"What was extraordinary . . . was the almost instant call — by representatives of three large theatres . . . for playwrights to stop focusing on something that's probably not going to happen for a variety of predominantly economic reasons, and instead to channel that passion and energy to either co-producing . . . or self-producing."

". . . there was something empowering in dramatists realizing that if they want their stories told to a local audience, they'd most likely have to figure out for themselves how best to do that. And they should. They should figure it out because every voice should be heard, and every story desperately needs to be told."

—Gary Garrison, Executive Director, Creative Affairs, Dramatist's Guild of America, in "The Dramatist," Jul⁄Aug 2008, p. 36

Seattle isn't the only market where Guild members have expressed this statement. Though Chicago is a very progressive theatre town with many outlets for new works, the truth spoken by the Seattle dramatists and the Seattle theatres rings true here, too.

At the most recent DGA Chicago meeting, Doug Post hosted representatives from five theatres; The Goodman, Marriott, House Theatre, Lookinglass and Rivevdell. The topic of discussion was the submission process. In summation, though all theatres stated that will accept submissions, the reality is that almost all the new projects they do come from within their own ranks. Looking closer at a few examples, House (a group of young actors out of Texas who moved to Chicago to start a theatre company) Lookinglass (a group formed out of Northwestern students) and Rivendell (a group formed by professional actors who couldn’t find enough work in town to satisfy their needs)—they all basically "self-produce” new works. A member of their company writes a script and the others fill out the various artistic and business positions needed to get the play to an audience.

Regarding a TBC forum with John Sparks hosting Tony Award winning composer/lyricist Mark Hollmann (Urinetown), composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe (from the Cameron Macintosh stable, Mary Poppins, Honk, etc.):

All of the people up on the stage tonight self-produced at one point or other in their creative life's. And in some cases, for projects they believe in, they still have to stick their necks out. They (because of actual proof of success on a major level), get commissions for producers projects—but for the projects they choose to do on their own, they still have to fight tooth and nail and still have to be more than just "writers" in the process.

One of the highlights for me was a refreshingly detailed answer from Mark describing how he and his collaborators self-produced Urinetown, eventually for the Fringe Festival in NY, and how it went from there to Off-Broadway, then Broadway, and then a Tony.

The moral of these stories is if you have spent the time writing your play, in some cases, years, and now you (and others) feel the play is finished—well "don’t wait. Do it yourself.”

And so, we are forming WeGoCentric to encourage writers to be entrepreneurs and to further their work via alternative methods. WeGoCentric wants to empower and assist you, the writer, to self produce, self promote and maybe even self publish your plays.

Rivendell and House and Lookinglass were mentioned earlier—all wonderful companies—and that is the key. They are companies—families, in a way. Even before they started working on their very first original work, there was a level of trust—artistic trust—that preceded the process. They had gone to school together, worked on shows together before and in many cases had already developed original material outside the boundaries of their new companies.

In our case, WeGoCentric wants to provide writers with a similar support system by connecting them with producers, directors, actors and support people who know how to work on new plays. WeGoCentric wants the writer to get the most out of the experience, therefore, our line-producers and directors will show writers the ropes, so to speak, guiding them along the way in the process of creating new works. We hope to provide a level of artistic trust so that you know your play is getting the attention it needs, whatever service WeGoCentric is providing.