From Anette (She/Her):

As an early career director, how do I get in touch with playwrights to begin cultivating projects and new work that I can help bring to life and direct? How do I meet playwrights?

From Marta (They/Them)  

How do you network as a socially anxious person, and without feeling slimy? I want to approach artists who I admire, but I don’t want them to feel like they’re being “networked with”. I often won’t express my love of a piece even when I have the opportunity to personally thank the artist. I know it’s holding me back in my career. How do I tackle this?

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Dear Networkers,

If reaching out with a compliment or asking for a play feels “slimy,” then you might want to interrogate where that comes from. What do you have to lose?!

This is a career based on relationships. You’ve got to be willing to start a dialogue with other people. Every time I enter one of those conversations with the idea that I need to “get something” from the other person, I fail tremendously. Like ‘spilling a drink on the other person, bad-mouthing their friend to their face’ kind of fails.

But when I go into these events and conversations with genuine curiosity for the other person and their art, it sometimes opens the door for another conversation. And that’s now my goal at any event: can I speak to three strangers and have that result in one follow-up conversation? These conversations are just building blocks towards community, not a means to an end.

Also, no one gets paid enough in the theater. Sharing how their art moved you might be what someone needs to hear to keep going. We’re all in the trenches, no matter where we are in our careers. A compliment just might make someone’s day.

What have you got to lose?

Fefu

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