Dean Poynor is a playwright / technologist / dad living in New York City. Current projects include a new play about the NYC Subway system, and a screenplay about mummies.
On Graduating with an MFA in Dramatic Writing
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You need courage to follow the formless path, until the true form of the work emerges.
Truth be told, I’m in-between planets right now. The planet that I’m currently living on is full of simple, sturdy things that fit my soul. I live in a world of furniture, regular paychecks, planning for vacation, making a meal, trying to schedule date night with my wife, and occasionally seeing a Mets game with my son. This planet also includes theatre – seeing plays, bitching about plays, wearing a mask to see plays, seeing friends’ work – and it includes considerable landmass devoted to the Kingdom of Playwriting, with districts for my writers’ group, my laptop computer, my mentors and teachers, my rivals and friends, procrastination, hopes and dreams, minor breakthroughs, and major resistance. This planet is home. It is everything I can see in my ordinary consciousness. I suspect that it has everything I need to live a full and satisfying life. But there’s this other planet. This other planet is much harder to describe because I don't
I was talking with a colleague about one of my small-cast plays and I was trying to describe how productions were so "successful" (from an audience-interaction standpoint) while at the same time being tremendously difficult to justify economically. For my two-person drama TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A POEM IN HONOR OF LIFE , a husband and wife navigate a support group for greiving parents in the aftermath of a school shooting. In multiple productions, the play has been staged in a "site specific" way - asking audience members to enter a small room, often in a church basement or other public space. Everyone sits in a cirlce of metal folding chairs reminiscent of contemporary support groups, and the actors enter the space and sit in the chairs alongside the audience. This staging allows for an intimacy and frankness that can be very compelling. It can also be uncomfortable for an audience to give and receive eye contact - both from actors, and from other audience members....
One of the joys of living in New York City is uncovering all the countless, interwoven communities that make up the beautiful, complicated whole. For instance, having a kid in public school means I'm part of that community, and this year I'm lucky enough to be inivted to share at the annual "Writers' Night" fundraiser. This is real honor because this event features some truly spectacular writers - novelists, poets, librettists - and also highlights the creative work of some teachers whose talents overflow well beyond school hours. I plan on sharing something brand new, and hopefully I can even rope in a professional actor I know to help me read it. Tickets are free, food and drink are not. Donations accepted. WHEN: Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 6:30 PM (ET) WHERE: Prohibition (in the backroom Speakeasy) on Columbus Ave at 85th St.