Hey writers--create theatre with Savage Umbrella!

Often times, writing is a lonely, depressing experience that makes it easy to understand why so many great writers also happen to be suicidal or drunkards or suicidal drunkards. (See: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, Sylvia Plath, Charlie Sheen*, et al.)

We don’t want that to happen to you, so we’re trying something different.

Taking a note from our screenwriter friends in television, Savage Umbrella is putting together a team of 4-6 writers to develop a brand spanking new script that will explore themes of art, creativity, and self-identity.

Story

In an instant, a quarter of the world’s population disappears. This isn’t a biblical event. It is pieced together that all those who vanished were, in some fashion, artists, and the media dubs the event, ‘The Artists’ Rapture’. Two of those left behind are a grandmother and granddaughter, the former a very popular commercial painter and the latter a post-college artist trying to figure out who she is and what/why she wants to create. They are both left wondering, ‘Why wasn’t I taken in the Rapture?’

Process

The team will meet 2-3 times per week to work on the collaborative elements of the process--characters, arcs, themes, plot outline, etc. In addition to this group time, additional individual writing time will be needed. SU company member Tanner Curl will lead the team as head writer and will provide artistic vision and direction for the team.

Actors will be brought in for public table readings twice during the two-month process, and the work will culminate in a two-night staged reading presentation. All writers involved with the development of the script will receive credit in future productions or publications.

Collaboration can be both awesome and scary. In addition to abilities in writing and theatre-making, we hope to assemble a writing team that balances creative passion and integrity with respect, sensitivity, and kindness.

Incentives

• The experience of collaborating with other writers to create a piece of art that is honest, provocative, and fucking awesome.
• Savage Umbrella plans on a full-scale production in our 2013-14 season. You will receive writing credit and share in the public accolades and glory.
• We’re committed to paying artists for their work. A stipend of $50 will be paid to each writer. We may not be rich, but we share what we have.

Important Dates

Sept 4: Writing team starts work
Sept 21: Public table reading
Oct 12: Public table reading
Nov 2-3: Final staged readings

Interested?

Please send the following to Tanner Curl at [email protected] by 5 p.m. on July 20, 2012:

• Résumé
• 3-5 pages of your original script work in PDF or Word format
• Paragraph or so explaining why you want to be involved in this project

Preliminary group or individual meetings to discuss the process and the story more in-depth with the head writer and other SU company members will occur in July. Final decisions will be made by the end of July, and the team will be set by August.

*Total lolz about Sheen. He is not, as far as we know, suicidal.