(on theatre rice - this is probably a petty read best skipped.)

forgive me if this comes off as possessive, or high maintenance, but jeez, c'mon, why was writer's block cut from the theatre rice committee? the only things that we have institutionalized in our program now are comedy and performance - nothing on writing, nothing on directing, nothing on the development and promotion of new voices. fuck that!

don't you dare give me the "we cut it because it didn't work this semester" argument - you're throwing something away without even trying to fix it. if writer's block is on committee, treat like it's on committee. you can incorporate elements of writer's block into the course curriculum, encourage writing and development stories a little bit harder, build an environment where everyone in theatre rice is 100% confident in executing their vision (in writing, directing, and performing.)

history: writer's block has been in theatre rice since the beginning. before comedy troupe. before mid-semester shows. before "whoa bundy!" people have always argued about whether or not it should be in committee (until it was approved into commiittee by a slight majority of theatre rice last semester.) and now writer's block has been removed once again mainly because we had a writer's block coordinator who failed to live up to his committee obligations. do we give up on comedy troupe if we have one bad show? hell no, we support it and push it harder next time.

(question for insiders: did writer's block have any set deadlines this semester? any duties? any plans incorporated into the curriculum? if not, then how was it incorporated into the committee then? or was it simply an empty title?)

bottom line is, the structure of writer's block might turn some people off (writing games, workshops with peers or guest "celebrity" playwrites, a lot of talk) but if it's on committee it can be so much more. we could incorporate elements of writing into the course curriculum (finish writing a play in 2 hours? free-write 10 minute quick scripts and improv'd them?) or the show layout (put up a quick round robin play written by the whole theatre rice, spend the fall developing a story and putting it up in the spring showcase)... or we could just take the idea of writer's block and just branch out even further (a director's block where we could all try directing?)

shit, promote writing, already. make us believe in our own words.


sorry to get like this up in here - thoughts from an old foggie who needs to effing move on. theatre rice tends to work in cycles. this is the next wave. congrats to the new committee and all the new members, the stage is all yours.