Let's Self-Produce: Part 1

Let's Self-Produce: Part One

or

The Sneaky Spiral Into Un-Achievable Goals

     Theatre isn't easy. Anyone who tells you it is, is lying through their teeth. I say this not to complain, or to discourage anyone from getting on the stage. Rather, I say it because it is easy to forget.

     My first thought when reading the interview with Anne Bogart that I mentioned in my last post was 'well, I'll just do a show then!' The problem with this is that one does not simply "do a show." But that didn't stop me from forging ahead with the idea anyway. After thinking about it for months [read: two hours] my heart settled on a show call The Stonewater Rapture. The show was one I originally considered doing as an independent study at school with actress, friend Lizzy Marmon (see her headshot and a brief description on our "Meet the Cast" page!). In fact, she was the one who introduced me to the show and it has been floating around in the back of my head ever since. The rights, held by Dramatist Play Services, are $35 per performance and with a goal of doing two showings I priced the production at a totally manageable $60. I figured I could keep the set minimal, using only what I could gather from friends or thrift stores. Plus, I know enough actors that I could fill a two man show with people willing to do it for the love of Theatre and to get a start-up company moving.

www.memegenerator.net

     It was with high hopes that I contacted one such actor. Enter stage right: Joe Plouffe (see his bio and headshot on our "Meet the Cast" page!). Joe and I met at Boston College High School. Interestingly enough, we actually bonded in band, not Theatre. But, we migrated together to the Dever Players (the school drama society) in our sophomore year and neither of us ever looked back. I started a conversation with Joe late one night on Facebook chat. It went something like this:

Me: (after introducing the show) Here I am complaining because I don't have a show. So I'm gonna MAKE MY OWN DAMN SHOW! We'll rehearse while I seek a venue that will let us do it free / cheap, charge for tickets, and split any profits so that you and the actress aren't quite volunteers. Anything I make I'll just roll into keeping this thing going.

Joe: Sounds like a startup Theatre Company if I've ever heard one. I'm definitely game.

    Bingo. Joe was on board. In hindsight, it really is too easy to get thespians to do Theatre (see my conversation with Janet Petitbon from my first post). But anyway, actor number one was cast. Now, while Joe and I began thinking of an actress to fill the shoes of the other character, I began researching venues.
    Here is the problem with venues. You can't really get a venue unless you have rights to the show you wish to produce. Unfortunately, you can't really get rights to a show unless you have a venue to produce it in. It's a catch-22 of the most frustrating variety.

      After taking a look at the few venues available around me, I began to notice a trend. They were all far too expensive. Suddenly my cool $60 had grown to something more like a very warm $2,000. This put the costs far above my ability to pay (engineering work is good work, but not THAT good). So now I found myself back at square one.
      I began to think of how I could possibly raise the money to stage a show. Then it hit me. MORE THEATRE. The idea struck me of gathering artists in the Boston area who don't typically have many opportunities to perform and putting them together in a caberet-style evening of scenes and monologues. Anyone willing to perform for free would be able to get up on the stage and strut their stuff. We'd use the profits from ticket sales to put on the show!
    Now I've suddenly realized, however, that my goals have expanded rather rapidly. My original idea to stage a show has exploded into an idea to start a company, host a fundraiser, raise over $2,000, sink said $2,000 into a risky business venture, and hope and pray that my show makes enough money over that $2,000 to stage another. All this in the span of a week. Perhaps I may need to scale back a bit. But for now, it's all about talking to people, testing out ideas, and seeing where this all leads me.

See you in the theater,

Ed

P.S. - Check out the new "Meet the Cast" page where I'll be adding headshots and bios for the wonderful artists I mention in the blog!

Keep an eye out for:

Let's Self-Produce: Part 2

Are Stage Managers Artists?

&

From the Actor's Eyes: Part 1

If You Want to Be Unemployed, Be an Actor

   The Theatre department at The George Washington University is a pretty special place. With professors who work professionally in the Washington, DC area and who truly wish to see their students succeed mixed with a supportive, though critical, group of peers, you have a perfect storm for the budding young thespian. Add to that the rich community that the on-campus student Theatre organizations provide, and the ever growing professional community of DC Theatre and you've put yourself on stage in Theatre heaven. My greatest achievements in Theatre to date lie within the confines of GWU's buzzing performance spaces. My time there is something I'm certain I will look back on with fondness in years to come. But, there is a major problem with college.

It ends.

College ends abruptly. Suddenly, you no longer have an adviser to check in with weekly. Gone are the weekly student performances with your friends. Say so long to the months you spent putting your thesis together AND the ease of simply texting a friend (or all your friends) to meet at the local bar for a beer. With the regal notes of Pomp and Circumstance and a few speeches you find yourself thrust into the terrifying "real" world. [Just what the "real" world is is a topic for another post, but let's not get ahead of ourselves on day one.] 

For a large group of us graduating in these post-recession [mid-recession? No one seems to know if we're recovering or still in the middle of it] times, we encountered the number one lie of college quickly: college gets you a job. It's never explicitly said, but colleges all across America imply it. Step 1: Get a degree. Step 2: Job. Simple as that. Surprisingly [read inevitably], with my degree in hand I did not find myself working at a regional theater. Or a professional theater. Or a semi-professional theater. Where I did find myself was in a short-term, summer-long, production assistant / venue manager contract with the Capital Fringe Festival.

[Quick side note here. If you live in the DC area, I have a tip for you. GO TO FRINGE. The shows are cheap and decent and you're supporting an organization that supports artists. There is really no downside there. https://www.capitalfringe.org/]

     The job managed to keep me afloat for the summer months. I spent my time commuting in and out of Washington from Arlington, VA, connecting with artists through the Fringe Festival, and constantly seeking a solution to the problem of my contract's imminent end. I lived with other Theatre artists as I had at GW, kept in touch with professors and friends in the area, and generally enjoyed the post-collegiate summer months. Sadly, however, long term employment never came. Even the possibility of strapping together multiple contracts into a semi-livable wage didn't work out.

And so, with tail between my legs [though with a "go get 'em" facade] I made my retreat to the homeland: Massachusetts. But, there was no way I was headed back without something to look forward to. So, I gave an old friend a call. Janet Petitbon is the founder of One Strong Voice Productions and now the head of Drama at Boston College High School. I worked with Janet a lot in highschool and a bit during summers in college. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey Janet! Sooooo I'm moving back up to Massachusetts and I'm looking for Theatre work. You got anything going on?

Janet: I'm the head of Drama at BC High now. Want to direct one of the one acts this year?

Me: YES!!!!!!

      Moral of the story: keep in touch with people you work well with. So, now I at least had something lined up. Granted it starts in December and I haven't got much going on until then. Still, there is something out there. An egg in the basket, if you will.

      Now I find myself living with three math majors and working as a commissioning agent / engineer / CAD operator for a local engineering firm. Going from a community all focused on being creative and artistic to one where EVERYONE's main concern is making numbers work the way they're supposed to [sucks to your math degree! I still believe it's lies and magic!] was a big shock to the system. Internally, I began to think of myself as an unemployed director.

   "But wait a second, Ed." you're saying. "You have a project lined up soon! Plus, you have a job with an engineering firm, so you're not entirely unemployed!"

    Well, don't you put your fancy logic on me is what I have to say to that. As a director, the best feeling in the world is getting those artistic juices flowing. But, when you go months without a show of your own those artistic juices turn into artistic sludge until your arteries are so clogged with art gunk that you're foaming at the mouth and shouting lines of Brecht at random strangers. It was with this feeling that I decided to take a recharge trip to New York and DC. I saw a show at GWU. I saw a show in New York. I picked up a copy of The Director's Voice at Drama Book Shop. I saw all my friends and had a lovely time. And I returned home more exhausted than when I'd left.

Then Anne Bogart punched me in the face. In the very first interview transcribed in The Director's Voice Anne Bogart, famous director, champion of the Viewpoints Method, and founder of SITI Company says:

"I don't think there's such a thing as an unemployed director. It's true that you can be an unemployed actor. But 25% of what a director does is initiate projects. And if he's not working, he's not a director. I hate hearing directors say, 'Oh, I'm unemployed.' It's bullshit. It's not an option. If you want to be unemployed, be an actor."

- Anne Bogart, The Director's Voice; Vol. 2

  The fact of the matter is that she's right. Now the juices are flowing again. I wake up each day with fresh new ideas of how to get myself out there in the "real" world. I'm collaborating with friends and colleagues. I'm no longer an "unemployed director." I'm a creator, creating new ways to bring my work to the world, even if I have to produce it myself.

See you in the theater,

Ed Churchill

Edited: The original version of this document named Janet Petitbon as Janet O'hare. This was the name I met her with before she married her wonderful husband Ryan Petitbon. The correction has been made.