from the second day's reading.  I spoke 
to Roger about it, he asked me exactly what I wanted, I told him, he told 
them, and from then on, I got what I needed.

Besides being highly professional and talented, Roger and the members of 
his studio are personable, helpful, and fun.

Two thumbs up--the Simon Studio's a valuable resource for playwrights.

I also found a reasonably priced B&B near Riverside Drive on the upper west 
side & will be happy to share that info with any who are interested.

Carole Clement       Mentor, Ohio  USA
http://www.cadvision.com/sdempsey/clement.htm

"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the 
limb on which it is perched."
         Paul Ehrlich

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Sister and Mister Listers-- 
I recently spent a week as artist in residence at The Simon Studio in NY
workshopping/developing my two newest full-lengths, Where the Sky
Ends and Paradise Lost.  I'd found the information about
the studio in the December 2001 issue of Market Insight for
Playwrights.  
We worked daily, spending one day on PL and the rest of the time on WSE,
a large cast (11 + extras).  On Saturday, we had a reading of WSE
for the entire studio.  Under the guidance of Artistic Director
Roger Hendricks Simon, the actors, directors, and playwrights gave me
excellent comments about the strengths and weaknesses of the
scripts.   
I'd expected to work the script a scene or so a day, but Roger scheduled
a reading of the entire play each day.  This was valuable, as it
gave me a chance to hear how my previous night's rewrites impacted the
entire script.  
Something else I hadn't expected but found helpful was that Roger used a
new cast daily and even changed the readers from Act I to Act II on the
same day.  I was better able to decide if a part was or wasn't
working because of the text or because of the interpretation. 
 
Comments as well as the tone of the comments varied with the groups, and
I wasn't satisfied with the comments from the second day's reading. 
I spoke to Roger about it, he asked me exactly what I wanted, I told him,
he told them, and from then on, I got what I needed.  
Besides being highly professional and talented, Roger and the members of
his studio are personable, helpful, and fun. 
Two thumbs up--the Simon Studio's a valuable resource for playwrights.
 
I also found a reasonably priced B&B near Riverside Drive on the
upper west side & will be happy to share that info with any who are
interested.

<i> <br>
</i>Carole Clement       Mentor, Ohio 
USA    <br>
<a href="http://www.cadvision.com/sdempsey/clement.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.cadvision.com/sdempsey/clement.htm</a><br><br>
"In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off
the limb on which it is perched."<br>
<x-tab>        </x-tab>Paul
Ehrlich<br>
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