Clarification of Comment on Creating New Theater Company

January 25, 2011 by  

A link was shared on twitter about Rebecca Novick’s chapter in the book titled 20Under40. The linked inspired Mark Petrie, blog writer for Knightsbridge Theatre, here in Los Angeles. I wrote a comment, see below if you do not want to jump over to the post, though I do recommend it.

I don’t think self-producing theater artists is the same as creating a new theater company. In light of all the facts laid out in Outrageous Fortune, it is clear that one needs to create their own work, but how that is done needs to be the main thrust of the exploration. In cities like New York and Los Angeles, there are hundreds and hundreds of theater companies, and we need deeply examined reasons for creating a new theater company. Clear reasons that make sense to audience members. Producing the same popular play that was produced by another theater company last season, or Shakespeare set in a different time period, is not standing out of the crowd. What are some models of creating theater that are not being done as much? Is there something to learn from theaters like Sojourn that are focused on creating work specific to communities, or site specific theater that interact with its audience members outside of the normal theater building? Regional theaters seem to be taking notice as Alabama Shakespeare Festival is producing plays about specific communities within the state. Another model to look at is Stolen Chair’s Community Supported Theater. Or instead of using other models, what is a model your theater company can come up with the no one else is doing? Maybe the question should be, what is the thing that your theater company is doing that no other theater company is doing? Be the first at something, and not the fifth company in your area to produce the current popular play.

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I am glad you brought up the topic.

The first question I would ask, is what does the author mean by the “same old model”. I think that has to be addressed before a full critique can be had.

If the assumption is made that she means what would be considered 99-seat theater in Los Angeles, or small theater companies in New York, the second part of the sentence that needs to be examined is “unexamined multiplication of companies .”

Does that mean artists that create theater companies so they can make art and “work”? Isn’t that why the 99-seat AEA contract was created, so more AEA actors could do theater in Los Angeles? Is that inherently bad? No. But when the median income of an AEA member (including Stage Managers) is $7,475, and the weekly jobless rate for AEA members is 85.2% and percentage of AEA members that don’t work at all in a year roughly 55%, that leaves a lot of actors with the time to create theater companies. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but that is a lot of supply. Is there the demand to back it up? Hard to say? Since many 99-seat AEA theaters have to charge its members dues to pay rent as they can not afford to pay the rent and cost of productions from ticket sales alone. I think it can be said that the supply does not fit the demand. When there are more people on stage than in the audience, there is a demand/supply issue. Granted, that could be due to quality, and the Darwin argument would be that they would be weeded out. But if the rent is being paid for by the members, the company can still exist. Does this mean that theater companies should not be created? No. Does it mean that a theater should do Shakespeare when there are four or five other theaters companies doing Shakespeare? I think that would classify as “unexamined”.

What are examined ways? Still working on that. Maybe we should read Novick’s chapter as a starter. Regarding Novick creating Crowded Fire Theatre Company, what is the context behind it? The mission/history page does not mention her name. It says the theater company is in its 13th season. For all we know, she could have started it, and left after the first year. Also what she learned from that experience could be the source material for the chapter. She is available on twitter (@rebeccanovick) if your curious.

As I mentioned on twitter, would love to see you at the #NewPlay Los Angeles Theater (#LAThtr) Satellite Meetup. I don’t know if this topic will be part of the conversation, but your passion for Los Angeles Theater would be great for the conversation.

Filed under: Acting, Devised Work, Los Angeles, New Works, New York, Theater/Theatre
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2011 Productivity Apps: Evernote

January 18, 2011 by  

Now that I have been back in Los Angeles for four months, things are starting to get into a rhythm. It feels like good timing with it being a new year and new decade. As part of my post a week series, I will be sharing new activities I am undertaking for 2011 and new productivity applications that are helping me achieve these new goals.

I have joined one of the nine Power Groups offered by The Actors’ Network. These are groups of about 30 actors from TAN who get together once a month to discuss goals and progress, share resources, and ask questions. Each group is led by an experienced facilitator. These are a great way to meet other productive actors, and begin to really find a sense of community, one of the hardest things to do in this city, particularly when you first arrive.

A requirement for each participant is to come to the meeting with a laundry list of goals and activities accomplished for the previous 30 days and a list of goals and activities one wants to complete for the 30 days. The two-hour meeting is spent going through everyone’s list, along with discussing any industry-related questions.

Evernote has been the application that has helped me in preparing for my Power Group (PG) meetings. I am able through the month to cross off goals as I complete them, and make a list of new goals. This can be done on my iMac, Macbook, or iPhone and the information is saved to my account. During the meeting, I can easily type up information that I hear other group members talk about and automatically know they are saved for easy access later. I can also upload the calender of events from TAN’s website and scan any handout that I receive in the meeting into a PDF and upload it to my Evernote account.

I am always looking for great applications that would help my freelance work/life. Do you have one that you love and can not live without? Let me know what it is, and if I write about it, I will give you a free half-hour website, or social media marketing, phone consultation.

Filed under: Acting, Los Angeles, Productivity
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Blogging Tips

January 11, 2011 by  

I am not one for new years resolutions, though I committed last week to the WordPress 2011 challenge to post at least once a week. While I plan to post more than that, depending on my availability, I am deciding to have a consistent weekly post that will arrive on Tuesdays.

Back to the Basics
Since 2011 is a new decade, and this blog will have been active for seven years this April, I am using this year to get back to the basics of blogging and consistent content. Exploring questions like, who is my audience? What am I truly passionate about writing? What am I bringing to the overall conversation?

One community that I follow, and sometimes contribute, is #2amt on twitter. A conversation started with @DaveCharest throwing out a link talking about basic blogging tips, and why someone might not be reading, or unsubscribe, to your blog. While I agree with most of the points in the blog post, and having done some myself, what got me thinking most was @TravisBedard‘s tweet.

Not That Simple
I started to think of all the blogs I read. My Google Reader is eclectic with folders labeled Acting, Arts Entrepreneur, Community Arts, Freelance, Friends, Money, SEO, Social Media, Stage Combat, Teaching Artist, Theater, Web Design and about ten blogs that don’t fit naturally into any of those categories. I subscribe to 180 blogs in total.

I do agree with Travis, in that, tech writers are writing more for attracting the most amount of hits, to attract advertisers, by giving their readers that one quick piece of information (5 steps of this or how to do this), which seemed to be the type of writer that wrote the post about not reading your post because it was too long. While niche writes, many theater bloggers for example, tend to write longer posts.

For those who are just starting a blog in 2011, or recommitting to blog consistently, know there is no right way. Write as much as you need to say what you need to say. Of course, you should have a goal to be specific, but don’t keep checking the word count. I have read many great posts that felt more like essays and quick three sentence posts that said exactly what was needed. So just keep writing, be clear what you want to say, and those that want to read it will.

Filed under: Blogging, Writing
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#NewPlay Los Angeles Theater (#LAThtr) Satellite Meetup

January 6, 2011 by  

Janurary 29, 2011 – #NewPlay Los Angeles Theater (#LAThtr) Satellite Meetup

NEW LOCATION: Atwater Village Theatre 3269 Casitas Ave. LA, CA 90039

Circle X Theatre Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, with the partnership of LA Stage Alliance, will host the New Play Los Angeles theater satellite meetup to coincide with the final day of the national convening, entitled Scarcity to Abundance: Capturing the Moment for the New Work Sector, organized by the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

The Los Angeles event will be held Saturday, Jan. 29 from 9am-1pm. Participants will view the pre-recorded roundtable discussions from the national convening, and discuss the themes within the context of the Los Angeles theater community.

The national convening will focus on the following: identifying the rich and vital activity that already exists in the new play sector, exploring the gaps and challenges facing the field and strategizing the means of continued and closer collaboration to advance the new work infrastructure moving forward. This convening will build upon the outcomes and initiatives that grew out of last year’s convenings: Defining Diversity, Black Playwrights: the Stories We Tell and Devised Work

Circle X Theatre Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre-L is located at the Atwater Village Theater, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90039. There is street parking.

We need an accurate head count for space, please RSVP at: http://www.meetup.com/2amt/54701/

You can follow the discussion on Twitter at #LAThtr and #NewPlay

UPDATE: To further the Institute’s commitment to documentation and dissemination of all findings, the events of the convening will be live-streamed on #NewPlayTV, with commentary shared by commissioned tweeters (#NewPlay) and bloggers on The New Play Blog. In order to view live-streamed events, please access #NewPlay TV online at http://www.livestream.com/newplay. In partnership with 2AMt, Arena Stage is setting up viewing parties across the country. Plans are underway in Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, Minneapolis, DC, New Orleans, and Chicago. All findings from these communities will be published on the 2AMt blog. In addition, along with the final convening report to be published in the spring, the new online journal Howlround: The Journal of the American Voices New Play Institute will release a special edition specifically around the convening. – Full article, with full conference schedule, on BroadwayWorld.com

UPDATE: Bitter Lemons article

Filed under: Devised Work, Ensemble, Los Angeles, New Works, Theater/Theatre
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WillFul at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

January 3, 2011 by  

This is the show that I am the most excited about for 2011. I am a big fan after participating in the 2010 Sojourn Theatre Summer Institute, and OSF holds a special place in my heart as I attended shows there while in high school and did some training there. It is great to see Michael and Shannon collaborate with OSF on a theater production.

I hope to take some of the ensemble theater students I will be working with this semester up there when the show opens in August. Apparently, I am not the only one excited as the show opens the beginning of August and is nearly sold out for the first month.

show

Filed under: Civic Theater, Creativity, Devised Work, Ensemble, New Works, Theater/Theatre
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General State of Blogging & Writing

January 1, 2011 by  

Tom Loughlin and I seem to be at the same place in regards to our blogging efforts, more specifically the lack of blogging. (Side note: Great news about Loughlin pursuing entrepreneurial theatre degree for the SUNY Fredonia students.)

I know a part of that comes from the feeling that a blog post should be this great source of information on a given topic, with paragraphs flowing and flowing. I usually save the short, quick stuff for Twitter (@dennisbaker). That being the case, I am giving my self the freedom to post smaller messages. This might motivate me to use the WordPress iPhone app more, instead of waiting until I have hours in front of the computer to write a profound post, in which those hours never come.

Spending the first semester as a new adjunct at two universities, as well as family life, has kept me away from writing and performing. As I enter the second semester, two of my four classes remain the same so I hope to have a little more time to get some thoughts down. I am excited to be advising a group of students, and alumni, who are interested in devising, ensemble-based new work. As the advisor, I will take on a more reflective work coming into their rehearsals a couple of times a month (they will be meeting once a week) observing and helping them form and articulate what they want to create. I think this will help sharpen my reflective practitioner skills, as I will be able to help facilitate, while at the same time have some distance to reflect and write more formally on the experience. I need to start submitting to academic journals, and I think this project will be my first article topic. That being said, the actor in me wants to be in the mix of it and part of the physical creation, but unfortunately the timing of the meetings, and the extra finical burden of driving out to the school one more day in the week, will not allow me for deeper involvement.

I have also been commissioned by Theatre Journal to write a performance review of the Los Angeles Poverty Department’s production of State of Incarceration that runs January 28th and 29th. I saw a workshop production of it back in November and was struck by the topic of the California prison system filled to 150% capacity and the stories created by an ensemble, some prisoners once themselves. Hopefully all goes well and I will be published by the end of the year.

Filed under: Arts Entrepreneur, Civic Theater, Devised Work, Ensemble, Teaching, Theater/Theatre
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