Working Period.

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Heather Cunningham

It’s in the details. Whether your production is on Broadway or in a 40-seat theater on a side street in an industrial neighborhood, it’s in the details. The angle of the heel on the shoe, the buttons on the coat, the frame of the chair, the packaging of the cigarettes. And when your audience practically sits in your actors’ laps it is even more important that those details be as right as possible.

It’s hard work. It’s my own fault Retro Productions does nothing but period pieces. But the truth is, I love those details. I love doing the research and playing hide and seek with the items that will make those details right. And nothing drives me crazier than going to see a show set in 1960 and seeing a modern package of Ronzoni on the stage.

I know there is an argument, especially in Off-Off Broadway where money is ridiculously tight, for simplifying the experience. Why do you need a set, costumes and props to tell the story? Why not just focus on the acting, and save a ton of money in the process? And that’s right for certain plays (and hell, focus on the acting no matter what). But if you are doing a play that belongs in another world, say, the New York City of the mid-1950s (as Retro will be doing again this May with THE DESK SET), you really can’t get away with that.

The world has changed and so has the way people interact with each other and the material things in their lives. We dial and hold the telephone differently. We pack and carry our suitcases differently. We even type differently (tell the truth, would you even know how to change a typewriter ribbon now if you had to?). As the things around us change, so do our interactions with them, which is why I object to modern props and costumes in a play set in the past.

So how do you get the details right when your combined costume, prop and scenery budget are just a couple of hundred dollars?

1) RESEARCH! (The good news is if you have a library card and an Internet connection, you can do this step for free!) Know what it should look like and you will start to see the things around you that may not be vintage, but come so close that they won’t stick out like a sore thumb. (Check back for some of my favorite 20th Century research resources.)

2) “Beg, borrow and steal” (I’m not condoning the latter.) Obviously we all do this anyway, but it still applies! In addition to treasure hunting at estate and yard sales, junktique stores, salvage dealers, freecycle, ebay, craigslist, dollar stores and thrift shops I also fully admit to dumpster diving. I’m always checking out what people have tossed… one mans trash is another mans treasure!

3) Time is on my side, yes it is! And it can be on your side too. I occasionally take up to 6 months in advance of a show in order to get what I need within my budget. Time to spare can be your greatest ally when working on a budget.

4) Learn Photoshop. Need a mid-40s dust jacket for War and Peace? A ‘60s box of Wheaties with a ball player on the front? A can of tomato juice out of the ‘50s? At Retro we’ve done them all… with Photoshop.

5) No matter how gorgeous the costume, the look is not period complete without the right hair and make up. As a producer it makes me crazy (and I’m willing to bet costume designers hate it too) when actors don’t understand that the wrong hairstyle or shade of lips can throw the entire balance of the design off.

6) Don’t focus on what something is; see what it can be. I’ve had more than one designer for Retro who took apart something they bought at Goodwill and made it into something else. I’ve seen an early 90s cotton wrap dress transformed into a 30s day dress with a few cuts and stitches and a set of vintage buttons. And that modern sofa looked a lot less “Jennifer Convertibles” once the throw pillows of 50s fabric were put on top of it.

7) She’s crafty and she’s just my type… learn how to make stuff. Because when you can’t find it, you’ll have no choice but to make it. Giant wheel of cheese? Check. Bad modern art? Check. Wood burning cook stove? Check. Room sized “electronic brain”… check back with me in May.

And the diner jukebox that everyone loved… a combination of plywood, colorful plastic rods, kitchen lamps, and, yes, photoshopped images… if I had a buck for everyone who asked me where we got an old jukebox I’d have more money than it cost to make it.

And that’s one definition of being innovative, don’t you think?

Here they are!

The 2009 IT Awards Nominees were announced tonight! For those of you who couldn't make it, it was a great time! A HUGE thank you to the AMAZING volunteers for making the evening possible.

The evening also celebrated the 5th birthday for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. The founders commemorated by presenting the inaugural Founder's Award to Akia, for her undying support and unwavering devotion since year one of the organization. Cheers to Akia!

And Now, the 2009 Nominees!

Outstanding Full-Length Script
Johnna Adams, Angel Eaters (Flux Theatre Ensemble)
Derek Ahonen, Amerissiah (The Amoralists Theatre Company)
James Carmichael, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Babel Theatre Project)
Nat Cassidy, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (Gallery Players/Engine37)
Kate McGovern, Blue Before Morning (terraNOVA Collective)
Mac Rogers, Universal Robots (Manhattan Theatre Source/Dark Brew Productions)

Outstanding Original Short Script
Martin Dockery, The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Ira Gamerman, Dated: A Cautionary Tale for Facebook Users (Elephants on Parade 2009, EBE Ensemble)
Jeff Grow, Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Kristen Kosmas, The Scandal! (The Management)
Kitt Lavoie, [Pwnd] (Rising Sun Performance Company)
Nico Vreeland, The Interview (Elephants on Parade 2009, EBE Ensemble)

Outstanding Performance Art Production
Cirque du Quoi?!? (Human Flight Productions, Inc. & Gramily Entertainment)
Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Miss America (LaMaMa ETC in association with Split Britches)
Dracula (Radiotheatre)
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (New York Neo-Futurists)
Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)

Outstanding Production of a Musical
Coming, Aphrodite! (LaMaMa ETC in association with Watson Arts)
Like You Like It (The Gallery Players)
Ragtime (Astoria Performing Arts Center)
The 103rd Annual Performance of Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse, Presented by Murgatroyd's Hospital for Mental Rehabilitation, Ruddy Gore Maine (Theater 1010)
The Apple Sisters (The Apple Sisters)
The Who's Tommy (The Gallery Players)

Outstanding Production of a Play
Blue Before Morning (terraNOVA Collective)
Lee/gendary (HERE Arts Center)
Still the River Runs (Zootopia Theatre Company)
Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Babel Theatre Project)
Suspicious Package: an interactive noir (The Fifth Wall)
The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (Gallery Players/Engine37)
Universal Robots (Manhattan Theatre Source/Dark Brew Productions)

Outstanding Solo Performance
Martin Dockery, The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Leigh Evans, Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Jeff Grow, Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Abena Koomson, Cozi Sa Wala: Magic Words (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Micia Mosely, Where My Girls At? (Nursha/soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Una Aya Osato, Recess (FRIGID Festival)

Outstanding Director
Geordie Broadwater, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Nat Cassidy, Any Day Now
Gia Forakis, Blue Before Morning
Vit Horejs, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Matthew J. Nichols, Still the River Runs
Suzi Takahashi, Lee/gendary

Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role
William Apps IV, Amerissiah
Nicoye Banks, The High Priestess of Dark Alley
Roy Clary, McReele
Clint Morris, Like You Like It
Jeffrey Plunkett, All the Rage
Chris Thorn, Most Damaging Wound

Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role
Ivanna Cullinan, The Granduncle Quadrilogy: Tales from the Land of Ice
Brynn Curry, Like You Like It
Phyllis Johnson, Blue Before Morning
Maura McNamara, The Real Thing
Constance Parng, Lee/gendary
Aura Vence, The High Priestess of Dark Alley

Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role
Julian Elfer, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Jaron Farnham, Still the River Runs
Steve French, Still the River Runs
Jason Howard, Universal Robots
David Ian Lee, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots
August Schulenburg, 8 Little Antichrists

Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role
Katrina Foy Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Soomi Kim, Lee/gendary
Jan Maxwell, Scenes from an Execution
Nedra McClyde, Miss Evers' Boys
Kate Middleton, Avow
Elyse Mirto, Any Day Now

Outstanding Ensemble
(Not) Just A Day Like Any Other (Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, Kevin R. Free & Eevin Hartsough)
Blue Before Morning (Kether Donohue, Phyllis Johnson, Jenny Maguire, Chris McKinney, Flaco Navaja & Jennifer Dorr White)
Most Damaging Wound (Bard Goodrich, Ken Matthews, Megan McQuillan, Michael Solomon, Michael Szeles & Chris Thorn)
Oph3lia (Laura Butler, Drae Campbell, Dawn Eshelman, Connie Hall, Ikuko Ikari, Hana Kalinski, Eunjee Lee, Mark Lindberg, Alanna Medlock, Jy Murphy, Jorge Alberto Rubio, Maureen Sebastian & Magin Shantz)
Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Geraldine Bartlett, Brian D. Coats, Katrina Foy, William Jackson Harper, Khris Lewin, Carolyn McCandlish, Joe Mullen, Frank Rodriguez, Christopher Rubin, Jeremy Schwartz, Joe Sullivan & Andrew Zimmerman)
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Joe Basile, Jill Beckman, Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, Cara Francis, Kevin R. Free, Ryan Good, Alicia Harding, Eevin Hartsough, Sarah Levy, Erica Livingston, Jacquelyn Landgraf, Rob Neill, Lauren Parish, Joey Rizzolo & Justin Tolley)
Universal Robots (Esther Barlow, Jennifer Gordon Thomas, Jason Howard, David Lamberton, David Ian Lee, Michelle O'Connor, Ridley Parson, Nancy Sirianni, Tarantino Smith & Ben Sulzbach)

Outstanding Original Music
Drew Cutler, Still the River Runs
Mark Ettinger and Paul Foglino, Coming, Aphrodite!
Kimmy Gatewood, Andy Hertz, Rebekka Johnson, Sarah Lowe and Jeff Solomon, The Apple Sisters
Gerard Keenan, Angel Eaters
Dave Malloy, Beowulf - A Thousand Years Of Baggage
Nick Moore, 23 Knives

Outstanding Choreography/Movement
Keith Andrews, Like You Like It
Edward Elefterion, Shadow of Himself
Leigh Evans, Traces
Soomi Kim and Airon Armstrong, Lee/gendary
Austin McCormick, The Judgment of Paris
Stefanie Smith, The Selfish Giant

Outstanding Costume Design
Michelle Beshaw, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Emily Morgan DeAngelis, Angel Eaters
Olivera Gajic, The Judgment of Paris
Hunter Kaczorowski, Like You Like It
Becky Lasky, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Karen Ann Ledger, Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Outstanding Lighting Design
Lucrecia Briceno, Lee/gendary
Ian W. Hill, The Granduncle Quadrilogy: Tales from the Land of Ice
Andrew Lu, Still the River Runs
Jennifer Rathbone, Angel Eaters
Federico Restrepo, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Bruce Steinberg, Blue Before Mornin

Outstanding Sound Design
Dan Bianchi, Dracula
Katie Down, Blue Before Morning
Austin McCormick, The Judgment of Paris
Nick Moore, 23 Knives
Chris Rummel, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Asa Wember, Angel Eaters

Outstanding Set Design
George Allison, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Jim Boutin, Coming, Aphrodite!
Tristan Jeffers, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Michael P. Kramer, Ragtime
Caleb Levengood, Angel Eaters
Blair Mielnik, To Barcelona!

The recipients will be announced at our annual Ceremony on Monday, September 21st. Stay tuned for location and details. Alson announced at the 5th annual NYITAwards Ceremony will be the Honorary Awards and the inaugural Outstanding Stage Manager Award.

Congratulations to all honorees!

Public Forum UPDATES & ACTION ITEMS (FULL CB3 Board meeting TOMORROW!)

In case you're not receiving updates from the Theatre task force, most recent update with action items:

"Thank you for being one of more than 300 activists who attended the
February 17th Community Board Congress on Small to Mid-sized Theaters
and/or have recently asked to be included on this list.

We told you we would take the ideas from that night and work to put the
power of the Community Boards behind them.

That process began on Tuesday, March 10th. The Arts Task Force of
Community Board 3 met at Theater for the New City to discuss the forum and
events that have occurred since that night.

In attendance were approximately 30 outside observers. Invited guest
Caron Atlas kicked off the meeting speaking about opportunities for
combined community organizing and arts advocacy.

The task force drafted and unanimously passed a resolution in support of
our goals. Resolutions are the community boards’ mechanism for formally
conveying their concerns and policy initiatives to elected officials. A
resolution must first be passed by the appropriate committee. It is then
sent to the Executive Committee for comments and tweaking; and a final
resolution is crafted for presentation and vote at the full board’s
monthly meeting.

Action Steps You Can Take:

Come to the CB3 full Board meeting on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
at PS 20 at 166 Essex Street (E Houston & Stanton Streets).

Sign up to speak at Public Session between 6:00-6:30pm. You will be given
approximately 2 minutes in front of the mike.

Submit an impact statement if you were a victim of the NYSCA 2009 100%
funding cuts and bring copies to submit the individual board
members(approximately 40).

This resolution can be used by the other community boards as the basis of
similar letters or resolutions, so that small to mid-sized theaters can be
advocated for on a common basis and at the same time across all affected
Community Boards.

The State Legislature is meeting at the end of this month to specifically
discuss NYSCA Funding and its restoration. They read their mail. Our job
is show them that small to mid-sized theaters demand their support.

If you agree with the idea behind basic resolution (specific wording is
still being worked on by the CB3 Task Force), please considering coming
and showing support at this meeting. And if you were caught in the NYSCA
funding debacle, please consider sending us a one page impact statement
about how your organization was affected.

We will present these to policy makers as a compendium of (anonymous if
requested)documents.

When further resolutions are taken up by the other Community Boards, we
will let you know about those meetings as well.

Thanks again for your interest and support.

David M. Pincus, on behalf of the theater/arts task forces of Community
Boards 1-5."

Check out our resources as well. Hope to see you tomorrow!

Where is the New Young Audience for Indie Theatre?

Last month, Isaac Butler posted a provocative column on his website, Parabasis, entitled No-Brainer Secrets Revealed!, about the best ways for theater to reach younger audiences. Butler surmised that the best way to bring them in is to do uncompromising work and offer it at a reasonable price. The work will speak for itself. If you build it, Butler said, the audience will come.

Easier said then done, though. Butler then homed in on a larger point; that most theater companies don’t want to reach out to younger audiences because that’s not where the money is. In other words, to cater their work to such an audience would indeed be a compromise. So the question is what do theaters want? To reach people or to make enough money?

There is no one answer to this question. Writers, performers, and producers alike must want to do good work. But the easier it is to make a living at it, the better able they are to keep putting on original, personal artistic work. And it is also hard to lump in all theater companies when the Off-Off world, more than anywhere else, I imagine, is made up of very distinct companies with very heterogeneous missions.

The other question is, what do audiences want? Who do they want to see portrayed? Is money the major issue, or is it interest? Again, the term “younger audience” also needs to be broken down and defined in order to figure out how best to appeal to that demographic. Are we talking about young audiences who have dramatic aspirations, or young laypeople, or both? And what spectrum does “young” include?

Even when figuring this out, there is no easy answer to the main question. Would revivals of known works be best? Does an original work have to have some measure of gimmickry or novelty in order to create buzz? Is this audience only likely to turn out if they have friends involved in a production?

I’ve never met Butler, but I should say that I’m a big fan of his site and his writing, including the column I reference here. I agree with his stance and the point he makes. But I look to it as a tipping point, of sorts, to engender an ongoing dialogue about what makes theater thrive, a quest more important than ever in our current economy.

The entire point of the IT Awards was to foster a sense of community throughout the hard-working, passionate members of the Off-Off world. I believe they have gone a long way in cementing a feeling of camaraderie among the various production companies doing their thing. But that community is far from limited to the people doing the work; the people who show up are just as important. I would like to think that the IT organization can also help in figuring out exactly what audiences are out there, and how we can appeal to them. Perhaps this very newsletter can even help the process.

What do you think, faithful readers?

Contributed by Doug Strassler

Have your say: Arts Infrastructure

Adam Forest Huttler of Fractured Atlas is calling for your Arts Infrastructure ideas for possible inclusion in their Arts Infrastructure proposal. Check out the blog post to post your ideas.

web suggestions

Website everyone should know about: Doodle! The website with the funny name that offers the EASIEST way to get a scheduling consensus from a group of people...if anyone has other suggestions, let me know...

AND a blog you REALLY should be reading: The Mission Paradox Blog. I would point out some favorite highlights from the last month, but they've all been so good! Just...read it. LISTEN to it.

The more things change…

It is Finals week here in the Big Apple. This may not mean much for those of you already embarked on the real, grown-up world of work, but I’m hip deep in over-caffeinated summary and analysis.

As a break from the monotonous hum of my laptop’s internal fan, I attended NYU’s Wagner Alumni Association Annual Holiday Fundraiser. The WAA was screening “HAIR: Let the Sun Shine In”, a documentary about the making of the 40-year-old hippy musical, its cultural impact, and current revival. It was a treat to hear IT Awards presenter Ben Vereen and Honorary Award recipient Tom O’Horgan reminisce about the show.

I’ve heard it said that once you work on a show you either A) get sick of it and never want to hear another measure or B) fall in love with it and carry it with you always. Full disclosure: I stage managed a production of HAIR 8 years ago, and began singing along in my head all over again. The music and lyrics move me every time.

That said - the documentary is far from perfect. Milos Forman, Keith Carradine, Tim Curry, Melba Moore, and Michael Butler talk about their HAIR experiences. The interviews - both archival and new - are completely charming, but are presented without fact-checking. The “political analysis” and “current events parallels” are dubious and have all been said before. And Indie to my core I looked around the audience thinking, “Well, if you folks like radical theater so much, there is plenty of great new work that could use your patronage!”

“HAIR: Let the Sun Shine In” is worth a peek via Netflix one night. Keep making inspiring outsider art, kids, and maybe you, too, will be on French public television in 40 years. Stay warm and have a happy, healthy holiday season.

Peace,
Hillary

NYIT Awards UPDATE: showcase code & Spaces Report published

Our update went out this morning: sign up for it here if you're not on our list. Some highlights:
NYIT Awards present study findings to NYC's joint Theatre Task force

"A joint Theatre Task Force meeting with Community Boards 3, 4 & 5 was held on October 29th to discuss the role the cultural sector plays in the city and way in which it can expand. According to Paul Nagel, Arts and Culture Liaison for the New York City Council, 'arts and culture have a central role in business, education, community, and government, yet cultural policy in the United States has not moved beyond a 1970s model of allocating and distributing grants to not-for-profit organizations.'

At this meeting, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation presented the findings from a 5-year study, "Report of Off-Off-Broadway Performance Venues," which analyzed data from September 2004 through the present."

Highlights of the report:

• Over 25% of OOB venues in both the West Village and Midtown area have either been demolished or re-purposed into non-performance spaces in the last 5 years
• 43% of all OOB venues are located in the West Side Midtown area of Manhattan
• There has been a sharp decline in the number of OOB productions presenting work in the Theatre District
• The East Village, which only accounts for 14% of the overall OOB venues, is currently presenting 30% of the OOB productions

Read the rest of Doug Strassler's story on our Space report & the Theatre Task force...

and Matt Freeman reported on the AEA Showcase updates:

"Short version: if we want to change the Showcase Code, we need members of the union to speak on their own behalf to the union, and ask for changes in the code that will allow smaller theaters to grow and provide better opportunities for actors. Playwrights, producers and directors may have opinions, but only the voices of actors will make this change happen."

Read his full story...

A big thank you to Doug, Matt, Emily and all of our contributors.

Piggybacking arts organizations?

According to the Chicago Tribune, New York isn't the only theatre scene with space issues.

Depressing? yah.

What interested me was the mention of the Children's Theatre that is piggybacking on a museum for their space. It didn't seem to be an ideal situation for them and I'm obviously not a fly on the wall at their board meetings, but I wonder why these organizations are working against each other?

Which makes me wonder: in hard economic times, is there a place in New York for larger non-theatre institutions to develop collaborative fellowships to emerging artists from different mediums that deal with the same issues? How much would you benefit from being able to develop and present a multimedia ensemble piece with the Museum of Photography, for example? Does this already exist somewhere?

AEA Showcase Code reform begins at home

In the spirit of change, community motivation and hard work ahead, I’m happy to spread the word that the AEA showcase code reform movement is again receiving attention. On Theatre and Politics has great information linked to his post regarding this issue.

The showcase code is being re-evaluated by Equity, and Michael Bell - a member of the AEA Off-Off Broadway subcommittee - has announced that he'd like to hear thoughts from code participants on how the AEA Showcase Code works (or doesn’t) for them.

If you've had experiences with the AEA Showcase Code, your voices are instrumental in moving this forward. Share your experiences and suggestions by emailing him or by commenting on his announcement.