I Am Water

Monday, September 24, 2007: The IT Awards held our 3rd annual Awards Ceremony. It was a great evening and I think everyone had a good time. It was my turn to write a blog and I thought writing about the ceremony would be a snap. But to be honest, I was having trouble organizing my thoughts about it into something cohesive.

After thinking about it for a few days, I think the reason why I've been struggling is because as a producer, your attention is stretched in so many different directions and you have to be involved in so many different aspects that it is sometimes difficult to have a clear view of what the end result really is. I won't know how the evening actually went until I see the DVD.

One of my favorite Zen observations is that when water running down hill meets with an immovable object, the water does not try to go through the object, it simply goes around it. There are many times when I have to remind my self that "I am water."

So on that note, I'm letting it flow.

I've been an Off-Off-Broadway producer for many years and producing these awards is very much like producing an OOB production.

We have no money, but we have managed to get a lot of the resources we use donated or swapped for in-kind services. Don't tell anyone but we bought the "toilet in a box" that was used for the Cino performance and returned it the next day. The red fabric that covered the podium was purchased 4 years ago at the .99 discount fabric store and has been used at just about every one of our events since. I would say that a good 65% of our prep time for this event is spent trying to finagle resources. Luckily we have a very resourceful staff.

Everybody's schedule is impossible. We all have day jobs and other projects, but somehow we make it work. Although if you were to follow us around, you might think we were a bunch of drug dealers because of all the late night telephone calls, quickie meetings on various corners throughout NYC (to exchange papers, thumb drives, money, etc.) and all the hustling we do.

We rely on our friends to help us out. I don't know if they love us or hate us for it, but every year we turn to our buddies for everything from raffle prizes to glowtape to letting us do our dry tech in their office on the Sunday before the ceremony and every year they come through providing manpower, ideas and creative input. God bless 'em.

I work with some of the most dedicated, imaginative and good natured people that I have ever known. I can't say it enough how much I love our staff. Yes, we get on each other's nerves and sometimes we want to punch each other in the face, but it is only because we are all so passionate about this and feel that it is so important. This is going to sound totally sappy, but there are days when I look at Nick, Jason or Akia and I am overwhelmed by their commitment and abilities to accomplish the impossible. They give up sleep, money, comfort… They go out of their way to make meetings at the craziest times in the most inconvenient of places. Then there is Christopher, Desmond, Hillary, Morgan and Nancy. We ask them to do the most complicated, often unreasonable things and they do it with such grace and ease. When you are overwhelmed with details, it is such a relief to know that you have intelligent, competent, pleasant people on your team.

Of course we have our share of drama. All of us have bad days and we try to be sensitive to that. And there are some events, situations or people that it would be inappropriate to discuss here. It is during these times that I find my self repeating over and over again, "I am water."

We are dealing with much bigger spaces than are generally used for Off-Off-Broadway productions. There are cool things and not so cool things about that. This year we actually had wings and a fly space. We had microphones and a follow spot. There was a green room AND dressing rooms… and a fancy staircase. There were also a lot of restrictions. We actually ran into red tape about our tape. We had to have the kind and brand of tape we used approved through their facilities department. "I am water. I am water, I am water." We had to go through their catering if we wanted to provide food for our crew (we bought pizza for everyone anyway and then got in big trouble about it). We had to pay for security (which is not cheap) and of course the space itself was not inexpensive. But it was a good space and worked well for us and like many OOB companies, we would like to find a place to call home so we'll probably use it again.

One of the big differences between producing a show and these awards is that we only have one shot at getting it right. It is very visceral and definitely keeps everyone on their toes. It also means that if you screw up… you just screw up. There is no fixing it tomorrow night. There is also a huge part of it that is simply out of our control. Like the script for example. We provide each of the presenters with a suggested script. They are told that they can use the script as written, make changes to it or do something entirely their own. We don't know what they are actually going to say until they get out there on the stage. Of course we have no idea what the recipients will say. We're just glad we have insurance in case someone trips while trying to make a grand leap up onto the stage (I did appreciate your enthusiasm Dan Safer).

We create the structure and the rest takes on a life of its own. There is something very Zen about letting go and just accepting that it is what it is.

Shay Gines

Executive Director

New York IT Awards

Two weeks away!

So cyber friends, where to begin?

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Fall is amazingly upon us, and it seems impossible to me that our awards ceremony is less than two weeks away!

I just returned from 5 days in the deep deep south- ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. I was working on a music event with my family and stayed on an amazing old cotton plantation literally in the middle of no where sleeping in a restored shack. The event was a lot of fun, and I got to meet and work with some amazing musicians and experience some southern hospitality. (Can you say GRITS! Love'em) But I have to say that while I was at a beautiful event and location, 5 days was far too long away from home. I missed New York in a very real way. When I leave NYC I am constantly reminded of how much I love my home, my city and the work that I do here.

Plus, with the awards upon us, I was especially eager to get home and back to work here. As company manager, I've been working on a lot of the moving parts of the awards ceremony, from the day of timeline, recruiting and coordinating our volunteer crew, assisting with venue logistics, scheduling the many meetings that occur during this busy time, to working on a daily basis with Shay, Nick and Jason, the Exec directors who are beyond amazing.

There is something that is so rewarding about working in the Off Off Broadway sector, that I have yet to find elsewhere. Maybe it's the fact that everyone is sooo passionate, or maybe its because we all know how hard it is and we try to make it easier for each other, or maybe it's the great wide unknown of, this could be our last show, so lets go for broke and throw ourselves fully and totally without question into whatever we are doing. It seems that our collective spirit of independent/Off Off Broadway theatre is never ending, that there a generosity that is unending. I don't know where we all find the time, the heart and the energy to keep going. To work a full day and then rehearse a full night, to stay up until 4am doing press releases or poster, to build, paint, hang lights and sew costumes long after everyone else has gone home, and after the show closes, there isn't always a paycheck, a glowing review or the promise of an extension. Yet somehow we all wake up and continue to do what we do, out of love, out of passion, out of generosity of spirit.

It is this reason that I work so hard for the It Awards, to have that moment, that gathering in one room, a buzz with ideas, and energy, and spirit and celebrate each other and our work. I am in awe every year as I watch our events grow in size, while our collective community gets smaller, as we all get to know each other.

Whether you are a nominee, a lover of theatre, a volunteer or just there to show your support, I so look forward to seeing you at the Awards ceremony.

Akia

Company Manager

PS. If you'd like to be a part of the Awards Ceremony, please drop me a line. akia@nyitawards.com

PR in the OOBR world

Hello from the IT Awards publicist, Katie Rosin/Kampfire Films PR. Since it is my job to raise awareness of the IT Awards to the media, as well as the fabulous OOB shows I represent, I thought I would give you some pointers on what a Publicist can and can not do for your productions.

First the definition of publicity:
pub·lic·i·ty
1. extensive mention in the news media or by word of mouth or other means of communication.
2. public notice so gained.
3. the measures, process, or business of securing public notice.
4. information, articles, or advertisements issued to secure public notice or attention.
5. the state of being public, or open to general observation or knowledge.
(publicity. ( n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved August 31, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/publicity )

As you can see this is not defined as "putting butts in seats" (PBIS) nor does it have a direct correlation to PBIS.

A publicists job is to raise the awareness of your production to the media and in turn your potential audiences. I feel it takes calculate and integrated efforts of PR, Marketing (which includes posters/postcards/e-blasts/flyers...and advertising), and Audience Building in order to PBIS. The later I will discuss in a future blog.

Here are some components of PR that a publicist can do for you:

1. Press Release: Include the Who, What, Where, When and Why of your production
2. Feature Idea: Create (with the help of all involved Artistic Staff through the cast) story ideas to pitch to the appropriate media
3. Review Requests: Ask critics to come and see your show and review for their outlet

But the publicist cannot wait around for the news to present opportunities. They must also try to create their own news. Examples of this include:

* Arrange a speech or talk
* Make an analysis or prediction
* Issue a report
* Take a stand on a controversial subject
* Announce an appointment
* Invent then present an award
* Issue a commendation

The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media. (Publicity. (2007, July 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:24, August 31, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Publicity&oldid=144714064)

Additionally, it is the job of everyone in the production to think about PR. It is NOT their job to contact the media (too often I'm picking up pieces when this happens). Should someone involved in the production have a great idea, a great press contact, or be involved with something press worthy they should immediately contact their publicist and discuss it with them. I find these are the best leads for the publicist.

Keep these ideas in mind when deciding if and who to hire as a publicist on your production. Please feel free to contact me with questions on this subject.

See you on the 24th!

Katie Rosin
Publicist
www.kampfirefilmspr.com

Fall Forward

Returning from your first vacation in awhile can be jarring sometimes. I returned a few days ago from a week in Vermont – my first trip up there – and have needed a few days to readjust. There is always a re-citification of sorts; the air, the train, the pace, the search for the same sort of relaxed state you were able to achieve not a week ago. At some point you give in and hopefully find solace and redemption in the reason you were drawn here in the first place, beginning the new search for that delicate balance…until your next vacation. After all, "if life were only moments, then you'd never know you had one…"

It made me look forward to fall...keeping my fingers crossed that we missed the last of the summer's stifling humidity and can settle in the crisp breath of autumn (Although I somehow doubt it). Either way, there's an exciting season of work to look forward to…My first season as a full time Artistic producer, going away again on my first work trip to The San Francisco Fringe Festival in a short week; I'll be seeing shows, house managing, and getting tips on festival running, then coming back to be involved in my first big Innovative Theatre Awards Ceremony (and Julie Halston's hosting! amazing....)

Just as in continuing to find that balance between the relaxation and that city pace, there is always more we strive for. Even as I look forward to a busy and rewarding season, I still have a wish list:

I wish for the artists I admire to enjoy a season full of successes, even if that be learning from the not-so-successes.

I hope the number of Productions registered for New York Innovative Theatre Awards continues to climb.

I hope that the community sees more of each other's work to see where our common grounds lie, our differences, to be inspired by each other, and ultimately to continue to support itself by supporting each other.

I hope that the community continues to spread the word and support each other in reforming the Equity Showcase Code. There is no better time to do it than a time when we're all out there showing our innovation the New York Theatre community.

I truly, truly look forward to seeing more innovative theatre.

What are you hoping for?

Morgan Lindsey Tachco

Community Relations Manager

New York Innovative Theatre Awards

Sinning in NYC for 10 years

I had a very interesting experience recently that brought my beginnings in New York and 10 years later my current New York life smack together.

If you bare with my little story I promise there is a point…eventually.

Ten years ago I was an actor living in the DC area. I had spent two seasons with the Shakespeare Theatre and then started working around the tri state area. I was lucky to start working with the wonderful Signature Theatre in Virginia and after some time was approached by the Artistic Director Eric Shcaefer about acting in a production called Never the Sinner which was about Leopold and Loeb and the 1920's crime of the century. I ended up playing Leopold and a great actor Michael Solomon played Loeb and we were directed by a friend of ours from Shakespeare Theatre days Ethan McSweeny who is incredibly talented and is now successfully directing across the country. The mix of us and the rest of the wonderful cast created one of those rare and remarkable situations where everything goes right. We worked our asses off getting into the head of the boys and were then rewarded with extraordinary reviews, attention and eventually numerous Helen Hayes Award nominations.

The show and the work everyone had done on it caught the attention of New York and we started getting angels surrounding us, like the wonderful Stuart Howard, that wanted this show produced in the city. We kept true to our work and what we were doing and went for an amazing ride that took us to the now defunct Off-Off-Broadway American Jewish Theatre where we received glowing reviews from every New York paper. We started getting nominated for all kinds of Theatre Awards (eventually receiving the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play) and more producers started getting interested. Finally a group of producers came in and decided to produce a commercial run of this play and production. We then were transferred to the Off-Broadway John Houseman Theatre, which has since been demolished (too sad), and had a wonderful run. Needless to say this experience dramatically changed my life.

After this show I continued acting professionally in New York and regionally and then eventually started directing, thanks entirely to opportunities that arose from the Off-Off-Broadway world. Eventually of course I became one of the Executive Directors of the IT Awards (your favorite Executive Director as we've discussed before).

OK I am finally getting around to the real point.

So 10 years later I see that Never the Sinner is being produced in New York again and it is with the great Off-Off-Broadway company Woodshed Collective. By the way I found out the show was being done, when they registered the production with the IT Awards. Out of the blue I am called by one of the major producers of the production I did years ago, who has since gone on to be a huge Tony Award winning producer by the way, saying that we should go and see it. I thought it was a great idea. We went and saw the show which was fantastic and also rather odd for me as I sat there remembering all that we went through in getting into those damaged boys minds. I was lucky to say "hi" to the director and cast afterward and gave them my thanks for their great work before leaving.

So this producer and I go and have dinner afterwards to catch up and to remember the ride we took with the show. This producer was talking about how great the show was and how well the script worked and then let me know that if the production that I was a part of ten years ago had gone through exactly what it went through then, but now, he would never have become on as a producer. This really surprised me and so I asked him why. His first and honest response was that Off-Broadway was dead and that a cast of 8 was impossible. He said that no producer now could ever financially survive in the Off-Broadway world. Basically the only way he would have been on board for the production is if it had gone to Broadway and that if that had happened there would have been major cast changes in securing a star.

This really hit me and made me see the New York producing world through new eyes. I began thinking of the inspiring and challenging theatre I have seen in New York over the last number of years and see clearly that it has been in the Off-Off-Broadway world. It makes me truly proud to be a part of this community and also incredibly frustrated to know that these great shows I have seen can only live for such short time frames due to union restrictions. I ultimately worked on Never the Sinner for over a year and it launched a great trajectory for me that has led to producing and the IT Awards. I would like to see a New York where great Off-Off-Broadway theatre can keep playing and riding success when it comes and not have to live under the false idea that a jump to an Off-Broadway contract is feasible. When I hear that major independent New York producers avoid Off-Broadway because it is a financial pitfall I wonder how it is that financially strapped Off-Off-Broadway companies are expected to take a step up contractually if they have success. It simply does not make sense any more. Producers see the change in New York, we see the change in New York why is it that others turn a blind eye to these changes?

Jason Bowcutt

Executive Director

New York IT Awards

Highlights of the 2007 Season

This past Monday, the IT Awards held our 2007 Nominee Announcement. It was a very successful event. There were over 500 people; we had the incredibly hot DJ Rob and best of all the air conditioner worked.

Each year Nick, Jason and I get so excited to receive the list of nominees from our accountant. Honestly until that moment we really have no idea who will be nominated. It is always a mixture of surprise and joy and sometimes a little disappointment that some of our personal favorites aren't in the mix. This year there are a few folks that are friends of ours that are nominated including Spencer Aste, Judith Hawking, Mac Rogers and the lovely Denice Kondik. Of course we are always excited when we get to recognize the work of people we love.

I had the chance to see quite a bit of Off-Off-Broadway this past season and wanted to take this opportunity to mention some of the fantastic work that graced the more modest stages of NYC.

Let's start with the Havel Festival. WOW! Edward Einhorn and his crew pulled off the impossible. Presenting all of Vaclav Havel's works is no small feat and the inspiration to do so when President Havel was in town was nothing less than genius. When I look back on my years working in theatre, I will always remember the night we crowded into the 40 seat Brick Theatre in Brooklyn and sat across the isle from Vaclav Havel and his date Madeline Albright. I love OOB.

In the interest of full disclosure, my boyfriend works with Nosedive Productions and I actually understudied a part (and went on twice) in The Adventures of Nervous Boy (a penny dreadful). All that aside, I thought it was a great show. I have seen all of Nosedive's productions over the past 5 and a half years and I am probably their harshest critic. Honestly boys, this was your best work to date. The script was right on point. It was lean and had that wonderfully bitter mixture of hopped-up reality, twisted fantasy and sarcastic humor that kept you engaged throughout. And Vagina Dentata and Blinded from Nosedive's Evening of Grand Guignol Horror was some of the most exciting and grossest theatre I've seen all year.

Among other productions, each year Boomerang Theatre Company puts up 3 full shows in repertory. The sheer logistics of that is hard enough to fathom, but to have each of these productions be fully realized, quality works is a feat unto itself. This year they produced Anna Christie, Love in the Insecurity Zone and The Ugly Man. Each production was well conceived, designed and acted, but for me the real standout was Anna Christie. It is such a beautifully sad tale and the work of Jennifer Larkin (the actress playing the title character) was so subtle and honest it really touched me.

It was not surprising to me that Some Historic/Some Hysteric was nominated for Outstanding Performance Art Piece and Outstanding Ensemble. Director Ildiko Nemeth created many incredibly striking stage pictures that will continue stay with me. The piece included 15 actors (although it seemed like there were 30 actors) working together in some very intricate physical and vocal work. It was one of the most demanding theatrical pieces that I had seen in a long time, but the ensemble pulled it off beautifully.

The New York Neo-Futurists are truly doing something innovative with Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. I first saw the Neo-Futurists (I think it was 1998) when they came down from Chicago to perform here in the city for a month. I was crammed into Todo Con Nada in the lower East Village (it was so packed that I had to sit on the floor). I had no idea what was happening but I was thrilled by it and so excited by what I experienced that I've been a fan ever since. When I heard that the Neo's were setting up a permanent troupe here in NYC I was so happy that we would have this visceral, ground-breaking kind of work as a part of our community.

I suspect that Charles Battersby wrote Kryptonite Hearts so that he and his wife, Lizzie Pepper, could dress up like super heroes and do some stage combat (not that they needed any special occasion to do that). While I'm not sure that the entire production worked, it was certainly fun to see the pure joy that the two of them had while on stage with one another. It is that joy that I aspire to.

When I first came to the city, me and a group of my fellow students from the Actors Training Program (the ATP) at the University of Utah (the U) formed a company called Esperance Theatre Company. I think we did good work for two and a half years. But then, due to lack of funds and no lack of egos, we simply imploded. That is one of the reasons why I am so impressed with the work of CollaborationTown. It is such a tricky business to work with friends. This very talented troupe is so dedicated to one another and so skilled in the art of collaboration and ensemble that their work reflects their very close bonds. 6969 was an intriguing piece of theatre, based on a true story, which had one of those great twists at the end that left you wanting to watch the play all over from the beginning. CollaborationTown was also very smart because they also included program inserts that provided links to additional information about the true events. I admit I spent several hours reading through the news articles and personal accounts.

The Vampire Cowboys were the Caffe Cino Fellowship recipients for this past season. I was very excited to see their work and Men of Steel did not let me down. I actually saw the production twice and was very proud that the IT Awards could help (in our small way) bring this wonderful play to the stage. The script for Men of Steel is so rich and dark and the production captured that with such style. I was reminded of The Watch Men and was very impressed with the entire cast… really the entire production team because each of the elements worked so perfectly together. Congratulations guys.

Finally I want to mention A Mouthful of Birds. This was a "sound painting," a theatrical art form that was first developed in 1986. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. I applaud breedingground productions for embracing this experimental art form. I certainly hope you will be doing more of it in the future.

There were many other wonderful productions this past season, but these are a few that made an impression on me. Tell me about other innovative works that you have seen this last year.

Shay Gines

Executive Director

New York Innovative Theatre Awards