And the IT Award goes to...

The 4th Annual New York Innovative Theatre Awards were held on Monday, September 22nd. It was a magical evening celebrating our amazing community, the fantastic artists and their outstanding for from this last season. Heralded by the hysterical Lisa Kron and featuring performances by the Blue Man Group, it was a great night.

For a complete list of 2008 Nominees and Recipients, please click to www.NYITawards.com.

The Main Event

We're all hard at work getting ready for the Ceremony. Among the things I'm charged with – and charged about – is the design and production of the evening. This includes getting together all the projection, cameras, videocameras, light and sound for the night, as well as coordinating all the tech staff that run the ceremony, and the video and graphics that go up on the screens.

In addition to the mini-documentaries about the Honorary Award Recipients (this year that's Judith Malina and the New York Theatre Experience / Martin Denton & Rochelle Denton), we also create content for projection / visual display. Mainly that means we put up photos of the nominees and their shows on fancy tricked out displays and broadcast-quality animations. Did you see the DNC this year? The visuals were crazy right? Well, while that kind of design and display may be a bit beyond reach for an annual ceremony, we work hard to make sure our production values rival other awards in town – including some that are broadcast on the networks. They're made possible by the gracious generosity of some of the most talented artists in the animation / video production / projection industry. If you've been to a Ceremony before, you know what I mean – if you haven't, you should come this year.

Speaking of this year, can you even believe the amazing lineup we have? Blue Man Group, Edward Albee, Olympia Dukakis and more, all hosted by Lisa Kron! And we'll have a whole lot of amazing nominees in the room, too. The 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Awards Ceremony is the MUST event!

Nick Micozzi
Executive Director
New York Innovative Theatre Awards

Back Stage from the IT Awards

So, the 4th annual ceremony for the NY IT Awards is fast approaching and, for the 4th year, I prepare for my role as on-camera interviewer along with my partner, the lovely Ellen Reilly. Now, one might think: "Oh, that's a cushy job. All you have to do is look pretty and ask questions." Well, I'm here to tell you: Yes, it's fun...but it sure ain't as easy as it looks, folks. In fact, I can't always explain why, but it turns out to be one of the hardest roles I've ever played, and each year I think: "Well, that's it. They're going to can me and go with someone else next year, I just know it!" Fortunately, Ellen and I keep getting invited back and every time I find myself crying à la Sally Field, "You like me?! You really like me?!"

Now, this isn't simply a story of my fragile ego. It's a difficult job for two major reasons:

(1) First of all, there is the question of sincerity. I find this to be one of the most important aspects of interviewing people because, personally, I have a dreaded fear of appearing superficial or fake. Maybe it's because it has always been a pet peeve of mine when someone asks me a question but only pretends to care about the answer. Maybe it's because we've all seen red-carpet interviews where the person holding the mic asks a question, but then starts mugging for the camera as if to say, "Who cares what that person is saying ...Look at me!! Aren't I pretty?!?!" Whatever the reason, I make sure that when I ask someone a question about their life or theatre it is of utmost importance to really care about the answer. This means not thinking about the next question you're going to ask, not thinking about the ceremony that you can hear going on in front of the curtain, and not zoning out by wondering, "What am I going to have for dinner" or "Did I shut off the curling iron?" Plus, I'll let you in on a little secret that works for interviews but works even better for everyday life: if you sincerely LISTEN to what people are saying you become automatically engaged and your questions will start flowing naturally.

(2) The other reason that interviewing is a challenge can be summed up in one word: homework. There is nothing worse than seeing an interviewer with a look of a deer-in-headlights as they as they ask an ignorant question. When your kind elementary school teacher told you, "There's no such thing as a stupid question", she wasn't referring to backstage interviews. To start with, there are always hi-profile presenters at our awards ceremonies and it really does behoove us to do a modicum of research on each one so that we don't find ourselves saying things like, "Hmmmm, Edward Albee...now what plays have you written?" This task is made harder when it comes to researching the nominees since they are not always as well-known, but the modern world has given us a tool to counter that: Google. Amazing what a little web search can teach you about both the nominees and the shows they are nominated for. We put our research on note cards, familiarize ourselves with the info, and then try to relax so that it all comes out naturally [see 1].

All stress aside, I have to admit: Ellen and I have the coolest job of the whole awards ceremony! Seriously -- not only do we get to meet celebrities and other talented people working Off-Off-Broadway, but we actually get to talk to them, ask them questions, and befriend them for a short while. I wouldn't trade this role for any other on ceremony night!

JOIN US SEPTEMBER 22nd at FIT's Haft Auditorium for the

4th Annual New York Innovative Theatre Awards

Ceremony begins at 7pm and will feature performances by the Blue Man Group

Go here for tickets

And if you can't make the ceremony stop by the after party being held at MUSTANG HARRY'S at 352 Seventh Avenue (between 29th and 30th Streets). There will be $5 cosmos, $4.50 well drinks and $4 draft beer. The shindig will start around 9:45pm.

Desmond Dutcher

Judge Wrangler

New York Innovative Theatre Awards

Behind the Judging System

On Monday, July 21, we announced the nominees for the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Awards. We have this event early in the summer so that we can use the 2 months leading up to the awards ceremony to really promote the nominees and their outstanding work.

Every year around this time, we receive a number of emails asking us how the nominees are selected. The IT Awards are based on a peer evaluation system. The nominees are selected by a combination of 3 judges from other OOB productions. Each of the judge's ballots are worth 25% of the production's score. The final 25% comes from the average of the audience ballots for that production. There is a fun little video that details this process and a PowerPoint presentation about it. Basically we've set up the infrastructure and maintain it, but the community itself selects the nominees.

Judges are assigned randomly from our pool of judges, which numbers at about 350 at any given time. The only exception to it being entirely random is:

1. We try to have at least 1 At-Large judge* for every production.

2. Judges are asked in advance in which boroughs they are willing to see shows. We only assign them productions in the boroughs that they indicate.

Each year the ballots are all tallied and verified by an independent public accountant and go through careful fraud detection and analysis.

Okay, I do get to see who the nominees are about 6 weeks before they are announced to the rest of the world, but I am always surprised who they are. I've heard through the grapevine that some people think we favor our friends….which amuses me and frustrates me all at the same time. We have gone to such lengths to make sure that this is all legitimate. Nick, Jason and I are not permitted to vote as judges for the awards. So if I really loved a show, the best I could do is cast an audience ballot, which I do for every registered production I see. But that and that alone is the extent of the power I have to get a show nominated. Honestly I was very disappointed when we first made the decision that we could not be judges, but in the long run, it was the right decision. (And I do have to say that one of the things I appreciate about the OOB community is that we are skeptical, we don't just accept things at face value and we are always questioning the status quo to make sure they are on the up-and-up, so even though it may be trying at times, I would rather be questioned about it and address it than have people just think we are trying to pull a fast one.)

It is also important to note that The IT Awards were founded to help bring recognition to Off-Off-Broadway and to help nurture the Off-Off-Broadway community. The judging system is a direct result of trying to provide opportunities for artists to see each others' work, free of charge. It is a venue for artists to see and become familiar with the work of other Off-Off-Broadway companies and artists, some of which they might otherwise never know.

If you have questions or comments, I'd love to hear them. You can email me at shay at nyitawards.com.

Shay Gines

*At-Large Judges are judges in the IT Awards judging pool that come from the greater New York theatre community such as reviewers or other well rounded theatre aficionados. As such, they do not represent a specific company or production and can see upwards of 100 Off-Off-Broadway productions every season.

Puppets. Puppets? Puppets!

It's been a very puppet-y couple of weeks for me. It started at Ontological-Hysteric Incubator production of La Santa: Pistola y Corazon by Sintroca, an "Image Based Performance Company". I'm not 100% sure what makes a production company image based, but I do know Innovative Theatre when I see it. The show was an engrossing mixed-media event blending live music, dance, Raymond Chandler film noir, world languages and…puppetry. I liked it a lot and look forward to their next stage creation.

Summer, in general, brings me back to the best parts of my otherwise depressing suburban childhood. The summer of 2002, I arrived at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference approximately a week after Avenue Q had taken the Music Theater Conference by storm. Two summers later, I listened to "Fine, Fine Line" about 1,000 times to get over a painful break-up. When, earlier this summer, I caught their touring company's visit to Charm City Cakes on Ace of Cakes, I was amazed by the show all over again.

I loved IT Award recipient Basil Twist's work on Carrie, starring Sherry Vine, at PS122 and have come to believe that puppets are a brilliant way for OOB to save money. They are the ultimate in elaborate, interactive props AND dual role casting without an extra costume. Every efficiency-minded troupe should seriously consider "hiring" them.

And, of course, "three makes a meme" so tonight, I head way out west for Ars Nova's Jollyship The Whiz-Bang. Puppets ahoy!

Hillary Cohen, New York Innovative Theatre Awards Development Manager

PS - Be sure to take our survey, and encourage your friends to do the same.

Blogroll & a survey!

Hello lovely IT readers!

I researched this week's blog by dipping into my Google reader to catch up on the Arts blogoshere, and was smacked into realization that I was WAY out of it. Job submissions and auditions don't necessarily allow you to catch up on your arts blogs…

I remembered an event I had intended to go to, and was sorry to have missed:
Saving our Cultural Capital: the challenges facing Independent venues and artists in Manhattan. It featured some amazing organizations (The Tank, Chashama, Fractured Atlas, New School for Management and Public Policy, to name a few), and speakers (Manhattan Borough Pres. Scott Stringer and The Flea's Jim Simpson), and I am kicking myself for not going, but thankfully createquity did a wonderful job of wrapping it up.

One of my favorites is Technology in the Arts, which always gets my creative juices flowing in a really interesting way. Check out this post for ArtistData – a site for musicians (beta) in which you can enter performance info ONCE then sync it to all of your social networking sites (facebook, myspace, etc.) could you imagine what that could do for independent theatre?

I found an informative article on Beth's Blog: How non-profits can use social media about WikiSpaces, which my friend over at Resources for emerging arts leaders is an advocate for, as well.

Things should get interesting (we hope) this week with the National Performing Arts Convention happening in Denver: check with the Artful Manager and Technology in the Arts this week to see what they're up to.

And it IS festival season! To read everything you could possibly could about EVERY SHOW in a festival this summer, check out nytheatre.com, and Martin's blog nytheatre i.

DON'T FORGET to take the New York IT Awards' newest Demographic Survey

The first completed groundbreaking study was on OOB production budgets and how productions spend their money, published here: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF OFF-OFF BROADWAY BUDGETS.

The published analysis opened the New York theatre community's eyes to the economic potential of Off-Off Broadway. You can read the NYTimes article here: 'Examining the economics of Off-Off Broadway' The New York Times, 4/12/08

We are inviting the entire Off-Off Broadway community to help us reach our goal of 6,000 participants by October. In order to get involved in our groundbreaking research, you can take the survey here. When you have taken the survey, take a moment to tell your friends.

All of our surveys are anonymous and take about 5 minutes to complete. We will use the information provided for statistical purposes only. Plans for broader and more in-depth surveys such as an audience demographic survey and an economic impact survey are currently in development. These future studies may be conducted in partnership with other respected New York theatre community organizations.

xoxo,
Morgan Lindsey Tachco
Community Relations Manager