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1994 : 1995 : 1996 : 1997 : 1998 : 1999 : 2000 : 2001 : 2002 : 2003 : 2007 Link to WordBRIDGE 1997 Plays & Playwrights "I am grateful for the hope and inspiration the lab has given me about my chosen profession... At WordBRIDGE they don't see impossibilities and dead-ends: they see extraordinary challenges and opportunities. And what's more, they put their own shoulders into it to keep the American stage well lit with new works. " "WordBRIDGE is about people helping each other to make an idea come to life. It's a place where nobody stands in the way of anybody else. Everybody, from director to actor, from playwright to student, is equal... this course was incredibly inspiring. It makes me want to write new stories, it makes me want to revise the old ones. More than anything, though, it makes me want to see one of my own creations come to life this way. " "I found that working with a director, dramaturg and cast who are committed to helping me express my vision without the burdens of production looming was enormously freeing. I was able to concentrate purely on my script, to see what was working and what needed work based on a collaborative process that was focused on process instead of product. And after only two weeks, my product (the script) improved tremendously! " "WordBRIDGE is an amazing experience. Where else in the world would a group of professional people from all over the country gather for two weeks to invest their every waking hour to nuture and cultivate a new creation whose author they don't even know? None of these people are going to gain monetary profit from this endeavor in any way... They do it because they are dedicated to an institution and a community like no other. They are theatre people, and they have come to insure the future of the theatre. " "We are going to make it an annual event (at Barnstormers), the presentation of a new play by an unknown, aspiring playwright. This idea is greatly encouraged by my experience at WordBRIDGE. Again, thanks. " "For two weeks a rainbow of light shines down on our theatre. Joan Darling said three things that will always stay in my mind. She said that she only works with positive people and at WordBRIDGE that goes without saying. She also said that we, meaning the theatre community, are the ones that are holding the flame in this time of darkness. We are the ones that are showing people the human condition and without us human kinds' spirit will die. Finally she said that we have to cherish our art, because when all is said and done the art is the only thing that lasts. WordBRIDGE allows us to pay tribute to what we all love so much, our art. " "On the flight home I kept thinking how much WordBRIDGE has become a Chautauqua of sorts for me. A place, or perhaps a retreat, where I not only get the opportunity to create, but recreate and reeducate myself. " "WordBRIDGE was an awakening process not because I discovered new things, but because I rediscovered old ones. Certainly the process is interesting, and you learn about how plays are written, but the process is just the top of the 'bridge.' The bigger picture is about Theatre and its meaning in Life... The environment is safe for people to create and explore. The impossible can happen, and the possible can fail. It doesn't really matter. " "I am from Texas. I live in Los Angeles. I had no idea what Florida's artistic character was, but if WordBRIDGE is representative of the health of Florida arts and culture, it is truly a rich and promising landscape." "Taken alone, your ability to assemble under one roof so much enthusiasm for theatre makes WordBRIDGE a huge gift to everyone involved. Add to that the sheer smarts and talent of your guest artists and what I think you have going is one of the vital organs of American theatre. Thank god we have such things as WordBRIDGE. I received a transfusion of enthusiasm for what we playwrights do -- a celebration -- enough to ride on for a long time. It was an enormous privilege to be there." "WordBRIDGE is parenting the next generation of playwrights, continuing a crucial art form which is older by centuries than the coming millennial milepost of 2000... What WordBRIDGE does is give playwrights appreciation, inspiration, hope, just like a good and caring parent -- and just like a good and caring community. " "... you all have given to me the process and the confidence to write a play which I feel might have some significance, certainly significance to me as a playwright exploring what I love best in the world -- working in the theatre. So everyone at WordBRIDGE has given me my play." "It's important to remember that a creative environment like WordBRIDGE exists. A place where the work and the process is not only encouraged but revered and expected. It is so easy in our contemporary society -- whether the theatre community or the society at large -- to forget everything in our quest for the finished, fully-packaged final product. We tend to forget that the real gems are found along the way. WordBRIDGE is a rare, truly national collaboration which we in Tampa Bay -- artists and audiences alike -- cannot afford to miss. " "It was a wonderful experience for me to participate in WordBRIDGE Lab '97 and one that I will not soon forget. As a professional actor, I rarely encounter the type of artistic development of plays that I witnessed at your workshop. The degree of freedon that your program gives to young playwrights and professional actors, directors and advisors alike is a model for all playwright labs to follow. " "WordBRIDGE is a hurricane - a force that absorbs, then unites all surrounding energy into sheer inexorable power... As quickly as it begins, it is over. When the winds finally die, we consider the miracle of nature. We survey the hurricane's path. Some structures remain standing. We see them right away. Others have been scattered about, awaiting reconstruction. We forget them for awhile, but we uncover them over the years. They surprise us and delight us; they are treasures from our past." "WordBRIDGE. It seems so simple. The theatre is its words. All future theatre is contained in the fevered brains of playwrights. They must be nurtured and cultivated. The better job we do the better plays we'll have. It's an obligation to play seriously, intensely and well. If WordBRIDGE doesn't, who will? The mandate is clear; let the will to find the means follow." |