Last October, I went out to Los Angeles for a production of one of my plays at Theatre of NOTE. While I was there, I had an opportunity to sit in on a couple of classes that my friend, Lee Wochner, teaches at USC. It was Lee who said to me, shortly after we met and right after he saw a staged reading that I had directed, that it's great when you see the work of someone you like and you like the work, too. While I'd seen and enjoyed Lee's work as a playwright and director, I'd never seen him in action as a teacher. All I can say is, I wish I'd had professors that good when I was in college... and I had some pretty good ones. As an example, I point you to this post on his blog, which he used in class that day. Not being someone with those kinds of analytical skills, I find the people who have them most impressive.
By any other name
3 days ago
2 comments:
Hi Barry! It's Johnna Adams. I love the new blog! And what a small world-- I didn't know you knew Lee Wochner! I was in his playwriting workshop at Moving Arts for a year or so in Los Angeles, just before I moved to New York. I LOVE him as a playwriting instructor. He attracted the best students in the city and the work in that workshop was consistently some of the strongest I saw in LA. And he is just such a great guy. You will have to tell him I said hello next time you talk to him.
Happy blogging.
Thanks, Johnna! Yeah, Lee is a great guy and it was a great experience sitting in his lectures. There was an antediluvian time when I'd considered being a teacher... seeing someone who's really good at it made me realize that I made the right choice! You should check out the moving arts The Car Plays (http://www.movingarts.org/nowplaying.html). I didn't see them because they ended the week before I was out there but Lee showed some video of a couple in class that were very cool. It's a clever idea for a short play festival.
Barry
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