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.
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.
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
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