Site-Specific Plays, The Secret Sauce, and Opening Doors to Success - Playwright's Spotlight with Patrick Gabridge
Episode Description
I stumbled upon Patrick Gabridge on the World Wide Web, and he was kind enough to come on to the Playwright's Spotlight after reaching out to him. If there was a playwright who has been in the spotlight who might have a pathway to success, it would be Patrick Gabridge. With a non-traditional approach to writing, Patrick focuses on site-specific plays that are staged in non-traditional stages. Before we delve into this, we speak about marketing and his networking group - Playwright Submission Binge - and how the market has dwindled and changed over the years and how it has affected non-equity theatre. We discuss his development of Plays in Places and its historical accuracy and use of creative license, how it's opened doors to success, the Secret Sauce, and pitching to non-traditional venues. We also breakdown approaching Youth Plays as an older playwright, writing competition plays, what constitutes high drama and whether or not there is a formula. We wrap things up with achieving exposition in a 10-minute play, experiencing poor productions of one's work, advice for finding/developing a writers group, and networking with playwrights. This is a fascinating conversation that should present any playwright with phenomenal opportunities. I'd love to how things transpire if anyone listening takes this path. Enjoy!
Patrick Gabridge is a playwright whose work includes Blood on the Snow, Chore Monkeys, Lab Rats, Distant Neighbors, Fire on Earth, Flight, Constant State of Panic, Pieces of Whitey, Blinders, and Reading the Mind of God, which have been staged in theaters across the country. His plays can found in Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Heuer, Smith & Kraus and various“Best of” anthologies.
He assisted is creating Boston’s Rhombus Playwrights writers’ group, the Chameleon Stage theatre company in Denver, the Bare Bones Theatre company in New York, the publication Market InSight… for Playwrights, and the on-line Playwrights’ Submission Binge. He’s also a member of the Dramatists Guild, StageSource, and a board member of the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund. In 2013, he co-founded the New England New Play Alliance and still serves as its coordinator.
To view the video format of this episode, visit the link below - https://youtu.be/wkpI3jR_Or0
Links to sites and resources mentioned in this episode -
Playwright Marketing Binge - https://groups.io/g/playwrightbinge
Seven Devils New Play Foundry - https://www.sevendevils.org
Mid America Theatre Conference - https://matc.us
The O'Neill - https://www.theoneill.org
Plays in Place - http://playsinplace.com
Brooklyn Publishers - https://www.brookpub.com
Heuer Publishing - https://www.hitplays.com
Socials for Patrick Gabridge and Plays in Place -
FB - https://www.facebook.com/patrickgabridge
IG/Threads - @patrickgabridge
YouTube - @pgabridge
FB - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558727695681
IG/Threads - @plays_in_place
Websites and socials for James Elden, Punk Monkey Productions and Playwright's Spotlight
Punk Monkey Productions -
www.punkmonkeyproductions.com
PLAY Noir -
www.playnoir.com
PLAY Noir Anthology –
www.punkmonkeyproductions.com/contact.html
James Elden -
Twitter - @jameseldensauer
IG - @alakardrake
FB - fb.com/jameseldensauer
Punk Monkey Productions and PLAY Noir -
Twitter - @punkmonkeyprods
- @playnoirla
IG - @punkmonkeyprods
- @playnoir_la
FB - fb.com/playnoir
- fb.com/punkmonkeyproductions
Playwright's Spo