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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week Cathy Bencivenga.
I wish I had had time to dive a little deeper this week, but opening was more of a time suck than I thought it would be, and at the risk of getting soap-boxy, I had an insane two show day of crazy patrons and technical difficulties.
But, I think I have managed to thoroughly introduce you to my two companies, TACT (The Actors Company Theatre) and The Internationalists.
I mentioned the other day that I had the unique situation of having one company run by actors and one company run by directors. I know of many collaborative Indie companies run by mostly slashies (actors/directors/writers, etc) but these are two of very few companies that I know of created and run by such specific subsets, and I think in both cases it highly defines their working methods.
Similarly, I mentioned how each company operates outside the typical OOB world. For The Internationalists, it's under the radar, producing mostly short runs or web based events, often not utilizing a showcase code or AEA actors so that we can avoid video recording or development process guidelines. With TACT, we float in the world between OOB and OB, competing on high levels with more limited resources than most of our peers.
Both companies are also tied strongly to very specific, highly motivating missions and maintain a constant eye to producing at the highest level of quality for their means.
Ultimately, it's all of these qualities that gives each of them their identities within the vast NYC theatre landscape. And, I think in that they are great examples of what the indie community has to offer that is interesting. Particularly working at Theatre Row over the last 5 years, I have seen a lot of companies come in and out around us that for the most part are indistinguishable from each other, getting lost in a sea of "similar." And if I have any message for my theatre making peers out there, it is to do something different, distinguishable.
As a final piece of shameless promotion - come see The Memorandum and/or participate in this awesome workshop http://theinternationalists.org/ira.html.
Also, a big thanks to Shay and Morgan and the rest of the IT folk for having me this week. If not a constant blogger, you've certainly turned me into an avid "Full of IT" reader.
But, I think I have managed to thoroughly introduce you to my two companies, TACT (The Actors Company Theatre) and The Internationalists.
I mentioned the other day that I had the unique situation of having one company run by actors and one company run by directors. I know of many collaborative Indie companies run by mostly slashies (actors/directors/writers, etc) but these are two of very few companies that I know of created and run by such specific subsets, and I think in both cases it highly defines their working methods.
Similarly, I mentioned how each company operates outside the typical OOB world. For The Internationalists, it's under the radar, producing mostly short runs or web based events, often not utilizing a showcase code or AEA actors so that we can avoid video recording or development process guidelines. With TACT, we float in the world between OOB and OB, competing on high levels with more limited resources than most of our peers.
Both companies are also tied strongly to very specific, highly motivating missions and maintain a constant eye to producing at the highest level of quality for their means.
Ultimately, it's all of these qualities that gives each of them their identities within the vast NYC theatre landscape. And, I think in that they are great examples of what the indie community has to offer that is interesting. Particularly working at Theatre Row over the last 5 years, I have seen a lot of companies come in and out around us that for the most part are indistinguishable from each other, getting lost in a sea of "similar." And if I have any message for my theatre making peers out there, it is to do something different, distinguishable.
As a final piece of shameless promotion - come see The Memorandum and/or participate in this awesome workshop http://theinternationalists.org/ira.html.
Also, a big thanks to Shay and Morgan and the rest of the IT folk for having me this week. If not a constant blogger, you've certainly turned me into an avid "Full of IT" reader.
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