Anne Hamilton/Hamilton Dramaturgy

I am writing to announce that this will be my last Bucks County Womens Journal Page & Stage column. For several years, I have shared the space with my talented colleague, Linda Wisniewski, whose memoirs, essays, and short stories I greatly admire.

In this column, I have written about the process of playwriting, about festivals, about area playwrights, and simply, about imagination.

Now I will be leaving Bucks County, my home of 13 years, and relocating to central New York. I will miss writing my 400-word assignment here every other month, but will continue to publish and commission articles as the Dramaturgy editor of The Theatre Times, an online global theatre journal (www.thetheatretimes.com). For that journal, I am in the midst of a two-part article on the process of dramaturgy in the New York Musical Festival, which takes place in NYC every summer. I am also writing about virtual reality on stage, and archiving women’s work at the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center.

Since I pitched the idea of writing a column about plays and playwrights to BCWJ’s Editor Robin Coppinger, I have had the pleasure of advancing in my own theatre career. My drama WHO’S ANDY WARHOL? won a production in London in the Sky Blue Theatre’s Cambridge Theatre Challenge, my short pieces OFEM and THE SHOEBOX were read across the country and produced in Arizona as winners of the Little Black Dress INK Female Playwrights ONSTAGE project, and I have served as a nominator for two years for The Kilroys List, which vets and promotes plays by female and trans playwrights, and playwrights who identify as female.

I have found that submitting my own plays for festivals and productions, as well supporting companies by reading entries for other fellowship and festival opportunities, helps me to remain connected to the developments and trends in the field.

And yet – I get the most enjoyment out of writing my own pieces, and maturing as a playwright and poet. Right now, I am developing I WANT TO RUN AWAY WITH YOU and RHODESIAN RIDGEBACK with NYC-based actor and director Ellen Barber.

As you can see, little by little, the path is created. Keep writing and maturing. Good luck!

Anne Hamilton has 26 years of experience as a dramaturg. She is available for script consultations and career advising through hamiltonlit@hotmail.com.