My Career In Theatre: What A/An ____________ [ADJECTIVE] Road!

Contributed by Robin Rothstein

For me, working in the theatre has been a thrilling and ever-changing road map. I've been down quite a few roads in my career – actor, playwright, lyricist, producer, arts advocate, and commercial theatre professional, to name a few.

It’s not unusual, though, to wear different hats over the course of a theatre career and it’s also no secret that it’s a tough industry, loaded with personal and financial risk from indie theatre on up to Broadway, and beyond. But this is partly what makes it so rewarding and exciting, right? And the industry is expanding every day – artistically, commercially, globally. You can create opportunities everywhere if you know how to look for them.
What’s been so cool for me is being part of both the indie theatre world and the Broadway world. I owe a LOT to both for giving me a wide range of knowledge and experiences. In the indie world, I’ve been fortunate to have my writing produced in New York festivals over the years, including, once again, the NY Indie Theatre One Minute Play Festival coming up this May, and I’ve learned about local politics by getting into the trenches alongside my colleagues at the League of Independent Theatre (LIT), where the fight for more financial support for the arts goes on. My interest in arts advocacy also inspired me to join my community board where I was promoted to Chair of the Arts & Institutions Committee. I continue to use that as a platform to raise awareness and to remind people how instrumental the arts are to the well being of society, both culturally and economically.

And it is at this intersection, between the arts and economics, where I now find myself. Having worked in the touring division at Broadway Across America for a number of years now, I have seen time and time again how important commercial touring shows are to keeping theatre alive across the U.S., and how “the road” feeds back to Broadway in the tourist dollars that were part of the record numbers reported for 2015. This same paradigm of the arts benefiting local economies can be found across the country. It has also been a known fact for years that artists and arts organizations help the local economy here in NYC.

The past few years have been especially rewarding for me, as I took the initiative to combine my creative writing expertise, my theatre business know-how, and my interest in the arts promoting community prosperity. I got an idea for a project that fulfilled me artistically, and that I also believed had enduring commercial potential. This project was my family musical, MAD LIBS LIVE!

It took nearly eight years for the project to get from the “light bulb” going off in my head in my mom's kitchen to the world premiere Off-Broadway this past November at New World Stages. And while there were many challenges and unknowns all along the way, I wouldn’t trade a moment of it! What an exciting road the MAD LIBS LIVE! process has been and continues to be, as our team is now busy preparing for the exciting touring and licensing opportunities beyond our Off-Broadway run.

There will continue to be roads to choose from, but as long as I keep choosing, I’ll be on the right road, even if I end up making what feels like a wrong turn. (I’ve learned those can often turn out to be right turns in the end.) And as I move forward with MAD LIBS LIVE! and other endeavors, I can't wait to see where these next roads take me! 

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Robin Rothstein is a critically acclaimed playwright and commissioned book writer and lyricist whose writing has been produced in New York, across the U.S., and internationally. She is also Director of Operations at Broadway Across America and Chair of the Arts & Institutions Committee of Community Board 2, Manhattan. For more info on MAD LIBS LIVE!, please visit MAD LIBS LIVE!

Advice I'll Give

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week Mark Armstrong.

Yesterday, I wrote about some of the advice I got when starting The Production Company. Six years later, I have some suggestions of my own to pass along. Take them with a grain of salt if you'd like, since everyone knows what opinions are like. Here are some of mine:

(1) If you're just starting your New York City theater company, don't feel like you have to do a full 16-performance run right away. I did, and our first year we played to some sparse houses for many of the performances. Over the next few years, I watched how my friend Isaac Butler build some buzz for short-run shows like In Public (with theatre minima), The Honest-to-God True Story of the Atheist and MilkMilkLemonade -- they had fewer performances, but the seats were always full.

(2) If you're working in New York, you have to show people something new. Do NOT do another low-budget revival of plays like The House of Yes, The Shape of Things or Two Rooms. Audiences in New York have seen those plays in expensive productions with great actors -- or, they've seen the films that two of those plays were made into. Seriously, get out and find something else to do. (If you're still reading this and thinking "yeah, but Mark doesn't know my super-special CONCEPT for The House of Yes, then I can't do any more for you.)

(3) If you're waiting for plays to be published before finding out what's new, you're way behind the curve. All the new playwrights you like have new material that's circulating and looking for a home. Here's how you get it. Find out who their agent is -- doollee.com is very helpful, though not always perfect, in assisting with this -- and call their office. You don't need the agent; you need the assistant. That person has new scripts on their hard drive and they sit at their desk all day emailing them to people. Make friends with the assistants for literary agents and you can get your hands on the latest scripts by your favorites. Invariably, some of these plays will be looking for a home and, if you make the right pitch, you'd be surprised.

(4) Invite people you'd like to work with to see your work. In between trying desperately to get Ben Brantley there, spend some time inviting your favorite actors and playwrights to see work you're proud of. Facebook makes this really easy. Down the road, that may prove just as helpful.

(5) When you see work that you really respond to, send a note to the artists whose work you liked. Again, the age of Facebook is your friend here.

(6) New York is different now. There's one large theater artistic director who I love, but every time I hear him talk, he tells us all how lucky we are that we have the Fringe Festival, which wasn't here when he was starting out. I always want to respond "Yeah, but when you were building your company, renting a halfway-decent theater in Manhattan didn't cost at least $4000 per week!" The real estate thing is harder than it used to be, which is why finding ways to collaborate creatively with other companies and venues is important.

(7) On the venue thing: I always try to use venues that I feel like people have positive associations with -- i.e. when they go there, they associate the space with good work. There are some spaces that just hearing the name of puts me off going there. (You all know the ones I mean.)

(8) Be "at the party." (This is another of Beth Blickers' tips.) If you like new plays, there are lots of free readings and other events to attend all over the city. Hang out at New Dramatists, read the plays in their library and show up when they have parties.

(9) Sounds like schmoozing? Think that's gross? I once interviewed Carey Perloff from ACT and she set me straight on that point. Yes, she offered, there will come a point in your career where you feel that everything is about who you know and it's so nepotistic and blah-blah. Another way of looking at it, she said, is that theater is about relationships. Since what we do in the creative process is build relationships, it's perhaps only natural that theater people would build their careers in a social, relational way. Ignore the schmooze at your own peril.

(10) The Off-Off-Broadway community is awesome, but don't avoid creative relationships with artists from the off-Broadway and Broadway scene. What I love about New York theater is that Broadway folks can come downtown to see their veteran pals experiment with new stuff, while we can all go to the big houses and cheer one of our friends who lands a big gig. Off-Off-Broadway is a great creative engine for the American theater, but it shouldn't be a ghetto.

NEXT: More on #10

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The Other Liaison Hat

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

For my last guest-blog, I want to mention the OTHER liaison hat.  Yesterday I was talking about groups and organizations to help you with your productions.  The OTHER liaison hat is the one you wear when you are helping other production companies with their projects.

I know how all-consuming our own projects can be.  But don’t forget to look up and see what else is going on.  No, not to “see what the competition is up to” but to see what your peers are working on.  I LOVE going to shows and seeing other companies being thanked in the program!  “Mask & Daggar would like the thank Laff Snax productions for the use of their wheelchair,” etc.  NICE! 

It’s not just about filling seats and swelling coffers to make the next project bigger and better.  It’s also about forging strong ties and building a stronger OOB community.  Especially in these difficult economic times.  Let’s face it, cats and kittens, we all have the same goal: to produce the best shows we can.

Anyone want to share a story about one group helped out another?  C’mon!  It’s almost Mother’s Day!  Make her proud by showing her how you learned to share :) 

… ok, I was reaching a little with that last one.

How about this parting thought?

In the war to save the arts, we support the troupes!

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OOB Resources

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

I’ve been talking a lot about the many hats an OOB producer wears for his/her company.  But one hat I’ve mentioned briefly needs a little more attention.

Liaison.

The OOB community has a LOT of organizations that are designed to help theatre companies.  Obviously, there’s the IT Awards and ART/NY.  But let’s not forget organizations like Fractured Atlas, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, United Stages, Materials for the Arts, Freecycles, Audience Extras, The Dramatists Guild of America, I could go on and on.

NYC has a vast array of helpful organizations ready, willing and able to help make your productions get better and better.  ALWAYS be on the lookout for helpful groups and always keep in contact with them.

But I don’t want to preach to the choir.  Rather, I invite folks to post a quick story about an organization that’s helped you and your projects.  Let’s sing some praises!

Sorry, I just watched “First Sunday” last night and have church humor on my mind :p

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Cinco de Mayo

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

Ah, May 5th. 

Point of You has been around since the year 2000 and we’ve had some tremendous successes and a few moments of floundering.  That’s normal.  And May 5, 2005 taught us a very valuable lesson.

We were producing LoveSmacked, a showcase that was part of our I’m Just Saying series.  We had all hands on deck.  We had all of our ensemble members writing, directing, performing, designing.  We had guest artists galore from various other theatre companies!  We had a poster that was so popular, it went on to appear in the 40th Street Drama Bookshop window AND for years one was hanging on the wall behind the bar at the Produce’s Club.  We were firing on all cylinders!

But the one hat none of my amazing amalgamation of multitaskers wore?  A party hat. 

It was Cinco de Mayo and no one came.  No prepaid sales, no walk-in’s, nada.  So we threw our own party in the theatre :)

Note to self (the self that sets the seasonal calendar): don’t book a show on Cinco de Mayo unless a) it’s related to the holiday or b) you offer free alcohol for your audience!

Second Note to self: Add Party Hat to the hat collection.

Anybody else have a weird holiday show experience?

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More hats than a Brooklyn chapeau shop!

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Johnny Blaze Leavitt.

I’m so glad tax season is over!  Apart from the usual headaches and worries that we all go through this time of year, there’s one little tidbit that frustrates me to no end.

Occupation: Actor

Holy socks!  Is that ever a gross oversimplification!!!  My fellow Off-Off-Broadway producers know exactly what I’m talking about.  No one is “just an actor” anymore.  And once you decide to produce your own work, you’ll never be “just” any one thing ever again.

A show of hands from my fellow producers (if you have the time to spare).  How many hats do you wear now?  I’ve been a producer since the year 2000 and my hat collection just keeps growing!  I have more hats than a Brooklyn chapeau shop!  Playwright, Designer, Director, Marketing Strategist, Venue Hunter, Prop Hunter/Builder, Contract Negotiator, Dispute Settler, Promoter, Blogger, Stage Manager, Production Coordinator, Graphic Designer, Grant Application Writer, Fundraiser, Liaison, Officer in Charge of Morals, Chief Worry Wart and, oh yeah, Actor.

I can’t stress this enough to other producers: Get a Team!  I am extremely lucky that I don’t have to go it alone.  I have a team of seven who meet once a week (in our secret Bat Cave) to plot and plan.  I also have eleven more multi-talented artists in the ensemble willing to tow the line.

I also can’t stress this enough: Post-It notes!  Little reminders of what I have to do and when.  I have them all over my house!  Or I used to until I got married and my wife wanted a ‘grown-up’ house.  Oh yeah!  Add ‘Husband hat’ to that collection!  Ah, married life.  Luckily I married an actress.  Who is also a Fight Director.  And an Accent/Dialect coach.  And a Voice & Diction coach.  And a stand-up comedian.  And a Doula.  CRAP!  “Honey, we either need a bigger place or fewer hats!  Or more post-it notes!  … Yes, I’ll put my thoughts in my iPhone instead, dear.”

It’s like having a hamster in a wheel hopped up on caffeine 24/7 running around in my head but it’s one of the best jobs there is.

I’ll write more tomorrow but for now, I invite folks to share a quick ‘Day in the Life’ list of chores you do as a producer.  I know after this I have to go write two more scenes for my summer show, check in with my Artistic Director about his prep work for the fall show, go over the drafts for some press releases, talk to my Administrative Director about adding some links to our website, send some documents over to ART/NY, review a SWOTs analysis for my production team, and set up a photo shoot for our next postcard image.  CRAP!  And hunt for a good green screen kit on eBay! 

Um… any sellers out there?
:p

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Title: Crash Test Smarties

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Jonathan Reuning.


My brother-in-law has a degree in economics so Ian and I consulted him when we started  United Stages.  He said the first and most important thing to do was to write a business plan – a crash test, so to speak – A way to imagine your company’s journey and anticipate potential potholes along the road. 

Does your company have a crash test? How do you envision your company doing two years from today? Three years? A decade from today? Grab a pencil with a non-dried out eraser and a stack of scrap paper. It isn’t real unless it’s written down. Who is your current audience? No, really, be specific. What things are you doing to make your audience grow? If you had to, who could you share resources with? (Who are your natural allies?)  Don’t know? Luckily you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There is an amazing amount of crash test advise to be found right here on this site.

This is my final guest blogger post and I just wanted to say thanks to the IT Foundation for the opportunity to enter the conversation. I’m obliged also to the NYC producers and artists who each day chime-in, remain curious, make connections with one another,  respect their audiences, and grow and thrive in the business and art of theater.

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Mercedes’ Rule

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Jonathan Reuning.


I was walking my small white dog the other morning and noticed a guy getting out of a Smart Car with his 90 pound Pit Bull and I had to ask him how the ride was in such a tiny car. The first thing out of his mouth was, “well, you know, Mercedes makes these.” Enough said, I thought, but then he added that he observed that the suspension handled the pot holes sometimes better than the larger cars he’s owned.

Wow, so, Mercedes Benz builds the Smart Car - those half sized city cars that fit two to a parking space – and now not only do I think they are more aptly named than ever but I’m left contemplating how reputation transcends size and how this ties into the topic of OOB and the Recession, which, if you’re just tuning in, is my guest topic.

In Tim Errikson’s previous blog, Size, level, and the meaning of life, he made a great point (among many) about fruitless attempts to pigeon-hole Indie/OOB companies with characteristics like “modest’ or “young” or ‘developing” or , let’s face it, “less than”. His point (sorry for the paraphrase, Tim) was that the only true thing one can generalize about us is we work in smaller venues. Colors and models may vary.

You can see this exemplified in the responses to my previous post, Ford Tough.

Daniel said he built his company and artistic goals to work in harmony with his space (The backroom at Jimmy’s No. 43) – even engineered original plays specifically for the site - allowing Rising Phoenix Rep to be, here it comes… a Smart Car.

On the other hand, Heather’s vision for Retro Productions is more traditional requiring period design, sets and costumes (and you know why she is a visionary when you see one of her shows, the design elements make you remember how much you appreciate theater as a collaborative art. See her previous blogs, Doing the Research and Gifts from the Prop Gods) HOWEVER, this Mercedes E350 sedan is bigger. It requires more a expensive parking space that costs a ridiculous amount of her budget (60%!). Should she switch to a crossover vehicle, a hybrid, or stay true to the vehicle she loves?


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Ford Tough

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Jonathan Reuning.


Last year, because the mortgage market collapsed and it seemed our country was facing the next Great Depression, many theater companies stopped producing shows and started producing fundraisers. Some trimmed their expenses by showcasing work in festival venues that offered brief but less expensive performance opportunities. Some abbreviated their regular seasons while others suspended operation entirely to wait out the recession. Some took a gamble and charged up their MasterCard and took advantage of industry discounts. A year later these combination of strategies allowed ailing OOB a chance to rebound.

I recently read how Ford Motor Company’s reputation for fiscal conservatism was popularly ridiculed for being out of touch with the day’s risk rewarding financial strategies. Of course we now know that Ford was the only US automaker able to decline government bailout money. Their reluctance to outsmart their own balance sheets rewarded them with a huge advantage over their crippled competition. What’s more, instead of being complacent at the top of a shifting heap Ford heavily promoted the value of their products. Some experts believe that Ford’s momentum will keep them dominant for decades.

“OOB and the recession” is my guest blogger topic which sounds pretty ominous but I’m excited to explore it. I think there are probably some lessons to take away from our experiences. It is hard to imagine any small venue theater professional unaware of the negative impact the economy has had on small (and large) theater companies, but you know….It might surprise some to learn that during these most challenging 12 months there were some companies that did more than survive. They flourished. I can’t talk about specific US clients but I’ll say it again, many companies brought in record audiences. They maintained or increased their financial stability during our worst economic year in memory.

How were they able to stay in the game? Did OOB companies that also operated as fiscally conservative businesses take leaps forward? How much luck is involved vs. strategic planning? Aren’t Indie companies supposed to be art smart but maybe a little business-stupid? Possibly, but I’ve never seen it. Would love to hear how you are outsmarting the recession. Also, what you would have done differently if you’d had a year or two with advanced knowledge of the economic downturn.

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Size, level, and the meaning of life.

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Tim Errickson.

Some people have heard me bitch about this issue before, so I apologize in advance. Treat this like a spoiler alert…Stop reading here if you don’t want to hear the screed.

My biggest pet peeve about how OOB defines itself is not the idea of Off-Off-Broadway vs. Indie Theatre (both are acceptable to me) but rather when people say “theatre at this level”. What level are you talking about? And what are you measuring and comparing? Talent level? Entertainment factor? Level of thoughts provoked? All bullshit.

What really defines the OOB/Indie companies (see how I did that) is size. We work in 99 seat and under houses. That’s it. So let’s retire the phrase “theatre at this level”. It imparts the inferiority that Kirk Bromley was originally talking about with the Off-Off tag. We are “theatre of this size”, and a lot of that is by choice. Think about it…if you had more money, would you do your show in a larger house (off-bway 400 seater for example), OR pay everybody (including yourself), buy some advertising and more perfs and keep your show in a 99 seater? I would absolutely go for the latter, because the theatre I make is 99 seat, intimate type stuff. You wouldn’t fuck that up just so you could call yourself something else, right?

But the “level” issue again makes the work we do seem like the minor leagues or like student productions not worthy of the public and the critical community’s attention. Commercial theatre/tourist theatre is a totally different fucking animal. Are they shooting for the same demographic? No. Are they spending the same amount of money? No. Are they even using the same methods? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I’ve almost just convinced myself that Indie theatre is a better way to go, just so as to acknowledge that Commercial/Tourist Theatre is different than what we do.

And sorry if you thought I knew the meaning of life…you must be new here.


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Rotating what? No friggin’ way!

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Tim Errickson.

One of the founding ideas of Boomerang Theatre Company is the concept of rotating repertory. When I mention this to people (designers, actors, even my Mom) I often get the look like I’m speaking Swahili (I get that look a lot from Mom). The idea seems easy to me…you rent a space, and then try to get as many performances to fill that space as you humanly can. Maximize your revenue, maximize the opportunities for artists, always seems like a win-win.

The idea came from when I was a young buck crossing the big pond for the first time in the winter of 1992. I was studying abroad for my junior year, and living in London about three blocks from the National Theatre. I was fascinated by the idea that you could have more than one show in a space at one time…how could that work? Did actors perform in multiple shows at the same time? How did you have to manage a space to retain flexibility yet be specific enough to serve each production fully? And from an audience standpoint, was it a plus or a minus? To me it seemed a plus, because you had the choice of seeing Greek tragedy on Monday or Moliere on Tuesday, for example. When setting up a company in New York in the late 90’s, only one company (the now defunct Jean Cocteau Rep) was running in rotating rep. Could it be done in NYC? More importantly, could it be done in Off-Off-Broadway (OOB)? Over the last 12 years, we have refined the model and made it work on the scale of OOB economics.

Rotating rep in OOB helps to control your costs. If you rent a theatre for four weeks, you can produce three shows and let them run in rep for 8 performances each. In theory, you can market all three separately or together (one postcard or eblast), and with a limited run like this you can increase the audience’s urgency to see the show (originally we modeled that after dance companies that did limited run seasons before taking shows on the road or pulling them out of rotation). You can reuse set pieces or props between shows, also cutting down your expenses. Creative collaboration between shows can even make the individual shows cheaper than doing them separately. And because of three shows running, potentially each of your audience members buys three tickets instead of just one.

From an artistic standpoint, Boomerang is always asked why three plays appear together in a rep season. More times than not, the shows are selected because I really want to do them, with any themes manifesting themselves after the fact. In 2004, we produced O’Neill’s BEYOND THE HORIZON with Kelly McAllister’s BURNING THE OLD MAN and Jason Sherman’s PATIENCE. All three shows were exciting individually, and huge challenges for the casts who worked on them. Just as we are preparing to begin rehearsal, someone said “Ya know, all three of these plays are about pairs of brothers dealing with what it means to be responsible to the other one”. After a moment of silence and awkward stares, I said “Well fuck yeah, sure. We knew that”. Um, not so much. I’m now of the mind that our shows (whatever three they happen to be in a given season) will inform each other in ways both subtle and broad, and that no matter how excellent an individual production might be, audiences will always get a fuller experience by seeing all three.

Since 1999 when we began producing rep seasons, the concept has been used by other OOB companies with much success, proving that the model can work for theaters this size. Yes, there are extra challenges of time, being smart with expenses and smart with people, but it can also provide you with the opportunity to produce a lot of work in a condensed amount of time and really inspire your company.

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If you are an asshole, you have to go.

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Tim Errickson.


I am a theatre artist. A producer, a director, and now an aspiring playwright at the ripe old age of 39. I belong to a world of spectacle, emotion, intellect, suspension of disbelief, no money, long hours, drama, caffeine , alcohol, good sex, bad sex, bad idea sex, more caffeine, diner food, day jobs, still no money, crap all over your apartment, and a belief that all this adds up to contribution to the city we live in and the world at large. It’s the best job in the whole world.

I’m excited to be a guest blogger this week for the IT Awards, and I’m going to do my damndest to write interesting things about my company, my process, my collaborators, and my community. I’m going to swear a lot, because that’s what happens. I’m going to say some smart things and some fucking stupid things, but again, what can you do. But we’ll take a little ride together and see what happens this week.

Today’s Monday, and I’m going to talk about collaborators…how do you find them and how do you keep them. Back at the dawn of time, there was a place in NYC where lots of theatre got done, called the Lower East Side. I worked for a crazy woman and her slightly more sane husband (just slightly, really) who‘s one piece of sanity was to pass on to me the “No Assholes” rule. The rule is: I don’t care how talented you are, how many people you have worked with, who you’re blowing, where your credits or your MFA are from…if you are an asshole, you have to go. Plain and simple. Nobody’s making enough/any money, and the sex is never THAT good (real or imaginary). At the end of the day, everybody has to pull their weight and make the thing work. So if you are a dick, and making everybody so frustrated at you or your process, no amount of talent in the world can save you. At least not at Boomerang.

And sometimes, it just takes calling someone a dick to snap them back to reality and make them a collaborator again. A few years back, we were producing a project in our rotating rep season in which the director was extremely personally involved. He believed this piece to be the thing that would skyrocket him into the upper echelon of young directors, and that all our limitations of hours and manpower and budget were holding him back. After a run thru during tech week, he dismissed the actors and called the designers and stage manager into the theatre and read them the absolute fucking riot act, hardcore. How dare they not have everything to his specs, how he wanted it and exactly when he wanted it? He announced if they didn’t all get their acts together soon (and honestly, the team was no further behind and exhausted than any other crew before or since in my experience) then he was pulling his name off the project. It was at this point that I stepped in and asked that if he wanted his name off the project, fine, but that this meeting was over. Nobody needed to be treated like that, considering all they were giving. If he was going to be an asshole, he had to go.

Afterwards, the designers and stage manager knew they were protected and respected for all they were doing, and the director was delivered a wakeup call to reiterate that we are all in this together. Has that director worked with us again? No. Have those designers and SM? Absolutely.

While that might seem like a horror story to some, especially during tech week, it served as a reminder to choose your collaborators carefully and to keep them close once you do. How to find them? Obviously word of mouth is a good thing, or seeing their work onstage. But sometimes you just get a gut feeling and you trust it. One of my best friends and closest collaborators met me across the bar at a day job and we discussed college basketball, women, and theatre (three things that have dominated most of my adult life) and without seeing a thing he’d worked on, I had a feeling he’d be a good person to have on my side. Or sometimes it’s just who’s been through the deepest shit with you and come out the other side still sane and alive. You think, hey if that show didn’t drive them to stick their head in the oven, and I didn’t want to kick the shit out of them every day of the process, (and they didn’t quit) then maybe there’s something there.

And while I said that no amount of talent can save you at the end of the day if you are an asshole, it is still talent we are all looking for. Talent is, to my mind, the sexiest thing a person can possess. It’s that magical “it” thing, and if you can find collaborators who posses talent, who can understand the limitations of your project and the success that comes from team work rather than being a douche, then odds are your project is going to be successful enough that you’ll get 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night during tech. And that’s pretty good.

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Writing a play – I rant I rave, I write.

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, ML Kinney.


It started with an iota of an idea. It actually started by me getting rather pissed off one day by something I read. I don’t need to go any further with the “what.” My friends and family already know how I deal with getting pissed off – I rant, I rave, I write! (Usually taking an opposing argument, most times theirs, and using it to push my own home.) It gets frustrating for them that they have no rebuttal in my process, but it makes for good theatre.

So this iota of an idea, this tirade took form, of course, as a play. It actually took form as a one-joke play of thirty pages. I brought it to the Milk Can and asked for a read. So one evening we sat down as a group and read out loud the jumble of pages I had assembled. From feedback, and me listening to both the script and comments, it became clear that this joke was more. It was more than an iota of an idea, a joke, but a reality for a script.

I spent some months reviewing the script and making notes. I then sat down with the arguments in the background, an echo bouncing in my skull, and I started in earnest to form a fully evolved reality that went beyond the punch line and actually became a play.

With this draft, I started in the Milk Can’s Scene Herd Uddered (SHU) development workshop series. After seven weeks of working, I was amazed at how the script grew -- it become a world of its own, which is Life Among The Natives.

I am now in the midst of pre-production for the premiere of this new play, a play which has taken a two-year trip down the aisle to center stage. The process and the piece astound me daily.

That’s not to say that my work is done. We are two weeks into the rehearsal process and I find myself re-writing as we go along. Most evenings I sit in the rehearsal room cutting and pasting scenes beyond recognition, where the actors can’t even follow along. I change a word, a sentence, I write a monologue. I come home and re-write new pages and drift off to sleep with the characters talking new arguments in my ear. I listen, re-write and listen again. And through this process, I watch as a world takes shape and an event, the event of theatre, takes form.

I sit nightly humbled in rehearsals by the energy present from a group of artists who are there to fully realize an iota of an idea that formed in my brain some two years earlier. It would have remained there, floating voices for my therapist, or stayed splayed on an unread page, but for the ability I have with the company I work with. This play would not be if it wasn’t for a group of people, The Milk Canners, whom I respect and cherish. They prodded and pushed for me to take this iota, this joke, this part of me to its realized conclusion, which shall complete its two year journey on May 8, 2010, as it is handed to an audience to devour and enjoy.

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Cultivating a Theatre to Grow Plays

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, ML Kinney.


I have been around the OOB block more times than I care to admit. Through the years I have discovered a diverse community and an amazing wealth of talent. I am happy to say that I consider OOB my home. I live, I work, I create, and I thrive within this community. I am fed daily on its spirit.

I have been involved with The Milk Can Theatre Company since its inception in 2003. I believe in its mission, I helped to form it, and I have worked towards strengthening its purpose to the OOB community and to itself as a producing theatre company. The Milk Can’s work is primarily new play development. We work diligently to foster an environment where plays can grow. We examine and change this process yearly to help improve, not only the end result, but the path taken to get there.

As a playwright I know just how difficult it is to get an idea onto paper, into dramatic form. I also know how difficult it is to get that idea off the paper and into a living, breathing theatrical entity. Before 2003, when I started working with the Milk Can, I had acquired file folders full of first and second drafts; I had badgered my friends and family into reading and critiquing beyond politeness; and I had received enough rejection letters to wallpaper my bedroom. Yes, once or twice I was lucky to have some group take pity on my pages and allow me to hear a group of actors sit in chairs and speak my words. I even had the luck to be commissioned twice for projects, where I actually got to witness my ideas take form and play to an audience with costumes, lights, sets, and music. I know that this is an amazing thing. I know there are playwrights who have not gotten that far, and I also know that some of my work was produced before it was ready for prime time.

In formulating our mission and methods at the Milk Can, we agreed as a group that this phenomenon happens more times than not when producing new plays onto the OOB stage: most are just not ready to be in the spotlight. We decided to wrestle with the problem and came up with some solutions that have worked very well for us. We not only continue to produce quality new works, but we also help develop the artists creating them.

The Milk Can as a company takes an innovative approach to developing new work. We believe and think a play must have a fertile environment and time to grow. We provide artists with the opportunity to work on their plays in a no-pressure environment. We provide money, space, and time. Our seven-week "Scene Herd Uddered (SHU)" workshop series is the perfect opportunity for artists to develop an idea, and to concentrate on process rather than product. The end result is a solid foundation where a play can blossom.

The SHU process is divided into three phases:

PHASE ONE: In the first four weeks, a team -- usually composed of a playwright, a director, designer, and a group of actors -- goes into rehearsal and development. At the end of this period, there is an in-house run-through of the project. Extensive feedback is given to the creative team. The focus is on script development.

PHASE TWO: The playwright/director team is given a "quiet week" -- one week to write, re-write, and consider how to deal with feedback before going back into rehearsal.

PHASE THREE: Over the next two weeks, groups rehearse and continue to polish and refine the play. The focus is on performance, though the process of script development continues.
After the performance, there is always a talk-back to get audience feedback.

I have had the pleasure of experiencing this process five times as a playwright, with the end result being five scripts that are stronger, more focused, and workable as a theatre product. It is amazing to have the time to write, listen, re-write, listen, and write some more. The ability to be in a room with actors, director, and designers working on a script is the most amazing experience I have had, and to do it without the pressure that it must be perfect for a performance gives you the perspective on how the play works and doesn’t work. The final stage of the SHU is a staged reading, where the community is invited in to see the work and comment -- the final piece of the puzzle.

We all know that the process of theatre is collaborative, yet as playwrights, we are most often working alone. We sit with the voices in our head creating theatre; theatre as an art form that is three dimensional, a living breathing entity, which does take a village to create. Writer, director, actor, designer, and audience all make the art of theatre. So doesn’t it make sense to have everyone involved in the process of developing? The Milk Can’s answer is yes! We have produced twenty-three SHU workshops in the last seven years; from this group we have produced six new plays, world premieres, for our mainstage, and we still have projects under consideration for the future.

As a playwright, I have found that the SHU experience has helped me write better plays, and has allowed me to form bonds with directors, actors, and designers who now share with me a common language and a style of working. It has also allowed me to take risks and grow both personally and creatively.

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Pondering the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Gyda Arber.


Just wanted to say thanks to Shay and everyone at the IT Awards for letting me blog this week! I've toyed with the idea of starting a theater blog, but I don't think I can keep up with the prolific-ness of the theater bloggers--so this is a fun way to get my feet wet.

I just got back from researching taking my show, Suspicious Package, to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. It was a great trip (and everyone was so nice!!) but wow, is it expensive! For everyone out there who complains about the cost of FringeNYC, let me just say, NY is a bargain compared to Edinburgh! My show has only one actor (me), and doesn't need a theater space, so I thought it would be a relatively cheap and easy show to take. Not exactly. I'm sure it's cheaper than most, but still....

It's £400 just to register. Add to that, everyone strongly recommends you take out an ad, which is upwards of 1000 pounds! I know we're getting killed on the exchange rates, but that's a ton of money. Then you need to find a venue, which usually charges you a 40% guarantee as a rental fee, plus housing, food, press agent, posters, flyers, flights.... I'm not sure how anyone does it, honestly.

I'm still pretty excited about taking my show, though the fundraising will begin in earnest soon! Anyone out there ever gone to Edinburgh? Was it super expensive? Did you make any $ back?

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If you have it, use it. Really use it

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Jeff Riebe.


I stand corrected. The official title of the June production, at Interact is Madame Majesta's Miracle Medicine Show. I only got the correct title after talking with one of the Assistant Directors today. His name is Dario Tangelson. He's of the aforementioned international set as he claims Buenos Aires, Argentina as his home base. He has recently performed at The Guthrie in a production called Super Monkey.

We spoke briefly about what he see's as the biggest difference between theater here vs. theater there. The biggest thing that stuck out to him is that productions here (US) receive a tremendous amount of preparation time. A luxury, really. Rehearsal time is thought by many to be a waste of time. Quite incorrect. Rehearsal time provides a glimpse into the inner workings of what the playwright is saying and allows performance of the piece to glow in the aura of truth.

Interact differs from elsewhere, he said because we have a copious amount of time to get a production on its feet. That struck me as relative, since a majority of theater companies do not have their own space. I believe this to be absolutely necessary and we have the luxury of working in our own space. So if you have it, use it. Really use it.

One of the truly positive aspects of working with this group is that the creative process happens on its feet. The production being developed now, is really birthing. One of the Assistant Directors will come up with an idea, and because everyone in the cast is there, that idea can be tried and tried again, honing it into an operable element. And if it works, great! If not, it was well worth the effort.


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The Objective of Theatre

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Jeff Riebe.


Greetings once again.

As I summon what little I actually know about the local theatre scene in Minneapolis, I can't help but miss the NY scene tremendously, but I digress.

I continue to be impressed with The Guthrie (as you may have surmised per my last post). I've had the opportunity to meet other local theatre companies and actors. Their aims and aspirations are as ambitious as anyone, or any company, in this business.

As I mentioned, I'm employed (at least that's the terminology the use) with Interact. It’s a theatre company configured of people with physical and/or mental disabilities. Led by 'normal' peeps, whom it has been enjoyable to get to know. They're all, most of them anyway, artists in their own right. Locally. A few internationally. (Their generosity makes me think of the NY scene.)

I venture now into familiar, yet foreign, territory. That being producing, here in MN.

I am getting an inside look at putting a play on its feet, again. My involvement with Interact has been on the production side of things. The mounting (lately, a foreign concept to me) of a play remains a task involving many aspects. What's becoming apparent is that regardless of the when/where or with whom a play is put on, the objective is still for the piece to tell the story as artistically and truthfully as is possible.

We're in the midst of creating a spring production titled The Medicine Show. It is a play with music, which is also being written. I, as of this writing, really know so little about the details of this piece that it would be unfair to comment. That said, I can say that the people involved in producing/directing this play for Interact are committed to it being the best it can be. There's really no ego-trips involved. It's simply about telling a story.

Aside from my work with Interact, in my downtime (thankfully lacking), I've begun a book retelling my experience. My experience. I'm also being urged to write a script. For stage or screen TBD. Haven't exactly figured out how best to move forward with it, but the Minneapolis people (those that are aware of my book anyway) are doing what they do to inspire me.

You may have figured it out that I think about NY endlessly. Know that you are at the center of theatre life (in the US anyhow) and to not forget how fortunate you are to be there. It's really apparent to me however that theater is ultimately the same to produce wherever you are.

More to follow...


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Gifts from the prop Gods

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Heather Cunningham


OK, here’s where I show you all what a geek I am, as if those of you who know me didn’t already have ample evidence of that.

I went to the Catskills last October to a dear friend's wedding. She is herself a costume designer that I have had the pleasure of working with, so I feel quite certain when I say she will forgive me to learn that one of the things I did while I was there for the weekend of her wedding was to hit up a yard sale in a barn that had a sign out reading “estate sale”. In addition to several fake pearl necklaces (perfect for any number of periods but in particular for the 50s), a brown clutch, and some playing cards that were not plastic coated, the prop Gods bestowed upon me not one, but two vintage match boxes. One for Ohio Blue Tips and one for Birds Eye Diamond (Red Tip) Matches. At the time I was collecting props for Holy Days in which there was a line “Could you get the matches off the stove? Both boxes. OK. The red tips are five cents and the blue tips are ten.” I stood in the barn and stared in disbelief. When I had gathered my wits about me I asked the man how much. He told me $3. I bought them on the spot. He must have thought I was crazy, but I couldn’t believe my good fortune to find vintage packaging in perfect shape (that I wasn’t even looking for).

One of the things that Retro Productions does to a) raise money and b) clear out our limited storage space is to have one or two yard sales a year. Because the people of the neighborhood and our company members know that these sales raise money for the companies productions, we are often the recipients of large donations of, well, junk. But last year the mother of a company member brought out a box that she had rescued from her neighbors basement, thinking I’d be interested in its contents. Apparently her neighbors’ parent had been a paper and greeting cards sales person and had this box of samples in storage for about 50 years. What timing! Our spring show this year, The Desk Set, which takes place in the mid-50s, has a scene on Christmas Eve and strings of Christmas cards make up some of the décor. Done and done. Of course, we are scanning the images and printing them on stronger paper, but now that we’ve done that if anyone is interested in buying them you should give me a holler or come to our next yard sale.

I was doing a little Ebaying last month and was very excited to find a 1953 TIME magazine with Shirley Booth on the cover. Ms. Booth, one of the most well regarded actresses of the 1950s played Bunny in The Desk Set on Broadway. You better believe I bought it… and I’m gonna put it in our production next May!

There have been other, less impressive, but no less amazing gifts from the prop Gods… like the day I was walking through a flea market and found a violin for $10 (I thought for sure that would be a big ticket item I was not looking forward to paying for), or the donation of vintage suitcases from a neighbor of my parents what was cleaning out her attic. But these are some of my favorites, and I think illustrate just why I’m such a geek for Retro, and the thrill of getting the details right!


I’m not much for dedications, but I would like to dedicate these blogs to my parents, Jack and Rebecca Cunningham, without whom I might not have bitten off the constant project that is Retro Productions. Theater professionals themselves, they have taught me not just everything I know about period work, but most of what I know about theater. I could not do what I do without them.

I would like to thank a few people who helped me with my guest blogging this week. First of all to Shay and Morgan for thinking of me, giving me the confidence to attempt this (I’ve never thought of myself as much of a writer), and for giving me a few laughs in the process. I’d like to raise a proverbial glass to the company members of Retro Productions whose combined talents and generosity blow my mind every day. I’d also like to thank my dear friend and terribly talented costume designer Viviane Galloway for her input… come see her designs at Retro in May!

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Doing the Research

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Heather Cunningham

At Retro Productions we concentrate on the 20th century, so most of my advice comes from researching the decades of that era. I have no insight into researching the Elizabethan or Victorian eras, nor can I help you with the Civil War. But ask me about the Great Depression, World War II, Mid-Century modern, Woodstock or Viet Nam and I can probably point you in a few good directions.

As a prop designer my favorite research books are the Taschen All American Ads series. They chronicle print ads by decade and are divided into useful categories such as Alcohol and Tobacco, Technology, and Fashion and Beauty. I also recommend tracking down Sears catalogues from the year you are researching; they sell a little bit of everything and the models have the most “up to date” hair and make up. And most vintage magazines, be they LIFE, LOOK or even LIVING FOR YOUNG HOMEMAKERS will offer fantastic insights from both their articles and their ads.

Also on my bookshelf are the Time Life This Fabulous Century books that break the century down into volumes by decade. They offer insight in to the political climate of the time, popular entertainment, historic events, and even youth culture. And they do it all with some of LIFE and TIME Magazines best photos of the decade. Please note, however, that I am a fan of the actual books, not the booklet versions, which are more like magazines and have a lot less information and illustrations to offer. The kicker of this is that they have the same exact titles. If you are looking for these, you will do well to make sure you are looking at the hardback editions.

Another decade by decade series to look for is the Getty Images Decades of the 20th Century. These are smaller books but have beautiful photographs of everything from famous entertainers to day to day life.

If you are hitting any year from 1955 to 1981 I strongly recommend reading Thomas Hine’s books Populuxe and The Great Funk: Falling Apart and Coming Together (On a Shag Rug) in the Seventies. Hine is incredibly readable and includes fantastic illustrations. He really analyzes the design of the time as well as what made the popular, well, popular.

If you are heading out to the library to find any of the above titles I might also suggest a quick visit to the Picture Collection. And the National Archives are online now too… and searchable! They have many digital images you can peruse, for free, on their website.

One item of warning. Although I do quite a bit of prop searching on ebay I have come to learn that the sellers, while often well intentioned, don’t always know exactly what they have. I do not recommend using ebay as a place for research unless you are prepared to follow up with a more reliable source.

And remember, if you get the basic shape, tone, texture and material of the time period, the pieces themselves don’t have to be vintage! That goes for costumes, props, music, you name it!


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I love Cher.

Contributed by guest blogger of the week, Jeffrey Keenan.

I love Cher. The reasons are many and varied. I’m a homosexual: that’s one. She sings catchy tunes: that’s two. Bob Mackey’s gowns: uh, ok, that’s still one. The movie Moonstruck: that’s three. Longevity: that’s four.

I also like Cher because her name is a homophone: a word pronounced the same as another but one that differs in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, i.e., "Cher" and "share."

Sharing is brilliant idea when it comes to producing local and/or economically conscience theater.

The first crossover hit of my short but illustrious career as a producer in DC was with the locally written show Courting Chris. Courting Chris was a sort of Cyranno de Bergerac meets Will & Grace—perfectly timed for the culture and very, very funny to boot. Sam Schwartz, Jr. principally wrote the piece, but he was also my “Creative Other” at the time. Whenever I was directing his work, he would attend nearly every rehearsal sharing ideas on character and staging, and likewise, when I asked for rewrites, he would invite me work on the text with him. We shared those responsibilities.

The initial theater for Courting Chris was a tiny, 50 seat house in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Washington DC, far removed from the theater centers downtown and in the northwest quadrant. Small shows had been happening there for years, mostly as neighborhood or community projects not aspiring to great heights. But Courting Chris was a different show: new, topical, well written, funny… the audience and first-round reviewers all agreed.

The Theater Alliance under whose auspices I was producing Courting Chris, an organization that has since gone on to become one of the most highly respected small theater companies in Washington DC, at the time was a tiny little thing. Once the reviewers and word-of-mouth had sparked huge interest in the show, there simply wasn’t the space or time available in that little house to accommodate the crush for tickets.

The Church Street Theater in DC at the time was a rental house. 150 seats in a charming nineteenth century former girls' school gymnasium that had for years acted as a neighborhood playhouse. Luckily, it also sat smack dab in the middle of the “gayborhood,” just off of 17^th on a picturesque little street north of downtown.

Church Street needed a show and my show needed a venue. Because of scheduling vagaries, we lost two of the four actors in the intervening weeks, and we spent a hectic pre-opening two weeks rehearsing new actors and retooling the show to fit in to this much larger and more accommodating space, but we opened mid July to a resounding flurry of glowing reviews.

A typical show in DC runs for 4-5 weeks. This show ran for fifteen. And Mr. Schwartz was nominated for his first Helen Hayes Award for best new script.

Before I’d hung up the reins after seven years of producing and directing in DC, I had produced theater in eight different venues across the city and had co-produced shows with at least five different organizations. In each case everyone involved benefited because each of us was willing and able to do the requisite work. And all of those relationships evolved out of friendships and professional respect.

Cher was particularly amazing in Moonstruck. But she wouldn’t have glowed half as brightly if Nicholas Cage hadn’t been there to absorb and reflect her light. If I do say so myself, they “Cher’d” the screen together brilliantly.

Question of the Blog:
With whom could you co-produce?
What do you bring to the table?
What do you need?

For a review of Courting Chris, click here.

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