Meet the Playwright, Inside the Writers’ Room
By Sally Ollove
Producer for The Writers’ Room
The Writers’ Room, >troche the Arden’s playwright residency, includes over 50 audience members as Inside The Writers’ Room passholders. These individuals have the opportunity to observe the process of developing a new play at the Arden. We’ll post blog entries about their special events so you can have a taste of what happens Inside The Writers’ Room.
Last night, generic we started with a little bit of orientation in the Arden Lobby before moving to the Arden’s Nancy Hirsig Rehearsal Hall. After some light refreshments, passholders introduced themselves and told us what brought them “Inside The Writers’ Room.” There were a number of great responses from young writers looking to see what a future in playwriting might hold to passholders from last year eager to see how a new writer and cast will impact the experience, to jealous audience members from Women in Jep who wanted to join “the cool kids” this season.
Then Ed Sobel gave an overview of the impetus behind the program and introduced Rachel Bonds who answered questions from passholders about her background and life as a writer. Rachel admitted that all her plays seem to end up addressing questions of grief, no matter what her intentions are at the start. You’ll find out whether this holds true for her Writers’ Room play at our table read next week!