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1994 : 1995 : 1996 : 1997 : 1998 : 1999 : 2000 : 2001 : 2002 : 2003 : 2007 Link to WordBRIDGE 1994 Plays & Playwrights "WORDBRIDGE provides a crucial service to playwrights. Nowhere else in my short but busy playwriting career have I found such a supportive, productive environment. As well as providing an opportunity for emerging dramatic writers to envision and re-envision, write and re-write, WORDBRIDGE has also provided students with an opportunity to work with more experienced theatre artists. Furthermore, in managing the project, they learn important administration skills. Though much of the daily organizational work was done by students, this project ran more smoothly than others I have attended. I have spent the last week with theatre artists at many levels of training; from the youngest college student to the veteran stage actor. In our group discussions, I have been impressed by the degree to which all opinions are heard and respected. In my own particular project, which was cast primarily with students, (and directed by a professional actor) I have appreciated comments from all and have taken all under serious consideration. I feel strongly that we have all learned a great deal from each other. I cannot say enough about the service this project provides to playwrights. This has been by far the most productive playwrights' workshop I have attended. I hope to see it flourish over the years." "WORDBRIDGE is a unique program for Eckerd College students interested in theatre and playwriting. I have gained insight from professional actors, directors, playwrights, and dramaturgs which has boosted my energy for acting. These professionals have also helped me to realize exactly what goes into the initial playwriting process. Understanding the dynamics involved in playwriting helps not only the student playwright, dramaturg and director, but the student actor as well. I have gained insight as to what the actor should be looking for when trying to interpret different aspects of any given script. Of course WORDBRIDGE's main goal is to help the playwright in his/her endeavors. I've learned the questions which one must ask when proofreading and rewriting a work. I am better aware of the angles which the director and dramaturg study with the playwright. This is appropriate to know for any creative writing students, not just the playwright in question. WORDBRIDGE is a cutting edge program for Eckerd College. WORDBRIDGE invites resources from all over the country to share their expertise with the Eckerd community. The workshop is rich in knowledge and advice for all involved with the program. It is an exceptional program and the students realize that WORDBRIDGE is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We are taking full advantage of this and believe that this very specialized education could not come from any other source." "WORDBRIDGE is invaluable. Without the pressure of a commercial environment, the process here enables playwrights to play; to discover and invent; to shape and clarify their texts in an atmosphere of challenge and nurture. Everyone seems to grow here. Directors, actors, and all of the support people give of themselves to the writers, and come away focused and rewarded. The participating students are exposed to a professional hot house of creativity, and move on from here excited and determined. WORDBRIDGE gives the future of theatre a running start." "It has been a pleasure to work on WORDBRIDGE as a faculty member. I have enjoyed watching the evolution of the scripts, the joy of all the participants, and I have found my sense of what theatre can be ever expanding. WORDBRIDGE has deepened my sensibilities as a reader, a critic and a professor of literature. I think WORDBRIDGE is an excellent program and I sincerely hope full funding is available for an offering in January of 1995. I fully support WORDBRIDGE and look forward to its continuance and expansion." "- great for students to interact with professionals. - make contacts. - I've been offered a summer internship by one of the WB Guest Artists. - in interacting we learn about our perspective fields. I have a professional actor to talk to and to ask advice from. - the atmosphere is great . . . family like!" "A thoroughly professional environment. Creativity nurtured, encouraged and discovered. Taking the Sundance process and opening it up to a collegiate arena is a master-stroke! Huzzah to Rich Rice for bringing a core of personalities together to make it happen! The Eckerd campus is the perfect location for this sort of process." "Such a rare and wonderful experience this is for professional theatre artists to interact with students; for student scripts to receive the exploring, the opening out of imaginative options, that only a combined process of rehearsals and consultations can provide; and, hardly least important of all, for the formation of a human community on the basis of respect and critical regard for one another's artistic labors and the personal commitment those labors entail. Theatre in the U.S. and beyond will benefit for years to come from what is happening right here in St. Petersburg." "Hello, my name is Chad Habluetzel, and I am a sophomore at Eckerd College. For my Winter Term class I took WORDBRIDGE, and it was the best choice I could have made. I differ from most of the other students involved in that I am not a theatre major nor have I ever participated in the theatre before. I am a Marketing-Management major who loves to be creative, and I have found acting and particularly WORDBRIDGE to be very stimulating in this area. This class is something rare to the college atmosphere, and I feel that for me it is the perfect way to gain knowledge and experience in the theatre field. By way of Prof. Rich Rice contacts, people like John Phillips, Susan Barnes, and David Kranes have been able to take part -- which has made this program topnotch from the beginning. I have learned things about communication, preparation, and teamwork which I can take back with me to the business world and life in general. It is amazing to see the process of a play develop, and to gain insights from such qualified people. WordBRIDGE has taught me so much about dialog. I'm not just talking about theatrical dialog, but real life dialog as well. I have learned some tips that will enhance my rapport immensely with business people. Probably the best thing about WordBRIDGE, and the thing we can all learn from, is how much of a positive atmosphere all the work is taking place in. Everything is positive for the playwrights, trying to help them develop their plays to the fullest. I will be very interested to see how many of these plays get published and performed in the future. WORDBRIDGE has definitely been more than a worthwhile experience for me." "The Winter Term course WORDBRIDGE has proven to be a beneficial experience to everyone participating, especially myself. I found the course a fulfilling adventure in the theatrical perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed simply being in the presence of professionals in "show business". WORDBRIDGE provided me with the opportunity to associate and work with people like David Kranes, Susan Barnes, John Ethan Phillips and many other fine professionals..... I know that I have benefitted greatly from seeing and being part of this process. I found myself to be better informed and more knowledgable in the ways of playwriting. It was a privilege and honor to have been chosen to participate as a guest playwright in the first ever WORDBRIDGE Playwright's Laboratory. I want you, and your staff, to know how grateful I am for this experience, and how much I have gained as an artist having spent two weeks at Eckerd College. Not only am I a full-time student, I also fill the shoes of husband, father and part-time bread winner. I am simply not capable of devoting more than two or three hours a day to my writing- the business of life exerts too many demands. WORDBRIDGE has given me the much coveted space to devote virtually all of my waking hours to that activity which I simply must do because it is in me, trying to get out. You have created, in WORDBRIDGE, a place to which I have come and have been free to express my need to write. I will cherish this time for years to come. Furthermore, your efforts in building an artistic support staff have been phenomenal. Not only did you provide me the time and space in which to create, you surrounded me with people devoted to helping me attain a level of excellence in my art of which I was heretofore unaware. I was surprised, wonderfully, at the calibre of people you were able to attract to WORDBRIDGE, and at their complete willingness to work with this young, unexperienced, "dreamy kid" playwright.... in short, WORDBRIDGE has been one of the most important milestones in my life as a writer. As a local, professional actor, I volunteered to participate in WORDBRIDGE because of my increasing interest in new plays.....I did not know quite what to expect from this type of workshop never having participated in anything of its kind. I have been excited and challenged in a way I haven't experienced in years. It has been an äcting class"I have been unable to find in our area. The visiting professinals from around the country have not only been generous with their knowledge, but with their spirits as well. Working with them in combination with the raw talent and desire of the EC students and the visiting playwrights has renewed my enthusiasm for the theatre and its people. Being in a roomfull of intelligent, kind-hearted people - all putting their heads together and their egos aside - for the good of a new play has been refreshing and inspirational. In short, WORDBRIDGE far surpassed any expectations I may have had, making it an experience I would be proud to be a part of again and again. Both as an actor and as a playwright, I have found WORDBRIDGE to be highly educational. Rubbing elbows with the playwrights themselves has proven very interesting, and participating in the readings has taught me a lot...The playwrights have proven to be ordinary people...Plus, hearing these plays read aloud brings a new dimension to them...Plus, we had the benefit of hearing many people's responses to the readings, from theatre novices to professional dramaturgs, and thereby learning different ways of looking at a script. Plus, (there seems always to be one more plus), we had the fortune to have David Kranes speak to us....I have learned things that I can apply to my own work, even if I never get the benefit of having my scripts in a workshop like WORDBRIDGE. Our discussion on characterizations, climaxes, dialogue, plot, and subtext have given me insights I will be able to take with me. Our objective, as teachers of Theatre, is to give students the oppportunity to explore their personal system of values. To discover why and how they respond to the world around them as they do. We do this in the classroom and in production. The plays we read and perform are examples of human nature, human emotion and human relationships. WORDBRIDGE provides this exploration in an intense and yet nurturing setting. Student playwrights are given the opportunity to "voice"their values and their response to the world around them through their scripts and the characters that live in those scripts. They are nurtured by capable professional directors and dramaturgs to develop their plays to the maximum. Student actors have an opportunity to "risk" emotional connections and human relationships in the protected environment of the workshop. Student designers are allowed the opportunity to explore the physical environment of the play without risk of making a poor choice. The ultimate value to Eckerd College and the local community will be the eventual production of two plays that have been developed through WORDBRIDGE. The playwright will see his/her script fully mounted. The student actors, designers and technicians at Eckerd College will experience working on two "new"plays. Eckerd College and the local community will have the opportunity to witness two world premieres. WORDBRIDGE is important to the health of "live"theatre not only in St. Pete, but also in the country. We have touched and been touched by students and professionals from MA,GA,IA,CA WV,UT and other places. Theatre is a living art and cannot survive without fertilization and nurturing; WORDBRIDGE does that. After helping to organize WORDBRIDGE, I feel as a student, that I am learning how difficult writing a play must be. I have gained insight in the various jobs of directors, dramaturgs, playwrights and actors...The program encourages playwrights, but also helps shine light on the other jobs involved in the development of a play.... The program is not only nurturing, but demanding to all people involved. I am finishing the program with a new found respect for playwrights, directors, dramaturgs and actors. As a playwright participant in this one-of-a- kind program, a collegiate playwrights lab modeled on the Sundance Playwrights Lab, I was able to develop my play, Regard the Sun, with the collaborative input of professional, nationally-renowned actors, directors and dramaturgs.... Overall, the developmental process at WORDBRIDGE, as the name suggests, nurtured my play safely through the essential intermediary step from page to stage. The two weeks I spent working on my play at WORDBRIDGE left me confident that it is now ready for full production. Eckerd College provided the perfect environment for such intensive, collaborative work. The focus of the program was upon the development of the play without the pressures of critics, the press, and the public at large. Richard Rice and his team at EC created a nurturing, supportive environment for playwrights, a haven of artistic freedom, a place to renew one's artistic ideals, and a laboratory to freely experiment with dramatic forms." |