Artist Statements: 8 Pointers

If you read the last post, you'll know that I recently spent time reading through a pile of anonymous Artist Statements by fellow playwrights.  I am deeply, deeply grateful to these folks, whoever they are, because their work gave me the 500-foot-view of the artist statements that I had been seeking, but not finding, for some time.  Here are some of the tactics I gleaned from them, that I hope to employ in my next attempt at one:

1) Launch right in.  “I’d like to tell you about the play I’m working on” or “Lately, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between language and plot in my work” or “I’d like to be part of this opportunity, and here’s why.”  CUT TO THE CHASE.

2) A bullet-pointed list of projects you’d like to work on with the group is good.

3) A succinct, well-researched explanation of why this opportunity is a good match for you right now, with these projects.

4) A succinct explanation of what you want your plays to do in the world, or what broad themes tend to surface in your plays, and how specifically they show up (me, I write about memory a lot, the way the past creates or interferes with the present – I tend to play with language, and I like ghosts and the supernatural). 

5) Questions are good:  these are the questions that motivate my work.

6) If applicable, speak specifically to your philosophy/way of interacting with a writers’ group, or with collaborators.

7) We don’t need too much background into your personal life.  Save it for your therapist.  You shouldn’t need to go back to the one-room cabin where you were born, or your first-grade school play experience, to get us to where you are now.  It’s cutesy.  And we don’t need to know how or why your marriage went up in flames.

8) Stay concrete with your language.  If it sounds hifalutin’ change it.