Form vs. Content Symposium at Bay Area Playwrights Festival

As part of the 2012 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Foundation hosted a symposium, "Form vs. Content: Who’s Your Mama?" livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 27 July 2012 at 2 p.m.-5 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m.-7 p.m. CDT / 5 p.m.-8 p.m. EDT / 9 p.m.-12 a.m. GMT / 10 p.m.-1 a.m. BST.

“'Mapmaking fulfills one of our deepest desires: understanding the world around us and our place in it' (Katharine Harmon). At Playwrights Foundation we believe that living playwrights are the cartographers of our times, and perhaps, the future we dream of.”
—Amy Mueller, Artistic Director

A lively conversation and showcase about theatrical aesthetics hosted by Playwright Lauren Gunderson (Exit, Pursued by Bear; Emilie) and featuring Abi Basch, Mark Jackson, members of Kinderdeutsch Projekts, and JC Lee.

Playwrights Foundation is excited about how the map of “the well-made play” is changing and is interested in how playwrights are shaping form to deliver content. Playwrights Foundation is dedicated to defining new terminology that addresses the new poetics of play structure, and to creating and developing the new theatrical roadmaps of the 21st century. You are invited to come and participate in this highly stimulating discussion!

How and/or when does form take focus over content (and visa versa)? In what ways do they inform each other, and how does that impact the audience’s perception? What comes first and how do playwrights determine the governing logic of their plays when exploring newly charted territory in theatrical structure?

Through discussion, we address the elements of form that are wedded to content, and we will attempt to understand the enigma: “Which came first, the form or the content?”

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing-arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected] or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal. View the video archive of past events.