Theme Post: Valentine's Day & Theatre

So today is Valentine's Day, not traditionally my favorite holiday, but I don't think I've ever dated a guy who did it right. Anyways, enough about my previously tumultuous love life. I'm talking about theatre, the thing we all love.

To be cheezy, and in theme, I'm asking you to tell me where do love & theatre intersect for you?

To be fair, I'll give you my interpretation...

To me when I think of love & theatre, I think about my senior year in college when I was directing Sweet Eros. An admittedly fitting title considering the holiday today, but it's about love on the dark side of the human soul. Do traumatic experiences bring us to love those who hurt us or is it just some mad man's delusions? That's for you to decide.

Your turn.

Photo credit: Photo snagged from here.

Unlocking the Imaginarium

I have a love/hate relationship with the work of Terry Gilliam. I love the visual delights he creates for me and I hate that most of his films I have seen on the small screen. Not this time though.

I had the chance to see The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus today with my dear friend Alex after it finally having it's release extended. The movie originally released on Christmas day, but the closest showings were in the NYC. If I had to, I would have made the trip, but am glad to see the brought it to Baltimore finally.

I was not disappointed by waiting though. I wish I had the artistic balls that Terry Gilliam has. I respect the fact that he takes us to a crazy world with no apologies, he does not bow to his audience, but challenges his audience to go where he takes them. His films aren't for everyone though, there were many people in the theatre who were silent while chuckles of pure joy rang out from the few who were willing to take the trip. I bet many will see this film because it was Heath Ledger's last film, though I suspect they will not enjoy it as much as those who go to delight in the journey.

Speaking of Heath's death... The thing I admired most about this film was the way that the death was handled. I don't want to ruin the surprise and delight you *should* experience when you see the choices Mr. Gilliam made, but I will say that it was a very respectful way to solve the problem. It celebrated the work that Heath did on the film and allowed other actors to pay homage at the same time. Very well done.

I'd recommend partaking should you enjoy being transported. This is not a film made to be seen at home, well not unless you own a gigantic projection screen, then you might be able to get away with it...

Tease your movie pallet with the trailer here:

New Year, finally a new post.

So I haven't been writing on this blog lately - why?

Honestly I've been too busy between work and working with the BTA Board. Plus I really haven't been doing any theater as of late, so not much to write about. I could write about my work with the BTA Board, but then what would I write about on the BTA blog?

Vicious cycle.

Anyways, I'm prompted to write only to share this brilliant post on the UK Guardian Theatre Blog about why theatre should quit the smoke habit. And for the record, the Guardian Theatre blog, is my fave out of all of the theatre blogs I read. They know how to do it write. (bad pun intentional)

Art & Politics

It's been while since I've written anything on this blog. Maybe I haven't been inspired, maybe life has been so busy it's hard to take the time to look back and reflect. Something inspired me though and I feel the urge to write about it...

A couple of nights ago I watched a film called Battle in Seattle; it is a fictional depiction of the WTO riots that happened in Seattle, cutting in actual footage & balancing that with the multi-character story to tell the story. It was amazing and really made me think about my roots in Seattle. I know I've mentioned it before, but I went to school in Seattle.

I've always had a passion for politics and the world I live in. Though living outside DC for the majority of my life, I surprisingly never actually got a chance to stand up & speak out before I lived in Seattle. When I was at Cornish, the Iraq war was just starting & people started speaking out; I decided to join them.

I don't know how many people know this, but Seattle is a protesters town. People are not afraid to go to the streets and speak out about the things they find wrong in the world. Living in a town like that empowers you to speak your mind, which I also feel is what an artist should do.

I protested the Iraq war many times while in school. There was one day my acting teachers knew a big protest was coming, and to be "politically correct" they said they couldn't allow us to miss class, but understood personally if as artists we felt we would need to. I ended up being the only junior in my department who missed class that day. We started on Capital Hill at SCCC and marched down Pine (I believe, but it might have been Pike) and over to Westlake Center. The same spirit I felt marching down the streets of Seattle was the way I feel when I making collaborative art. It's a beautiful feeling that washes over me. Maybe it's more about being engaged in what I'm doing, but for me the way I feel about art & politics are closely related.

I could go on & on about the link between art & politics, but for me that personal connection was really forged when I was in a place that both existed.

I was told I was too young.

I'm tossing & turning tonight. Can't sleep. Have had a migraine for almost 24 hours, not abnormal, but not a regular thing either. So I'm laying in bed thinking about all that has happened lately and I remembered my senior year at Cornish...

Fall semester I directed & produced Sweet Eros by Terrence McNally. I loved working on that show. It's a story in essence about stockholm syndrome (when the person kidnapped starts to identify with the kidnapper, sometimes they fall in love, etc.) but the entire time the female is supposed to be naked on stage. And she doesn't speak, only sings briefly. We get the whole story from the words of the kidnapper (we never learn his name if I remember correctly) and he takes us on a journey that is a range of emotions. It's a heavy piece no doubt, but then I kind of enjoy the challenge that an intense piece of theatre gives me.

So second semester seniors usually have an internship or a senior project (where they direct/write/act in a piece & produce it). When asked what I was thinking about doing, I said I'd like to work on Sweet Eros again, I think I scratched the surface with the production and would like to try again. My advisors, cocking their heads, told me I was too young to do something like that. That is for old artists with much more experience than I. When you're young you want to expose yourselves to as many projects as possible and get a wide range of experience.

I heeded their advice at the time, accepting a PR/Marketing internship at On The Boards and an "Assistant to the Director" internship at Intiman (because they don't have "assistant directors" that are interns at LORT B theatres from what I've seen). I'm completely grateful for the way it turned out, I learned tons working with B.J. Jones of Northlight Theatre when I was at Intiman, he even gave me my copy of A Director Prepares, which I cherish dearly. At OtB I learned what it takes to market a theatre/performance space and a show, plus I got a healthy dose of experimental international performance-based (as I like to call it) art that I would have probably not been exposed to as much. My taste and sometimes my aesthetic tend to run on the experimental side, and working there taught me a lot about what I liked, what I didn't and what an audience will put up with.

Now that I'm a few years older, I'm trying to strike out and do work that really means something to me. Alex Hewett and myself have been working on a project we call Graves in the Water (based on Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology), which is a generative piece. I guess some don't fully understand generative art because there is no right & wrong in your process, it is all about the process. I love the discoveries we've made along the way, not knowing everything at the on-start may freak some people out, but to me I think it maximizes the potential of what one can do. So I'm not heeding the advice of those wise advisors I had in college and I've taken on a project that will be seen in many iterations. I'm excited to get it up in front of an audience for the first time and see what we learn.

Btw, sad side note: Graves was originally supposed to premiere at The Strand on Halloween weekend. Due to unforeseen circumstances the show has been canceled, but we're in the midst of negotiating for it to be performed in December at another location. More info as it becomes available. I've truly been blessed on this project to work with a group of artists that are so supportive of every path that has been taken. Hope you'll join us for the ride!

Letting go of control.

If there is one thing that will kill an artistic process it can be the need to control what is happening on stage & lock it down. For me this kills inspiration.

Graves in the Water is no different.

Since this Halloween is the first time the piece is being performed, as the director I’ve been struggling with coming up with an order for the piece. We’ve found individual thru lines for each actor, but are missing one for the whole show.

So I said “fuck it” and suggested to my cast that we work off of our own inspiration. Maybe it’s because I spent my birthday weekend at the Baltimore Improv Festival or maybe I just couldn’t make up my mind, but I think having a “no structure” format will make this piece exciting, new & fresh each time it’s performed (for the actors & the audience).

Here’s what I mean by “no structure”:

The evening will start with Mrs. Kessler and end with Edith Conant, but everything in between is not set. The actors work off their own inspiration, they must listen & react to what is being said around them to find who goes next.

There are some challenges with doing the piece this way, mainly sometimes the actors get “stuck” and aren’t sure who should go next, but in rehearsal we are working on that. The first time I actually had them work in this “no structure” format I let them improv the actual pieces, speaking subtext that kind of thing. They worked off of the inspiration provided by the previous character. Now our focus is shifting on to “opposites” or impulses that pull you away from the character previous. This allows the actors to come from a place where they feel comfortable and gives them the freedom not to get stuck.

For some this lack of control may be difficult, but as a director I love the opportunities to let go of that and to just really trust my actors. I mean I hired them for a reason, didn’t I?

We’ll see where it goes from here!

Blog Action Day '09 - Climate Change

This is a tricky topic for me. When I sat down to write this post I really had no idea what I was going to write. When you think of the theatre, you don't exactly think "climate change" as a topic playwrights normally cover in plays.

Nevertheless, theatres can make an impact. Here's a few ways I've seen/heard/dug up that other theatres are making the effort to be a little more "green".

1. If your theatre accepts script submissions, take them electronically only. Save paper and read them on a computer.
   
   
2. Think about the paper products you use. Is it feasible for you to use recycled & eco-friendly paper products?
   
   
3. This one is a bit trickier, but have LD's be conscious of their lighting designs. This is something new that I've seen on a few blogs, but lighting designers have the opportunity to impact energy consumption in a major way. Sure there are the shows that require everything to be bright, light & airy, but does every show the theatre does have to be that way. Is there way to pare down the cues to make them more energy efficient? Food for thought.
   
   
4. Turn up temp on those AC units (or turn them off completely!) when they aren't needed. This one can be tricky b/c for so many theaters there are people in & out all the time. On top of that, if they were turned off and it got really hot, it would take more energy to cool everything down. Just be mindful of ways that you can reduce the use of these energy suckers.
   
   
5. CFLs! Sure it's a bit of an investment, BUT a CFL on average uses 1/4 of the energy of a normal 60 watt bulb. That's quite a bit of savings over the long term AND you don't have to buy light bulbs for like 5 years. Bonus!

Need more information on making your theatre greener? Check out these sites:

Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
EcoTheatre Blog
50 things you can do towards being a green theater from GreenTheater.org


So I've given a few tips I've found. Are there any others that you are using to reduce your footprint?

What are ways individual theatre artists can make a difference?

This post is a part of Blog Action Day 2009, please consider joining the conversation in 2010!

Playing in the Graveyard.

It's amazing the energy a graveyard gives off. You are surrounded by the history of hundreds that all ended up in their one little plot of land.

Some families have plots or mausoleum, some individuals have large markers or a tomb. What a person's grave site looks like says a lot about the impact they've made on the world around them.

Last Saturday we had rehearsal in Greenmount Cemetery. Normally this might be considered a little strange, but for us it made sense. The piece we're working on takes place in a graveyard, so why not get the visceral experience of speaking with hundreds of souls surrounding you?

What really struck me was how many of those graves we visited never really saw visitors any more. The section we were in seemed to have a lot of graves of individuals that died in the 50's, I even found a family plot for the Mortons, though I don't think there is any relation. I thought about how many of these people laying here no longer receive visitors, no one comes to mourn for them. I wonder if all their family is dead and if not, are they remembered enough to be visited?

We did an exercise to warm up where I had the two actresses tell me the story of a person in the cemetery. It's kind of amazing the information you can gather from such a small plot of land. Our history is written by those that bury us.

Like the Leary's, Thomas Leary's mother was buried there, his wife too. They had a large plot marker, like it was meant to be a family plot, but no children were buried there. They could have had children that were buried elsewhere in the world, but a family plot is usually something that is known about, yes? He died after his wife and is buried between the two women that loved him the most.

We also met a woman, Harriett (I believe was her name), who survived her husband. He was a doctor, died in his 40's or 50's, but poor Harriet lived without him for another 40+ years. She shares his grave site though, they are buried on top of each other, lying together for an eternity. Next to her is where her son is buried, died when he was 21. She survived the two men she loved most and had to live on without them. Someone cared for her and her family though, the have a large stone marker than covers her & her husband's entire site.

It was a really great day, I appreciated the opportunity to get out of the rehearsal space and experience something different. It's amazing what getting out of the normal comfort zone of the rehearsal space will teach you.

Etude it.

Do you know what an etude is?

Neither did I until my Sophomore year at Cornish. That was the year we were introduced to a method of training called Meyerhold's Biomechanics and a crazy man named Gennadi Bogdanov. Gennadi wasn't our teacher, but we learned from those who learned from him.

The reason I'm bringing all this is up is because as of late, my training, that toolbox that I took four years to build and develop, is slowly but surely coming back into play.

I've been picking up books on viewpoints, meisner technique, dusting off my copies of Impro & The Articulate Body (I might actually invest myself in reading them this time). Thinking about how I can bring those techniques into my rehearsal space as I direct. I'm starting to get that thirst to train again. It's been awhile and I see the thick layer of dust that has accumulated on my technique. I'm not saying that I want to go back to school, because I don't. I spent enough money, but what I am looking for are artists to train with. To push me as I push them.

Obviously this isn't feasible at this moment because I'm in production and I have no space to do this in, but to me those are just excuses made not to do something. There is this need growing inside of me to rediscover what it is to move on stage, to move others and be moved myself, both physically & emotionally.

I know that Everyman is starting a Viewpoints workshop some time soon if it hasn't started already. Unfortunately the funding isn't in the cards, but god do I miss being in a rehearsal studio with actors that I trust and allowing myself to say yes. I get a sense of that when I'm in rehearsals for a show, but there is something about the ensemble & the training process that can not be replicated without doing it.

Apprehension melted away into beauty.

Last night I attended the BTA Mixer, a fun little get together before a show that allows the theatre community to talk to each other. I ended up missing the actual discussion (boo on me) because I was starving on my way there and so the boy & I decided to grab a crepe. Bad idea when the crepe place sits right next to Everyman Theatre and they currently have a show running that is selling out. Lesson learned.

Anyways, I did a little chatting before the show started with my fellow theatre people. I have to be honest about something here though... I was very apprehensive about seeing Eurydice. I honestly love this play and had even pitched it to Spots for this current season, so obviously this play is pretty close to my heart and I have some set ideas about the play itself. This was either going to be a really awesome experience or a really bad one. I was going to see the show no matter what, but like I said, I was apprehensive.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Single Carrot's TD was able to figure out how to bring a pool of water into that space (an extreme challenge with this play). There were elements reminiscent of the Williamstown production, but not enough to be accused of biting their style. I love a nice simple set that with the actors & lighting transforms into something completely different. All in all it was an interesting interpretation, though using the rope as the windows of the Interesting Man's apartment caused some focus issues at times b/c when the ropes were illuminated with an actor behind them, I found myself looking at the ropes more.

I think director J. Buck Jabaily made some very nice choices, very different from ones I would have made, which I appreciated. I love when an artist will make me take a look at something that I know intimately and then see it in a new way. Jabaily's Eurydice does just that.

When I had heard that they were using contact improv in their process, I have to admit I was a little scared. Contact Improv is one of those techniques that can either be gorgeous or completely cheesy and out of place. I'm happy to say that Jabaily's restrained use was for the most part right on, there were a few moments where that particular weight share didn't aide the action, but in some cases it was exquisite execution.

I do have to ask wtf was up with the ping pong balls? The original effect was incredible, that cascading beautiful sound, but the after effects became severely distracting when anyone moved around. Sometimes it helped add drama to a moment, but having a couple of hundred ping pong balls bouncing on cement floor because actors need to move around when something else is happening on stage can be quite distracting. I'm trying to remember which part the ping pong balls reflected in the script, but I also quickly realized I'm familiar with a earlier version of the script than the one that was used.

I have a few nit-picks about the acting... Giti Jabaily's vocal choice came off to me as overly child-like, having never heard her speak before though I couldn't tell whether this was her natural voice or a vocal choice to play into the naiveté of Eurydice. Either way it made her come off as just a "silly little girl" at first listen, though as we moved deeper into the play the audience got to experience the depth of Mrs. Jabaily's acting prowess. Also, Brendan Ragan (Eurydice's father) was great when he was interacting with another character, but during those moments where it was just him, the connection between him and his character seemed to fade. Specifically I'm talking about his opening monologue, it didn't come off as fatherly advice on his most precious daughter's wedding day, but more a list of things that weren't really connected to what Eurydice was experiencing. Lastly, the stones; I loved their unison work, but individually I didn't get a clear sense of Big Stone, Loud Stone, Little Stone. I wish their choices had been bigger and more reflective of their character name, though they proved to be a great choral backdrop to this world. I'm torn about the director's choice to have them on the little scooter things from physical education classes, on one hand what an awesome way to have these characters motor around, on the other, the sound is distracting.

I do have to recognize Kaveh Haerian as the Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld. Awesome, believable, creepy, brilliant. The weight exchanges between him and Eurydice during the dance were pure bliss and I loved his commitment. Not to say that the other actors didn't have the same commitment, because they did. He just stole the show a little bit. ;)

All in all Eurydice is a beautiful play, beautifully staged. You'd be a fool to miss it!
(In fact I'm probably going again next weekend if I can get tickets!)

Good job carrots, keep it up!

Does the age of an actor matter?

So there was a discussion on a Facebook event invite about the age of one of the actresses in the upcoming production of Mercy Seat at the Strand.

It's a interesting question for directors (and I think for actors too), what's the balance between talent and someone fitting the description of the character?

My initial thought is that it doesn't matter that much as long as the actor can portray the character. (Though this next comment might come off as a little ageist, please don't take it that way...) My second thought is that it is easier for an audience to believe a younger actor as a character that is older, than an older actor playing someone obviously younger. Maybe this view is derived from the fact that when I act I usually play an older character (I really rock at the 60 year-old ladies if I do say so myself), but it drives me CRAZY when and actor is cast in a role that they are obviously too old for.

The first example of this I can think of was Spot's version of Hamlet. Hamlet is supposed to be younger, somewhere under 20, and Ophelia the same. Though Michael Leicht and Jen Mikulski are both very capable actors, it drove me nuts that they looked late 20's/early 30's.

So what do you think? Is talent more important than age or do they need to balance each other?

Has John C. Reilly jumped the shark?

So I went and saw 9 this week, I didn't really want to see it, but my boyfriend dragged me along. Well it was better than I thought it was going to be, anyways I digress. During the previews, I saw a trailer for Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. I've never read the books, though with the vampire craze as of late - you know Twilight, True Blood (of which I am a die-hard fan, thank you Alan Ball), CW's Vampire Diaries - it's no surprise that they would make a more kid-friendly version. When I say kid-friendly, I mean like that way Harry Potter is kid-friendly.

Anyways, back to what I was saying... In the trailer John C. Reilly seems to be phoning it in a bit. I heard that same vocal tone from him that he used in Step Brothers, Walk Hard & Talladega Nights. I'm a huge fan of John C. Reilly, but it's really disheartening that such an awesome actor is starting to lose his sparkle. I hate musicals, truly I do, but his rendition of Cellophane in Chicago almost made me cry. He was the main reason I even decided to watch that movie.

I guess what I'm scared of is one of the great actors that can transition from stage to film so easily is falling into type-casting. I just want back the John C. Reilly that could switch off with Philip Seymour Hoffman like there was nothing to it.

I've been very nervous...

Sex & Desperation opened on Thursday and we had two reviewers in the audience. I've found the first review online and when I read it, it brought a smile to my face (even though I got slightly dinged for a few things). I've been nervous leading up to the opening. Though the process has been relatively smooth, there were a few things (like starting the rehearsal process two weeks earlier) that I would have liked to do.

All in all I'm happy though. I was blessed with a very amazing (and drama-free) cast. I had four playwrights that laid their work out there and were very collaborative. I did learn a lot though through this process. Originally I thought 4 one acts wouldn't be any more difficult than a full-length that had a similar running time, boy was I wrong.

Each play provided it's own unique challenges; sometimes I saw things differently than the playwright, one of the shows demanded a lot of tablework to figure out what was going on, one of the shows uses each actor so scheduling around conflicts can be tricky, one of my actors has a thick accent so it took time to make sure we had the clarity we needed (though I think his accent adds a little something special to that piece).

It was a learning experience that I am very grateful for. I'm very excited to jump into next season's BPF submissions and start the process all over again as I am doing the BPF selection at Spots next summer.

Also, I'm about to start work on a generative piece using the text of the Spoon River Anthology called Graves in the Water. Look for it Halloween weekend at The Strand, free to all as a part of Free Fall Baltimore. :)

Are we apologizing for what is in between our legs?

I saw this article shared by Jayme Kilburn, Artistic Director of the Strand Theater about the prejudices that female playwrights receive & how those prejudices negatively affect theatres.

"...reveals that women tend to write plays about women, but plays featuring female protagonists are produced less often than those starring men. And, while the proportion of scripts that get produced is fairly equal between men and women, the total number of productions is inequitable since fewer women write plays (one informal study of nonprofit theaters by the playwright Julia Jordan found that 17 percent of their plays were written by women). One way women have compensated for writing female stories is to write fewer roles, which make their plays accessible to more theaters."

So this quote got me thinking... do we as women artists apologize for what is in between our legs?

I had an experience recently working with two male graphic designers. The initial poster proof had a really interesting design, but at the bottom of the poster was this image of a sweaty belly. My initial reaction was that looked like the belly of some slut. Sure that sounds a little harsh, but I got the image of the girls I used to see out at bars getting trashed and going home with the hottest guy that hit on them that night. She was too skinny, her bones poking out, basically an "ideal" men's fantasy. She was not a real woman to me.

I took objection, saying I loved the design, but had an issue with the belly element. It could be interpreted that I didn't like the belly b/c it was too skinny, but what it really is for me is that I don't want women to be looked at like just a place to make a deposit. It isn't just about what is in between our legs. A woman's sexuality & sensuality starts with the mind & works its way down. I had to remind myself that it was okay for me to have this opinion. As women we are taught by society to apologize for how we feel about something, just go with the flow for fear of being the "crazy bitch".

My art helps me to stop apologizing for what lies between my legs & fully embrace my point of view as a young female.

Btw, the graphic designers I was working with were completely awesome about altering the element. The picture for this post is the end result. I feel it's sexy, sensual & doesn't objectify me as a female, but embraces female sexuality as something powerful.

Good Improv is Better Than Sex.

Good improv is a spiritual experience. It touches down to the core, where you and the character become one. There is no more separation between actor & character, your choices become theirs, their choices become yours.

Good improv fulfills the actor, you walk away fully satisfied, knowing more about yourself, your character and the relationship to the other character.

Good improv is truth on stage.

Good improv will have you asking "What just happened?" because you are so in tune that you just live purely in the moment. Only after trying to remember are you actually able to reflect on what just happened.

Good improv should be uncomfortable at some point. If you're not uncomfortable, you aren't letting enough walls down. But after that comes the pleasure, the pure ecstasy that comes from letting yourself just be there, not knowing what's coming next.

Good improv keeps you wanting more.

God how I love a night of good improv!

P.S. The picture is a Tamara de Lempicka painting. Love her!

Reasons To Be Pretty.

So last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Neil LaBute's Reasons to be Pretty at the Lyceum in NYC. What a fucking awesome play, the production was good, but the play itself is what really shined. I adore Labute's work, but I do have a love/hate thing going on as well because his male characters are generally so much more developed than the females. It makes me wish I had a cock sometimes. ;P

I wish the production has been done in a smaller theatre, though the Lyceum is beautiful, a play like this I think needed a bit more intimacy. This wasn't served by the set at all, though the set itself was simple and effective to an extent. I also hated one of the females, though came to realize I was supposed to not like her, though I did think she emoted a little too much for my taste as a director. And of course Violet from Coyote Ugly, yes that Coyote Ugly, was also in it.

I think the highlights though were the two men for sure (can't remember the actors names right now & the playbill isn't within reach). Now is this because LaBute writes better men than women, or is it because of the individual actors. Who knows.

I did also pick up a shirt (which says "I might be willing to overlook your general f*ckheadedness") and a mug (which says "Love is blind shithead."). I adore schwag with cuss words on it though was sad that they had run out of scripts.

I think that's one of those shows that I'd love to direct, but it bothers me that LaBute is a go to in this town. I know for at least the past 3 years+ there has been a LaBute play produced. Not saying that that is a bad thing b/c I love his work, but let's go beyond Baltimore and look at some other playwrights as well.

Who I'd like to see on Baltimore stages: Sarah Ruhl (Single Carrot is actually doing Eurydice this coming season), Ellen McLaughlin, Paula Vogel, Sarah Kane, Stephen Aldy Guirgis, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jose Rivera & Robert O'Hara off the top of my head. Not sure why a lot of those are females, but that's okay. ;)

Here's a little from LaBute about this show:



Also here's an article about the interesting advertising campaign they came up with for Reasons To Be Pretty.

I want the two hours back...

I hate to say that when I go see a show, but tonight there were very few moments when I didn't regret sitting in the theatre. I'm not going to say it was horrible, but it needed to go farther. I felt like the director was fighting the nature of the play itself, trying to make it this serious journey into a man's soul, and it does have that in it, BUT the show is written as a farce & that is the beauty of it. There is this juxtaposition between the overstated comedy and the torture that this man goes through and what he puts his family through. That's just my two cents though...

TCG - Day 2

I'm not really sure how I want to phrase this post, so I guess I'll just do a breakdown of my experiences for the day.

I showed up at about noon or so on the 2nd day. Missed my affinity group, but as I said in my previous post, there were just too many people there for me to create some lasting connections. Maybe I missed out though on the second day as Lydia's idea of speed dating seemed fairly inventive and new, especially with a group of artists that have so much to learn from each other. And then I skipped Nadira Hira speak as she spoke at ASAE (American Society for Association Executives) Annual last year and the Membership & Marketing Conference this year. I understand what she's trying to say, but I've heard it before (from her & others) so I don't know what sort of value it would have held for me to see it again.

Then I actually started to participate in the day... The session I went to was the "Trend vs. Trendy: Focusing Your Online Fundraising Efforts". It was actually taught by a person from Beaconfire Consulting, a company that I run into in my "other life". I never realized how much cross-section there was between the two halves as I've always seen them as two totally different things.

So about the session... I tweeted it (of course), but I found myself being more of a student teacher than an active participant. There wasn't really anything new for me to learn and I missed the focus on fundraising - though the title of the session talks about focusing your fundraising online. The fundraising seemed to be an afterthought to the whole session, though I will say that the concepts in the session were nicely laid out and I liked Ali's "hook" for it. The thing that I'm missing is telling people where to start. As I've said on my other blog, NUMEROUS times, the way you start in social media is by listening, figuring out where people are talking about you and then trying to join the conversation. (I think it's soon going to be time for another theatre/social media post, possibly posted to the BTA blog though)

Next up was lunch - kinda ick, the cookie was good though. A question did raise in my mind - Why are all conferences I attend as of late so biased to Pepsi products? This is not the forum to answer this, but I wanted to throw it out there…

The afternoon general session had a really awesome concept based on the Dr. Seuss book “If I Ran The Zoo”. Karen Kandel, Artistic Associate at Mabou Mines read aloud the book to start off the session. Our zookeepers for the afternoon were Andrea Dymond of Victory Gardens Theatre (Zoo: Arkansas Reparatory Theatre), Kate Taylor Davis at Olney Theatre Center (Zoo: Imagination Stage), Joe Salvatore (Zoo: American Conservatory Theatre) and Meiyin Wang of Under the Radar Festival (Zoo: Baltimore Theatre Project).

So the first half of this session was not as engaging as I hoped it would be. I wish the speakers had spoken a little less, though their ideas for invigorating these theatres were very thoughtful and would bring new blood rushing through those veins. I started to tap in more when Mr. Salvatore was speaking. He had this really awesome idea about creating a national theatre that was actually a network of education sites and theatre spaces instead of one single space. I would agree that this is a worthwhile approach for a country with our sprawling landscape because it would help bring a connected diversity to the American Theatre. Right now many things seem so disparate and I don’t think that it can continue if we want the theatre we love to survive.

Another highlight of the zoo session was hearing Meiyin speak. Having a bit of an experimental theatre background, it was nice to hear her opinion on how we can bring more experimental theatre and other performance-based art (as I like to call it) to Baltimore. She kept mentioning PICA and the TBA Festival though and how the Northwest supports that festival, meaning to encourage Baltimore Theatre Project to take more of a festival approach to what they are doing. I think the reason PICA succeeds with the festival is that they already have a venue in the that region (On the Boards in Seattle) who supports season long programming of a similar nature. OtB also has a Northwest New Works Festival and a track in their season that is solely dedicated to Northwest artists. The reason that festival lives is because there is a network there to support it’s existence. In Baltimore, we don’t have that yet and my thoughts are that BTP could become the beginning of that support system to make a Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC experimental theatre corridor, feeding artists from New York venues that are looking for smaller touring houses besides St. Ann’s, the Walker & OtB. This is something that can definitely be pursued farther and I can say that hearing Meiyin speak inspired me to look at how I can help foster more experimental artists in my own backyard and bring the world’s art to Baltimore.

Then after the session were dine-a-rounds which I skipped out on in favor of spending some quality time with quality people, then off to the MICA party. It was great to see Baltimore representing and picking it up for those that could not make it. Thanks to Cara at MICA who is a fabulous actress and the events coordinator there. If you had a good time last night like I did, you should thank her too. ;)

Next up: Day 3 - Seeing Anne Bogart!!!!!!

TCG - Day 1

As the title states, today was the first day of the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) Conference in Baltimore. My take:

My Highlights:

* The totally awesome jump drive they provided us with as well as their effort to go green (Though from being in the industry, kind of, this may be more to save money than to save the planet. The planet is a bonus.)

* Meeting artists from all around - I got to schmooze with artists from Seattle, met someone from the San Francisco Mime Troupe & had members from Mabou Mines in my affinity group. And then I met some of the Single Carrot people as well. All in all a good networking day.

* The TCG bookstore discount - If this is your first TCG conference, you get 50% off your most expensive item and then everyone gets 30% off all items! Amazing! I ended up spending like $50, which could have been way worse had their not been the discount. I'm a total book whore, I admit it. I walked away with:

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? by Caryl Churchill
Bliss by Olivier Choiniere (translated by Caryl Churchill)
Schiller's Mary Stuart by Peter Oswald
Bad Boy Nietrzche! and other plays by Richard Foreman
The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart

* The American Visionary Art Museum - Best party place in Baltimore. If I were to ever get married (though highly unlikely), I would totally do it there with either Devine or the big fluffy poodle/flamingo thingy in the background. They had good food & Sangria too.

* John Waters speaking - I was laughing so hard my face hurt afterwards. I also plugged the Baltimore Theater Alliance "What's Playing" section when someone asked what theatre is happening in Baltimore this weekend. I will say that his keynote was a little schticky, but all in all I loved it.

The Low-Lights:

* The AEA & it's need for control - I totally support Equity, but they need to blow up their internal structure. I was in a session about new media and what that meant for AEA contracts. Everyone is so scared of just letting go, there just seemed to be excuse after excuse after excuse. What people don't realize is when they let go, they actually encourage people to engage and considering the current climate, engagement is what theaters need. You need an audience that makes a bond with the work that you produce, but if you don't let go of your semblance of control, you will fail at engaging your audience before they walk in your doors. I also totally resented the people from AEA people using their committee structure as a reason for moving so slow. I work for non-profits, and if you're having that much trouble with getting things through your governance system, then you need to implode the system and figure out a new way to do things. You aren't serving your members any better by just providing excuses for your slow moving governance.

* The rain - I forgot my umbrella, something to remember for tomorrow!

* The Affinity Groups - I kind of wish there had been another session in the afternoon instead. Though I appreciate the opportunity to network with other individual artists and I think Lydia's idea for "speed dating" with other artists tomorrow is fab, there were just too many people to really make strong connections. I feel like we needed to be broken up into smaller groups, though it was awesome hearing where everyone was from and what they do, even if some were a bit long winded. And the space was WAY too small for us, they are supposed to be moving us tomorrow, but we'll see.

So I need to get to bed since my Affinity Group meets at 9am (*groan*) and it'll be a long day since I am leading one of the bus tours through Baltimore on the way to the party tomorrow night! Hope you make it on my bus (and that I don't mess it up)!

One last thing... Make sure you visit http://search.twitter.com and search for #tcgcon and see what everyone is saying, and you can check out my person thoughts at http://twitter.com/MissLynn13.

Bogart is coming to town & I don't mean Humphrey.

Okay, so Theatre Communications Group is going to be having their annual conference in Baltimore in June. Well, I just actually looked through the registration fees and agenda and I'm geeking. Anne Bogart is going to be in my town... Anne Bogart in Baltimore. Seriously?

She wrote one of my favorite books on directing, A Director Prepares. She's friggin' brilliant. I totally can't wait and now have a reason to get together the cash to go.

Thank god for individual artist prices!

Some wisdom from Bogart:



If you want to see what's going on with Anne Bogart's SITI Company, make sure you check out their CollectiveX groupsite.