Article in the Dramatist Guild’s online news — BY DAWN JAMIESON

Zoom playwright groups have made a very positive addition to my creative life as a playwright and an actor. PAGES is one such group. It meets every Tuesday evening and provides a space and time to practice my crafts. I was able to develop my new play, Mush Hole, about the residential schools that existed for over 140 years in the US and Canada and were formed to “take the Indian out of the Indians” and to address “the Indian Problem.” This play recently had a zoom reading for the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. As an actor in PAGES, I have the opportunity to work on many plays from many playwrights, which keeps my skills fresh. Auditions have been taking place on Zoom and have been posted by Actors’ Equity, Actors’ Access, AMERINDA (American Indian Artists, Inc.), SAG-AFTRA, and Native Voices at the Autry. The following groups offer Zoom classes for acting and writing: AEA, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild Institute, and Course Horse, which includes the Gotham Writers’ Workshops. Fortunately, I have been able to tune in to readings that have expanded my perspective to include actors, directors, and writers from across the US and Canada. Zoom has provided a way for the arts community to keep in touch and develop new works during this pandemic. Thankfully, it continues to offer them even as we are recovering. There are still many of us who enjoy working from home.