Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Daniel Guyton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I run a writers’ group called Atlanta Dramatists, and we get together twice a month and read through plays and screenplays written by members, and then give comprehensive feedback to help each writer enhance their scripts. Of course, no idea is created in a vacuum, and the idea behind this group was inspired by decades of personal experience as a member of similar groups. I was in college when I first started writing plays, and my roommate and I were both actors. I would write scripts and he and I would sit in my living room and act them out – with each of us playing multiple characters. Eventually, we began inviting other friends over, and I would often buy pizzas and beer for everyone, and the group of us would read my scripts aloud. It was a great deal of fun, and my actor friends seemed to enjoy the process – but all of the scripts were written by me, and so the writing part was not very communal. Eventually, a professor at our school began incorporating a salon-like group at the university where playwrights could present their works to a small audience and bring in actors from the theatre department to perform them. By the time I graduated, this group had a huge following and we often sold out the theatre for our readings (Of course, tickets were free, so “sold out” is a bit misleading, but we definitely filled up the seats). After graduating, I missed these salon-like sessions and began seeking them out from local theatres. Occasionally, I would find a staged reading here or there, and I would still bribe friends with pizza and beer to come over and read my scripts, but it wasn’t until I moved to Tampa that I joined a playwriting group called PlayWorks, which was exactly what I was looking for – a salon-like playwriting group that met in a member’s home. We would each chip in $5, and the homeowner would buy snacks and drinks for everyone, and then we would read each other’s scripts. It was very communal and relaxed, and we built up a great camaraderie with each other.

Eventually, I moved away from Tampa, and began seeking out other playwriting groups in my new home of Atlanta. There were a few groups in Atlanta doing similar things, including Working Title Playwrights and Onion Man Productions. I participated in each group for some time, but ultimately decided to create my own group in conjunction with a local community theatre, which would hopefully feel more like the group I had joined in Tampa – communal, relaxed, and inexpensive. Within that group, we performed readings of well over 300 plays, and helped countless playwrights hone their craft. Unfortunately, I had to part ways with that community theatre and writing group this year, but that’s where Atlanta Dramatists comes in. We’ve only started this group a few months ago, and we’ve already read 14 scripts from different writers and have full-length readings lined up through May of 2024, so it’s clearly been resonant with many writers.

Daniel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been a playwright since 1998 when I wrote my first play in college. Since then, I have earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Georgia and have had over 600 productions of my plays around the world. I have had over 50 publications of my plays and have won numerous awards. I teach theatre and playwriting in college, and have sat on the boards of numerous organizations, including Georgia Theatre Conference, Working Title Playwrights, Fayette County Arts Council, and more. I enjoy helping other artists succeed in their craft, and I love the camaraderie that forms when likeminded artists get together and share their ideas.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Unfortunately, when dealing with any communal organization, there is always a risk of someone joining that community that is not very healthy for other members. That was certainly the case in the last writer’s group that I was in charge of. We were directly affiliated with a local community theatre, and one member of that theatre was being sexually and racially inappropriate with other members of the theatre, including someone very close to me. When six artists (including myself) got together to report this person’s actions to the board of that theatre, I was told that my writer’s group was no longer welcome at that theatre, and that I would have to change the name of my writer’s group, because the original name was too similar to the theatre’s name. The person who was inappropriate is still working at that theatre, which is quite disturbing and upsetting to me. However, I have chosen not to let that person’s actions (or the theatre’s enabling of his actions) get me down. Instead, I have rebranded the writer’s group as Atlanta Dramatists, and we have found a new home and a new mission, which is to create a safe and nurturing environment for all writers to participate in, without fear of bullying or harassment.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part about being a theatrical artist is the ability to work with other artists. I have met so many talented and creative individuals in this industry, and I am always mesmerized by watching them do amazing things. I consider myself talented as well, but for me, the entire purpose of continuously honing my talents is so that I might feel worthy to share the space with all these other incredibly talented people. I never enter a theatre thinking I am better than the artists around me. I always enter hoping that they might see me an equal, or at least as someone potentially worthy of being an equal. If a script I write can make an actor feel empowered on that stage, I consider myself fortunate. If I can coach another playwright to create an award-winning script, I feel honored to have helped in some way. If I direct a play, and my choices help the cast and crew transport the audience to another place, I feel so wonderful to be a part of it. For me, creating theatre is not just about enhancing my own ego (Although, I do confess that my ego does pop up from time to time), but it is far more about becoming a part of something larger where we each work together to grow as artists. I have always been awed by talented people, and it’s been my dream since I was a child that I would one day be a lucky enough to work with (and hopefully even inspire) some truly incredible people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.danguyton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dguyton21
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dguyton21/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-guyton-34277/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dguyton21
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielGuyton