text:
The Secret (2006 film)
|The Secret
|Directed by
|Drew Heriot
|Produced by
|Rhonda Byrne (Executive Producer), Paul Harrington (Producer)
|Distributed by
|Prime Time Productions, Dragon 8 PR (Original Banned Edition)
|Release dates
|March 26, 2006
|Running time
|87 mins
|Box office
The Secret is a 2006 film[3] produced by Prime Time Productions consisting of a series of interviews designed to demonstrate everything one wants or needs can be satisfied by believing in an outcome, repeatedly thinking about it, and maintaining positive emotional states to "attract" the desired outcome.
The censored version of the film and the subsequent publication of the book of the same name attracted interest from media figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Larry King as well as criticism from the mainstream press.
- 1 Synopsis
- 2 Teachers of the law of attraction
- 3 Historical foundations in New Thought ideas
- 4 Production
- 5 Marketing
- 6 The book
- 7 Reception
- 8 Criticism
- 9 Legal controversies
- 10 Releases
- 11 See also
- 12 References
- 13 Further reading
- 14 External links
The Secret, described as a self-help film,[4][5] uses a documentary format to present the law of attraction. As described in the film, the "Law of Attraction" principle posits that feelings and thoughts can attract events, feelings, and experiences, from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. The film also suggests that there has been a strong tendency by those in positions of power to keep this central principle hidden from the public.
Teachers of the law of attraction[edit]
The film includes interviews with individuals self-described as professionals and authors in the fields of Quantum physics, psychology, metaphysics, coaching, theology, philosophy, finance, feng shui, medicine, and personal development, who are referred to as "secret teachers". Some of these individuals, on their Web sites, promote the film and their connection to it. A few of the individuals with only brief appearances do not specifically speak of the "law of attraction" in their interviews, so their support of the concepts is based on viewer assumption.
Individuals who focus on the law of attraction, who are interviewed in the film, and have later been featured on prominent American TV shows, are: John Assaraf, Rev. Michael Beckwith, John Demartini, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, James Arthur Ray, Joe Vitale, Lisa Nichols, Marie Diamond, and John Gray. Other people involved in the film, who have spoken of their strong belief in the Law of Attraction include Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks[6] (original edition only),[7] Mike Dooley, Bob Doyle, David Schirmer, and Marci Shimoff. Others interviewed in the film, and who voice very similar views without actually using the phrase "law of attraction" include Lee Brower (Board Member of WorldVuer), Hale Dwoskin, Cathy Goodman, Morris E. Goodman, John Hagelin, Bill Harris,[8] Ben Johnson,[9] Loral Langemeier, Denis Waitley, Neale Donald Walsch, and Fred Alan Wolf.
Historical foundations in New Thought ideas[edit]
The authors of The Secret cite the New Thought movement which began in the late 18th century as the historical basis for their ideas.[10][11]
- Essentially, The Secret is ... touting the principles of New Thought and Unity Christianity. The teachers of The Secret have been regulars on New Thought/Unity circuit for years — now more "prosperous" than ever.[11]
The New Thought book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles, the source Rhonda Byrne cites as inspiration for the film, was preceded by numerous other New Thought books, including the 1906 book Thought Vibration or the law of attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson,[12] editor of New Thought magazine. Other New Thought books Byrne is purported to have read include self-help authors like Prentice Mulford's 19th-century Thoughts Are Things; and Robert Collier's Secret of the Ages from 1926.[6]
The opening sequences of the film portray the alleged history of The Secret — showing:
- In a sequence titled, "The Secret was Buried:"
- The text of the Emerald Tablet being copied on to a scroll and given to a priest.
- The Emerald Tablet being buried near the Pyramids of Giza.[13]
- Followed by a sequence titled, "The Secret was Coveted:"
- The ornate title page of the 1906 book The Life Power and How To Use It by Elizabeth Towne[14]
- A Knight Templar giving the scroll to a Catholic priest.
- Scroll with text of the Emerald Tablet being analyzed by alchemist St. Germain.[15]
- A drawing of the Azoth of the Philosophers in the alchemist' shop.[11]
- Followed by a sequence titled, "The Secret was Suppressed:"
- A series of brief scenes of the business elite meeting in a contemporary board room.
Portrayal of ideas preceding the New Thought movement[edit]
The Secret website cites the Emerald Tablet, said to be written by Hermes Trismegistus (purportedly a "secret teacher"), as... one of the most important historical documents known to mankind".[13] Byrne posits that the earliest trace of "the secret" occurred in the Emerald Tablet,[16] followed much later by the Rosicrucians — a "secret order that espoused many of the ideas of The Secret."[11] Mention is made of Victor Hugo and Ludwig van Beethoven's supposed membership in the order as well as Isaac Newton's purported work in translating the tablet.[13] However, no solid evidence has been shown proving this.
Carolyn Sackariason of the Aspen Times, when commenting about Byrne's intention to share The Secret with the world, identifies the Rosicrucians as keepers of The Secret:
- "The Mastery of Life" (a Rosicrucian teaching similar to The Secret) is not difficult to grasp, but the secret of the Rosicrucian tradition has been protected and preserved for thousands of years, shown only to those who have proven a true desire to know.[17]
Neither the words "Emerald Tablet" nor "Rosicrucian" are spoken in the film, however, at key transition points the screen image rapidly zooms in on the word "Rosicrucian".[11]
During these transitions a page is seen containing the quote "the Rosicrucians were a 'secret' Order.
Elements in opening sequences[edit]
Many elements pass quickly in the cinematic, historical sequences at the beginning of the film and are not explained or otherwise mentioned in the film (listed in the order in which they appear — excepting Rosicrucian element):
|Related detail
|Page in a book, showing chapter title: "The World's Greatest Discovery"
|From book: The Secret of the Ages, by Robert Collier (appears during the first minute of the film)
|Reported to be one of the books Byrne read in researching the law of attraction.[6]
|Book: A History of Egypt
|Shown for less than a second
|Byrne's voice-over: "I began tracing the secret..."
|An illustration in A History of Egypt
|Labeled, "Fig 13. The Emerald Tablet"
|Initial mention of Emerald Tablet
|Emerald Tablet
|Authored by the "mythical deity," Hermes Trismegistus
|The website claims, "perceived as one of the most important historical documents known to mankind"[13]
|Emerald Tablet
|Quote on page "described by greek and roman mystics" ebook at[18]
|Several Translations of Emerald Tablet at[19]
|The film shows the text of the Emerald Tablet being copied on to a scroll
|The film shows the copy being kept by a priest.
|Book: The Life Power and How To Use It[14]
|A book by Elizabeth Towne, published in 1906; Towne was a New Thought author and publisher; she published works by Wallace Wattles and William Walker Atkinson
|First image in the sequence titled, "The Secret was Coveted"
|Alchemist Saint Germain[15]
|Shown probing the secrets of the Emerald Tablet
|Alchemy, the transforming of mind into matter.[11]
|Azoth of the Philosophers
|A meditative emblem used by alchemists and first published in 1659
|"'Azoth' ... is one of the more arcane names for the One Thing"[20]
|L'Azoth des Philosophes, Basil Valentine, Paris, 1659.
|see[21] The Philosopher's Stone of Transmutation
|"Rosicrucian", as text — Note: the word "Rosicrucian" is not spoken in the film.[11]
|Appears briefly, 12 times in the film, at 0:22:43, 0:22:50, 0:45:16, 0:53:26, 0:53:30, 0:59:41, 0:59:45/46, 1:08:55, 1:08:59, 1:15:36, and 1:22:14[11]
|Described by the official website as "...a legendary and secret order that espoused many of the ideas of The Secret"[13]
|Page from Book "Thoth as he played many important roles in third dimension. He is the Alchemist" completely quoted at[22]
|hardly visible as fire is burning
|Byrne's voice-over: "I couldn't believe the people..."
The film was created by Prime Time Productions of Melbourne, Australia with Rhonda Byrne, executive producer; Paul Harrington, producer; and Drew Heriot, director. Gozer Media of Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, is the design house responsible for the visual style and feel of the film and book.[15][23][24] Byrne's company TS Production LLC, a Hungarian company, is responsible for marketing and distribution of the film and book.[25] Byrne commented about the research she did prior to making the film:
- So I sat down and did a huge list of everything I had read ... and when I finished the list I handed it to them [the film production team]. They said that's impossible, you couldn't read that many books in a year, two years, and I had read all of those books in two and a half weeks - and well, that's The Secret.[26]
Byrne's inspiration for creating The Secret came from reading the 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.[5] The film was done as a project for Australia's Nine Network. Nine put up less than 25% of the $3 million project[27] with additional funding from mortgaging Byrne's home and from an investment by Bob Rainone, "a former Internet executive in Chicago".[6] Rainone became the CEO of one of Byrne's companies, The Secret LLC, and is described by Byrne as "delivered to us from heaven".[28]
Shooting of the interviews was done in July and August 2005 with editing "effectively completed by Christmas time".[29] About 55 teachers and authors were interviewed[27] at locations including Chicago, Aspen, Alaska,[29] and a Mexican Riviera cruise (interviewing Esther Hicks).[30] The film uses 24 of these teachers in the "Extended Edition" of the film. The first edition featured a 25th teacher, Esther Hicks, known "as the most prominent interpreter of the Law of Attraction". Since the first release of the DVD, Esther Hicks declined to continue with the project. Her 10% share of sales netted the Hickses $500,000. As a result of this, scenes with Esther Hicks, are instead narrated by Lisa Nichols and Marci Shimoff.[6] No other "secret teachers" received compensation for their appearance in the film — revealed by Bob Proctor in an interview[31] on Nightline.[32]
Betsy Chasse, one of the producers, directors, and screenwriters for What the Bleep Do We Know!? interviewed Paul Harrington, the co-producer of The Secret. In the interview, Harrington gave this description of Byrne's production methods: "We used the law of attraction during the making of the program. We went very unconventional, in terms of scheduling and budgeting. We allowed things to come to us... We just had faith that things would come to us."[29]
Channel Nine, after viewing the completed film, chose to not broadcast it. A new contract was negotiated with all DVD sales going to Byrne's companies (Prime Time and The Secret LLC). In hindsight, Len Downs of Channel Nine commented, "we looked at it and we didn't deem it as having broad, mass appeal". The film was eventually broadcast by Channel Nine at 10:30 pm on Saturday, 3 February 2007.[27] Downs reported that "it didn't do all that well".[5] The film was sold on DVD and also broadcast online through streaming media.
The film has been described as a "slick repackaging" of the Law of Attraction,[33] a concept originating in the New Thought ideas of the late 19th century.[11] In producing the film, the law was intentionally "packaged" with a focus on "wealth enhancement" — differing from the more spiritual orientation of the New Thought Movement.[34] One of the film's backers stated, "we desired to hit the masses, and money is the number one thing on the masses' minds".[35] A review in salon.com described the packaging of the products related to the film as having "a look... that conjures a 'Da Vinci Code' aesthetic, full of pretty faux parchment, quill-and-ink fonts and wax seals.[36]
Choosing to package the film's theme as a "secret" has been called an important component of the film's popularity. Donavin Bennes, a buyer who specializes in metaphysics for Borders Books, stated "We all want to be in on a secret. But to present it as the secret, that was brilliant." [5]
Marketing campaign[edit]
The movie was advertised on the Internet using tease advertising and viral marketing techniques in which The Secret and the specific details of the film were not revealed. Additionally, Prime Time Productions granted written permission to individuals or companies, via application at the official site, to provide free screenings of the film to public audiences. Optionally, the DVD may be sold at these screenings.
The book[edit]
A companion book by Rhonda Byrne was published called The Secret (Simon & Schuster, 2006).
The Secret was featured on two episodes of Oprah[37][38] — and as the film reached number one on the Amazon DVD chart in March 2007, the book version of The Secret reached number one on The New York Times bestseller list.[35]
For much of February through April 2007, both the book and the DVD versions were #1 or #2 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. Simon & Schuster released a second printing of 2 million copies of The Secret — "the biggest order for a second printing in its history,"[39] while Time reported brisk sales of the DVD through New Age bookstores, and New Thought churches, such as Unity and Agape International Spiritual Center.[35]
The book has also led to increased sales of similar books.
The Secret has been described as a "self-help phenomenon",[40] a "publishing phenomenon",[34] and a "cultural phenomenon".[4][41] Some examples of published criticism of the film include "breathless pizzazz" for a tired self-help genre;[5] "emphatically cinematic" and "driven by images and emotions rather than logic";[42] a blend of Tony Robbins and The Da Vinci Code;[4] and "the Unsolved Mysteries of infomercials"[42]
Several critics wrote about the Secret as related to the more general self-help phenomenon. Julie Mason of the Ottawa Citizen wrote that word-of-mouth about the film spread through Pilates classes, "get-rich-quick websites" and personal motivation blogs.[43] Jane Lampman of the Christian Science Monitor described The Secret as a brand promoting secret-related teachers, seminars and retreats.[34] According to Jill Culora of the New York Post, fans of The Secret have posted on a wide range of blogs and web forums accounts of how shifting from negative to positive thoughts had created major improvements in their lives.[39]
In 2007, The Secret was reportedly being discussed in "e-mails, in chat rooms, around office cubicles, [and] on blind dates". It is recognized as having a broad and varied impact on culture and is likened to a "Hollywood phenomenon".[39]
On Larry King Live, when asked where God fitted into the system, Joe Vitale said "God is all of us. God is the secret and everything about it. This is a law from God."[44]
In the 2007-03-17 episode of Saturday Night Live, cast members spoofed The Secret in a sketch with Oprah Winfrey (Maya Rudolph) interviewing Rhonda Byrne (Amy Poehler).[45] Includes a scene of a man in Darfur being scolded for his lousy attitude.[46] >Saturday Night Live season 32 episode 15 (2007-03-17):
- Rhonda: Olessi, I know this is hard for you to hear, but your outlook is what's hurting you.
- Olessi: No, I think it's the Janjaweed.
- Rhonda: No, it's you!
The film was parodied in the Boston Legal episode "Brotherly Love," where Denny Crane tried to use the "Law of Attraction" to draw Raquel Welch to him (he was planning to move on to world peace if successful). Unfortunately, Phyllis Diller was the person he eventually drew in.
On 2007-05-16, the concept was parodied on The Chaser's War on Everything, a satirical comedy program on Australia's ABC network.[47] The show provided an analysis of The Secret, with various themes and theories of the film tested to see if they work in real life, including asking for a parking spot and then pulling into it, despite the fact that there was a car already there, and asking the universe for objects in stores and then just taking them. It was the first subject of the segment "Nut Job of the Week".
Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist Maureen Dowd invoked The Secret while wondering if wishful thinking could lead to a change in the White House.[10] Greg Beato, of Reason, reported: "...if you think really, really hard, say, about vigorously cavorting with Salma Hayek on a soft, fluffy bed of Google Series A preferred stock, you will emit a magnetic signal to the universe that will make your vision a reality."[42]
A parody in MAD magazine issue #480 mocked The Secret and its authors in a fake ad, which included the phrase "Buy your copy today! (Please don't use the teachings of The Secret to wish for a free copy of The Secret)"
The Today Show[48] with Matt Lauer interviewed James Arthur Ray and reported that Byrne had canceled her appearance at the last minute the day of the show, February 27, 2007. The March 25, 2007 edition of Nightline with Cynthia McFadden discussed the universal Law of Attraction and "The Secret" criticism by mainstream institutions with secret teacher Bob Proctor.[31][32]
Toward the end of season three, episode 5 ("Bill Sussman") of Weeds, U-Turn gives Nancy Botwin a DVD copy of The Secret, which she throws away.
|This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. (November 2010)
Editorial coverage[edit]
Catherine Bennett, of the Guardian newspaper touches on themes of greed and blaming the victim. Bennett asserts the film is a "moronic hymn to greed and selfishness" and that it "nastily suggests that victims of catastrophe are the authors of their misfortunes".[49]
Slate Human Guinea Pig, Emily Yoffe, experimented with living according to The Secret's precepts for two months, concluding that the film/book's message was "pernicious drivel." Yoffe found it particularly "repulsive" for its tendency to blame the victim and its suggestion to "not just blame people for their illness, but to shun them, lest you start being affected by their bummer thoughts, too."[50]
Journalist Jeffrey Ressner, reporting in Time, writes that some critics are concerned with the film's attitude toward "using ancient wisdom to acquire material goods." In one example in the film, "a kid who wants a red bicycle cuts out a picture in a catalog, concentrates real hard, and is rewarded with the spiffy two-wheeler."[35]
Jerry Adler of Newsweek notes that despite the film's allusions to conspiratorially suppressed ancient wisdom, the notions presented by the motivational speakers who make up the film's cast have been commonplace for decades. Adler notes that the film is ethically "deplorable," fixating on "a narrow range of middle-class concerns — houses, cars, vacations, followed by health and relationships, with the rest of humanity a very distant sixth." Noting that the scientific foundations of the movie are clearly dubious, the Newsweek article quotes psychologist John Norcross, characterizing it as "pseudoscientific, psychospiritual babble."[5]
In an article for the Chicago Reader, Julia Rickert questions the validity and authenticity of certain quotations attributed by the film to "past secret teachers". The article[51] describes the extensive, unsuccessful efforts by Rickert to verify a quote claimed to be by "secret teacher" Ralph Waldo Emerson — "The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be". Rickert also examines a quotation in the film by Winston Churchill. She claims Byrne has taken it out of context to suggest Churchill held beliefs in accord with The Law of Attraction — "You create your own universe as you go along". Rickert points out that the full context shows that Churchill found such ideas "perfectly useless".[51]
Karin Klein, editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, called The Secret "just a new spin on the very old (and decidedly not secret) The Power of Positive Thinking [a book by Norman Vincent Peale published in 1952] wedded to 'ask and you shall receive'." The editorial, in one of its strongest criticisms, asserted Rhonda Byrne "took the well-worn ideas of some self-help gurus, customized them for the profoundly lazy, [and] gave them a veneer of mysticism..."[4]
Tony Riazzi, columnist for the Dayton Daily News, also questions the merits of The Secret, calling Byrne's background as a reality TV producer a "red flag." He also said that The Secret's ideas are nothing more than "common sense. Take out the buzzwords and pseudo religious nonsense about what you 'manifest' for yourself, ignore the vague prose and you get the message that thinking positively serves you better than thinking negatively."[52]
Criticism of health claims[edit]
ABC News referred to claims that the mind has power over our health as "perhaps the most controversial" in The Secret. They quote Michael Beckwith, founder of Agape International Spiritual Center[35] in Culver City, California, and one of The Secret "teachers" as saying: "I've seen kidneys regenerated. I've seen cancer resolved."[53] The film features one man who was paralyzed, mute, and on a ventilator after his spine and diaphragm were crushed in an airplane accident. He credits his full recovery to the power of his mind. A similar story is told by another interview whose breast cancer went into spontaneous remission without medical intervention.
Several critics have expressed concern about detrimental effects the film may have on the health and well-being of individuals. Dr. Richard Wender, president of the American Cancer Society, worries that guidelines in the film will prompt others to "reject helpful therapies in favor of positive thinking",[32] even though the film verbally asserts that traditional medicine should be pursued for serious illness.[54] Julia Mckinnell of Canada's Maclean's magazine in a commentary about the film and book titled, "Some people are finding the self-help phenomenon is actually screwing them up", cited several real-life cases of alleged detrimental effects.[55] She closed with a line Oprah used when urging a guest to seek medical attention for cancer: "The Secret is merely a tool; it's not treatment."[55] On the spiritual side, Valerie Reiss, in a review for BeliefNet, expressed concerns that others might get into "head-tripping" on negative thoughts as she did when younger.
- I would realize I was thinking negative thoughts, which would trigger more thoughts about how awful I was for thinking negative thoughts and how I was ruining my life with those thoughts, and so on and so on, until my head was ready to explode with all the bad juju. The only thing that freed me from that loop was something else I also learned that summer at the ashram, meditation.[56]
Religious criticism[edit]
Mark Earley—president of Prison Fellowship, a group of ministries founded by Charles Colson — in a commentary titled "New Book, Old Lie", claims "Byrne's hot new trend" repeats "the oldest lie there is — 'You shall be like God'." Earley says this is a prescription for "misery".[57]
USA Today reported on the impact The Secret has had on New Thought churches, such as First Unity Church of St. Petersburg, Florida, led by Rev. Temple Hayes. The church uses the film and book as a teaching tool. James Trapp, CEO of the Association of Unity Churches, calls The Secret "superficial" and Ms. Hayes amends The Secret's promise of everything-is-yours-to-have with "...you may face some pain along the way. Nothing comes easy."[10]
Prof. John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, in a commentary at his blog, calls the film "the newest packaging for gnosticism".[58] He portrays the film's message as just another choice among many religions to choose from, not the "Lowest Common Denominator of all religions" and notes:
- [The film] is wishful thinking that does not correspond to the way things are. Some of it does, yes, which is why people can honestly testify to good things resulting from it. But some of it does not...[58]
Stackhouse finds the good in the film "genuinely nourishing" and the bad "genuinely toxic". He makes it clear he is "...all for proper positive thinking" — the alleged good aspect of the film — and finds fault with Christian culture for not being better at it:
- By God's grace to us, we know better, we know Christ and his Gospel of new life, and yet often we have failed to speak to the spiritual realities so skillfully addressed by proponents of The Secret.[58]
The toxins are, in Stackhouse's eyes, a spiritually lethal concoction.[58] The identified "poisons" include:
- "Victim blaming"
- "refusal to admit" that life has worthwhile "trade-offs ... [and] sacrifices"
- "It's all about me and it's all up to me" .
Even if law of attraction is totally against religious aspect and develop pride in humanity. We can use the law of attraction by balancing with religious principle.[original research?]
Criticism of the Law of Attraction[edit]
The Law of Attraction is the essence of the film's message. The film's presentation of the law has been criticized for claiming "quantum physics is a part of the Law",[59] for not getting it right according to New Thought practitioners,[10] and for mistakenly usurping the role of God.[57] It can also be viewed as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy a type of cause and effect also known as Causality.
Criticism of society[edit]
A number of critics wrote satirical comments about society's relationship to the film.
- Karin Klein, of the Los Angeles Times, on greed:
- Americans are never too jaded for another get-rich-quick chimera... My sister says I'm over-intellectualizing. She, after all, had manifested a fine leather satchel. And I have to admit, if there were designer leather goods to be had out of this, I was interested.[4]
- Emily Yoffe, writing for Slate, ran with a quote by one of the "past secret teachers" — a quote from Einstein that never made it into the film:
- Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.[50]
- Catherine Bennett, writing for The Guardian describes adherence to The Secret's "law of attraction" as:
- [a] creed so transparently ugly and stupid that it seems impossible that anyone could take it seriously.[49]
Societal benefit[edit]
Some critics find much to fault in the film and nevertheless see it as providing positive opportunities or benefits for society.
- Greg Beato of Reason Magazine, described previous "A-list hucksters" as "...infectious, helping to create a national mood of high-octane optimism." He closes with:
- ... If there's anything our current bleak era needs, it's a little irrational exuberance. Perhaps The Secret is the Grand Genie of the Universe's answer to our prayers.[42]
- Jefrey Ressner, at Time—in his final remarks—finds parallels between Madonna and Bob Rainone, Byrne's U.S. business partner:
- "The Da Vinci Code was entertaining, but this film is a personal tool for people who want to change their lives," says Rainone. "It's a gift to the world, to help humanity." Or, as another empowerment teacher, Madonna, sang in her own 1994 hit Secret: "Happiness lies in your own hand."[35]
- Jerry Adler of Newsweek, writing about the producer, Rhonda Byrne:
- ...Irene Izon, [mother to Rhonda Byrne] did offer this assessment to NEWSWEEK: "The thing is that Rhonda just wants to bring happiness to everybody. That's the reason it all began. She just wants everybody to be happy."
- And to give her her due, she might actually be achieving some of that. There is nothing, in principle, wrong with thinking about what makes you happy.[5]
Legal controversies[edit]
On April 2007 actor and Hollywood publicist Ricarte Rivera, founder of Dragon 8 PR received a letter from The Secret LLC attorneys. Mr. Rivera, who is the first public relations agent to receive a January 3, 2007 call from Harpo Productions about featuring The Secret, was accused of "effectively distributing" their copyrighted material to the public losing them millions of dollars. None of the parties has ever pursued legal action against each other.
The Australian Nine Network's A Current Affair—an Australian TV tabloid show—on 14 May 2007 segment titled, "The Secret Stoush", interviews Australian author Vanessa J. Bonnette. In the interview, Bonnette—when referring to the book version of The Secret—asserts, "that is my work and Rhonda Byrne has stolen it".[60] Bonnette and a reporter compare her book to Byrne's on the use of the "TV transmission" analogy. Bonnette's book, Empowered for the New Era (2003 Empowered For Life) was released in 2007 as a second edition. Bonnette, at her website, claims 100 instances of plagiarism.[61] Byrne's marketing company, TS Production LLC, has responded with a lawsuit to restrain Bonnette.[25] From the statement of claim:
- Analogy between frequency transmissions, including a television station transmission via a frequency, and humans and human thought is used by many persons in the field of self-help and motivation.[25]
David Schirmer, the "investment guru"—and only Australian—in the film, has his business activities under investigation by the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC). This was reported on 1 June 2007 by A Current Affair in a segment titled "The Secret Con"[62] with those words and The Secret logo appearing in the background behind the newscaster. The show initially confronted Schirmer in a segment titled "The Secret Exposed", aired on 28 May 2007, with complaints from people who say Schirmer owed them money.[63]
On February 12, 2008 Bob Proctor's company, LifeSuccess Productions, L.L.C. successfully sued "investment guru" David Schirmer, his wife Lorna, and their several companies (including LifeSuccess Pacific Rim PTY LTD, Schirmer Financial Management PTY LTD, LifeSuccess Productions PTY LTD, Excellence in Marketing PTY LTD, and Wealth By Choice PTY LTC) for "misleading or deceptive conduct".[64]
In August 2008, The Australian reported that Drew Heriot (director) and Dan Hollings (Internet consultant for The Secret) were in a legal dispute with Rhonda Byrne over pay from the project.[65]
Film footage featuring Esther Hicks was removed from the later "Extended Edition" of The Secret after film's creator Rhonda Byrne rescinded the original contract covering Hicks' participation.[66]
Paul Harrington, the producer for the film, reported that broadcast TV—instead of the Internet—was initially planned as the medium for the first release:
- ...we had as our vision to go out to the whole world in 24 hours on television. It was a grand vision, which we weren't able to pull off for various reasons. We were trying to force, to control the "how" of the universe, when what we were supposed to do was just focus on the vision...[29]
Release dates[edit]
The Secret premiere was broadcast through the Internet on March 23, 2006 using Vividas technology. It is still available either on a pay-per-view basis via streaming media (or on DVD at theSecret.tv, the official site for the film). A new extended edition of The Secret was released to the public on October 1, 2006. The Australian television premiere was on Nine Network on Saturday, February 3, 2007.[27]
Future releases and spin-offs[edit]
Plans have been announced to produce a sequel to The Secret and a spin-off TV series.[35][67]
See also[edit]
- ^ "budget". The numbers. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ "Gross". The numbers. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
- ^ ""The Secret Banned Edition" Creative Commons License". Youtube.com. 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
- ^ a b c d e Klein, Karin (2007-02-13). "Self-help gone nutty". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-01-13.[dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g Adler, Jerry (2007-03-05). "Decoding The Secret". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
- ^ a b c d e Salkin, Allen (2007-02-25). "Shaking Riches Out of the Cosmos". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
- ^ ""Esther Hicks" explains the secret behind "The Secret."". Youtube.com. 2007-04-28. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "Meet Bill Harris". centerpointe.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "Meet Ben Johnson". Healthstartswithfoods.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ a b c d della Cava, Marco R. (2006-03-29). "Secret history of 'The Secret' ". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Melanson, Terry (2007-04-11). " Oprah Winfrey, New Thought, "The Secret" and the "New Alchemy"". Illuminati Conspiracy Archive. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Atkinson, William Walker (1906). Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. Cornerstone. ISBN 978-1-56459-660-4. (Out of copyright, published on the Internet)
- ^ a b c d e "The secret teachers". TS Production LLC. 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-06. — page at official website of The Secret film.
- ^ a b Towe, Elizabeth (1997) [1906]. The Life Power And How To Use It. Kessinger. ISBN 978-1-56459-958-2. Use this link for an online version of the book.
- ^ a b c "The Secret Press Release" (PDF). TS Production LLC. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
- ^ Sunderland, Kerry (2007-03-07). "The secret to self distribution" (PDF). QPIX News. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
- ^ Sackariason, Carolyn (2007-02-06). "The big 'Secret' is finally out". Retrieved 2007-06-04.
- ^ "Thoth Mystery School, Crystalinks". Crystalinks.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/ontablet.pdf
- ^ Hauck, Dennis William (1999) [1999]. "10: Seven Steps to Transformation". The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation. New York: Penguin Arkana. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-14-019571-2. "This meditative emblem first published in 1659 as an illustration for the book Azoth of the Philosophers by the legendary German alchemist Basil Valentine. The word 'Azoth' in the title is one of the more arcane names for the One Thing." Use this link for an online extract from the book.
- ^ "Alchemy and Philosopher's Stone". World Mysteries. 2003-08-14. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "The Emerald Tablet". Crystalinks. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "Gozer Media visual effects & graphic design". Retrieved May 2007. "Gozer worked closely with the producers ... to develop the visual style of the show. We supplied all visual effects and other graphical components for the show and its subsidiaries." — navigate web: motion > The Secret
- ^ Byrne, Rhonda (November 2006) [2006]. "Acknowledgments". The Secret. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. p. xiv. ISBN 978-1-58270-170-7. "Goze Media, for the creation of the superb graphics and for impregnating them with the feeling of The Secret."
- ^ a b c Robinson, Russell (2007-05-31). "Self-help gurus take plagiarism battle to court". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2007-06-15.[dead link]
- ^ Two part interview of Rhonda Byrne made before the release of the film: Storr, Julie Ann (2005). "The Secret will be revealed in 2006 - part 1 interview". Nibbana. Retrieved 2007-05-22. and Storr, Julie Ann (2005). "The Secret has been Revealed - part 2 interview". Nibbana. Retrieved 2007-05-22.
- ^ a b c d Le Plastrier Aboukhater, Jacinta (2007-02-01). "Not a secret for long". The Age. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
- ^ Byrne, Rhonda (November 2006) [2006]. "Acknowledgments". The Secret. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. p. xiv. ISBN 978-1-58270-170-7.
- ^ a b c d Chasse, Betsy (2006-07-01). "A Conversation with The Secret co-producer Paul Harrington". The Bleeping Herald. Retrieved 2007-05-21. — this is an interview by one of the producers for the film, What the Beep Do We Know!?
- ^ Hicks, Esther. "Jerry & Esther's Statement on 'The Secret'". Retrieved 2007-02-22.
- ^ a b McFadden, Cynthia (2007-03-23). "Transcript With 'Secret' Contributor Bob Proctor" (PDF). ABC's Nightline. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
- ^ a b c McFadden, Cynthia; Sherwood, Roxanna; Weinberg, Karin (2007-03-23). "Science behind 'The Secret'?". ABC's Nightline. Retrieved 2007-04-19.
- ^ Flaim, Denise (2007-03-12). "It's mind over what matters". TMCnet.com. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ a b c Lampman, Jane (2007-03-28). " 'The Secret,' a phenomenon, is no mystery to many ". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ressner, Jeffrey (2006-12-28). "The Secret of Success". Time. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
- ^ Birkenhead, Peter (2007-03-05). "Oprah's ugly secret". Salon.com. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ "Discovering The Secret". Oprah. 2007-02-08. - text summary
- ^ "One Week Later: The Huge Reaction to The Secret". Oprah. 2007-02-16. - text summary
- ^ a b c Culora, Jill (2007-03-04). "A 'secret' Oprah Craze Hits New Yorkers". New York Post. Retrieved 2007-05-10.[dead link]
- ^ Dundzila, Reverend Vilius (2007-04-10). "Not sold on The Secret". The Advocate. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ Dawes, David F. (2007-05-03). "Pop culture's best-kept Secret". Christian Info Society. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ a b c d Beato, Greg (2007-04-01). "The Secret of The Secret". Reason Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ Mason, Julie (2007-02-04). "The secrets of the secret". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ King, Larry (2007-03-08). "Larry King Live". CNN. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
- ^ "SNL: Oprah on The Secret". Saturday Night Live Transcripts (not affiliated with Saturday Night Live or NBC). 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2007-07-07. "Oprah Winfrey (Maya Rudolph) loudly praises the work of Rhonda Byrne's (Amy Poehler) new book, "The Secret.""
- ^ Watkin, Tim (2007-04-08). "Self-Help's Slimy 'Secret'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-07-07. "They scolded him when he lamented that his people were starving, saying it was all the result of his lousy attitude."
- ^ "Nut Job of the Week". The Chaser's War on Everything. 2007-05-16. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/.Official site
- ^ "What's The Secret to Happiness?" The Today Show - Video
- ^ a b Bennett, Catherine (2007-04-26). "Only an idiot could take The Secret seriously". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
- ^ a b Yoffe, Emily (2007-05-07). "I've Got The Secret". Slate. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
- ^ a b Rickert, Julia (2007). "A Little Secret About The Secret". Chicago Reader 36 (36). pp. 1, 18.
- ^ Riazzi, Tony (2007-03-23). " 'The secret' secret: just be happy". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
- ^ Mastropolo, Frank (2006-11-26). "The Secret to Success?". ABC News. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
- ^ Byrne, Rhonda (2006). The Secret. Beyond Words Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58270-170-7.
- ^ a b Mckinnell, Julia (2007-04-16). "Some people are finding the self-help phenomenon is actually screwing them up". Maclean's Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ Reiss, Valerie (2006). "The Hubris of 'The Secret' ". Beliefnet, Inc. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
- ^ a b Earley, Mark (2007-05-03). "New Book, Old Lie". Prison Fellowship. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
- ^ a b c d Stackhouse, Prof. John (2007-02-21). "Oprah's Secret: New? Old? Good? Bad?". Retrieved 2007-02-28.
- ^ Whittaker, Stephanie (2007-05-12). "Secret attraction". The Gazette (Montreal). Retrieved 2007-06-10.
- ^ Ben Fordham (News Caster), Vanessa J. Bonnette (interviewee) (2007-55-14). The Secret Stoush (Television production). Sydney, Australia: A Current Affair. Retrieved 2007-06-12. — requires Windows platform.
- ^ Vanessa J., Bonnette. "Secret Scandal". Retrieved 2007-06-11. "I have reason to believe that Byrne has infringed copyright of my work to the of order of 100 (plus) citations that constitute as plagiarism according to Australian Copyright Council..."
- ^ Ben Fordham (News Caster), David Schirmer (subject) (2007-06-01). The Secret Con (Posted video). Sydney, Australia: A Current Affair. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ Ben Fordham (Newscaster), David Schirmer (subject) (2007-05-28). The Secret Exposed (Television production). Sydney, Australia: A Current Affair. Retrieved 2007-06-06. — requires Windows platform.
- ^ "LifeSuccess Productions, L.L.C. v Excellence in Marketing Pty Ltd ACN 087 507 695 & Ors". Esearch.fedcourt.gov.au. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ "The secret of Rhonda's success". The Australian. 2012-09-28. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
- ^ Guilliatt, Richard (August 23, 2008). "The secret of Rhonda's success". The Australian. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Pursell, Chris (2007-03-26). "Telepictures Shoots Secret Pilot". TV Week. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
Further reading[edit]
- Byrne, Rhonda (November 2006) [2006]. The Secret. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. ISBN 978-1-58270-170-7.
- Bruce, Alexandra (September 2007). Beyond the Secret: The Definitive Unauthorized Guide to The Secret. New York: The Disinformation Company, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-932857-93-1.
External links[edit]
|Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Secret (film)


text:
The time for online gift shopping has more or less wound down, but that doesn't mean it's time to stop thinking about ways to treat yourself. After all, you deserve a little something for buying, wrapping, cooking and playing host to relatives that may or may not be the most insufferable people on the face of the planet. And if you don't actually have to do any of that this year, well…count yourself lucky and reward yourself for some other noble feat you've accomplished. There's always a justification for shopping.
It's especially easy to justify a purchase when the object of your affection is on sale, so as we do every week, we've rounded up some of the best handbag markdowns on the Internet. Pick yourself up a lil' present for after the holidays – even if you fill up on holiday treats, a new handbag will fit no matter what.

subset: commoncrawl


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Three lanes of Interstate 40 East in Mt. Juliet have reopened following an injury accident Tuesday afternoon. Three of the four lanes were closed at mile marker 224 as crews worked to clear the scene. Initially it was reported two vehicles were involved in the accident, however authorities have since said only one vehicle was involved. Two people were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries.
441 Murfreesboro Road Nashville, TN 37210
Telephone: 615.369.7222
Fax: 615.369.7329
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
For nearly four decades, we've worked to make Israel a more equal, more democratic society.
Featured Stories
Success Stories
Latest News
New Israel Fund Announces New Initiatives For Democracy18 September 2014
The New Israel Fund, furthering its mission of advancing equality, human rights and democracy in Israel, today announced an ambitious new effort to change the public discourse and strengthen the pro-democracy, progressive camp in Israel. Read More...
"Miscegenation?!" The Coalition Against Racism Calls for Investigation Against Lehava04 September 2014
Following the deplorable vitriol of a hate group dedicated to opposing relationships between Jews and Arabs, the NIF network is calling for an investigation. Read More...
"Our Group Proved That Another Way Is Possible"04 September 2014
Jewish and Arab women in Jaffa are working to build bridges and pave the way towards a truly shared society. Read More...
All Politics Is Local04 September 2014
A new emphasis on local politics can help transform both local and national issues in Israel. Read More...
Leonard "Leibel" Fein, z"l15 August 2014
It is with deep sadness that I write to tell you that Leibel Fein – former NIF Board member, IC member, and champion of the Israel we believe in – died early this morning. A great light has gone out. Read More...


text:
Watch Louis C.K. Chat for Half an Hour About Comedy, Parenting, and Failure
Louis C.K. was on Charlie Rose earlier this week, and yesterday the show put the interview online. After an awkward opening in which Rose asks C.K. what it's like to be called a "philosopher-king," the two have a long chat about comedy, failure, parenting, and more.
It's not the two-hour interview with Marc Maron or anything—which if you still haven't listened to yet, get on that—but C.K. fans (and Charlie Rose fans, I guess) will almost certainly enjoy it.
Meet the New Bosses
How the Republicans would run the Senate.
The Government Is Giving Millions of Dollars in Electric-Car Subsidies to the Wrong Drivers
Future Tense
The Government Is Giving Millions of Dollars in Electric-Car Subsidies to the Wrong Drivers How California's green-vehicle subsidies magnify the state's income inequality problem.
Scotland Is Just the Beginning. Expect More Political Earthquakes in Europe.
Cheez-Its. Ritz. Triscuits.
Why all cracker names sound alike.
Friends Was the Last Purely Pleasurable Sitcom
Attractive People Being Funny While Doing Amusing and Sometimes Romantic Things Don't dismiss it. Friends was a truly great show.
This Whimsical Driverless Car Imagines Transportation in 2059
- Protesters Take to the Streets to Sound Alarm on Climate Change in New York, Across the World
- Knife-Carrying White House Jumper is Vet who Feared "Atmosphere Was Collapsing"
- North Korea: American Sentenced to Hard Labor Wanted to Become "Second Snowden"
- Almost One in Four Americans Support Idea of Splitting From the Union
Medical Examiner
Did America Get Fat by Drinking Diet Soda?
A high-profile study points the finger at artificial sweeteners.
People's Climate March in Photos Hundreds of thousands of marchers took to the streets of NYC in the largest climate rally in history.
Business Insider
Adrian Peterson Has a Terrible Contract, and Cutting Him Would Save the Vikings a Lot of Money
Slate Voice: "Why Is So Much Honey Clover Honey?" Mike Vuolo shares the story of your honey.
Attractive People Being Funny While Doing Amusing and Sometimes Romantic Things Don't dismiss it. Friends was a truly great show.
Future Tense
Predicting the Future for the U.S. Government The strange but satisfying work of creating the National Intelligence Council's Global Trends report.
Sports Nut
Grandmaster Clash One of the most amazing feats in chess history just happened, and no one noticed.


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How did he make money off trism? I thought it was free.
Nice $1.15 lol.
oh nevermind I checked the appstore and it costs money. Too bad for me
I haven't played this, but is this similar to the game Hexic on the Xbox 360?
The game needs a new update, more features. Got bored after the first few plays.
It's similar to Bejeweled 2 but different, if you know what I mean. He can quit his job and develop more games and just live off the App Store. £125,000 in two months, that's like 3 years full time work here in England.
Not to be picky, but it's more like £134,408 in two months!
Pound is not what it used to be...
i read it a week or so ago on macrumors. ya it crazy, i hope my game does just half as good as this, acutally like only 1/8
.........and that's why installer is dead.
Ironically I don't like this game and I don't see why it makes money. I mean it's a well done app, kudos to the dev, but I don't see it making money like that, crazy.
well all it takes its a couple thousand ppl who think "its just a buck" to buy it and there ya go, a couple thousand bux. think of all the rich kids with itouches/iphone asking mommy and daddy to buy them games or ppl who get itunes gift cards and dont wana buy music with em.
I bought it a bit back and really like it. Coming up with an app with all the qualities you mentioned applies to anything worth buying that has value right? Otherwise we'd all be buying "I Am Rich"
I grabbed tris back when it was free, and I still love it. The controls could be a bit more accurate, but that's just nitpicky really.
So I guess it wasn't taken down off of the app store afterall?
EDIT: ohhhh, Trism ... I read Tris. whoops >_<
^^^^^^^ the next iphone app millionaire.
keep checkin back. i am gonna make a frikkin landscape keyboard for frikkin SMS!!!
someone has to!
Trism is indeed an awesome game. Solid gameplay, lots of replayability, but the MOST important part of Trism is the price.
$2.99! You can't even get a good combo at a fast food place for that price. How can you say "ugh it's not free". I could spend 5 minutes looking for spare change around my apartment and probably end up with more than $3.
The best part? If he got $250k out of it, that's not counting Apple's cut. In total, his game made around $350,000, which is almos 120,000 sales. That's still a small number compared to how many iPhones are out there. So I'm sure you can make even more out of the store with just ONE app.
man you guys get more and more illiterate everyday!
Good for him! Trism is one of my wife and I's favorite games. We were anxious for it's release after seeing the first youtube video, then getting the demo and buying it on launch day of the App store.
thats a lot of money i might look into it for myself.


text: I can't help but recognize the hope buried deeply in the eyes of every person I walk past. I come to the realization that I'm in love with all these people and yet, I haven't opened my mouth to speak one word, let alone enough to really know their heart. It's as if I've known them my entire 22-year, short-lived life. Deep down, through the specks of wretchedness and tarnished pieces of my heart; there is this burning flame of love for people that cannot be quenched. The more love I pour out, the hotter the flame burns. It's as if God birthed me into this world with love already in my heart and even though this love is so strong and unstoppable, I know it's only an ounce compared to the river that runs from God's throne. Wow. What a God we serve, what a daddy that loves us and pulls us close.


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With spring spreading like a bag of spilled gravy, now is the ideal time to throw open the windows and get home-care projects underway. Pick up a Stanley six-piece screwdriver set for $6.99, a VPT rip hammer for $8.49, and a whole bunch of screws, anchors, and bolts (prices vary), and you'll be ready to finally mount every buffalo nickel and steel penny in your coin collection. Illuminate the newfound décor with a 12-pack of Ace light bulbs ($21.48), the better to see by as you make use of a Purdy four-piece premium paint-tray kit ($19.99). If you need to match paint to a favorite coverlet or choose a hue that complements a pleather recliner, each store offers a paint-matching service free of charge. Get keys made for $1.99 a pop, or clean a barnacle-encrusted carpet with the help of a carpet-cleaning machine ($30 a day to rent).
Lawn Doctor's roots lead back to the mid 1960s, when friends Bob Magda and Tony Giordano took on the endeavor of reviving uncared-for lawns in their hometown of Matawan, New Jersey. Their local business has since blossomed into a national franchise with more than 400 locations across the United States, each adhering to the mission of enhancing lawns' allure with time-tested techniques, dedicated customer service, and dabs of foundation makeup.
Before Lawn Doctor's assiduous staffers unleash expertise on swards, they arrive at the client's home for a complimentary consultation to gauge each lawn's specific needs. Grass gurus can thicken turf with their patented Turf Tamer power seeder and foster healthy growth for grass, trees, and shrubs with fertilizer. Uninvited lawn assailants?such as grubs, ants, and grazing neighbors?shudder at the sight of Lawn Doctor's pest-control experts. The company also helps to preserve Mother Nature's receding hairline with organic lawn treatments and natural, eco-friendly products.
TYTO USA's bug-busters keep infestations at bay through a combination of targeted vacuuming, sprays, aerosols, and residual dusts. As each season ushers in different creepy crawlies, the techs offer seasonal pest-control plans, as well as one-time treatments. In addition, they can oust bedbugs and encase mattresses and box springs to prevent their return while also protecting against dust mites and other allergens.
The window-cleaning specialists at Worried Bird Window Washing don't just squeegee the glass and leave?they ensure every part of the window gets clean. After making glass sparkle with their signature streak-free cleanings and hard-water treatments, the team turns their attention to the windows' sills and tracks. They remove dust and garbage from window wells, wax and polish metal frames, and wipe down wood or plastic sills. While inside homes or offices, the team clears debris from window tracks to ensure smooth closing, which is useful for when your house suddenly sinks into a bog.
The techs at Specialized Pest Control erect bug barriers throughout customers' homes to ward off unwanted creepy-crawlies. In the insect treatment, entry points such as windows, doors, and vents are treated with a spray designed to ward off spiders, earwigs, flies, mosquitoes, neighborhood bullies, pavement ants, and wasps. A spray of the home's entire foundation further works to evict invertebrate roommates. If homeowners prefer, techs can target thresholds that lead inside the house, or the team can head indoors to put an end to extended flea circuses and grasshopper music festivals. Specialized Pest Control's bug blockers consider safety as their top priority, applying all pesticides carefully so as not to harm residents or the environment.
Mold, brown patches, and weeds are just a few of the problems that Viridis Lawns and Pest eradicates from lawns in order to leave them green and picturesque. Techs fertilize soil to support healthy landscaping and apply pest control treatments at specific stages of insects' lives, banishing pests with minimal environmental impact. They can even boost the appearance of lawns by enhancing the hue of grass.


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Download the 2014-15 Core Writer program application (PDF) >
Application due: January 30, 2014
The Playwrights' Center invites committed professional playwrights to apply for the Core Writer Program. Created in recognition of the particular needs of emerging and established writers, the program offers significant resources intended to further a playwright's career and is available to writers nationally.
Playwrights who have benefited from the Core Writer Program include Christina Anderson, Trista Baldwin, Lee Blessing, George Brant, Carlyle Brown, Lonnie Carter, Constance Congdon, Marcus Gardley, Jeffrey Hatcher, Sherry Kramer, Carson Kreitzer, Melanie Marnich, Winter Miller, Gregory Moss, Qui Nguyen, Kira Obolensky and Elaine Romero.
Core Writer Benefits
Collaboration Fund
Access to the Ruth Easton Lab Collaboration Fund (requests for proposals are sent to Core Writers in summertime) to develop new plays. Supported work must be developed at The Playwrights' Center. For national writers this means a writer must travel to Minneapolis for the duration of the development activities. The Center will provide casting, space, and theater artist pay for development workshops. Limited funding is available to support travel and housing.
An individual profile page on the Center's website enabling playwright to post a photo, bio, list of current plays, 10-page play samples, downloadable resume, a link to a directory of published works, and private messaging system.
New Plays on Campus
Priority access to the Center's New Plays on Campus program that matches writers and plays to colleges and universities fostering new play productions on campuses nationwide.
Rehearsal Space / Photocopy Privileges
Free use of the Center's rehearsal space (subject to availability) and photocopying privileges.
Professional Connections
Priority access to playwright exchanges, residencies, and master classes.
Three-year Term
Each term is three years; Core Writers may re-apply for additional terms.
Questions may be addressed to Artistic Administrator Amanda Robbins-Butcher.
Lee BlessingCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Lee Blessing's play's include: A Walk In The Woods (Broadway and London's West End), Going to St. Ives, (Outer Critic's Circle Award, Best Play, Obie for ensemble performance); Thief River (Drama Desk nomination, Best Play); Cobb (Drama Desk award, best ensemble); Chesapeake, Eleemosynary and Down The Road. In the 1992-93 Signature Theatre season: Fortinbras, Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms and the world premiere of Patient A.
Recent regional world premieres: A Body of Water at the Guthrie Theater and the Old Globe Theatre; Lonesome Hollow, Flag Day and Whores, all at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival; The Scottish Play at La Jolla Playhouse; Black Sheep at Florida Stage and The Winning Streak at George Street Playhouse. Other plays: Independence, Riches, Oldtimers Game and Nice People Dancing To Good Country Music and Perilous Night, which will be stage-read at the Colorado New Play Summit in January.
Other awards: The American Theater Critics Circle Award, the L.A. Drama Critics Award, The Great American Play Award, The Humanitas Award and the George and Elisabeth Marton Award among others. Nominations for Tony and Olivier awards, as well as for the Pulitzer Prize. Blessing is married to playwright and TV writer Melanie Marnich and lives in New York He heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.
George BrantCore Apprentices // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
George Brant's plays include Grounded, Elephant's Graveyard, The Mourners' Bench, Salvage, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, Grizzly Mama, Any Other Name, Defiant, Dark Room, Miracle: A Tragedy, Good on Paper, Ashes, NOK, The Lonesome Hoboes, One Hand Clapping, The Royal Historian of Oz, Lovely Letters, Three Men in a Boat, Borglum! The Mount Rushmore Musical, Tights on a Wire and Night of the Mime.
His work has been produced internationally by such companies as Trinity Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, City Theatre, Gate Theatre of London, Page 73, Studio Theatre, Red Stitch, Theatre Pro Rata, Unicorn Theatre, Borderlands Theater, SF Playhouse, American Blues Theatre, Manbites Dog Theatre, Contemporary Drama Festival of Hungary, Dobama Theatre, Frank Theatre, Theatre 4, Premiere Stages, Trustus Theatre, Elemental Theatre Collective, Balagan Theatre, the Drama League, the Disney Channel, Factory Theatre, Debutantes and Vagabonds, StreetSigns Theatre Company, and zeppo theater company, among others.
His plays have been generously developed by the Kennedy Center, Asolo Rep, the McCarter Theatre Center, New Harmony Project, Theatre @ Boston Court, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, WordBRIDGE Playwright's Lab, Playwright and Director Center of Moscow, Florida Studio Theatre, New Jersey Rep, the Hangar Theatre, Equity Library Theatre, and Ground UP Productions, among others.
His scripts have been awarded the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center, the Smith Prize, the Keene Prize for Literature, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, an Austin Critic's Circle Best New Play Award, two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, and a Creative Workforce Fellowship. He has received writing fellowships from the James A. Michener Center for Writers, the McCarter Theatre Center, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the Blue Mountain Center as well as commissions from Trinity Repertory, Theatre 4, and Dobama Theatre.
George received his MFA in Writing from the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books and Smith & Kraus.
Carlyle BrownCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Carlyle Brown is a writer/performer and artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company based in Minneapolis, which has produced The Masks of Othello: A Theatrical Essay, The Fula From America: An African Journey, Talking Masks, Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been… and Therapy and Resistance. His plays include The African Company Presents Richard III, The Little Tommy Parker Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show, Buffalo Hair, The Beggars' Strike, The Negro of Peter the Great, Pure Confidence, A Big Blue Nail, Dartmoor Prison and others. He has received commissions from Arena Stage, the Houston Grand Opera, the Children's Theatre Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Goodman Theater, Miami University of Ohio and the University of Louisville. He is recipient of playwriting fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Jerome Foundation, Theatre Communications Group and the Pew Charitable Trust. Mr. Brown has been artist-in-residence at New York University School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program, The James Thurber House in Columbus, and Ohio State University Theater Department where he directed his music drama, Yellow Moon Rising. He has been a teacher of expository writing at New York University; African-American literature at the University of Minnesota; playwriting at Ohio State University and Antioch College; African American theater and dramatic literature at Carlton College as the Benedict Distinguished Visiting Artist, and "Creation and Collaboration" at the University of Minnesota Department of Theater. He has worked as a museum exhibit writer and story consultant for the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, and the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Brown is a core alumnus of the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and he is an alumnus of New Dramatists in New York. He has served on the board of directors of The Playwrights' Center and Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the non-profit professional theater and is a member of the board of the Jerome Foundation. He is a member of the Charleston Jazz Initiative Circle at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina where his works and papers are archived. He is the 2006 recipient of The Black Theatre Network's Winona Lee Fletcher Award for outstanding achievement and artistic excellence, a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2010 recipient of the Otto Rene' Castillo Award for Political Theatre, and 2010 United States Artists Friends Fellowship.
Constance CongdonCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Constance Congdon has been called "one of the best playwrights our country and our language has ever produced" by playwright Tony Kushner in Kushner's introduction to her collection Tales of the Lost Formicans and Other Plays. In addition to Tales of the Lost Formicans, which has had more than 300 productions worldwide, Congdon's plays include: Casanova, Dog Opera, both produced at the Public Theatre, Losing Father's Body (Portland Stage - Maine), Lips (Primary Stages), Native American (Portland Stage - Maine, Lyric Hammersmith Studio), The Children of the Elvi (Key City Public Theater), A Mother, starring Olympia Dukakis, and a new verse version of The Misanthrope, both commissioned and produced by American Conservatory Theater. Also at ACT: Moontel Six, a commission by the A.C.T. Young Conservatory and subsequently performed at London's National Theatre, followed by another production of the two-act version at San Francisco's Zeum and directed by Young Conservatory Director, Craig Slaight. The Automata Pietà, another YC commission, received its world premiere at San Francisco's Magic Theatre in 2002; Nightingales went to the Theatre Royale Bath's Youth Theatre. Congdon's No Mercy, and its companion piece, One Day Earlier, were part of the 2000 season devoted to Congdon at the Profile Theatre. Her latest play, Paradise Street, developed at New York Theatre Workshop, received its premiere production in Los Angeles at The Attic Theater by the Title 3 Company. She has also written a number of opera libretti and seven plays for the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis. Congdon's plays have been produced throughout the world, including Cairo and Berlin. Her plays are published, mainly, by Broadway Plays Publishing. Samuel French published Dog Opera. A collection of four of her plays has been published by TCG, Inc. Her new verse version of Tartuffe will be included in the next Norton Anthology of Drama, and is already out in a single-volume Norton Critical edition. She just finished Take Me to the River, commissioned by the Denver Theater Center. Her adaptation of A Servant of Two Masters was at Yale Rep, season 2010, and continued to The Shakespeare Theater in D.C. and the Guthrie Theater. Her adaptation of Moliere's The Imaginary Invalid has been produced in several regional theaters, most recently at Portland City Stage. In the works is No Little Rebellion, a play about the Daneil Shay's rebellion, commissioned by a consortium of Shakespeare theaters. She's been writing a long time and can thank the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, the W. Alton Jones Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, New York Newsdays Best Play Award, the Arnold Weisberger Award, the Berilla Kerr Award, and, most recently, the Helen Merrill Award for making this more possible. Congdon was just honored with an award "for distinguished service to the American theater" at the Great Plains Theater Conference. She's an alum of New Dramatists and a member of the Dramatists Guild and of PEN. Congdon has been teaching playwriting at Amherst College for two decades.
Jenny Connell DavisCore Writers // Core Writers //
Jenny Connell Davis is a Baltimore-based playwright, screenwriter and teacher.
Her work has been developed with The Playwrights' Center, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, Space at Ryder Farm, Asolo Rep, The Gift Theatre, Shrewd Productions, Austin Scriptworks, Theater MITU, and NAATCO.
Goddess of Mercy was part of the 2013-2014 Ruth Easton Lab Series (dir. Jerry Genocchio); it was further developed with the Woodshed Collective (dir. Mikhael Tara Garver), the Baltimore Play Festival and Asolo Rep's Unplugged Festival of New Work (dir. Mark Rucker), and was a finalist for the 2014 ONeill Playwrights Conference.
Dragon Play was developed at Ars Nova and with New York Stage and Film (dir. Giovanna Sardelli). It was first staged by Shrewd Productions in Austin, Texas (dir. Shannon Grounds); a later version was Articulate Theatre's inaugural production as part of the Planet Connections Festival (NYC; dir. Cat Parker), and will be staged at Berkeley's Impact Theatre in late 2014.
Jenny's short screenplays include Unmoored (audience award, Woods Hole Film Festival) and the multiple-award-winning Fatakra (with writer/director Soham Mehta; screened worldwide). She currently has two full-length screenplays in development, and a new play or two up her sleeve; for more information, please visit: www.jennyconnelldavis.com.
Philip DawkinsCore Writers
Philip Dawkins work includes the recent Joseph Jefferson Nominated world premiere of Miss Marx: or the Involuntary Effect of Living (Strawdog Theatre) as well as recent critically-acclaimed plays The Homosexuals and Failure: A Love Story which both also received Joseph Jefferson Nominations for New Work after their world premieres with About Face Theatre (2011) and Victory Gardens Theater (2012) respectively. His plays for young folks are published through Playscripts, Inc. A graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, Mr. Dawkins is an Artistic Associate of About Face Theatre, an Ensemble Playwright at Victory Gardens, and a founding member of Chicago Opera Vanguard. Mr. Dawkins teaches playwriting at Northwestern University, his alma mater Loyola University Chicago, and through the Victory Gardens ACCESS Program for writers with disabilities. He also teaches Kung Fu to little Chicago kids through Rising Phoenix Kung Fu. Hi-Yah!
Gabriel Jason DeanCore Writers // Core Writers //
Gabriel Jason Dean's plays have been produced or developed at New York Theatre Workshop, the Lark, New York Stage & Film, Oregon Shakespeare, the Kennedy Center, PlayPenn, ASSITEJ International, Red Orchid Theatre, Theatre Row, Hangar Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Dallas Children's Theatre, People's Light and Theatre and Illinois Shakespeare Festival to name a few. Gabriel has received multiple honors from the Kennedy Center including the Paula Vogel Prize, Ken Ludwig Prize, Theatre for Young Audiences Award, Runner-Up for the Harold & Mimi Steinberg National Playwriting Award and being developed at the New Visions / New Voices Conference. Other honors include the James A. Michener Fellowship at UT-Austin, Runner-Up for the New Dramatist's Princess Grace Award, New England Theatre Conference Aurand Harris Award, Essential Theatre New Play Prize and winner of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival. His plays have been finalists or semi-finalists for the Seven Devils Conference, The O'Neill Theatre Conference, JAW at Portland Center Stage, Bay Area Playwright's Festival, Interact's 20/20 Commissions, Page 73 Fellowship, the Julliard Wallace Fellowship, Lark Play Development Center and Aurora Theatre Global Age Project. His scripts are published through Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing and Playscripts. Gabriel is a CORE writer at the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis and on faculty for Spalding University's Brief-Residency MFA Program. www.GabrielJasonDean.net
Christine EvansCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Christine Evans' work has been produced, published and awarded in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. Her plays are published by Samuel French (Trojan Barbie), in Theatre Forum (Issue #35), and Smith & Kraus. War Plays, an anthology of her plays on that theme, was published by NoPassport Press in 2011.
Productions include multi-award winning Trojan Barbie (American Repertory Theatre, 2009; Playbox Theatre, U.K. 2011; Charing Cross Theatre, 2011); Weightless, Mothergun and All Souls' Day (Perishable Theatre; Actors' Theater; Boston Theater Marathon); Slow Falling Bird (Crowded Fire, San Francisco; Metro Arts, Brisbane), Fishbowl (Red Fern, "30+ NYC" and Boston Theater Marathon); My Vicious Angel (Belvoir St. Theatre; Adelaide International Festival, Australia; A.B.C. Radio Drama, Sydney) and Pussy Boy (Belvoir St. Downstairs). Evans' plays have been read or workshopped at the Young Vic and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), London; the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, the hotINK Festival of New Plays, Synchronicity Theatre, Playwrights' Theatre of New Jersey, Trinity Repertory Theatre, the Irish Repertory Theatre (NYC), Cutting Ball's "Risk Is This" Festival, Boston Playwrights' Theatre, the Process Series at UNC Chapel Hill, the Z Space, and elsewhere.
Honors include an Australia Council New Work Award ($50,000) to develop You Are Dead. You Are Here., the Rockefeller Center Bellagio Residency Award, a Fulbright Award in Visual and Performing Arts, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) Playwriting Fellowship Award (2009) and Merit Award (2011); two Perishable Theatre Women's Playwriting Competition awards, two MacDowell Colony Fellowships, the Rella Lossy Playwriting Award, the 2007 Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the "Plays for the 21st Century Award" and the Weston Prize for Dramatic Writing. Christine is a 2011 Resident Artist at HERE Arts (NY), and a Women's Project Playwrights' Lab Alum. She holds an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Brown. She held a five-year position as Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on English at Harvard University from 2007-12 and in 2012, joined Georgetown University as Assistant Professor in Performing Arts. www.christine-evans-playwright.com
Barbara FieldCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Barbara Field's work has been seen across the United States, Canada and Europe. She served as playwright-in-residence at the Guthrie Theater from 1974 to 1981, creating a number of pieces: her translations include Marriage (Gogol), Monsieur de Moliere (Bulgakov), and Pantalgleize (Ghelderode). Adaptations for the Guthrie from novels include Camille (Dumas) and Playing With Fire, a response to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. An adaptation commissioned by the Seattle Children's Theater of Great Expectations later played at the Guthrie and traveled the country on an 8-month tour. A revival of Great Expectations won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. Field's adaptation of A Christmas Carol has been a part of the Guthrie's, Louisville's and the Missouri Rep's seasons. For the Seattle Children's Theater she adapted The Boxcar Children and Philip Pullman's I Was a Rat! Her adaptation of Dreams in the Golden Country was performed at the Kennedy Center and on a national tour. Her adaptation of Scaramouche was performed at the Washington Shakespeare Theatre.
Her original work includes Neutral Countries, first produced at the Actors Theater of Louisville's Humana Festival in 1983, where it was named Best American Play; Coming of Age for the Indiana Rep; Quality Time for the Pennsylvania Stage Company; Boundary Waters for California's South Coast Rep (it subsequently won a 1992 DramaLogue Award); and Off the Ice for the Repertory Theater of St. Louis.
She has written one original opera libretto, Rosina (with composer Hiram Titus), which was commissioned and produced by the Minnesota Opera. With Titus she created a musical, The Skinflint, for the Repertory Theater of St. Louis.
Field is a founding member of The Playwrights' Center, Minneapolis. A book of seven of her plays for the Guthrie Theater, New Classics from the Guthrie Theater was published in 2003 by Smith & Kraus. Barbara Field's first anthology: Collected Plays, Volume One was published in 2008.
Idris GoodwinCore Writers // Core Writers //
Idris Goodwin is a playwright, spoken word performer and essayist. His play How We Got On, developed at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center premiered at The 2012 Humana Festival of New Plays. How We Got On (Playscripts, 2013) is being remounted by theaters across the country and was nominated for a ATCA Steinberg New Play award. He is currently developing work with Berkeley Rep, Denver Center Theater, Steppenwolf, StageOne and New Harmony Project. These Are The Breaks (Write Bloody, 2011), his debut collection of essays and poetry, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He's performed on HBO, The Discovery Channel, Sesame Street and National Public Radio. He teaches performance writing and Hip Hop aesthetics at Colorado College.
Sarah GubbinsJerome Fellowships // Affiliated Writer // Core Writers //
Sarah Gubbins is a Chicago playwright. Her full length plays include: The Kid Thing, Cocked, The Drinking Problem, I am Bradley Manning, fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, In Loco Parentis, and Fair Use. She won a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play 2012 for The Kid Thing which was produced by Chicago Dramatists & About Face Theater developed by the Steppenwolf Theater. The Kid Thing won an Edgarton Foundation New American Play Prize. fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life was commissioned and produced by the Steppenwolf Theater in 2012 and published by Dramatic Publishing in 2013. The Drinking Problem won the 2012 Global Age Project sponsored by the Aurora Theater in Berkeley California. The Drinking Problem was developed as part of Playlabs (formerly titled The Water Play) and received additional development from Timeline Theater in Chicago. Her play Fair Use was developed and produced at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company as part of their First Look Repertory of New Plays during the summer of 2008 and was produced in by Actor's Express Theatre in Atlanta. Fair Use was also Finalists in the Alliance Theatre's Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. She was commissioned to write I am Bradley Manning by the Theatre School at DePaul University and the play was produced at the Merle Reskin Theater in Chicago in 2012. Her plays have been read or developed at the Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Center Theatre Group, American Theater Company, About Face Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, The Aurora Theater Company, Timeline Theater, Pine Box Theater, American Theater Company, Next Theatre Company, Actor's Express and Collaboraction. Sarah is the recipient of two City of Chicago CAAP Individual Artist Grants and is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and an Artistic Associate at About Face Theatre. She was the 2010-2011 Carl J. Djerassi Playwriting Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a 2011-2012 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. She is a member of the CTG Writers' Workshop and the Playwrights' Union. She collaborated with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange on A Matter of Origins. In 2012 Sarah was named, Best Playwright of 2012 by Chicago Magazine. She holds an M.F.A. in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern University and currently lives in Los Angeles.
Jeffrey HatcherCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
BROADWAY: Never Gonna Dance (book).
OFF-BROADWAY: Three Viewings and A Picasso at Manhattan Theatre Club; Scotland Road and The Turn of the Screw at Primary Stages; Tuesdays with Morrie (with Mitch Albom) at The Minetta Lane; Murder by Poe, The Turn of the Screw, and The Spy at The Acting Company; Neddy at American Place; and Fellow Travelers at Manhattan Punchline.
OTHER PLAYS/THEATERS: Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Mercy of a Storm, Smash, Armadale, Korczak's Children, To Fool the Eye, The Falls, A Piece of the Rope, Jeffrey Hatcher's Hamlet, The Scarecrow and His Servant, All the Way with LBJ, The Government Inspector, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and others at The Guthrie, Old Globe, Yale Rep, The Geffen, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theater Company, San Jose Rep, The Empty Space, Indiana Rep, Children's Theater Company, History Theater, Madison Rep, Intiman, Illusion, Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, Actors Theater of Louisville, Philadelphia Theater Company, Asolo, City Theater, Studio Arena and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad.
FILM/ TV: Stage Beauty, Casanova, The Duchess, A Slight Trick of the Mind, The Emperor and episodes of Columbo and The Mentalist.
GRANTS/AWARDS: NEA, TCG, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Barrymore Award Best New Play, and 2013 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member and/or alumnus of The Playwrights' Center, the Dramatists Guild, the Writers Guild, and New Dramatists.
Carson KreitzerCore Writers // McKnight Advancement Grants // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Carson Kreitzer's plays include The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, SELF DEFENSE or death of some salesmen, 1:23, Flesh and the Desert, The Slow Drag (New York and London), Freakshow, Slither, Dead Wait, and Take My Breath Away, featured in BAM's 1997 Next Wave Festival. Her plays have been produced or developed by the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Public Theatre, The Royal Court Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Perishable Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Mabou Mines, Frank Theatre, the Actors Gang, and Next Theatre, among others. She is currently working with composer Matt Gould on a musical inspired by art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, commissioned by Yale Rep and New Dramatists through Full Stage USA, and a commission for Marin Theatre Company and the National New Play Network. Grants: NYFA, NYSCA, the NEA, TCG, the Jerome and McKnight Foundations, Loewe Award in Music-Theatre, and the first Playwrights Of New York (PONY) Fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center. B.A.: Yale University. M.F.A.: Michener Center for Writers, UT Austin. Ms. Kreitzer is a resident playwright at New Dramatists, an associated artist with Clubbed Thumb and New Georges, and a member of the Workhaus Collective, the Playwrights' Center and the Dramatists Guild. Behind the Eye, her new play about surrealist muse and WWII combat photographer Lee Miller, premiered at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, directed by Mark Wing-Davey, and supported by a grant from the NEA New Play Development Program. Her collection SELF DEFENSE and other plays is now available from NoPassport Press. More information at www.carsonkreitzer.com.
Marion McClintonCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Marion McClinton (Lifetime Core Writer) Known for his award-winning Broadway and Off-Broadway productions of August Wilson's work, with whom he had a long friendship and professional relationship, Marion directed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Broadway revival), King Hedley II (Broadway premiere, regional theatres), Jitney (Off-Broadway, regional and international theatres), Gem of the Ocean (Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum), Seven Guitars and Two Trains Running (CenterStage), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Repertory), Fences (Indiana Repertory Theatre, Paramount Pictures). Other directing credits include Breath Boom (Playwrights Horizons), Jar the Floor (Off-Broadway), Roar (New Group), Thunder Knocking on the Door (regional theatres), Drowning Crow (premiere, Broadway MTC), Elmina's Kitchen (CenterStage), Yellowman (Mixed Blood/Guthrie Theater), Bulrusher (Pillsbury House) and Pure Confidence (Mixed Blood). Mr. McClinton is an Associate Artist of CenterStage. His plays include Police Boys and Stones and Bones (1994 Humana Festival). Awards include three Audelco Awards, Kesselring Prize, OBIE, NEA/TCG Pew Charitable Trust Grant, Drama Desk and Evening Standard nominations. He is an alumnus of both New Dramatists and the Playwrights' Center.
Gregory MossJerome Fellowships // McKnight Advancement Grants // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Gregory Moss is a writer and performer from Newburyport, Massachusetts.
He holds an M.F.A. from Brown University's Graduate Playwriting Program. His plays include Reunion, punkplay, The Uses of Enchantment, Billy Witch, and House of Gold.
His work has been developed with or produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, the A.R.T., The Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Empty Space, Playwrights Horizons, PlayPenn, Soho Rep and New York Theatre Workshop.
His collaborations with filmmaker Roger Warren Beebe have been screened widely at film festivals both in America and abroad.
Gregory is the recipient of a 2010-11 Jerome Fellowship and a 2011-12 McKnight Fellowship. Other awards: 2006-07 Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, a 2008 Millay Colony Residency, a 2009 Eugene O'Neill Center National Playwrights Conference residency. Gregory is a former member of ars nova's Playgroup and Soho Rep's New Writers Lab.
Recent productions include House of Gold (EST - LA), Billy Witch (Studio 42, NY), The Uses of Enchantment (Studio Festival, DC) and The Abducted (Collaboraction, Chicago).
Upcoming productions include Reunion (The Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep Festival) and The Uses of Enchantment (Workhaus Collective).
Writing, video and audio are archived at www.gregorysmoss.com.
Qui NguyenCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Qui Nguyen is a Brooklyn-based playwright, TV writer, and Co-Founder of the OBIE Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. His work, known for its innovative use of stage violence, puppetry, and multimedia has been called as "Wildly Inventive", "Infectious Fun", and "Tour De Force Theatre" by The New York Times, Variety, and Time Out New York. This past season, The Chicago Tribune praised Qui as a "refreshing, break-the-rules writer" and Time Out Chicago named his play She Kills Monsters one of the 10 Best Plays of 2013.
Quis other plays include Soul Samurai; Alice in Slasherland; The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; and the musicals Krunk Fu Battle Battle; War is F**king Awesome; and Samantha Rai and the Shoguns of Fear.
He is a proud member of The Playwrights Center, New Dramatists, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Ma-Yi Writers Lab, and a recent Sundance Institute Fellow. For television, Qui writes for PBS KIDS Peg+Cat.
His company, Vampire Cowboys, often considered the pioneers of "Geek Theatre", holds the unique distinction of being the first and only professional theatre organization to be sponsored by NY Comic Con.
Kira ObolenskyCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Kira Obolensky is a playwright and writer who lives in Minneapolis. New work includes Force/Matter, with Shawn McConneloug, The Oldest Story in the World, created collaboratively with Theatre Novi Most; Cabinet of Wonder: an impossible history (Open Eye, Minneapolis. Gas and Electric Arts, Philadelphia Barrymore best new play nomination); Raskol (commissioned and produced by Ten Thousand Things Theatre and featured on critics' end of year lists); and Modern House, finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburne Prize. Kira is a Guggenheim Fellow and has also received fellowships and grants from the Henson Foundation, NEA and Irvine Foundations, Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and Jerome Foundation. She attended Williams College and Juilliard's Playwriting Program and y completed an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing at Warren Wilson's M.F.A. Program for Writers. She is the author of three published books about architecture and design and is the co-author of the national bestseller The Not So Big House. A Core Writer at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, Kira teaches writing at Spalding University's low residency M.F.A. program, at Goddard College's MFA Program in Interdisciplinary Arts in Vermont, and also at the University of Minnesota.
John OliveCore Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers // Core Writers //
John Olive is a widely produced and award winning playwright, a novelist, a screenwriter and a theater reviewer.
His plays include: Standing on my Knees, Minnesota Moon, The Voice of the Prairie, Evelyn and the Polka King, Killers, The Summer Moon, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, Careless Love, God Fire, Singapore, and many others. Producing theaters include: the Manhattan Theatre Club, Old Globe, Steppenwolf, Wisdom Bridge, South Coast Rep, Alley Theater, the Guthrie, Actors Theatre Of Louisville, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT/Seattle, and many others. John has developed plays at the ONeill, Sundance, New Harmony Project, PlayLabs, the Playwrights Center, etc.
Lately John has written many plays for young audiences, both adaptations and originals: Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Johnny Tremain, Jason and the Golden Fleece, The Magic Bicycle, Pharaoh Serket and the Lost Stone of Fire, Water Babies, among others. These plays have been widely produced, at Seattle Childrens Theatre, First Stage Milwaukee, Stage One Louisville, Oregon Childrens, the Arden Theatre, Peoples Light and Theatre Co., Dallas Childrens Theatre, Main Street Theatre, others. John just optioned the stage rights to a popular series of childrens books, The Sisters Eight.
Awards include: a Jerome Fellowship, three McKnight Fellowships, a National Endowment For The Arts Fellowship, two Bush Fellowships, the Society of Midland Authors Award For Drama (Standing on my Knees), Kennedy Center Award For New Plays (The Summer Moon), Rockefeller Residency (Wisdom Bridge). John has written screen and teleplays for: Disney, Amblin Entertainment, ShadowCatcher Entertainment, Yorktown Productions, Lorimar Television, among others. His screenplay A Slaying Song Tonight has just been finished.
Johns book about bedtime stories, Tell Me A Story In The Dark, will be published shortly by Familius. John has two YA novels going: Smartass and Deep River (in collaboration with David Grant). Audiobooks based on Johns novellas will shortly be available. John writes reviews and essays for HowWasTheShow.com and does voice acting, through Talent Poole.
He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Mary and their son Michael.
His website is: http://johnolive.net
Susan Soon He StantonCore Writers
Susan Soon He Stanton is a playwright and screenwriter based in New York, originally from the consonant-free town of Aiea, Hawai'i.
Her plays include Takarazuka!!! (East West Players, Clubbed Thumb), SEEK (Public Theater Spotlight Series), Cygnus (Finalist Susan Glaspell Prize, Inkwell Workshop), The Underneath (Kumu Kahua, Yale Cabaret), The Nose (Perry Mansfield), Art of Preservation (published by Broadway Play Publishing, produced by Yale School of Drama, and Kumu Kahua), Whatever Happened To John Boy Kihano? (Kumu Kahua, winner of Hawaii Prize), Furball, the things are against us (workshop at Lark Studio Retreat, Yale's Carlotta Festival production), Edible Restaurant, a musical with composer Greta Gertler (Joe's Pub, commissioned by New Sounds Theatre). Susan was Honolulu Theatre for Youth's (HTY) resident playwright for their 2010-11 season. HTY commissioned her to write Navigator and Where Do Things Go?
Work developed at Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hedgebrook, Unicorn Theater, Rising Circle, TerraNova, 2G, Flea, Lark, Southern Rep, American Blues Theater, New Century Theater Company, Leviathan Lab, Centenary Stage, Inkwell, Voice and Vision.
Fellowships: (Present) Playwrights' Center Core Writer, MaYi, (Past): Lark Van Lier Fellow, SoHo Writer-Director Lab, Public Emerging Writers Group, SoHo Rep Writer-Director Lab, TerraNova Groundbreakers.
She has received a Sloan Foundation Feature Film Development Grant and screenwriting award. Films include Dress (winner of 2014 Hawaii International Film Festival Audience Award), Dispatched, Good House, and Same Will. MFA: Yale Playwriting, BFA: NYU Tisch Dramatic Writing.
Ken UrbanCore Writers
Ken Urban is a playwright and screenwriter based in New York. His plays have been produced and developed at Summer Play Festival at The Public, Donmar Warehouse (London), Epic Theatre Ensemble, Studio 42, Theatre @ Boston Court, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Irish Rep, Primary Stages, kef productions, Stable Cable, and The Huntington. During the 2013-14 season, The Awake opened at 59E59 Theatres in August, starring Maulik Pancholy from Weeds and 30 Rock. The New York Times named the show a Critic's Pick and it played for a sold out run. The Correspondent was part of the season at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. The production, directed by Stephen Brackett (Buyer and Cellar), featuring Thomas Jay Ryan, received four stars from Time Out's Adam Feldman and was lauded by Joan Rivers in the New York Post. In 2015, A Future Perfect will receive its World Premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston. Awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, Huntington Theater Playwriting Fellowship, Djerassi Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, and MacDowell Colony Fellowships. The feature film adaptation of his play The Happy Sad, with a screenplay by the author, and directed by Rodney Evans, premiered at Frameline and OutFest. The film screened at over twenty-five film festivals in the US and abroad, with theatrical releases in New York and Los Angeles. The film is available on Netflix and iTunes. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, and The Awake will also appear in an upcoming issue of TheatreForum. He plays in the band Occurrence and their latest album D E C K S came out in early 2014. Their releases are available from Insound and Bandcamp. www.kenurban.org
Joe WaechterJerome Fellowships // Jerome Fellowships // McKnight Advancement Grants // Core Writers //
Joe Waechter is a playwright and theatre-maker living in Minneapolis.
His plays include: The Hidden People, PROFILES, Lake Untersee, Good Ol Boys, and The Strangler. His work has been developed with or produced by Playwrights Horizons, Guthrie Theatre, Ars Nova, American Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Trinity Repertory Theatre, The Kennedy Center, PlayPenn, Red Eye Theatre, and the Inkwell, among others.
Awards include the AracaWorks Graduate Playwriting Prize, Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fellowship, and a McKnight Advancement Grant and two Jerome Fellowships at the Playwrights' Center.
He is a member of Workhaus Collective, Space on Ryder Farm's Working Farm writers group, and the Dramatists Guild. He has been a resident at Hangar Theatre, Tofte Lake Center, the 2014 Red Eye Works-in-Progress series, and, in summer 2014, was invited to develop a new play aboard an ice-class sailing vessel in the Arctic Circle.
M.F.A. Brown University. www.joewaechter.com
Kathryn WalatCore Writers
KATHRYN WALAT is a playwright with an interest in the details and rhythms of contemporary life, as she explores beyond the norms of dramatic structure and language. Her play Creation premiered at The Theatre @ Boston Court (Pasadena), and was nominated for a 2013 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Playwriting. Her Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen premiered at the Women's Project, and was published in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 1997 (Smith & Kraus) and in Dramatics magazine. Her politically resonant Bleeding Kansas premiered at the Hangar Theatre (Ithaca), and received a Francesca Primus citation from the American Theatre Critics Association. Other works include This Is Not Antigone (New Georges' Germ Project); Know Dog (Salvage Vanguard, Austin); Johnny Hong Kong (Perishable Theatre, Providence). Walat has received commissions from MCC Theatre, Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse (Miss Electricity), and Actors' Theatre of Louisville (On the Road Anthology). Her work has also been developed at The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, Sundance Theatre Lab, Voice & Visions, and Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She is a member of the Playwrights Coalition at MCC and is an Affiliated Playwright with New Georges. She is also the co-librettist, with composer Gregory Spears, of the opera Paul's Case (adapted from the Willa Cather story), which in winter 2014 made its New York premiere at the Prototype music/theater festival, and was performed at Pittsburgh Opera. In summer 2014, her play See Bat Fly, developed at the Orchard Project, will be produced in Providence at Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre. Walat teaches playwriting at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and splits her time between Savannah and New York. BA Brown University, MFA Yale School of Drama.
Ken WeitzmanCore Writers
Ken Weitzmans plays include, The Catch (Denver Center Theatre Company), Fire in the Garden (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The As If Body Loop (Humana Festival), Arrangements (Atlantic Theatre Company, Pavement Group), Spin Moves (The Summer Play Festival). His devised work includes, Memorabilia (Alliance Theatre), Hominid (Out of Hand Theatre/Theatre Emory/Oerol Festival Netherlands), and Stadium 360 (Out Of Hand Theatre). Plays-in-progress include, Reclamation (O'Neill National Playwrights Conference) and Halftime with Don (reading at City Theatres Momentum Festival).
National Awards include The L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Arrangements, TCG Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for The Catch, the Fratti/Newman Political Play Contest Award for Fire in the Garden, and the Elizabeth George Commission for an Outstanding Emerging Playwright.
Commissions include Arena Stage, the Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Emory, and South Coast Repertory Theatre. Ken was previously the writer-in-residence for Out of Hand Theatre and is currently a board member and script selection chair for the New Harmony Project.
Ken received his MFA from the University of California, San Diego and has taught at Indiana University (Head of the MFA in Playwriting program), UCSD, Emory University, and come this fall at Stony Brook University.
Lauren YeeCore Apprentices // Core Writers // Core Writers //
Lauren Yees work explores the line between humor and heartbreak to create wildly theatrical work.
Her plays include Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian, Mu Performing Arts, SIS Productions, Impact Theatre), Crevice (Impact Theatre), The Hatmakers Wife (Playwrights Realm, The Hub, Moxie Theatre, AlterTheater, PlayPenn), Hookman (Company One workshop), in a word (Hangar and Williamstown workshops), Samsara (ONeill Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Victory Gardens IGNITION Festival), and The Tiger Among Us (MAP Fund, Mu Performing Arts). Upcoming productions in the 2014/15 season at Victory Gardens, San Francisco Playhouse, and the Cleveland Public Theatre.
Work developed at Lincoln Center/LCT3, The Magic, The Public, Rattlestick, and Kitchen Dog. Former Dramatists Guild fellow, MacDowell fellow, and Public Theater Emerging Writers Group member.
Fellowships: Women's Project Lab, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Playwrights Realm Page One residency, Playwrights Center Core Writer. Commissions: Goodman Theatre, Lincoln Center/LCT3, Mixed Blood, Encore Theatre, and TheatreworksUSA. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD.