Document Your 2012-2013 Productions

Hello Off-Off-Broadway Producers and Companies!

Shay Gines here on behalf of Theatre World.  I hope you had a fantastic and very productive 2012-2013 season. I want to document and archive your theatrical activities from this last year.

For the last 69 years, Theatre World has been documenting Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and has become the leading archivist of information for American Theatre. (There is more information about Theatre World at the end of this email.) In 2009 they began to include Off-Off-Broadway.

The editors of Theatre World recognized the legitimacy of our community and felt that it deserved a place in this archive.

It is so important that our community is represented in this important work. It helps to bring to light the importance of this sector and demonstrates, the number of productions, the variety, the innovation and the determination of the work being created in our community. 

 I need your help.

 1. Please complete the online forms documenting your company's season (see below)

 2. Please forward this to your fellow OOB producers and ask them to do the same.

What I need is your production information from the 2012-2013 season (shows that played between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013), for inclusion in Volume 69, including individual production information as well as festivals, readings, workshops, etc.

I know as an OOB producer your time is valuable, but the annual Theatre World publications are one of the premiere archives for American Theatre and it is so important for our community to be represented. I ask you to take this time to provide the information requested, so that your company's production(s) will be recorded and referenced everywhere by theatre scholars, students, casting directors, producers, and other industry professionals daily. In addition, it will be a part of the permanent record of Off-Off-Broadway and placed in important research and reference libraries from The Library of Congress to most colleges and universities across the country.

Here’s the link to the form: http://goo.gl/QfNdxB

NOTES ON SUBMISSIONS:

1. Photos of your productions: If you would like to submit one or two production photographs (in the form of a .JPG or .TIFF file), you may do so, as long as the pixel width is at least 1,050 pixels wide or wider and 300dpi. If you are unsure of the photo dimensions, look under “File Info” when viewing the photo in Preview or PhotoShop. We cannot make enlargement adjustments to photos. (please be aware that if it is not large enough, we will not be able to include it in the publication).
   
   It is very important when you submit photographs that you provide:
      -  photographer credit
      -  performer credits for all actors in the photograph.  (If there are five or more performers pictured, you may choose to simply list "The Company" as the performers’ credit.)
      - If no photographer credit is listed, then it will be assumed that no photographer credit is required.
   
   Please note that due to page limitations from our publisher we regretfully have a limited numbers of photos that we can use in the Off-Off-Broadway section, and can not include all photographs submitted from every company. As there are listings for over 1,000 shows, the primary focus of the section is to feature as many listings as possible. It should be more of a priority to complete the online forms rather than hold it while you wait on retrieval of photographs from other sources. EMAIL Photos (.JPG, and/or .TIFF FILES) with the title of the production in the subject line or questions to:  TWOffOff@gmail.com
2. Rental Space & Production Company: If you are a rental space only and not a production company, we would appreciate if you could forward this email to the companies that rented your facility, or look through your records of rentals between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013, and if you do have the time and the resources complete the form for shows that were performed in your space during that time. 
3. Off-Broadway: If any of your productions were actually under an Off-Broadway contract, please email that information separately to twoffoff@gmail.com and I'll forward that it on appropriately. For the purposes of this e-mail, I am currently just asking for the Off-Off-Broadway information. If the production extended under an Off-Broadway contract, please note in the text.

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL MATERIALS BY NOVEMBER 15, 2013 TO ENSURE INCLUSION IN THE 2012-2013 EDITION OF THEATRE WORLD!

Our publisher is making every effort to release this volume early in 2014, so we need to get your submissions as soon as possible. Since we are under a tight schedule, it is virtually impossible for our staff to research and compile all of the Off-Off-Broadway listings for this volume and we are relying on your help to make sure we include as many productions as possible.

Theatre World is the oldest pictorial and statistical record of the American theatre, published annually as a hardcover book by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books (America's foremost publisher of theatre and cinema books) and has been continually published since 1945. It is the most comprehensive and definitive record of Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, and Off-Off-Broadway (which is where you come in), and is available for purchase at many fine online establishments, including applausepub.com, amazon.com , or barnesandnoble.com.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us to maintain the most complete annual record of the American theatre!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks again.

Shay Gines

OOB Editor Theatre World v69

Should I Do This?

Everyone working Off-Off-Broadway is incredibly busy and wears numerous hats. And from time-to-time you may be presented or offered a project or an assignment or an extra job or duty or invitation and you ask yourself, "Should I do this?"

One of my mentors, Dr. Irwin Redlener, is an incredibly busy person and like us will often find himself juggling many different things. To help him decide whether or not to take on additional projects, he wrote up some guidelines.

I personally find this useful and thought I'd share it.

SHOULD I DO THIS?

 (Redlener's Guidelines)

1. Does it help somebody with something really important?
2. Does it make the world better?
3. Does it help my short or long-term personal goals?
4. Am I convinced that it won't be more trouble than it's worth?
5. Is it worth replacing something I'm already doing?
6. Will people I care about, care about it?
7. Is it simply incredibly interesting or satisfying?

Buttressed Like a Mutha

Contributed by Chisa B. Hutchinson


The thing I love about Off-Off-Broadway--did I put enough off's?-- is how real and generous the love is.  People sure ain't in it for the money.  I'm in the middle of self-producing an Off-Off...-Off-Broadway piece right now.  Maaaaaan, we had our first production meeting and I came in feeling all nervous and apologetic because I can't pay my collaborators anywhere near what they deserve--like it's embarrassing how little-- but when we started talking next steps and potential challenges, all of that fell away.  Apparently, they weren't thinking about stipends; they were more concerned with how we can put a streetlight on stage with relatively low clearance and whether or not the ventilation system in the space is good enough to handle all the spray paint we have to use during the show.  They just want to figure out how to make stuff happen.  And they have ideas about how they can do that because they're creative and innovative and they've actually spent time thinking about it.

I left that meeting feeling completely reinforced and determined to do whatever I can do to earn the loyalty and support that I'm getting.  So yeah.  Off-off.  It's a house of cards, but it's buttressed like a mutha.

www.chisahutchinson.com

Honorary Awards Applications Now Available Online

Honorary Awards Applications
Now Available Online

Applications are due Monday, May 1, 2013 @ 6PM 

The Honorary Awards are:

• The Artistic Achievement Award, presented to an individual who has made a significant artistic contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community;
• The Caffe Cino Fellowship Award, presented to an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company that consistently produces outstanding work. This award also includes a grant to be used toward an Off-Off-Broadway production.
• The Ellen Stewart Award, presented to an individual or organization demonstrating a significant contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community through service, support and leadership.

Complete your application today!


The 2012 recipients were The 5 Lesbian Brothers (Artistic Achievement Award), Theatre Development Fund (Ellen Stewart Award) and Astoria Performing Arts Center (Caffe Cino Fellowship Award). Find out more about these amazing artists and organizations.

Why do the Arts Matter in New York State?

The following information comes from the Arts NYS Coalition: Helping the Arts to Thrive in New York State

For more on these statistics, visit their site

Why do the Arts Matter in New York State?

Because…

1. New York State is home to 53,085 arts-related businesses that employ 335,683 people. >more
   
2. New York City’s nonprofit cultural sector generated $5.8 billion in economic impact and 40,500 jobs. >more
   
3. The economic impact of Westchester County’s nonprofit arts and culture industry is $119.88 million with 3779 jobs. >more
   
4. Greater Buffalo’s Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations is $155.2 million. >more
   
5. The nonprofit arts and culture are a $21 million industry in the Northern Adirondack region that supports 506 jobs. >more
   
6. The Arts in Onondaga County yields $70 million and 1060 jobs. >more
   
7. In Monroe County, the arts have an annual economic impact of roughly $200 million and yield over 6,300 jobs.
   
   
   

Black History Month & Theatre

Contributed by Keith Josef Adkins

Aw, good ole black history month. That special time of year when theaters produce black content (new or classic) and black theater artists are finally in high demand. A steady paycheck for four weeks in February is a breath of fresh air (or should I say some paid rent).

I’ve always been fascinated by the relationship between theaters and Black History Month. Sometimes it illuminates the lack (or interest or financial trust) in black story throughout the year. Sometimes it’s a reminder that the black experience is potentially an after-thought in the day-to-day of theatermakers, or worse, some awkward racial obligation. It’s 2013 and most of us realize black people are not a monolithic group. Black people represent nearly every nationality, language, religious affiliation and culinary lifestyle (macrobiotics included). Some black people have Korean grandmothers, prefer to live in Detroit, refuse to wear name-brands, couldn’t breath without a name-brand, want to free Mumia, worship Beyonce, or ready to flee to the interior of Brazil if one more person strips down to their underwear and does the “Harlem Shake”.

As an artist who knows my family history, I consider Black History Month an opportunity to shine an extra special light on a history I spend every day celebrating. However, I would encourage everyone to use the entire year to study everyone’s histories. I really believe the more we know about each other, the more we’ll realize how tangled our lives. And hey, if we realize our lives are truly tangled, maybe we’ll demand theaters to shine the spotlight not just in the month of February, but perhaps the entire year.

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Keith Josef Adkins is a playwright, screenwriter and artistic director. His plays include Sugar and Needles (2013 Prototype Production at Epic Theater – NYC), Sweet Home (2012 production MPAACT Theater Company – Chicago), The Final Days of Negro-ville (2012 Playwrights Foundation Rough Reading Series – San Francisco, 2011 Represent Festival at A.C.T. – Seattle), The Last Saint on Sugar Hill (2011 production MPAACT Theater Company), Safe House, The Dangerous, Farewell Miss Cotton, Pitbulls, among others. Keith’s play Sweet Home just earned six nominations (including Best Script) from the African American Theater Alliance in Chicago, his play The Last Saint on Sugar Hill recently earned a 2012 Jeff nomination for Best New Work in Chicago. He was also recently named resident playwright (2012) for MPAACT Theater in Chicago and Epic Theatre Ensemble in New York City. His awards include a 2010 Gateway commission from the Obie Award-winning Epic Theatre, a 2010 A Contemporary Theatre/Hansberry Project Commission, a 2009 New Professional Theater Playwright Award, a 2009 New York State Council on the Arts playwriting grant, a 2008 Kesselring Fellowship nomination, among others Keith has been published in Humana Festival 2003 – The Complete Plays, Playscripts, The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2005, and African Voices. He is featured in the NAACP’S Crisis Magazine winter 2012 edition as “four writers to watch”. Keith was also recently selected into the University of Iowa Theater Department’s Distinguished Alumni Gallery. Keith worked as a TV writer on the CW hit comedy "Girlfriends". His feature film script The Disappearing is in development with SimonSays Entertainment (2010 Sundance’s Night Catches Us with Anthony Mackie). Keith also worked as a story editor on the critically-acclaimed feature film Gun Hill Road, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In 2010, Keith co-founded The New Black Fest, a festival of new and provocative playwriting, music and discussion from the African Diaspora. He serves as co-artistic director. In 2011, Keith also co-founded the American Slavery Project, a five-year series of plays and conversations around the topic of slavery and the Civil War to complement the Civil War’s sesquicentennial.