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Post by Cathi Winslow, lead photo by Kaitlyn Baker
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In 2018, the world of theatre is bristling with challenges around cultural representation: who gets to tell the story? Who decides? There are no clear answers. Each artist has the power to be aware, informed, and responsible for your own choices. We invite 10x10 playwrights to think about these important questions as you approach your work:
Let's acknowledge where we've been and where we're at now as artists within a society. If you wish to write about a character who belongs to a cultural group which is not your own, think about why--why do you want to write this story? Should you write it? The answer isn't necessarily no. If you choose to write outside your own lived experience, try to find ways to acknowledge your perspective within the work.
For the 10x10 project, we are committed to our blind submission process: the jury evaluates scripts without knowing the identity of the playwright. However, in order to judge fairly and with sensitivity, sometimes the jury needs to know whether or not a playwright is speaking from a lived experience of oppression, discrimination, or marginalization. If your script centers on characters or issues identified with a traditionally marginalized group of people, please provide a brief "position statement" which describes your approach to the material, what you are attempting, and why. Without identifying yourself, help the jury to understand how you are uniquely equipped to tell this story.
As always, there is no limit on subject matter or style. Write what you want. Be aware of the bigger picture. Write till you get it right, or write something else. Keep writing!
Please click on these links for perspectives from other writers:
- Whose story am I telling?
- What's my place in the conversation?
- Can others recognize themselves in my work?
- Am I making assumptions about a culture?
- How do other people see me and my impact in the world? (What is my relationship to power?)
Let's acknowledge where we've been and where we're at now as artists within a society. If you wish to write about a character who belongs to a cultural group which is not your own, think about why--why do you want to write this story? Should you write it? The answer isn't necessarily no. If you choose to write outside your own lived experience, try to find ways to acknowledge your perspective within the work.
For the 10x10 project, we are committed to our blind submission process: the jury evaluates scripts without knowing the identity of the playwright. However, in order to judge fairly and with sensitivity, sometimes the jury needs to know whether or not a playwright is speaking from a lived experience of oppression, discrimination, or marginalization. If your script centers on characters or issues identified with a traditionally marginalized group of people, please provide a brief "position statement" which describes your approach to the material, what you are attempting, and why. Without identifying yourself, help the jury to understand how you are uniquely equipped to tell this story.
As always, there is no limit on subject matter or style. Write what you want. Be aware of the bigger picture. Write till you get it right, or write something else. Keep writing!
Please click on these links for perspectives from other writers:
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"We have a responsibility with the words and images we use. We do not make art in a vacuum." |
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"News articles focused on disabled people are usually framed in terms of 'The Three Ts': Triumph, Tragedy, or Trauma." |
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"I'm an Indigenous woman living in Canada. I'm 'not allowed' to say no. This country has made its position on that clear countless times." |
Go deeper with these guidelines on Writing the Other:
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"When we create characters from backgrounds different than our own, we're really telling the deeper story of our own perception." |
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