Your 2009-2010 OOB productions archived for Theatre World

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Contributed by Executive Director, Shay Gines

Last year I had the honor of writing a season review for Off-Off-Broadway in Theatre World volume 65. It was the first time in their 65 years that they had included OOB and I am so excited to tell you that they have decided to continue this practice. This year I have been asked to collect the information for the 2009-2010 season for our community.

I need your help.

1. Please complete the online forms documenting your company's season (see below)
2. Please forward this information to your fellow OOB producers and ask them to do the same.

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 NOW 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.

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.

So, what I need is your production information from the 2009-2010 season (shows that played between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010), for inclusion in Volume 66, including individual production information as well as benefits, readings, workshops, etc.

Please read the notes below carefully for submission guidelines and links to the online forms at the bottom of this email.

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL MATERIALS BY JUNE 10, 2010 TO ENSURE INCLUSION IN THE 2009-2010 EDITION OF THEATRE WORLD!

Our publisher is making every effort to release this volume by the November 2010, 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.


Now for the links:


FULL PRODUCTIONS: Productions produced by your company from June 1, 2009 - May 31, 2010

FESTIVALS: If you presented a festival please complete this form


READINGS/WORKSHOPS: For readings and work shops presented by your company


PRESENTERS: For non-resident productions (productions by OTHER companies) that were presented at your venue


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

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Curtain

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Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, John Patrick Bray.

     Hello, all. Thank you for reading my blogs this week. I have had a number of responses on this site and via personal email. It means so much to me that the good folks at IT asked me to participate, and I appreciate your reading my thoughts, rants, and manifestos.  This last blog will be basically a list. I found myself inspired by a previous blog writer (Tim Errickson) who posted a blog titled Mailbag!, which was a series of questions and answers.

First OOB experience:
My play Cookies was produced during The Riant Theatre’s Summer 2002 Strawberry One-Act Festival. I had a few readings between 2000-2001, but this was my first production. I ended up participating with the SOAF a handful of times. On Top was a semi-finalist; A Play About a Guitar (retitled “Resonator Blues”) was also a semi-finalist; Goodnight Lovin’ Trail, my MFA thesis,was a finalist in 2004. So, I owe a debt to The Riant Theatre (Artistic Director Van Dirk Fisher), and director Dennis Wayne Gleason for believing in my work.

Inspiration:
Mostly music. I go to a lot of concerts. In Louisiana, I’ve seen a number of Zydeco bands as well as Taj Mahal, Philip Glass, and Ani Difranco. In NY, I was able to catch David Johansen and the Harry Smiths a few times. I miss The Bottom Line.  My favorite song by DJ is “Heart of Gold” (available on his second post New York Dolls album and his first Buster Poindexter record), not to be confused with Neil Young’s song, which is also excellent. And of course I was also able to catch Tom Waits, The Pixies, David Byrne, Iggy and the Stooges, and Ani Difranco. I guess I’m an audiophile at heart.

Family:
Several people have asked how I balance work and family. I just do. If you want a career in theatre, academics, and academic theatre you need to find a balance. If you have a family on top of that, you just make it all work. It helps to have an awesome wife like Danielle and a great little boy like Danny.

Favorite OOB production:
Really hard to say.  The ones I’ve seen have been wonderful. There were also a handful I missed because I’m down here in Louisiana.  I’m really sorry to have missed As we Speak  and Trickster at the Gate. Tom Berger and Dan Horrigan are both terrific guys, and I feel a pang of guilt whenever I think of how I missed these productions.  I’m also sorry to say I missed a reading of Liner Notes directed by Marc Eardley featuring the excellent Jerry Zellers. The last one I worked on (and I was actually able to see) was Hound with Rachel Klein, and it was really fantastic. I’m looking forward to Liner Notes with the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

Do’s:
Read. Read plays, read scholarship, just read. And improvise! Life and writing rely heavily on improvisation. Try new things!

Don’t’s:
Don’t ignore critics, neither the ones who love you nor the ones who wish you’d go away. It’s important to be a part of the critic/artist conversation, no matter how painful.

Favorite current scholarship:
The American Play by Marc Robinson.
Postdramatic Theatre by Hans-Thies Lehmann.
Spalding Gray’s America by William Demastes.
Being Given by Jean Luc-Marion
Ethics and Infinity by Emmanuel Levinas

Current favorite plays:
The Sea Farer by Conor Macpherson
The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
Self Defense or Death of Some Salesmen by Carson Kreitzer
Two Small Bodies by Neal Bell

Other Advice:
Listen to music. Eat bagels. (I was a bagel-baker at the New Paltz Bagel Café in New Paltz, NY for six and a half years. Great place, great people!  There’s a shout out for ya.) Read opinions that you agree with. Read opinions that you don’t agree with. Be responsible for who you are, and take responsibility for what you see, even if you believe it has nothing to do with you.  Oh, and listen to Ani Difranco.

Thanks, all for reading!  Keep believing in independent theatre.  I think we’re a part of a major cultural turn. Check out this article by Stephen Leigh Morris called “Why Theatre Matters.” See? We’re seriously onto something most excellent!

Slainte,
JpB

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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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OOB Producing: A play

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

Let me ask you, my fellow producers, how many of you have had conversations like the following?


Johnny: Are you ready?

Jeff: Let’s do this.

Johnny: As the Executive Director, I need you to approve the postcard image.  We’re way behind in getting them printed.  Get it done, man!

Jeff: You’re right.  Sorry.  I’ll move that up.  Now, as the Production Director, I need to scold you!  You still don’t know your lines for Act One.  We’re well past the point of calling for line and yet you’re still floundering.  Bad actor!  Shame on you!

Johnny: I can explain.  That’s the scene where the Queen makes her grand entrance.  As the show’s Costume Designer, I’ve been distracted by Melanie’s blocking.  The period garb she’ll be in won’t allow her to move about as easily as she’s moving now.  I’m brainstorming rehearsal costume ideas to help prepare her.

Jeff: Understandable.  Give a note to the Stage Manager.

Johnny: You mean Melanie?

Jeff: Yes.

Johnny: Now, I need to speak to the Sound Designer.

Jeff: Ok, I’m ready.  Shoot.

Johnny: The gun shot after intermission sounds pretty terrible.  Can’t you find a better sound file?

Jeff: It’s not the file, it’s the sound system.  Weren’t we supposed to have our own by now?

Johnny: That was dependent on funding.  Let me put on my Chief Grant Writer’s hat on and say we still don’t have it in the budget yet as we have not heard back about our latest grant application.

Jeff: Then can we just fire blanks?

Johnny: Check with the Props Master.

Jeff: That’s me.  I just approved myself.

Johnny: Well done.

Jeff: Anything else?

Johnny: The show still needs a better ending.

Jeff: Talk to the playwright.

Johnny: That would be me.  I’m still waiting on feedback from the Artistic Director. 

Jeff: Oh.  Right.  I’ll get right on that.

Johnny: Anything else?

Jeff: Summation?

Johnny: I’m mad at you for four items and owe you two apologies.  You’re mad at me for two items and owe me three apologies.

Jeff: Crap.  You won.  Want to go get a taco?

Johnny: Can’t.  Too much work to do.

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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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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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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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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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How does OOB use technology?

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How do you use new technology to produce and promote your productions? What technology do you want to learn about?

The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation will be hosting 3-4 technology events over the course of 2010. We'd like to hear your ideas on potential topics of conversation. Examples include: using technology to market your show, greening your theatrical production, tools for internal company communication and production planning, using technology in your theatrical design ...

We have posted a questionnaire to collect your ideas and suggestions.

The deadline to complete this very brief form is December 4, 2009.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

The first event will be January 31st 2010 at 6pm at The Players Theater Loft (115 MacDougal Street) and live-streamed at nyitawards.com.

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