Embarrassment of Riches

Contributed by Hillary Cohen


Independent theater in New York City was an embarrassment of riches in the 2011-2012 season. Greg Horton and Renee Claire Bergeron may have received the 2012 IT Awards for their outstanding performances, but they were definitely not the only dynamic duo I saw Off-Off-Broadway this year.

Jay Potter was so totally believable as the eponymous patriarch in The Play About My Dad, I genuinely feel like I’ve met the playwright’s father. I staged managed a show featuring his cast mate, Geany Masai, several years ago, but her embodiment of her character was so complete, I still felt like she introduced me to someone I never would have met otherwise.

That shock of surprise also happened for me at Reckless last Christmas. I knew the plot before attending, but somehow Jan-Peter Pedross’ acting was disarming, I was disappointed by his character’s unflattering past all over again. Jason Jacoby flipped through his multiple supporting roles with amazing dexterity, each with his own dynamic personality and posture.

Speaking of dexterity, Emily Gleeson and Lizzie Vieh were stunning as the broken shards of one suicidal woman’s consciousness in Sarah Kane's challenging final play, 4.48 Psychosis. I was impressed by how smoothly they worked together through an emotional rollercoaster script.

Iyaba Ibo Mandingo did not share the performance space with another actor for his autobiographical one man show, unFRAMED. He confidently served as poet-playwright, subject, and star – finishing the set decoration as he went!

These are, of course, just a few of this year’s excellent performances. I am constantly delighted by those moments replaying in my memory even months later and I look forward to seeing what these artists and their companies do next.

Get Site Specific

Contributed by Hillary Cohen


I recently met a very early-career director who described her area of interest as “site specific” work. That has got to be the biggest trend I noticed amongst the registered shows this year. The New York independent theater community has largely embraced non-traditional performance spaces, but it also produces shows that are “site specific” in the sense of the wry exclamation “Only in New York!”

Even as Jeff Lewonczyk audaciously suggested we take a few years off from Shakespeare, Off-Off-Broadway companies made equally brave runs at re-imaging the Bard and introducing typically Radio City Christmas Spectacular-bound audiences to smaller-budget theater. Downtown Art brought us a two-installment rock musical mash-up of Romeo & Juliet and Gangs of New York called Bowery Wars with age-appropriate casting for the young lovers sprawling over a walking tour of Lower East Side alleys and sidewalks. Theater 2020 produced a family-friendly version of the originally quite bawdy script for Comedy of Errors in domesticated Brooklyn Heights and Brooklyn Bridge Park featuring adorable puppets.

Off-Off-Broadway performed in storefront windows, in an unpartitioned warehouse, and in a butcher shop. If there was a theme uniting any of these very different shows, it certainly wasn’t tone or content, but the daring confidence to “go there”. Poetic Theater opened their production of Goliath with intimate and personal poetry readings by Iraq War veterans very new to the performing arts scene. Harrison Greenbaum (beloved two-time ceremony host and now IT Awards participant) risked heavily incorporating audience participation in his show What Just Happened? and the venerable members of the Talking Band danced naked to illustrate the incisive socio-political critique of Hot Lunch Apostles.

One of my favorite things about the 2012 season was how much of it was unexpected. There was a lot of exciting staging being done…only sometimes on an actual stage.

All good things…

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the Week, Hillary Cohen.

Thank you guys so much for stopping by the IT Awards “back office” / behind the scenes land this week! I promise we will return to artists talking about art – as it should be – next week. You all totally hung in there with my nuts-and-bolts process posts and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.

It is always a unique privilege to serve such an entertaining, driven, and varied community. Off-Off-Broadway artists never fail to inspire me, on and off stage. You keep New York City vibrant. I look forward to your next production and I’m grateful for your continued participation in Jason, Shay, and Nick’s little experiment.

I feel lucky to be a part of IT; especially when I think, “I have skills the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation leadership might actually still need.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to give out free tickets to the theater each week?

As usual, I welcome your questions, comments, and feedback. I'm going to try to be back with something sexier to say my next Guest Blogging visit. In the meantime, I wish you and yours a hearty “Break A Leg!”

Homework suuuuucks.

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the Week, Hillary Cohen.

I can only assume that there are literally millions of blogs in hundreds of languages that start this way. It just might be the Internet Age equivalent of “It was a dark and stormy night….” That does not, however, make it any less true. Homework isn’t any fun and, when it comes to the New York Innovative Theatre Awards, I sometimes feel like I’m the cause of it. Or some kind of Bill Collector who you let in when a bunch of cool party guests you actually invited rang your e-mail doorbell.

Making theater is fun! Celebrating your talented community is fun! Hearing from theater luminaries is fun! You know what’s not fun? Scheduling time to see 3 assignments, remembering your JAIN and password, and coming up with charitably constructive feedback for a painfully unsuccessful production of The Sound of Music staged in College Point that you knew wasn’t going to be good even before you schlepped out past Flushing. I get it. I do.

Highlights from the Judge’s Area

There is a whole section of the IT Awards’ site aimed at you, my precious constituency. It features our Judge's Manual, Judging Criteria, a link to the Judging Process slideshow, “Thoughts on Judging” by Martin Denton, and -- if you’re logged in -- you can view your previous assignments, cast your current ballot, and edit your IT Awards account. That’s great and all but it’s still over, like, a dozen pages of reading material. Single spaced.

To cause LESS homework (because I know I wouldn’t have read this stuff if I wasn’t the Judge Co-Coordinator), I’ve pasted some highlights below. They are some, not all, of the information available. If they peak your interest, please read them in entirety here.

Judge’s Manual

If, for whatever reason, you find that you are unable to complete the 3 adjudications, please notify…the IT Awards immediately. …[T]hen make arrangements to… replace[ yourself] in the judging pool, thereby ensuring eligibility for your production and its participants.


In situations where a producer's records show that the judge was not in attendance and the judge claims to have attended the performance, we ask the judge to produce a receipt, ticket stub or program as proof of attendance. As a precaution, please keep any handouts or related materials.


As a courtesy, each production offers a ticket for you to bring a guest. We would also like to encourage your guest to go online and vote as an audience member. Please instruct them to go to www.nyitawards.com, click on “Vote” and select the audience ballot.


Our scoring system is based on a scale of 1 – 100 (1 being poor, 50 being average and 100 being flawless/extraordinary).  Some people find it easier to think of this scale as a percentage.


You can only vote once per production, but we would encourage you to vote for other productions you attend as an audience member.


The credibility and success of the IT Awards relies on the personal integrity of the judges to make any possible conflicts of interest known to the IT Awards. We take these conflicts very seriously. It is your responsibility to notify the IT Awards of any possible conflicts of interest you may have with a judging assignment.

Judging Criteria

[The] Outstanding Actor In a Lead Role… [c]ategory should be judged solely on the merits of the individual performance and the effective use of the craft of acting to portray the character and serve the overall production. Scores should be based on the following criteria:
•    Understanding of and commitment to the script
•    Embodying the character (including physical and vocal traits where appropriate)
•    Giving a performance that is conducive to the production
•    Overall effectiveness of the performance


Outstanding Choreography/Movement – This category should be judged on effective use of choreography and movement in the production. Scores should be based on the following criteria:
•    Creating tone, mood and style that is conducive to the production as a whole
•    Originality of the choreography and/or movement
•    Theatricality of the choreography and/or movement
•    Choreography that effectively expresses the intent or state of being of the characters and the overall production
•    Overall effective use movement and/or dance


[The] Outstanding Performance Art… category should be judged on the overall production. Scores should be based on the following criteria:
•    The synthesis and cohesive vision of all production elements including design, direction and performance
•    Theatricality of the production
•    Effective integration and execution of multimedia elements
•    Overall effectiveness of the production
* Please note that the point of Performance Art is that it is unprecedented art.  Because of this it is nearly impossible to define. However it is generally agreed that  Performance Art should be relevant to today, employ unique forms of expression and illicit a response from its audience. Please take this into consideration when scoring this category.

“Thoughts on Judging” by Martin Denton

The most important thing I can say is this: No matter how terrible or misguided or perverse a show seems to be, always remember: they didn’t do it just to annoy you. …These artists are compelled to tell us something. Try to figure out what it is. Give them room to say it.

OMG lol GTG, but I hope you liked the Cliff’s Notes! They might be "food for thought" if you've never looked at our surprisingly thorough and official documentation. And, as always, contact me directly at the Judge Wangler address if you have an questions; txtspk not required.

The One About the Judge Etiquette

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the Week, Hillary Cohen.

One of the best things, in my opinion, about volunteer work for an organization that serves Off-Off-Broadway is that the community is so vocal. (No, that is NOT non-profit management gallows humor. Why do people always think I'm being sarcastic?)

Sincerely: We get year-round feedback. We solicit ideas for making the IT Awards better. The questions and comments that relate most to Judge Coordinating prompted this Full of IT entry. 

In the January Update box announcing this Guest Blogger spot, Shay promised, "Next week our Judge Coordinators take over the blog reminding us all of some good judge etiquette, sharing advise and answering questions." (If you don't get the monthly e-newsletter goodness we call the "Update," you can sign up at the lower left of this page. Display on mobile devises may vary.)

When it comes to etiquette, I'm not going to be an unpleasant scold or a hypocritical bore. In the quest for a more perfect system and in the spirit of fairness, I ask anyone logging into our site:

Please try to treat the productions registered there as you'd like your own treated.

We deeply appreciate everyone's participation in the IT Awards community. This organization wouldn't represent Off-Off-Broadway without you. We want the artists who registered to feel their company and production were judged fairly by their peers and we want judges to feel their opinions and time were respected. To that end:

• Contact the Judge Wrangler! I really can't stress this enough. If you have ANY questions, concerns, changes of plan, or proposed assignments you cannot accept, let us know as soon as you can.
  
  
• See the whole show!
  If you arrive late or leave early or cannot give a performance your full attention for any reason -- whether because of illness, the frequently benighted MTA, an urgent message, or a scheduling conflict -- contact the judgewrangler account as soon as you can. We'll apologize to the producer on your behalf anonymously and schedule a replacement judge.
  
  
• Attend with an open mind!
  Part of what makes OOB so innovative is its diversity. Expect the unexpected or something not necessarily your artistic style. Try not to let published reviews influence your scores, and honestly determine where between 0 and Flawless each element of this work stands.

Bottom line: I really am here to help. By "here" I mean we are checking Judge Wrangler emails every. single. day. If you need answers to your registration questions, if you need confirmation of judge ticket reservation requests, if you need to take a hiatus for out of town work, or if you need to recruit a different company member to serve as delegate -- "Help me, help you." Whatever it is, shoot the judgewrangler account an email about it. I promise you'll get service...sometimes with a smile.

I don’t know you, but I love you.

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the Week, Hillary Cohen.

Everything you need to know about my family background, you can get from seeing a good production of anything by Neil Simon. I was raised 20 minutes outside of New York City by the kind of White Flight pseudo-intellectuals who wanted me to appreciate free thinking artists, but not starve like one.

So, as my IT Staff bio says, I saw my first Off-Off-Broadway play as a second grader in 1988 and have been hooked ever since. I cannot act, know very little about creating good design, and am more likely to inadvertently alienate a talented cast than direct them effectively, but I EFFING LOVE THEATER. Everything to do with it.

I’ve always done “support”. That means for nearly 25 years, I have been helping creative people create. I copy edit program text. I merge whole company’s crazy availability into a cohesive production schedule. I organize grant application attachments in the order they appear in the guidelines. Most importantly: I see stuff, attend attentively, and proselytize for my favorites. I’m a fan.

And you are…? And this is in reference to…?
The above preamble is to say, I know most of you don’t really know me. Maybe you’ve talked to our amazing Founding Directors. They are excellent as the Face of the Organization because they are passionate, articulate, and naturally good looking. Maybe you heard about us through our inspiring Company, Communications, or Outreach volunteer staff. Hopefully, you’re reading this blog because you want to engage with the larger Off-Off-Broadway community the IT Awards strives to represent.

The Judge Wrangler can be, at times, a shadowy figure. Most of our registration and adjudication process happens entirely online through web forms and automated emails. (If any of this is unclear, PLEASE check out the presentation here or the video here.) I don’t know what scores anyone puts on their ballot and I don’t want to know. My job is to keep the elegant IT Awards system moving and I take my job pretty seriously.

I like making lists.
That is why some of the emails we Judge Co-Coordinators get surprise the heck out of me! I’d really like to use my first Guest Blogger post to address them.

Who am I to judge?

1. You aren’t Theater Critics.
   Sometimes we get an email saying the production cannot find a company member to serve as delegate judge because they do not feel qualified to judge their peers. Don’t confuse participating in the adjudication process with being a Theater Critic.
   
   Criticism as a profession has developed from journalistic tradition of analysis and editorializing. Tony Scott in no more a filmmaker than Paul Krugman’s a senator. Shows are registered with us by artists who want to be seen and scored by their peers; their fellow Indy Theater practitioners. They are choosing to participate in the more than just their company; they are inviting in the larger Indy scene. Take them up on this invitation…and let them know how close to “flawless” they get. Which brings us to:
   
2. The community (YOU) defines what is Outstanding.
   The awards are decided based on a peer evaluation system. When a production is registered, the producers understand and accept that their fellow OOB practitioners and their audience will be determining their final scores. The IT Awards do not recognize Outstanding Level of Dedication or Outstanding Execution of a Stated Vision or Outstanding Ability to Produce Against Difficult Odds. If they did, I seriously think you would all win. Seriously.
   
   Hundreds of productions register every year. To be one of the few recognized out of that big a group really is an honor. By averaging 3 peer judges’ with the total audience scores, the IT Awards gather responses as diverse as the registrant pool. We don’t suffer from Flavor of the Month style prevailing preferences or the traditional expectations of an established Old Guard because the voters change as much and as often as the community does. Which brings us to:
   
3. The schedule doesn’t care if it is your cup of tea.
   Some judges “cherry pick” their assignments. Not all, but some. I sincerely wish they didn’t. For every judge who only accepts proposed judging assignments for which they would have bought a ticket anyway…there is an equal and opposite producer who doesn’t want “some random Board Member from a Children’s Puppet Theater” judging their distinctly not Children’s Puppet Theater show.
   
   Trust me, folks. Producers, you want the randoms! They will see your work with fresh eyes and you’ll get more honest feedback in the Comments. Sure everyone wants to see their friends' work, but you learn more and get a greater perspective when you see the unexpected and the previously unknow.  I was a relatively popular kid in senior high and in my college theater troupe, so I remember how great clique membership can be. Cliques, however, can suffer from Groupthink. Don’t let Groupthink get in the way of your theater company’s growth and your growth as an artist. Supporting one another is good. Letting it keep you from getting better is sad.
   
   And Judges, you want to randomly see something you would not pick on your own! It might be super weird or super predictable in the exact opposite way your work is not, it might remind you of how great your work is in comparison, it might remind you what not to do. If you’ve ever complained that you’ve never heard of the nominees or that nothing you’ve judged has gotten nominated, I respectfully suggest you ask yourself if you accepted the “never heard of them” assignments to actively score a show in or out of the running or filed an audience member ballot for work that really stuck with you. This is how your honest reaction ensures the season’s highest scores really do go to what the community deems its most outstanding work.

I know you’re busy, but we throw a couple of fun parties each summer. It would be great to see you there. Maybe you’ll actually meet me then. If not, just know I’m a huge fan.

Guest Blogger of the Week: Hillary Cohen

We would like to thank Sean Williams for his awesome blogs last week.

We are excited to announce that this week's guest blogger is our very own Hillary Cohen.

Hillary Cohen shuffles corporate partnerships paperwork for Baruch College/CUNY during the day and assigns judges for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards at night. She lives in unwedded bliss in leafy Park Slope with her tireless and tiring Domestic Partner, Jason Marin. Hillary likes to think she is hilarious on Facebook. Friend her and you'll see why. Before joining the IT Awards and Foundation staff, she was as a stage management intern for 2002 O'Neill Playwright's Conference. Her New York stage management credits include Cantata (Playwrights Theatre of New York), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and Causin' A Scene (Big Step Productions), Chopin's Preludes (HERE American Living Room series), and several great Emerging Artists Theatre Company shows. She has served as a resident stage manager for Emerging Artists and was the company's Production Manager for their 2004-05 season. Hillary is a graduate of Drexel University with a degree in Corporate Communication and a Theatre Production minor. She attended the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.