Revisiting Award Categories

Today's topic is about our award categories. We have 19 production awards.

They are:

Outstanding Ensemble
Outstanding Solo Performance
Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role
Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role
Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role
Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role
Outstanding Director
Outstanding Choreography/Movement
Outstanding Lighting Design
Outstanding Costume Design
Outstanding Set Design
Outstanding Sound Design
Outstanding Innovative Design (Design award for designers outside of the traditional theatrical design elements)
Outstanding Original Music
Outstanding Original Short Script
Outstanding Original Full-Length Script
Outstanding Performance Art Production
Outstanding Production of a Musical
Outstanding Production of a Play

There was a lot of deliberation and reflection that went into deciding upon these categories. We considered our community and the type of work that was being done. There are several categories that are relatively unique to our awards including: Short Script, Innovative Design, Ensemble, Solo Performance, Performance Art Production; not to mention that Choreography/Movement is extended to include fight choreography and of course the Stage Manager award. We had to think about the length of the ceremony (which we know is too long already), making sure that the categories were meaningful beyond our sector, that our organization had the resources and the ability to sustain these awards not just for 1 year or 5 years, but for many years to come and hundreds of other considerations.

One of the reasons that our judging system is based on a peer evaluation is to ensure that those values that are important to the community are at the heart of what is being recognized. There is a distinctive energy and spirit about the Indie theatre community that we are here to celebrate. 

And so we are asking you, if you could only have 20 award categories (aside from the Honorary Awards and the Outstanding Stage Manager Award), what would they be? What would you add to or subtract from the list above?

Eligibility Requirement: Budget Cap

Thank you everyone for the enlightening conversation yesterday. That post will remain active so, if you have additional thoughts or questions about ticket prices please continue to add them to the comments for that post.

Today's topic is about the production budget cap eligibility requirement. Our current qualifications state that the "Total production budget must be less than $40,000 (between $0 and $40,000)."

Our study, Statistical Analysis of Off-Off-Broadway Production Budgets, which was conducted in 2008 reported that the average Off-Off-Broadway production budget was approximately $18,000 (this was based on actual money spent on a production and did not include the value of in-kind services or donations). 16% of the responding producers noted that their production budget was above $35,000.

The Basic Equity Showcase Code sets the total production budget at $20,000.

When setting the budget cap requirement, we wanted to be as inclusive as possible. We wanted to be able to include the scrappy, "skin of our teeth" producers as well as some amazing well established Off-Off-Broadway companies with larger budgets, some of which have long histories working in this sector and were among the people who helped found this community. We wanted to allow for inflation and rising costs (especially rent) and again growth within our community. So we set the budget cap on the upper edge of the curve, but well below what it would cost to mount an Off-Broadway production.

We have, over the last seven years, had a number of wonderful companies who are no longer eligible to be included in the awards process because their budgets went over the $40,000 mark. This is especially true for those companies producing musicals.

We have had several requests during this past season to increase the production budget cap to $50,000 or more.

Should we increase the eligible budget cap to include those productions with larger expenses?

Or should we keep the budget cap as is?

And why.

Also please take a moment to review the schedule of this week's topics as well as the ground rules for the conversation.

Eligibility Requirement: Price of Tickets

The first question that we would like to hear from you about is an eligibility requirement.  Currently our qualifications state "Ticket price must be $30 or less (between "Free" and $30)."

The average OOB ticket price is $18 to $22.50. Of course if you are working under the Equity Showcase Code, tickets are restricted to $18 or less and Seasonal Code tickets are set at $20 or less. We always try to be as inclusive of the full Off-Off-Broadway community as possible, which includes Equity and Non-Equity productions; Commercial and Not-for-Profit productions. We also wanted to provide for growth within the sector. And $30 is still well under the average ticket price for an Off-Broadway production.

We have had requests this past season to increase the eligible ticket price to $40 or $45.   

Should we bump the eligible ticket price up to a higher amount to include those productions who can charge more for their tickets?  

Or should we keep the eligible ticket price as is? 

And why?

Virtual Town Hall Starts Tomorrow

We hope you all had abundant Thanksgiving Days with plenty to be thankful for.

We are so excited to be holding this virtual town hall starting tomorrow. As we have mentioned, we have received quite a bit of feedback and a number of requests over the last season. We are now seeking your insight and opinions on these important questions.

• Monday - Eligibility: Price of tickets
• Tuesday - Eligibility: Budget cap
• Wednesday - Reviewing/rethinking award categories
• Thursday - Grab Bag: Any other ideas or suggestions
• Friday - Wrap-Up

Check out the IT Foundation Background and the A Few Ground Rules for the conversation.

We hope that you will share your thoughts and opinions during this open community forum. However, you can always email us directly or though our "Contact Us" page.

Happy Thanksgiving!

x

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  ~John F. Kennedy

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action."  ~W.J. Cameron

A Few Ground Rules

Just to make sure we stay focused and are able to address the issues that are most important to our organization in a constructive manner, we would like to submit the following ground rules for this discussion.

1. We have a comments policy on our blog which will remain in effect throughout this conversation.
   
   We reserve the right to delete comments if they are:
   • spam
   • hate-filled or abusive
   • off topic, especially if their intent is to derail the conversation for the poster's own purposes
     
     
2. We are asking for CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. We will of course read all of the comments, but we will only approve those that provide: constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions or help move the conversation forward.
   
   
3. We ask you to stay on topic.  We’ve dedicated one full day of focused discussion for each of three big topics we’ve heard a lot about.  In addition, we have an additional "Grab Bag" day for all other ideas and suggestions. So if you really want to talk about audience size, for example, please save it for the “Grab Bag” day.
   
   
4. Before making a suggestion, consider these questions:
   • What are the goals of the Innovative Theatre Foundation?
   • What best serves the OOB community as a whole?
   • What are the ramifications of making these changes?
     
     
5. We will use your feedback to help prioritize new developments and improvements to our system. Some ideas raised here may help us make adjustments as early as next season (starting in June 2012). Some ideas may require further elaboration and development and/or infrastructure changes in order to be addressed. And some feedback (we hope very little) will not be able to be addressed in a way that makes everyone happy, especially in a community as large and wonderfully diverse as ours.
   
   We promise we will do our best.
   
   
6. Finally, there are a few things that are NOT on the table for discussion at this time.

• Changing our name
• Changing the judging system (It is a peer evaluation system, and a fundamental aspect of our mission)
• Excluding groups/companies/artists/productions from participation based on the type/genre of theatrical work they do
•  Honorary Awards or the Outstanding Stage Manager Award