tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65425966108652190812024-03-14T02:38:14.212-07:00Theater of IdeasIdeas about theater, science, philosophy, and moreTheater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-34246115553281103082019-02-05T08:39:00.000-08:002019-02-05T08:39:54.039-08:00Program Note - The Neurology of the Soul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">When neuroscience started using brain scans from fMRI’s (the f stands for functional) to analyze human brains, the possibilities seemed endless. Literal mind reading, the ability to see thoughts, seemed not only possible, but on the foreseeable horizon. And truly, the things these scans have found have been exciting and furthered our understanding of human behavior. But one day, just to test the system, some scientists put a dead salmon in an fMRI. The salmon was shown photos of people in social situations, and the scanned data was analyzed, just as with the human studies. According to the data, the dead salmon was having strong feelings about the social interactions it saw.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Since that study, the data analysis has been refined. And the quest, for better or worse, to see inside our brains continues. It is tempting to believe that someday all things will be knowable, though it’s harder to know whether we would want them to be knowable. The privacy inside our minds may be the last privacy left. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-neurology-of-the-soul.html" target="_blank">The Neurology of the Soul</a> is about the desire to understand each other, to understand ourselves, to understand love. Perhaps we will arrive at that understanding. But remember that dead salmon. </span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Buyer beware.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-26179375214311131072018-10-09T15:05:00.000-07:002018-10-09T15:05:29.068-07:00Program Note: The Resistible Rise of JR Brinkley
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trav SD as JR Brinkley and Jenny Lee Mitchell as his wife Minnie</td></tr>
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After the 2016 presidential election, I started having
gatherings in my apartment, inviting friends and colleagues over for what I
called “Resistance Readings.” These were informal gatherings in which we read
aloud from theater created in countries from around the world in response to
political crises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started with
Václav Havel, then continued to Brecht, to Ionesco, to Beckett, to Mrozek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began to realize that much of my
favorite work was written at those times, and it formed the canon of what
Martin Esslin termed absurdist theater. I loved those plays because they
integrated the elements of political ideas, farce, and tragedy, just the sort
of work I try to do with Untitled Theater Company No. 61.</div>
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I was searching for a way to
respond to modern America, of course. My answer eventually came not only from
those playwrights, but from history. Listening to a podcast, I heard some brief
information about John R. Brinkley, the subject of this play. He has obvious
parallels to Trump, but I was also fascinated by the world he was part of. What
I found particularly intriguing is that most of the seeds of what we think of
today as right-wing identity already existed in Brinkley’s time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, he helped define many of those
elements, from its connection to country music to conservative talk radio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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I was also interested in him as a
con man, and in the place we put con men within American myths. In some ways we
scoff at them, but in others they are an embodiment of the American Dream,
fighting their way to fame and riches no matter what it takes. And there is no
question Brinkley was admired as much as he was hated.</div>
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Why have we more or less forgotten
him? I could posit a number of reasons, but one guess is: he lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was discredited and bankrupted, in
the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in his day, he was an
important media star and politician, not just a notorious quack. And if things
had worked out just right…well, who knows what he could have become. Or where
he could have taken America.</div>
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<a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/resistible-rise-jr-brinkley.html" target="_blank">The Resistible Rise of JR Brinkley</a> is playing at the New York Fringe Festival October 12 - 28, 2018 </div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-16734921408248017582017-05-01T20:11:00.004-07:002017-05-10T12:13:11.966-07:00Writer/Director's Note - The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein<br />
<i>The program note for my upcoming play, <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-marriage-of-alice-b.html">The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein </a></i><br />
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“What is the answer? Then, what is the question?”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Clinton Corbett</td></tr>
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Gertrude Stein’s supposed final words are for me a touchstone of my work in theater. My plays are not about answers, and even the questions can be elusive sometimes. It would be easy to say that this play is about gay marriage, or love, or genius, or art. It is partly about all those things, and I must admit that I was first motivated by the real world consequences of a marriage not yet recognized by law.<br />
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But above all it is a play simply inspired by the remarkable lives of two women. As it happens, they are two very important women, to the history of art and writing and theater. They are also just themselves. Their relationship was both radical and extremely conventional, falling into the patterns of heterosexual marriage to such an extent it was almost a parody of male and female roles. Yet simultaneously it was such an iconic lesbian relationship that when Gertrude described them in a poem as “regularly gay,” she inadvertently coined a new popular term for homosexuality. It was a partnership so close that sometimes their identities seemed to merge. Gertrude wrote a book in Alice’s voice, and Alice identified herself as being a mere conduit for Gertrude’s genius.<br />
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Much has been written about what makes Gertrude Stein extraordinary. And she was. But just as fascinating to me is Alice, who was content to be ordinary among extraordinary people. Content to be in the other room, entertaining the women, while the geniuses declaimed. Content to be Gertrude’s wife, even in a world where such a status was only implicitly recognized.<br /><br /> I have made a decision to base the portrayals in the show more on the accounts of Stein and Toklas than any other source (<i>The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Everybody’s Autobiography, Wars I Have Seen</i>, and <i>What is Remembered</i>). Toklas, for example, is often described as prickly by others, but in their accounts I also saw the softer, more loving side to her. What I am most interested in is who they are in their relationship to each other. I wanted to explore the way that the secret bond between two people can be quite different than the face they show to the general public.<br /><br /> The play is impressionistic, living out of time, in a world defined by words. Structurally, it is inspired not only by Stein, but by Beckett and Ionesco. It is the story of their life, but it is also the story of how I see their life. I wrote it in the wake of my own marriage, as I was first discovering what it means to be married. It is a story about them, it is a story about me, it is not really a story at all, just a whirlwind of moments and ideas. It gave me great pleasure to write play and stage the play, especially with such a talented collection of fellow artists. I hope it gives you pleasure to watch it.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-74699701013932759262016-07-22T07:38:00.003-07:002016-07-22T07:55:48.211-07:00Adaptor's Note - The Iron Heel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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The adaptor's note for my production of<b> </b><i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-iron-heel.html" target="_blank"><b>The Iron Heel</b></a>,</i> opening July 28:</div>
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“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” as Mark Twain supposedly said. More accurately that quote belongs to our collective unconscious. It’s an idea that sounded so true it had to be put in the mouth of one our most important satirists. <i>The Iron Heel</i>, which many consider the first modern dystopia, is also a satire of sorts—like many dystopias, it is an exaggerated portrayal of our society, of Jack London’s America. It was written in 1908, and it was science fiction when it was written, although certain incidents have the ring of historical fact. It predicts World War One, Pearl Harbor, the stock market crash, even the term “the 99 percent” (though, awkwardly, here, it would be the 99.1%, with London preferring mathematical accuracy to pithiness). In many ways, it predicts the dictatorships that will arise throughout the 20th Century. One of the novel’s fans, Leon Trotsky, who rightfully called it “prophetic” (when reviewing it in the journal <i>Art & Revolution</i>) might have been wise to heed its warnings. But more importantly, it presented a distorted mirror to reality, distorted quite deliberately by socialist propaganda. London was a Marxist, and he openly stated that propaganda was his purpose. Thus, though there is a clear connection between his prose and that of Hemingway and Orwell after him, I prefer to make the connection to Brecht’s political satires, theatrical parables calculated to outrage the audience about the consequences of unvarnished capitalism. Like Brecht, my adaptation is consciously theatrical, though it reduces the theatricality to costumed actors, words, and music—folk songs written mostly after London died, but during the time in which his story is set. It is a show built to travel and reach multiple communities, rather than to dwell in a single theater. It is a show whose naked purpose is to examine political issues, couching them in a story. London’s novel is a fascinating historical text, but of course my deeper interest in it is the way in which the American society of a century ago rhymes so closely with so many of the issues we face in this most fraught political season. It is about an election between a socialist and an oligarch, shaped by terrorism. It would be too simplistic to say the oligarch is Trump and the socialist is Sanders…or that the Democrat is Clinton. The world isn’t repeating, not quite, our world has changed since London died, exactly one hundred years ago. But the rhymes…they are everywhere.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-75989380833683540102016-02-14T04:15:00.005-08:002016-02-14T04:18:35.988-08:00City of Glass (Paul Auster) Director/Adaptor's note<br />
Program note for <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/city-of-glass.html">City of Glass</a>: <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Honeywell as Daniel Quinn</td></tr>
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The first time I read City of Glass, I had the strong sense that I had written it. Somewhere in a half forgotten dream, I had deposited all my thoughts about language and identity and mixed it with styles borrowed from detective fiction and theatrical absurdism. It even started with one of my favorite devices—mistaken identity, via a misplaced phone call.<br />
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What I did know for sure is that it seemed the perfect text for me to adapt for the stage. Its central staging problems seemed like opportunities. Fortunately, I was able to talk briefly with Paul Auster about my thoughts, and he kindly gave me the go ahead to try it out. You are about to see the results.<br />
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Most of all, for me, this is a play about brokenness. Daniel Quinn is a broken version of the author, haunted by the ghosts of his wife and son. Peter Stillman Jr is an example of a man who is deliberately broken by another. Do we have the language to express that brokenness?<br />
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With every adaptation I create, I ultimately reconceive the context and make it about myself and my art. Who am I, and how does it relate to the play? Who are you, the audience?<br />
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All I can say is this: listen to me. My name is Paul Auster. That is not my real name.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-51153598006019988442016-01-05T10:56:00.000-08:002016-01-05T10:56:08.227-08:00Why I'm back on kickstarter (Paul Auster's City of Glass)<div>
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So, here I am, back on kickstarter for a fourth time<br />
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In many ways, I hate being here. I hate being here because, by necessity, any stint on kickstarter involves the mild harassment of friends and colleagues, most of whom themselves have limited resources, asking them to devote some small part of those resources to your campaign so you can devote resources to their campaign so that they can...and round and round it goes.<br />
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I also hate being here because of the time and energy it takes, time and energy that I really should be putting into the massive job of directing and writing and producing, not to mention the side efforts of grant writing, publicity, etc.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/492977639/city-of-glass/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe>
But, nonetheless, I am back. Here’s why:<br />
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1. We need money. We always need money, it’s true, but this year our NYSCA grant got held or (or cancelled) because one field on it did not, apparently, save, when it was submitted. There is an appeal in progress, but it will take a year.<br />
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2. This is an expensive show. One reason: It involves video, and unlike previous shows at 3LD where the video resources are massive, The New Ohio (wonderful in many other ways) does not have a huge video inventory.<br />
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3. Kickstarter attracts the attention of people who would never know about our show otherwise. At least a third of our donors to our previous campaigns were strangers who learned about our project via the kickstarter. A Paul Auster adaptation seems a likely candidate to draw similar interest.<br />
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4. Most of the contributions to the kickstarter campaign are NOT ACTUALLY DONATIONS, BUT A WAY TO BUY TICKETS AT A DISCOUNT. A very important point to me, that tempers my guilt when asking for contributions. Because honestly, I’m going to be harassing everyone to buy tickets eventually, the process is just starting a bit early. The discount isn’t big, it just takes away about $5 in fees, but it’s cheaper than buy via our ticket service and helps us by getting us money early, and also fills the theater during the oh so important first two weeks of the show.<br />
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5. It helps spread the word about the show early. Half the trick to filling theater is creating buzz…we have a few cool videos, and this helps us let people know about the show. Which will be very, very cool, and very, very worth the money.<br />
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Which is all to say: Here’s our kickstarter. Contribute to it and get a discount ticket to the show. For all that I hate the promotion, I’m pretty proud and excited about what we’re creating. I am acutely aware that no project we have ever done could have been achieved without the donors and ticket buyers who made it possible. My last project, Money Lab, was created with the premise that art has a value, something our supporters have proven they believe many times over. Let’s prove it again.</div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-43140848213470305722015-06-15T09:41:00.000-07:002015-06-15T12:44:36.261-07:00Paying for it: Bitter Lemons, Kirkus, and the purchased review <br />
Let me start with a thought experiment. Suppose that <i>The New York Times</i> instituted a new policy. Suppose they charged theaters $1000 per review—but guaranteed a review in return, that would be printed online. Furthermore, if it was an Editor’s Choice, it would also appear in print.<br />
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Obviously, the first reaction to the policy would be outrage, on the part of theaters, on the part of critics. But what would the practical implications of such a policy be? I can only speculate, but I suspect far more theater would be covered. Much of it would be bad, or boring. There would be more reviewers employed. And, here is the thing—a few shows, maybe more than a few, that would never see the light of day in our current system, would receive some attention. Maybe some writers or directors or actors or designers would find themselves employed, who would not be employed. Artists that might be otherwise invisible might be seen.<br />
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True, there would be a financial barrier to those who want a review, but to be honest, there is already a financial barrier. Most theaters that get reviewed in <i>The New York Time</i>s pay for a publicist, and they pay much more than $1000. And most shows that are reviewed tend to have larger budgets. Not all of them, not mine certainly, but most.<br />
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It would be hard for me. I do my own publicity, usually, because I can’t afford a publicist. And the very fact that I am often reviewed in the <i>The New York Time</i>s is something I am proud of. It would make my position less special. And there might be a lingering doubt, even with a good review—was this show well reviewed because of merit, or because money was involved.<br />
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Of course, nobody at the <i>The New York Time</i>s is about to adopt this policy. Their financial situation may be precarious, but it is not so dire that they are about to throw away years of tradition. But a crisis exists in reviewing, partly because of the financial crises that most print publications are experiencing. There has always been a glut of product compared to the number of established reviewers available. That imbalance has only grown exponentially, becoming a systematic problem with no easy solutions.<br />
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This is not a crisis just for artists, but for art. Because the worst thing that can happen to an artist is not to receive a bad review. The worst thing is receiving no review at all. The worst is having one’s work be invisible. And yet more and more work is invisible. And the more work that is invisible, the less we are able to find artists whose work does not fit the existing conventions or expectations. The more the status quo simply perpetuates itself.<br />
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<a href="http://socal.bitter-lemons.com/?" target="_blank">Bitter Lemon</a>s, a Los Angeles website,<a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-la-stage-website-causes-a-stir-20150612-story.html#page=1" target="_blank"> has introduced a new policy</a>, similar in some ways to my thought experiment. You can purchase a review from them for $150. It will be, they assert, an unbiased review, written by professionals, with no guarantee of an endorsement.<br />
<br />
This is not a new idea, in the world of book reviews.<i> </i><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/author-services/indie/" target="_blank"><i> Kirkus</i> provides a similar service</a>, for books. For $425, they will review your book, with the same professional reviewers they use for major releases. However, as anyone who had had a book published by a small press knows (or self-published), Kirkus overlooks the great majority of books.<br />
<br />
I know the significance of those reviews first hand. I have had two books published by<a href="http://hungrytigerpress.com/" target="_blank"> Hungry Tiger Press</a>, a small press. The first was reviewed by <i>School Library Journal </i>and <i>Booklist</i>. Both were nice write ups, and as a result the book (<i><a href="http://www.shop.hungrytigerpress.com/Paradox-in-Oz-HTP-PARA-PB.htm" target="_blank">Paradox in Oz</a></i>) is now on its fourth printing, with copies in libraries across the country and across the world.<br />
<br />
By the time the second came out (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Living-House-Edward-Einhorn/dp/192952708X" target="_blank">The Living House of Oz</a></i>), the world had changed. Self-publishing was more common, and as a result, I believe, a small presses like Hungry Tiger were overlooked. No one chose to review the book. Copies barely appeared in libraries, and the Hungry Tiger never sold out the first printing. Why? No one official had endorsed it. The same writer (me), the same illustrator (Eric Shanower), and the same quality of book. I actually prefer it, though <i>Paradox</i> has definitely become a favorite among Oz fans. However, it was at least equally worthy of review. But the timing, the other books in the queue, etc, prevented it from seeing the light of day.<br />
<br />
Is purchasing a <i>Kirkus</i> review a cure for that? Unfortunately not. If it were, I might be endorsing Bitter Lemon’s decision full-throatedly, quite frankly. I will admit something. When I published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Golem-Methuselah-Shylock-Einhorn/dp/0977019705/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8" target="_blank"><i>The Golem, Methuselah, and Shylock</i></a>, via <a href="http://theater61press.com/" target="_blank">Theater 61 Press</a> (the publishing branch of the theater company), I knew no library journal would review it. Books of plays are almost never reviewed, and such a small press as our own was not going to break through. And yet I knew the value of ending up on a library shelf. So I paid ($350 at the time). The result was a mixed review. Not a rave, but if it has appeared among the normal <i>Kirkus </i>reviews, it would have resulted in a number of library sales. But—more importantly, the review was labeled clearly, to distinguish it from their other reviews. So almost no one read it.<br />
<br />
Was it an unbiased review? I believe so. I understand the arguments about the slippery slope of getting paid by the people receiving the review. But frankly, no one would be served by purchasing a biased review. And yes, <i>Kirkus</i> gives an option: if you don’t like their review, they won’t print it. So one is unlikely to see an out and out pan among what they call their “Indie” reviews.<br />
<br />
But the practice also feels exploitative. Not because they are excepting money for reviews, but because they separate those reviews from the reviews the write without being paid to do so. They say they are maintaining their journalistic standards by separating out their purchased reviews from those books they voluntarily choose to review. Perhaps. But in so doing they are also taking money from desperate artists, caught in the system. And not giving much in return.<br />
<br />
This brings me to Bitter Lemons. Unlike <i>Kirkus</i>, they don’t have paid/unpaid wall. On the other hand, they don’t need one: all the reviews will be paid for. And though they have a certain following in Los Angeles, they do not have cache of the major print publications. Paying for a review in <i>The New York Time</i>s—or <i>The Los Angeles Times</i>—is one thing. But from a well respected blog? That gets into much more iffy territory.<br />
<br />
And of course it comes with a stigma: you paid for it. You are not worthy of a regular review. If you were worthy, reviewers would be reviewing you for free. They would rush to see your show and put words in print, because they would sense the importance of the work. They would have heard from…someone. <br />
<br />
This is of course bullshit. Plenty of worthy work goes unseen. But still, it is a mantra fervently believed, especially among many critics. There is a true blindness that many critics have to their own blindness that I find disturbing.<br />
<br />
But my own critique about Bitter Lemons new policy is not that it is inherently immoral, or a breach of journalistic ethics. To call it biased is to ignore the accepted biases in reviewers, pre-existing slants mostly based on reputation, or a taste for one type of art over another, or one set of ideas over another, or perhaps one gender over another. If anything, I suspect the Bitter Lemons reviewer will have that same doubt most hold lingering in the back of his or her mind: why did this artist have to pay for it?<br />
<br />
Does self-interest pay a part in their decision? I cannot know what lies in their heart, but I suspect it plays a part, as it does in us all. But I don’t particularly care. What I do care about is whether this is a model that can break through the barrier for those whose work is rendered invisible. This I doubt. Ironically, if it were, their business model would be an ineffective one. Because in order for it to be effective it would have to adopted by every large publication as well. And then: $150 for a single blog review when I can get a reviewer down from the LA Times for just $800? Who wants to shell out on the little stuff?<br />
<br />
But if the Bitter Lemons policy inspires people to reexamine the reviewing model we have, just a little bit, I welcome it. Sadly, all I have seen are angry denouncements. Which is an easy way to avoid the real problems in the system as it stands.<br />
<br />
Funny thing, after all this time, one of my picture books, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fractions-Disguise-Adventure-Charlesbridge-Adventures/dp/1570917744" target="_blank"><i>Fractions in Disguise</i></a>, was recently <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-einhorn/fractions-in-disguise/" target="_blank">reviewed by Kirkus</a>. It was published by a mid size publisher, <a href="http://www.charlesbridge.com/" target="_blank">Charlesbridge</a>, which is now associated with a very large publisher, Random House. It was a starred review, a rare honor. If I had paid for that review, nobody would have seen it, even starred. But because I was associated with a larger publisher, everybody saw it.<br />
<br />
You can find it now at a library near you.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-66981476887650538312015-03-10T20:38:00.000-07:002015-03-10T20:38:26.439-07:00Artistic Director's Note for Money Lab - 2015<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mad Jenny and Maris Dessena<br />in Love und Greed in Money Lab</td></tr>
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<i>I wrote a related note for the 2013 workshop. This one is updated for the 2015 edition of <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab/">Money Lab, at HERE</a>:</i><br /><br />I was taking a cab the other day, and my cab driver asked me if I had any good ideas to help the world. He was collecting. <br /><br />I work in theater, I said, so all my ideas are about theater. But I do think art can help the world. <br /><br />He scoffed. If you were starving, he asked, what would you like? Food? Or a flower? <br /><br />Recently, I said, I’ve been doing a lot of work with theater and music created in the Terezin concentration camp. What’s amazing to me, is how vital that work was to them. How, despite the starvation, the terrible conditions, and the specter of death, they still needed to create. Or maybe they needed to create because of all that.<br /><br />A distraction, he replied. They would have traded it all for a good meal.<br /><br />Maybe.<br /><br />In the United States, often the money associated with a profession tells you something about the way its valued. If you look at a list of college majors and money prospects, theater lies at the bottom. For our workshop of Money Lab, I did a survey of our audience members. I found that the artists made, on average, $24,000/year less (self identified part-time artists) to $45,000/year less (self-identified full-time artists) to comparable New Yorkers with similar demographics, matching education, age, borough, etc. Our non-artists made about $13,000/year more than the New York City averages.<br /><br />I did not make a conscious choice to give up $45,000/year to become an artist. But I am willing to accept the choice. Because for me, art is a necessity. I am not starving, so I don’t have to confront the food or flower question. Like most artists I know, I live in a constant state of anxiety about money. Nonetheless, I would find the alternative worse.<br /><br />And yet, the other question I am curious to understand is how much do we really value art. Why is it so difficult for artists to be paid? Here we are paying all our performers the same amount. $50/performance. It’s not much. But it’s what we can afford. Honestly, it’s more than we can afford, but it’s important to us.<br /><br />Why is money for art so scarce? Why is the income inequality among artists even greater than the income equality among the general populace? Why do a few get so much and the rest so little? I doubt we will answer those questions in the course of this show. But what we will explore is how our audience values art vs. what are generally called the necessities. Food, or flowers?<br /><br />Watch the values go up and down. We’re in a theater, so the odds are already skewed in the artists favor. So we shall see…<div>
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Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-63773819576126687462014-12-03T10:24:00.000-08:002014-12-03T10:24:12.453-08:00Finding Text: Writing the Libretto for the Velvet Oratorio
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A note about my process of using found text in <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-velvet-oratorio.html" target="_blank">The Velvet Oratorio</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna Marie Sell (Aide) and <br />Andrea Gallo (Shirley Temple Black)</td></tr>
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The first thing I knew when beginning this project was that I needed to do a lot of research. I knew a fair amount about Czechoslovakia and The Velvet Revolution, because I had done some research before putting together the Havel Festival in 2006, but I wanted more. I wanted to know what it felt like to be in Czechoslovakia in 1989. <br /><br /> I started interviewing Czechs and Slovaks who had been there, and simultaneously I started researching newspaper accounts from the time. One thing became quickly clear: many or most people attending the November 17 march did not suspect they would be participating in an event of great political significance at all. Other demonstrations had had little effect. Why would this one be different? <br /><br /> One reason was the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the changes in the Soviet Union. But of course the speed of the collapse of Communism in Czechoslovakia was something of an illusion. There had been a growing amount of pressure year by year, since the tanks invaded in 1968. Like a floor that suddenly collapses after years of seeming stability, the stress had been almost invisible, until one day the whole thing gave way. <br /><br /> For the found text, I used newspaper reports, especially those in the<i> New York Times, The Washington Post</i>, and <i>The Baltimore Sun</i>. And as one of the thank you gift for the Havel Festival, Václav Havel had given me a huge volume of correspondence from Shirley Temple Black and her aides at the U. S. Embassy in Prague. I had almost forgotten about it, as it seemed so imposing. It turned out to be a treasure trove. <br /><br /> For the scenes, I also used my interviews. One interviewee told me the story of being interrogated about The Berlin Wall, despite the fact that he had been held in detention and knew nothing of what had happened. Another told me about a former secret service officer who begged to speak in Wenceslas Square. And Havel himself told me a little about the person upon whom be based the original Staněk.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terrence Stone and cast sing a chorus</td></tr>
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<br /> My interviews inspired the choruses. I knew that Henry Akona is adept at capturing patterns of speech in his music, so I filled the choruses with quotes from my interviews, mixed with the chants of the protestors. I grabbed some quotes from Havel’s speeches and contrasted with the first-hand accounts of the listeners internal reactions when hearing him speak. I tried to include all the doubts, all the confusion, all the surprise. And for the second chorus, I used allusions to the famous 19th century Czech poem “May,” by Karel Hynek Mácha, to connect with Czech Nationalist and Romantic traditions. <br /><br /> All that went into the mix, along with the body of literature using Ferdinand Vaněk, Havel’s signature character and a symbol of the dissident movement. But perhaps most of all I wanted to bring out the feeling inherent in all of Havel’s work, captured in his first address as president. No matter how great the seeming triumph, there are no easy answers. The world is filled with more questions, and the greatest of all may be: what’s next?Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-52899444384987826652014-11-19T04:49:00.000-08:002014-11-19T04:50:35.380-08:00Money Lab: Call for performance proposals<a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab: An economic vaudeville </a>is looking for performances for its March 20 – April 12 run at HERE theater.<br />
<br />
The parameters are as follows:<br />
<br />
- All performances must address an aspect of economic theory (Keynes, Marx, the gold standard, the meaning of the word free, etc etc)<br />
- No performances can last more than 7 minutes.<br />
- No performance can have more than 4 artists<br />
- We are seeking music, dance, video, burlesque, clowning, comedy, puppetry, sketches, storytelling, and other unconventional forms of theater and performance.<br />
- We are seeking fully realized performances, not scripts or ideas. However, if you have a five-minute monologue you would like to submit on the subject, we are separately considering those.<br />
- Every show act will receive 2 – 6 performances during our run, the majority of which will be in one of the weeks of the run<br />
<br />
Payment: Artists receive $50 each/performance Artists include performers, choreographers, writers, etc (in other words, if your performance has 2 performers, with one writer/director, all three of you will receive $50/performance.)<br />
<br />
Please provide us with a work sample of some sort, as well as your idea. Acceptable work samples include scripts and videos. Also provide a few reviews of your work and a reference.<br />
<br />
Please make your piece a serious attempt to tackle an economic issue in an entertaining manner. Entertainers with an academic background in economics are particularly welcome. HOWEVER, this is still an entertainment, not a lecture. We are looking for playfulness, and we prefer questions rather than answers.<br />
<br />
This was originally produced as a workshop at the Brick Theater. To get a sense of the tone, please <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/" target="_blank">visit our website</a> or read some of the original press: from<a href="ttp://www.villagevoice.com/2013-08-14/theater/money-lab-a-vaudevillian-social-experiment-proves-the-value-of-art/" target="_blank"> The Village Voice</a>, <a href="http://mcgovernix.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/incoming/" target="_blank">Fanchild</a>, and <a href="http://newyorktheater.me/2013/08/08/money-lab-review-money-as-games-religionand-theater/#comments" target="_blank">New York Theater</a><br />
<br />
All artists will be eligible for an additional stipend, awarded to one person (in conjunction with an auction) at random every evening, as part of an auction/economic game.<br />
<br />
Submissions will be accepted until December 20. Acts and schedule will be determined in January. Additional support, such as rehearsal space (beyond tech), etc, is possible depending on funding, but not guaranteed.<br />
<br />
Email proposals and all information to: utc61moneylab@gmail.com Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-23399021109430055482014-06-11T09:38:00.001-07:002014-06-11T09:38:44.787-07:00Concession curation and the Cel - Ray cocktail
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTe81-WKkk3Ubon8bLUlhp3BFWPDNkjkxrzQQ43Y0Z_zsmxK477uRzx_o7-cKWyRBmWB71sX_ALEGOsI36Rja8uE6uAeoGrzHrWQIy8Z-uwOGz6JkMOXPd2PduPNjIHZluIz_Ni-yXFA/s1600/Jose+Rosenbaum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTe81-WKkk3Ubon8bLUlhp3BFWPDNkjkxrzQQ43Y0Z_zsmxK477uRzx_o7-cKWyRBmWB71sX_ALEGOsI36Rja8uE6uAeoGrzHrWQIy8Z-uwOGz6JkMOXPd2PduPNjIHZluIz_Ni-yXFA/s1600/Jose+Rosenbaum.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>I started curating the concession stand during the <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/havel/havel-festival.html" target="_blank">HavelFestival</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One thing that I always do when I travel is try the junk
food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chocolate, the salty
snacks, the sodas, whatever I can find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Somehow, to me, that is where I really get a sense of what living in the
country is like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Restaurants are
fine, I love tasting the local cuisine, but on a day to day basis, growing up…I
would bet the junk food is at least as representative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because all the flavorings are there,
in distilled chemical form, distributed on a processed potato product or other
unhealthy conveyance method.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So when I was presenting the works of Havel, I thought,
let’s bring the taste of the Czech Republic here as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, there is a <a href="http://www.slovczechvar.com/?lang=en&PHPSESSID=5c27489da240eabd075f9e423ee02616" target="_blank">Czech and Slovak Variety Shop</a> in Long Island City, Queens, which provided a full range of
the treats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite is the
Fidorka, which I had chosen through carefully judged eating in supermarkets and
small groceries in Prague.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It proved wildly popular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact all the snacks sold out quickly (as did our Pilsner
Urquell).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Berit Johnson, who was running
our concessions at the time, started out as a doubter, but over time became a
believer.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I have been curating the concession stand ever since,
culminating perhaps with <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-pig-or-vaclav-or-havels.html" target="_blank">The Pig</a>, which included <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/the-pig-or-vaclav-or-havels/the-menu-for-the-pig/" target="_blank">a full meal</a>, provided by
Korzo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Fidorkas were not
forgotten: they were dessert.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Besides adding a sense of fun, I do think there is something
to actually being connected by taste to the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps that is part of why dinner theater and experimental
theater have been joining forces so actively recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It engages another part of the brain
and really provides, in neurological terms, a new cognitive framework for the
appreciation of the performance.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Which brings me to my Cel-Ray cocktail.</div>
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<br /></div>
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For the Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas, one of the
elements of our concession stand was Dr. Brown’s Celery Tonic, better known as
Cel-Ray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A staple of Jewish delis,
I first enjoyed it as the perfect accompaniment to pastrami on rye. I don’t eat
meat now, but still enjoy the occasional drink of it.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did overestimate the popularity of the drink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the uninitiated, celery soda
perhaps seemed a doubtful product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With about 50 extra cans, I had only one choice: to make a Cel-Ray
cocktail for the after party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mixed it with Jose Cuervos tequila and called it a Jose Rosenbaum.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently, I was approached for a cocktail recipe for a book
of recipes by sci-fi authors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have now gone back and perfected it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the good of theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For the good of society.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Here is the secret formula:</div>
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<br /></div>
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The José Rosenbaum</div>
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<br /></div>
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5 parts Cel-Ray</div>
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2 part Jose Quervo tequila</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 Mean Bean (a pickled, spicy string bean)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 Grape tomato</div>
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Kosher salt</div>
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Cayenne pepper<br />
Celery salt</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rim the glass with a mixture of kosher salt, cayenne pepper,
and celery salt (my taster, aka my wife Connie, recommends skipping the celery
salt…too much celery).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mix Cel –
Ray and tequila with ice, stir gently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pour into an old fashioned glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Garnish with Mean Bean and tomato.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m serious about the Mean Bean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes the drink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it’s delicious. <a href="https://rickspicks.com/pickles/mean_beans" target="_blank">Get it here</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Enjoy!</div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-13261438514018152162014-05-23T10:37:00.002-07:002014-05-23T11:38:47.169-07:00Obies Follow Up - Reflecting after the 2014 Awards<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>So
the Obies were Monday night, and the trend that I discussed in my<a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-obies-are-failing-new-york-theater.html" target="_blank"> last blog post </a>continues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general,
approximately 90% of the work rewarded has budgets of $250,000 or more, though
the calculations are a bit complicated this year for reasons I’ll get into.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Before
I go into that, I do want to mention, as I did last time, that these posts are
not meant to denigrate anyone involved, especially the award winners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw and enjoyed a few of the shows
honored, and they were all good shows created and performed by talented
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know a few people who
were on the awards committee this year, and I know their hearts are in the
right place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I am very fond of
Obie chairman Michael Feingold as a critic, I think he did much good over the
years.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Which
in many ways is what is inspiring me to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that we all can become prone to a certain sort of
narrowness of vision over time that leads us to lose sight of the broader
picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case, many of
those serving are frequently working with (or reviewing) the people being
honored, and it may be hard to realize that a large and important part of the
downtown theater scene is mostly being ignored. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Ironically,
this is exactly the part of the downtown scene that most benefits from the
awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To many receiving the
awards on Monday, the award served as a bit of a (deserved) ego boost, but had
little or any impact on their career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it is the lesser known shows with the smaller budgets that have the
artists who truly need the recognition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And of course, that was the purpose of the Obies to begin with: to
recognize those who haven’t been seen and recognized by the mainstream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those days, the mainstream was
simply Broadway, and the small budget shows were much fewer in number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now Off-Broadway exists mostly in the
upper middle class of theater budgets, and yet it still persists in looking up
at the upper upper class and saying, aren’t we poor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, the lower class, or even the lower middle class
is mostly ignored.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Do
we really have to reflect American society that directly?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In
regard to Monday’s Obies:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were 20 awards given to shows, some with multiple recipients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I face a problem with these
calculations about how to group them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World Is Round </i>received
3 awards, but they seem to be grouped together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Octoroon</i>’s
playwright, Brendan Brandon-Jacobs, won a playwriting award that also covered
his work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Appropriate</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, cast member Chris Meyers also
received a separate award.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So if
you group the awards as <a href="http://www.playbill.com/news/article/187430-59th-Annual-Village-Voice-Obie-Awards-Will-Be-Presented-May-19" target="_blank">Playbill does</a>, you find yourself with 20
awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the listing on the <i>Village
Voice </i>website seems to indicate 26 awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason the difference creates very different calculations is
that two shows, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This Was The End</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World Is Round</i>, fall under the $250,000
threshold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the result is that
either 2 of 20 (10%, right on the average) or 4 or 26 (a surprising 15%) of
Obies this year went to more moderately budgeted shows.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Close
to the border, I suspect, is NAATCO’s production of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Awake and Sing</i>, for which Mia Katigbak won an award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am counting it as over $250,000,
because of the size of the cast, but I could be wrong there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please feel free to correct me if you have
contradictory information.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I
will also mention $250,000 is a very high threshold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have never done a show with a budget over $100,000, the
closest I’ve come is around $80,000, and that was officially Off-Broadway
(astoundingly little for an Off-Broadway show, but nonetheless…).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the in kind contributions my theater company has received from the venues/co-producers, that budget has reached a little over $100,000. I know many, probably the majority
working downtown who have never passed the $50,000 mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually assumed at first the budget
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The World Is Round </i>(a show I
saw and loved) was over $250,000, but some investigation revealed
otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good job on their
part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t able to discover
what support BAM provided that wasn’t on that official budget, but it was a
show that easily could have broken the $250,000 barrier regardless. [UPDATE: That includes BAM support]</div>
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<br /></div>
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So,
using the more generous assessment, here are the updated totals for the Obies
over the last 5 years:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
Public 18, Signature 10, Playwrights Horizons 9, Soho Rep 7, Manhattan Theater
Club 6, New York Theater Workshop 5, Lincoln Center 4, Rattlestick 4, BAM 4 (3
of which are for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World Is Round</i>),
Foundry 3, Ripe Time 3 (also credited for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World Is Round), </i>, Elevator Repair Service 2 (both times at The Public),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Classic Stage Company 2, HERE 2,
Incubator Arts 2 (counting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three Pianos</i>,
on stage at NYTW at that point), Manhattan Class Company 2, St. Ann’s Warehouse
2, Theatre for a New Audience 2.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And
those which have won a single OBIE in those years:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alliance Francaise, Ars Nova (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Natasha & Pierre, </i>which had moved to a commercial production<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">)</i>, Atlantic Theatre Company, Barrow
Street, Baryshnikov Arts Center (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fela</i>,
which had moved to Broadway), Bushwick Star/The Debate Society , The Chocolate
Factory, La MaMa <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Good Woman of Setzuan</i>,
moved to The Public), NAATCO, Partial Comfort, Pig Iron, The Play Company,
Primary Stages, PS 122, Second Stage, Punchdrunk, 3LD Art + Technology Center
(as part of Under The Radar), Transport, Vineyard.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In
terms of budget: out of 96 awards, 84 went to shows with budgets definitely
over $250,000, 5 were definitely under (3 for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World Is Round</i>), and 8 were in the gray area for me (including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Awake and Sing</i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the percentage of lower budget shows
is between 5 – 13 %.<br />
<br />
I
would remiss to write all this without suggesting some solutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, a larger Obie committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite frankly, I think it is unfair to
ask to few people to see so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are a number of qualified possibilities, and the number could be
doubled, at least. And for those new Obie members: select people who are part of the true independent theater scene. Second, a clear way to contact the committee and let them
know about your show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, if you
have the right press agent who knows the right people to contact, it can be
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the contact should be
published on the website, and the committee should be announced, as early as
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, and most
importantly, there should be a commitment from all the judges and the Obies as
a whole to seek out those smaller shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To see things that you may know nothing about. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it’s not all going to
change overnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a commitment
that, say, 33% of the awards will go to lower budgets shows is not impossible,
by any means. And that commitment in itself will inspire the judges to seek out new work.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s
not easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response to my
earlier post, I had a few people ask me privately, what should I go see?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s my honest answer: Like everyone,
I live in my little bubble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
tell you about my friend’s plays, some of which are very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And occasionally I am drawn to
something outside of that bubble. I recently saw <a href="http://thenshefell.com/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Then She Fell</i></a>, which I thought was amazing (and never won an Obie),
but that show has received a fair amount of recognition, which is why I knew
about it to begin with.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
do know some of the places where you can find those shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them have won an Obie (or two)
over the last five years, but considering the number of Obies given and the
number of shows at these theaters (which have much busier seasons than the large
institutions), most of the shows never get seen at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, because I have worked at a lot
of them (as I warned, of course, it is my friends I know about).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So go to The Ohio, HERE, 3LD, La MaMa, The Brick, Dixon Place,
Abrons, The Secret Theatre, The Chocolate Factory, Metropolitan Playhouse, and
all the other smaller theaters about town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not just when Taylor Mac or Black Eyed Susan or a
downtown luminary is performing, do it when a possible future downtown luminary
is performing as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my
part, I pledge to look beyond those theaters and really try to seek out
interesting shows I would not know about, to look at the tiny reviews with only
a paragraph or two devoted and think, could that be interesting?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
New York is a busy place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard to see even my friends' work, plus those few
shows that have received enough buzz to make them interesting to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To venture into the great beyond?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes time, and it takes effort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So
I am asking a lot, I know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
am asking it because I think it is important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are in any way in a position to influence future awards, please consider it.</div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-21719942082325292162014-05-15T11:54:00.001-07:002014-06-11T10:11:41.456-07:00How the OBIES are failing New York theater<style>
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Let me start by getting one thing out of the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have never won an OBIE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt that I have ever been
considered for an OBIE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my 20
years plus of working in downtown theater, I don’t believe anyone from the OBIE
committee has stepped foot in the theater for any play I have written,
directed, or produced.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So any screed against the current state of the OBIE Awards
(and let me make no bones about it, that is what this is) should be read with
the knowledge that I, of course, have a personal stake in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if this were pure sour grapes (and
I have at times eaten of that fruit), without any implications beyond myself, I
would confine myself to my own private 3am anxieties about my life/career and
leave it at that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I do
think my experience with the OBIES reflects a greater problem with the awards
in general, and that is why I am choosing to address it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wouldn’t care, of course, if I didn’t think the OBIES were
important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the 58<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the award, which originally was created to offset the idea that
Broadway was the only place interesting and valuable can happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That very important work was being done
in smaller theaters, with smaller budgets, with fewer commercial interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That in fact this is where the heart of
theater lay, where the greatest theater could bloom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The OBIES were the first to embrace the Off-Off-Broadway
movement and give an equal weight to those productions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have gained their status through
good work and high ideals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And like many esteemed institutions of over fifty years,
they have gone to pot, borne down with the weight of their own success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somewhere in them is the kernel of that
original ideal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is buried,
deeply buried.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is not to say worthy work, inspiring work, does not get
recognized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am friends with some OBIE winners,
and well do they deserve it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would not wish to denigrate anyone’s achievement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the awards now have become largely about one thing:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>celebrating the achievements of those
in institutional theater, perhaps a step below Broadway in budget, but
nonetheless work that is highly recognized and highly touted without the help
of an additional award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has
become about the status quo.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let us examine the awards, by the numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last four years (I chose four
instead of five because the last four were easier to research, and with the
OBIES coming up Monday, I’m hoping to fill out the roster), these are the
theaters which have won multiple OBIES, from the most to the least:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Public 13, Playwrights Horizons 8, Manhattan Theater
Club 6, Lincoln Center 4, Signature 4, Soho Rep 4, Foundry 3, Rattlestick 3,
Classic Stage Company 2, HERE 2, Incubator Arts 2 (counting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three Pianos</i>, which was actually on
stage at New York Theater Workshop at that point), Manhattan Class Company 2,
New York Theater Workshop 2 (also counting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three
Pianos</i>), St. Ann’s Warehouse 2, Theatre for a New Audience 2.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And those which have won a single OBIE in those years:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alliance Francaise, Ars Nova (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Natasha & Pierre, </i>which had moved on to
a commercial production<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">)</i>, Atlantic
Theatre Company, Barrow Street, Baryshnikov Arts Center (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fela</i>, which had moved to Broadway), Brooklyn Academy of Music,
Bushwick Star/The Debate Society , Elevator Repair Service (at The
Public),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>La MaMa <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Good Woman of Setzuan</i>, moved to The
Public), Partial Comfort, Pig Iron, The Play Company, Primary Stages, PS 122,
Second Stage, Punchdrunk, 3LD Art + Technology Center (as part of Under The
Radar…not sure who main funder was…), Transport, Vineyard</div>
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<br /></div>
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Perhaps more tellingly, of 72 productions, I would say 63
unquestionably had budgets over $250,000, 2 probably were under, and 7 fall
into the gray area for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
guess is less than 10% regardless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I base that calculation on my years of working as a producer and
occasional GM for different levels of production.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So what does all that data tell us, besides that The Public
has been winning an incredible number of OBIE Awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the multiple awards category, there are two
champions of the indie theater scene, HERE and Incubator Arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the others, Bushwick Starr, La MaMa, 3LD, and PS 122
are all represented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very happy to
see it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by implication The
Ohio, where Pig Iron put on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chekhov
Lizardbrain</i>. One of my favorites.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But it is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Under 10% with a budget under $250,000 is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that is a conservative estimate,
for most of these institutions have multimillion dollar budgets to sustain them
that don’t even get figured into the production cost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are not the productions that the OBIES once endeavored
to honor, productions that would be overlooked without the scrappy little
awards from a scrappy downtown rag called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Village Voice</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are
highly established theaters with the budget to have themselves be seen,
regardless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The OBIES may be an
extra feather in the cap or a moment of downtown cred, but you can find those
same productions at the Drama Desk or the Lortel awards.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What the OBIES have done on in the past and can do, could
continue to do, is to recognize the small theater productions that it first
purported to promote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t
mean via the $1,000 grants that do sometimes go to small, deserving
companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was extremely joyful
when Metropolitan Theater, which does quality work on a tiny budget, won their
award a few years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they have
been working over 20 years themselves, and it is telling that they were given
an award that should by right be given to the smaller, newer companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But since Metropolitan had never been
recognized before, the award came, well overdue.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One main reason is that the awards are a closed system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only a few judges are chosen, often
reviewers who are only being sent to the bigger productions to begin with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no easy way to invite judges
in advance, nor any indication that the judges are encouraged to seek out and
find the smaller productions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
awards themselves have become star studded, competing with the Tonys in the
recognition value of its presenters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here is Anne Hathaway!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here
is Cyndi Lauper!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is Meryl
Streep!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They too are
participating, many of them are eligible for the very same award, by dint of
the fact that they chose to perform in a play with a budget of $1,000,000
instead of $5,000,000.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I will embrace the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will even pay the $20 I am now asked for as the OBIES turn
more into a money making machine and less into a celebration of downtown
theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will do all that if I
know the names and the money are also being put towards a good cause, finding
the seeds of new exciting theater and promoting it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I don’t mean as the exception, almost by accident, when
it stumbles across a show that has received just the right amount of buzz to
draw in a judge or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean
consistently, as a statement of purpose.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I still believe the OBIES are capable of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want them to be capable of it,
because frankly no other award has the name recognition to have the same
clout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So perhaps this is no more
than a plea, a call in the wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Come see us in the wilds of indie theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is good work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is also plenty of terrible work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But every so often, there is life-changing work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only it could be seen and
recognized.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: Please read more thoughts (and possible solutions) <a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2014/05/obies-follow-up-reflecting-after-2014.html" target="_blank">in my follow up post </a></div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-50373470196192766572013-08-13T12:54:00.001-07:002013-08-13T14:53:43.510-07:00Money Lab Survey: Salaries of artists vs. non-artistsWell, after a whole lot of number crunching (honestly, 6 hours or so...what's my hourly rate?) I finally have the survey results from <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a>.<br />
<br />
Many caveats here: obviously, this is a self selecting lot. You had to either fill out the survey at the show or online. Also, many chose not to reveal their salary, despite the fact that it was an anonymous survey. Our highest salary was $225,000, and I know of at least two audience members who make more. On the other side, there were those who simply noted they were ashamed of how little they made and didn't want to share. A number of them, actually, which I suspect would drive these averages down. But I decided to only work with people who had provided numbers.<br />
<br />
I also noticed that asking people whether they were (a) a professional artists and (b) made the majority of their money from their art caused really emotional reactions from some people. I can't say I blame them. I have my own emotions about those questions as well. But for the purposes of the survey, I am defining part-time artists as professional artists who get the majority of their income elsewhere (though they may well spend more time on their art than on their day job).<br />
<br />
I used census data as a sort of control. I only have data for the five boroughs, so it's harder to compare out of New York, but I did do two types of comparisons: Artists vs non-artists who answered the survey, artists vs. residents of NYC with similar demographics.<br />
<br />
In all cases, I found the cost of being an artist to be significant. At the least a difference in income of $24,000/year (part-time artists vs. NYC residents with similar demographics), at the most a difference of $45,000 (full-time artists vs. NYC residents with similar demographics).<br />
<br />
Thinking of the subject in terms of a decade of work, an artist is giving up between $240,000 and $450,000 dollars per decade on average, in return for the emotional satisfaction of being able to do artwork. <br />
<br />
I have been working for 20 years. According to my subset (full-time artist living in NYC), I have given up about $900,000 in order to be an artist.<br />
<br />
That was my choice, freely given. I feel I have a life that is more fulfilled. But damn. Can I also have the money?<br />
<br />
Here are the results:<br />
<br />
<b>Non-Artists </b><br />
<br />
Average salary (all) $74,000 <br />
Average salary (lives in NYC): $76,800 <br />
Median salary (all): $75,000 <br />
Median salary: (lives in NYC): $68,000 <br />
Average Salary compared to artists who completed survey: +32, 333 <br />
Salary compared to other residents in their borough in NYC, with similar demographics, according to census data: +13,000 <br />
<b><br /> Artists (combined) </b><br />
<br />
Average salary (all) $41,667 <br />
Average salary (lives in NYC): $39,400 <br />
Median salary (all):$40,000 <br />
Median salary: (lives in NYC): $30,000 <br />
Average Salary compared to non-artists who completed survey: -$32,333 <br />
Salary compared to other residents in their borough in NYC, with similar demographics, according to census data: -28,000 <br />
<b><br /> Artists who make majority of their income from art: </b><br />
<br />
Average salary (all) $45,800*<br />
Average salary (lives in NYC): $37,313 <br />
Median salary (all): $35,000 <br />
Median salary: (lives in NYC): $35,000 <br />
Average Salary compared to non-artists who completed survey: -$28,200 <br />
Salary compared to other residents in their borough in NYC, with similar demographics, according to census data: -45,000<br />
<br />
*Note, one large salary (from a non-New York resident) may have skewed results for the Average salary (all) <br />
<b><br /> Artists who DO NOT make majority of their income from art: </b><br />
<br />
Average salary (all) $39,250 <br />
Average salary (lives in NYC): $40, 778 <br />
Median salary (all): $35,000 <br />
Median salary: (lives in NYC): $35,000 <br />
Average Salary compared to non-artists who completed survey: -$34,750 <br />
Salary compared to non-artists in their borough in NYC, with similar demographics, according to census data: -$24,000 <br />
<b></b><br />
<br />
<b>OTHER STATS</b><br />
104 replies <br />
57 professional artists (36 part-time, 21 full-time) <br />
47 non-artists<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Types of Artists</b><br />
<br />
39 Theater <br />
6 Visual <br />
4 Literature <br />
1 Music <br />
2 Dance <br />
1 Film <br />
4 Other <br />
<br />
<b>Average Age:</b> 38 <br />
<br />
<b>Education: </b><br />
4 High School <br />
8 Some College <br />
39 College Degrees <br />
53 Graduate Degrees <br />
<b><br />Residency</b><br />
69 NYC residents <br />
35 non NYC residents Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-65479501620101628492013-08-12T09:55:00.001-07:002013-08-12T11:47:59.762-07:00Money Lab: Good Charity, Good CharityA<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/good-charity-bad-charity.html?_r=0" target="_blank"> New York Times op-ed by Peter Singer ("Good Charity, Bad Charity") </a>was just written that relates directly to the <a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2013/07/money-lab-food-or-flower-what-is-value.html" target="_blank">food vs. flowers</a> debate that I previously write about on the blog, and which was one of the main focuses on <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a>. So I took a pause in my Money Lab statistics evaluation (ongoing!) to write a few thoughts on it. <br />
<br />
The article designates health causes as “good charities” and the arts as “bad charities” based on the most specious of analyses. There are so many gaping holes in the particular editorial it is hard to simply pick one, but I shall do my best.<br />
<br />
First of all, in order to prove his point, Singer handpicks two examples that he chooses to be representative. To represent the arts, he chooses a museum that is building a new $50 million wing. To represent health, he chooses a theoretical charity seeking to reduce the eye disease, trachoma. This charity, apparently a never-before seen model of efficiency, is able to convert your donation immediately so that each $100 automatically saves someone from the disease. <br />
<br />
How can you compare the morality, Mr Singer argues, of giving someone money to cure blindness, compared to the selfish interests of a few frivolous museum goers who want to see more pretty pictures? In fact, he goes so far as to posit a demon that blinds someone every time a certain number of people patronize that new museum wing. <br />
<br />
Oh art lovers, know that you are sticking a hot poker into the eye of good health! <br />
<br />
Of course, even if you credit his economics (which I will address in a moment), his examples are absurd. If he wants to see examples of companies that do a very lot with a very little, there is no better place to look than the arts. I have not done the totals yet, but I know that the Money Lab workshop cost under $5,000. And yet—every participant was paid for their work (some paid extra due to the patronage auction), and we produced a theater piece that played to sold out houses every performance. <br />
<br />
But to think that the benefits end there is to not understand the nature of art. The discussions the show inspired will, I hope, shape the thinking of those who saw the work. That in turn will filter out into the world of ideas, and indeed, I do think that great social change often originates from the smallest of art. I am not trying to be grandiose when I say the intention of Money Lab is to change the world. To me, every art piece does, or should. <br />
<br />
And then there is the benefit to the artists. Besides the relatively small monetary benefits, there is the opportunity to practice their craft, to develop, to ready themselves for the next piece of work. Every art piece is merely a gateway to then next ten, the next twenty. <br />
<br />
And to me, and to the company—the benefit is incalculable. There is the benefit of spreading the work further, because of the press it has and will receive. But also the benefit of being able to shape and refine my own ideas, which once only resided in my head, and to make them tangible and real. To communicate to others. It is more than a desire that I have to do that, it is a need, for my own happiness. If you told me that I needed to give up my art or face a 1 in 1,000 chance of blindness, is there any question which I would choose? <br />
<br />
And yet this workshop cost only $5,000, probably less. A $100,000 donation could fund up to 20 - 30 such workshops. Or a couple of fully realized productions, with all that entails. <br />
<br />
Now look at a health foundation. The truth is, most health foundations are relatively inefficient. <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/how-efficient-is-private-charity/" target="_blank"> In a survey of charities, it was found that it was not unusual for 50% of the costs to go towards administration. </a>The Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation <a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/west/126457453.html" target="_blank">was found recently to spend almost all of its money on administration.</a><br />
<br />
But beyond bureaucracy, much of the money is spent on research, and, inevitably, much of the research leads to dead ends. Solutions are in short supply, though when they are found, they can often pay for themselves; there is a reason that drug companies spend so much on research, and the reason is money. This is not to say that one should not give nonetheless, but it should be with the understanding that the $100,000 you give will disappear into a well of $50 million or $500 million, and that the results may be as little as identifying the fact the research should now be directed elsewhere. <br />
<br />
Does that make, say, autism or cancer or trachoma a bad charity? Of course not (though perhaps the Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation might not be your best bet). You give to what you believe, you help the world how you can. And yes, one of those ways could be towards a museum building a new wing. <br />
<br />
It would be unusual for them to ask. Most such developments are actually spurred by one or two large funders. But if asked, maybe you do want your money to go towards that museum. Maybe that new wing will display a new artist, and that support will lead to a career. Maybe that artist will be one of the greats. Or maybe someone walking through the museum will stop, look at a painting, and be inspired. Maybe it will change her life. <br />
<br />
Maybe, one day, should she ever grow ill, that memory, the memory of all the art she has seen and experienced, will be her comfort. Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-10726217049062980082013-07-23T12:10:00.002-07:002014-07-11T11:27:52.628-07:00Money Lab: Detroit, bankruptcy, and the arts<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/arts/design/detroits-creditors-eye-its-art-collection.html?_r=0" target="_blank">A recent article in the New York Times</a> about the Detroit bankruptcy and the Detroit Institute of Arts brings me back to a theme I wrote about in a<a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2013/07/money-lab-food-or-flower-what-is-value.html" target="_blank">n earlier posting about food vs. flowers</a>. As part of <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a>, I am trying to examine how we value art, and this current crisis put that question into stark relief. <br />
<br />
About 10 years ago I took some trips to Detroit in order to visit someone I was dating. Anyone who has been in Detroit knows that the contrast between the city center and the suburbs is a stark one. The city is abandoned and impoverished, and there are stunning border areas where one can follow a street past boarded up buildings and then suddenly find oneself surrounded by fancy houses with beautiful lawns, literally yards apart. <br />
<br />
There were, however, two bright spots I remember in the inner city. One was an old Beaux Arts building, which houses the still thriving Detroit Institute of Arts. The other was the new Detroit Tigers’ baseball stadium, Comerica Park. <br />
<br />
Both were built with city money of course, one at the end of the 19th century, one in at the end of the 20th. However, it is the art museum that has continued to be dependent on public money. After many years, with the help of the tax dollars of the surrounding counties, it is now relatively solvent. However, Detroit’s bankruptcy places the museum in another sort of alarming jeopardy; the pensioners, the ones who are so unfairly in jeopardy themselves because of the bankruptcy, see an asset. The art inside is worth $2 billion. And they want it sold. <br />
<br />
That is a bit of a blanket statement, which ignores certain nuances. The pensioners are not the city’s only debtors. Nor are they a uniform block, I am sure plenty of pensioners might regard the virtual destruction of the museum to be a tragic event. But the question, in law, is clear: will Detroit be obligated to see off the art in the museum in order to help fund the pensions? <br />
<br />
Putting aside that legal question, which no one has yet answered, I will pose two more: what is the more economically advantageous thing to do? And does either decision have more moral weight? <br />
<br />
Economically, it would be a clear blow, I think. Getting rid of the museum’s collection would mean that one of the few remaining bright spots in the city has been doused. The museum would have to shut down, simply because of the logistics of museum funding. Much of the art was given with the explicit caveat that it must not be sold, and selling it would have huge repercussions on private funding, partly because it would end any chance of future art donations. Furthermore, the blowback from the Association of Art Museum Directors would be huge: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/arts/design/19sanctions.html?_r=1&" target="_blank">their sanctions against the National Academy Museum were extremely painful</a>, and the NAM's offenses amounted to just two paintings. And finally, and this is the nail in the coffin really,<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/14/detroit-controversy-art-collection-sale-suburbs" target="_blank"> the museum is currently being funded by tax dollars from surrounding counties, which would end immediately.</a> They would complain
(legitimately) that their tax dollars had been spent to sustain the
museum, not to get Detroit out of debt. The downtown cultural district, or what remains of it, would be effectively demolished, and the peripheral effect on surrounding businesses and restaurants will be stark. There will be even less of a reason to go into the city itself, leaving it even more of a black hole around which more enticing suburbs circle, hoping not to get sucked in. <br />
<br />
As a comparison, the baseball stadium <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120822/FREE/120829973/comerica-park-owner-to-refinance-remaining-61m-public-debt-on-300m#" target="_blank">cost $115 million in public funding</a>. Because that public money was essentially given to a private owner, rather than holding the stadium as a city asset, the stadium is safe. The reason behind that expenditure was the purported economic benefits of the stadium. In actuality, studies show that the money cities spend on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/sports/08stadium.html?pagewanted=1&_r=5&hp&" target="_blank">stadiums tends to be a loss</a>, while the smaller expenditures on museums <a href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/umnext/news/2012/05/minnesota-museums-contribute-674-million-in-economic-impact-u-study-finds.php" target="_blank">spur enough economic growth to be a gain</a>. But since museums are non-profit while sports activities are definitely for profit, museums often are seen as leeches. If it is economically worthwhile, why doesn’t it make money? (<a href="https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2013/07/23/Events-and-Attractions/City-sponsorship.aspx" target="_blank">as a side note, it seems that even the $500 million pledged to a new hockey stadium is safe</a>)<br />
<br />
Of course, there may be some relief provided for pensioners, and it is hard to deny the needs of the retired population, those who have worked hard in civil service or as teachers or policeman all their lives, only to see their promised benefits stripped away. How much relief will it afford? That, I think, is debatable. How will the money be used, through what filters will it be put, how widely does it need to be distributed….will it mean a substantive increase in pension, or in essence a one time payment of another couple of hundred dollars? And what economic penalties will they pay for the further decay of the city in which they live? I suspect the benefits may be more negligible, and the loss more acute, than people initially guess. <br />
<br />
But let us say, for the sake of argument, the benefit is a significant one. In a case such as that, what moral right is there for us to demand the preservation of a museum’s art collection? That is a murkier question. Money was spent by taxpayers so that people would have a chance to look at pretty pictures. Selling the collection doesn’t mean destroying the pictures, it means removing access to them. Some would go to private collectors. Some might be bought by other museums. What it will definitely do is remove that opportunity in Detroit. To a pensioner who doesn’t care for art, the opportunity to eat a little better is clearly the preferred alternative. And even for those who do care for art… <br />
<br />
Well, here is a scenario. I pose it to you. Guaranteed income for the rest of your life. In return, I ask one thing. I will destroy one painting by Vincent Van Gogh. It won’t be <i>Starry Night</i>. But it will be Van Gogh, and it will be beautiful. <br />
<br />
What choice do you make? Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-75923352912090711932013-07-18T13:03:00.000-07:002013-07-18T13:03:07.014-07:00Money Lab: Excerpt from The Neurology of the SoulThe new play I've been working on, <i>The Neurology of the Soul</i>, addresses not only neurology, but some of these issue I'm exploring for <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a>. Mark, in the play, is a neuromarketer, someone who using neurology as a basis for his marketing. In the course of the play, Amy starts making art basic on the images of her brain, and Mark becomes interested in marketing that art. This on the cost of being an artist:<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Do you know why starving artists choose to starve?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
It’s a choice?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Usually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because, let’s face it, plenty of artists are just as smart and capable
as businessmen, wouldn’t you say?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
I suppose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
of course.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
But they put a value on something other than money, correct?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Right.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Let’s call that thing artistic fulfillment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much is artistic fulfillment worth,
in terms of dollars and cents?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
It don’t think it can be evaluated like that.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saying
something can’t be evaluated simply means that you haven’t found the right
formula, yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s take a
theoretical scenario.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s say
you compared what artists and businessmen of similar background and education
make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And say you found that, all
things being equal, an average businessman makes $50,000 per year more than the
average artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does that seem
plausible?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
More than, unfortunately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably more than that.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
OK, but let’s be conservative, and say $50,000 per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over 40 years, that’s two million
dollars per lifetime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Available,
for you, for any artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only
thing is, you need to make that choice.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Some artists make good money.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Many?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
No, of course not.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
And you know that, going in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two million dollars, on average.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, less, if you’re a successful artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe more, if you’re a successful
businessman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two million dollars,
and the choice is yours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Business
or art?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
I’ve worked in offices, too.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
To make ends meet, or as a career? </div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Does it matter why?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
I think it does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that makes a difference in salary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re a smart woman, Amy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could be making a lot of money, if that was your major
goal in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, two million
dollars, or artistic fulfillment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Which do you choose?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
If that were the choice, and I’m not sure I buy that it is, I
choose artistic fulfillment.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Exactly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
said, everything has a definable value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You just have to find the right formula.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
What if you are artistic, and not fulfilled?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you just thrown away two million?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Do you feel unfulfilled by your art?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
Often.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
So let’s value your fulfillment at five hundred
thousand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe we can fill in the
rest of that value by making a few sales.</div>
<div class="Charactername">
amy</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
What are you after?</div>
<div class="Charactername">
mark</div>
<div class="Dialogue">
A commission, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If my company is partial owner of the images, perhaps we
should get a small percent of sales.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or maybe I want some artistic fulfillment myself.</div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-64904314665341410962013-07-16T11:46:00.002-07:002013-07-16T12:25:10.146-07:00Money Lab: The cost of being an artist<br />
One of the things I am interested in exploring in <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a> is what is the personal economic cost of being an artist. In other words, I want to compare people of similar education, age and background, and see how they compare to other (non-artists) from New York City. I am limiting the current exploration to the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx because--well, because I have some data that applies, and going further at this point seems a bit overwhelming.<br />
<br />
This will obviously be a limited and unscientific survey (not having the skills to create a true one), but I am hoping it provokes some thought and consideration. Interestingly, Dance NYC had a somewhat corollary survey that is much more developed, specifically of dancers age 21-35. You can find it <a href="https://dancenyc.org/research/id=114" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Their survey shows how New York dancers truly struggle economically. Which of course confirms my personal bias, which is to suspect that being any sort of artist costs big wagons full of money. That comes partly from being from a family of lawyers and comparing my income to theirs. And Partly from seeing almost all the intelligent, accomplished, educated artists I know struggle for money. And partly from...well, it must. C'mon.<br />
<br />
But how much? Can we find a dollar amount per year? And is that dollar amount the value of art? I can claim, as I have, that I did not know the cost when I first decided to pursue theater. But eventually it dawned on me. And I made a conscious choice to continue. So in a way I have decided to spend most on my potential income on the one thing that has meant the most to me.<br />
<br />
Somehow, realizing that I made the decision makes me feel a bit better. Would I make the decision again, in college, knowing what I know now? I'm not sure. But on the other hand, I can't image a life without theater. So, maybe...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-81421902448817660252013-07-09T13:36:00.001-07:002013-07-09T13:36:08.991-07:00Money Lab: Food or a flower, what is the value of art?<br />
<i>In honor of <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/money-lab.html" target="_blank">Money Lab</a>, I will be posting a series of blog posts about economics and the arts. Here is my first, examining the question of the basic value of art.</i><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHlTgxRahE8QvgcEl6DhCiICOecruFFvccGRWSScWBP2OcZpaVP-YnhaZ6DeAdAsrFT5N3viPj9BJXMeoMtimosbwrZT2TbxRpIrVallU9s2XK-KdO3lYUk3_PyLQ0kG6GDUA8C67FQ/s1600/The_Money_Lab_rev_5_6_henryb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHlTgxRahE8QvgcEl6DhCiICOecruFFvccGRWSScWBP2OcZpaVP-YnhaZ6DeAdAsrFT5N3viPj9BJXMeoMtimosbwrZT2TbxRpIrVallU9s2XK-KdO3lYUk3_PyLQ0kG6GDUA8C67FQ/s400/The_Money_Lab_rev_5_6_henryb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I was taking a cab the other day, and my cab driver asked me if I had any good ideas to help the world. He was collecting. <br /><br /> I work in theater, I said, so all my ideas are about theater. But I do think art can help the world. <br /><br /> He scoffed. If you were starving, he asked, what would you like? Food? Or a flower? <br /><br /> This reminded me of another incident. Some years ago, Soutine’s bakery on the Upper West Side had promised the theater company a free cake for a fundraiser. The day I came to pick it up, the owner reneged. I didn’t understand it was for a theater, she told me. I thought it was a non-profit. <br /><br /> It is a non-profit, I said. <br /><br /> No, she said. Something that does good. Like cancer research. I can’t just give a free cake to anyone who asks. <br /><br /> That conversation dwelled with me for a while. The nature of non-profit theater is that it depends on donations. Personal donations, foundation grants, and government grants, which are a sort of donation from everyone’s tax dollar. Why do we deserve it? <br /><br /> I can say that without it, the world would be lacking. Only the commercial work could survive. Difficult work that examines ideas or advances the art form wouldn’t exist. The world would be a much duller and less joyful place. <br /><br /> To me. But then again I’m not starving.<br />
<br />
This is how I responded to the cab driver: I just directed a play called <a href="http://www.thelastcyclist.com/" target="_blank">The Last Cyclist</a>, written in a concentration camp. The people, all the actors there were starving. The play criticized the Nazis, and some of them risked their lives by even rehearsing it. Most of them were murdered. But then, in that moment, they felt alive. Art is a need, a basic need, dating back to the cave drawings. It helped them feel human when they might have been reduced to pure animal needs. <br /><br /> He was not convinced. Yes, sure, it was a distraction. But they would have been better off with some bread. <br /><br /> He went driving off in search of someone with better ideas. <br /><br /> Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-6453030868899710562013-07-02T12:45:00.004-07:002013-07-02T12:48:15.656-07:0020 years, 200 photos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A compilation of photos of our work over the last 20 years, made for our anniversary party. Made the midnight before, which perhaps explains the misspelling of "anniversary" The voiceover from a moment of our presentation in 365 plays at The Public, read by Henry Akona.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10151512163068359" width="480"></iframe>Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-26436464019138110612013-06-28T06:08:00.001-07:002013-06-28T06:08:35.576-07:0020th Anniversary Memories - Eddie Goes to Poetry City<br />
<b>An additional memory. Jenny Mercein was in a number of UTC61 shows in the late 1990's... Here are her memories of the first, <i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/eddie-goes-to-poetry-city.html">Eddie Goes to Poetry City</a>.</i> George McGrath, pictured left, a veteran of many UTC61 productions, recently passed away.</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George McGrath and Stephen Waldrup in <i>Eddie Goes to Poetry City</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There's a Picasso quote that goes something along the lines of, "I spent my childhood trying to paint like an adult and my adulthood trying to paint like a child." Or something like that... In any case, when I think back to doing<i> Eddie Goes to Poetry City</i> with Edward Einhorn and UTC61, that quote comes to mind. Oh my goodness, we were so young and SO FEARLESS! I had worked with Edward on one small ten minute play when he asked me to do this Richard Foreman play at NADA. I studied Foreman in one of my theater studies classes in college, so I jumped at the chance.When I learned of his concept that I would play both Marie and Estelle, I didn't bat an eye. Sure, I would have to get in a fight with myself and slap myself on stage. Sure I'd have to simulate sexual acts in a tiny basement theater with my parents in the audience. Why not! <br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIagE6odsv__CDK1WWQ-s1ozr3oS2jDZHTqh6XHi0G7_0Qo9hCc9M3RH5pyCp9SensxaLavFQJk9hHKKZQt2Yf2_QhVhauTdzdshzVhAkBALrbYwWt8c3OYOgeSfZiDPRXc3BLpvcErg/s332/sweeneyshout_med.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIagE6odsv__CDK1WWQ-s1ozr3oS2jDZHTqh6XHi0G7_0Qo9hCc9M3RH5pyCp9SensxaLavFQJk9hHKKZQt2Yf2_QhVhauTdzdshzVhAkBALrbYwWt8c3OYOgeSfZiDPRXc3BLpvcErg/s320/sweeneyshout_med.jpeg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
Julia Martin and Jenny Mercein in another <br />
UTC61 production, <i>Sweeney Agonistes</i> </td></tr>
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Edward (and Ian Hill and so many other of those wonderful collaborators from the early days on the Lower East Side back when Ludlow Street and the surrounding areas were filled with theaters and not fancy restaurants) asked me to do all sorts of crazy things and I just did it. We all did. Maybe we were too young and inexperienced to question whether or not we "could" or "should" make such wild choices. We just went for the ride. Edward cast some wonderfully fearless actors, especially the late, great George McGrath, who taught me lessons that continue to resonate today. Now, when I get scared confronting a role, or I find myself in my head judging myself, I try to think back to those days in the (yes, rat-infested) basement at NADA with Edward and the crew and just go for it! Marie and Estelle would expect nothing less.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-13882729655354310112013-06-26T22:46:00.001-07:002013-06-26T22:48:46.677-07:0020th Anniversary Memories - more Fairy Tales of the Absurd and a treat...<br />
<b>This is the final memory in the series. <a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2013/02/20th-anniversary-memories-fairy-tales.html" target="_blank">You can also read about this show in the blog post by Uma Incrocci.</a> Please join us at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/138811999654504/">the 20th anniversary party </a>on Sunday! </b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian Hill, Peter Bean, John Blaylock, Celia Montgomery, and Uma Incrocci</td></tr>
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In 2004, I brought <i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/fairy-tales-of-the-absurd.html">Fairy Tales of the Absurd</a> </i>Off-Broadway. The show consisted of three one-acts:<i> To Prepare a Hard Boiled Egg</i>, a monologue by Ionesco, translated by me, and performed by Peter Brown. <i>Tales for Children</i>, based on short stories by Ionesco, adapted by me, translated by Karen Ott, and performed by Celia Montgomery, John Blaylock, and Uma Incrocci. And finally<i> One Head Too Many</i>, written by me, and performed by all of the above plus Ian W. Hill. It was a children's play, with actors and puppets and an absurdist sensibility that appealed equally to adults. It originated in the Ionesco Festival, played the Fringe, and then moved Off-Broadway.<br />
<br />
Every time I told theater veterans that UTC61 was going Off-Broadway, they had one piece of advice:<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Uma Incrocci, John Blaylock, and "Josette"</td></tr>
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Don't.<br />
<br />
The budget you have is unrealistic, they told me. I had raised over $60,000, but they told me it would take $200,000 at least. For a four week run, with five actors, in a 160 seat theater, with an Equity agreement. Not possible.<br />
<br />
I would probably give someone the same advice myself, now. But at the time, I ignored it. The Pearl Theater was giving us a good deal on the theater. Since we had done the show in the Fringe, and before that we had done pieces in the Ionesco Festival, rehearsal time would be at a minimum. I had an almost free rehearsal space in my brother's building. My talented assistant, Glory, had found me a crack team of interns that would handle all the little stuff. I was going to ask every friend I knew to volunteer to help. And I myself was planning to take on as many jobs as possible: director of the whole evening, writer of one play, translator of a second, adapter for the third, producer, general manager, company manger, production manager, chief marketer, chief worrier.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Blaylock. Uma Incrocci, and Celia Montgomery</td></tr>
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When it was done, we had put up a full production that felt like Off-Broadway. We had done it on budget. We had received <a href="http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9d0de0dd1338f93ba25755c0a9659c8b63&_r=0">a rave from the Times</a> (twice, actually, including <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/movies/family-fare.html">the children's section review from Laurel Graeber</a>), and nothing but good reviews all round.<br />
<br />
We also often played to houses that were only a quarter full. And many publications waited till the last week to reserve, then realized there wasn't time to go to print. We lost a lot of money. I worked nonstop for months, and felt so exhausted I couldn't move.<br />
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I saw my show on the board of TKTS. I got some of my actors into Equity. I brought the people who I had been working with for years through the Off-Broadway process.<br />
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And it was a damn good show.<br />
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It was worth it.<br />
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<b>Post script, of sorts: A special treat. When we were doing The Ionesco Festival, Peter Brown (he was Brown then, since he wasn't in Equity yet), traveled from theater to theater doing the monologue I translated, <i>To Prepare a Hard Boiled Egg</i>. It had never before been translated into English, and it remains one of my favorite little Ionesco bits. You can hear him here, in this audio recording:</b><br />
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Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-40807386630992615102013-05-22T10:01:00.000-07:002013-05-22T10:01:02.141-07:0020th Anniversary Memories - Unauthorized Magic in Oz
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzlrrD3B8gZTBMnvk9nieAMbxG38NoUDtCOOee5TpdceWuFk0Kf3SwL-Q4Tska8aU0V10QknFJaOiRt-I2wvgEqjCNWMhH0PbtEzKygDGjofbQHz9IDUspsI7iCxT_BDIJ-yp-sd94eA/s1600/Unauthorized+Houses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzlrrD3B8gZTBMnvk9nieAMbxG38NoUDtCOOee5TpdceWuFk0Kf3SwL-Q4Tska8aU0V10QknFJaOiRt-I2wvgEqjCNWMhH0PbtEzKygDGjofbQHz9IDUspsI7iCxT_BDIJ-yp-sd94eA/s320/Unauthorized+Houses.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The houses from Unauthorized Magic</td></tr>
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Rarely do I get to feel like a rock star.</div>
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However, with one small production, a toy theater piece
called <i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/unauthorized-magic-in-oz.html" target="_blank">Unauthorized Magic in Oz</a></i>, I did.</div>
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<i>Unauthorized Magic </i>was a rare instance where I crossed my
children’s books with my theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was created for Great Small Works’ <a href="http://www.greatsmallworks.org/festivals-spaghetti/index.html" target="_blank">Toy Theater Festival</a>, at St. Ann’s
Warehouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It existed in two small
but beautiful houses, built by Barry Weil and Berit Johnson and based on Eric
Shanower’s illustrations of my Oz books. Unusually, I performed a role, along with fellow cast members Tanya Khordoc, Barry Weil, and Talaura Harms.</div>
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The experience with Great Small Works is a great one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a new Toy Theater Festival
coming soon (featuring frequent collaborators Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weil’s
play,<i><a href="http://evolvepuppets.com/secrets.html" target="_blank"> Secrets History Remembers</a></i>), and I highly recommend it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were in an evening with Brian
Selznik’s play about Christine Jorgensen, which I loved.</div>
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The audiences oohed and aahed appropriately at the puppetry
flourishes, but the Oz references escaped many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we were asked to bring the show to the Munchkin
Convention, the East Coast gathering of Oz fans being held in Princeton, New Jersey.</div>
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An audience full of Oz fans, many of whom had read my books
(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Paradox-Oz-Edward-Einhorn/dp/1929527012/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank"><i>Paradox in Oz</i> </a>and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/192952708X/wwwtheater61p-20" target="_blank"><i>The Living House of Oz</i></a>), was a very exciting event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were enthusiastic about and responsive to every reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric, and
the publisher David Maxine, also had a chance to see the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a play ever had its ideal audience,
it was then.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq_QlILPh8rWmPeLNJYRIPL-CQWyVNuxmuZ2pHFOh95eIPTU0uaMyfpkIQgF811oYyXxB29Mprgk69V9STak6c1dAf5syp23zP5TIPesOVAco3wCmjqplG_yTGqYIHzKpg_8uDSzGngw/s1600/UnauthorizedFlyingTempus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq_QlILPh8rWmPeLNJYRIPL-CQWyVNuxmuZ2pHFOh95eIPTU0uaMyfpkIQgF811oYyXxB29Mprgk69V9STak6c1dAf5syp23zP5TIPesOVAco3wCmjqplG_yTGqYIHzKpg_8uDSzGngw/s320/UnauthorizedFlyingTempus.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tempus fugit! Tanya Khordoc puppeteers.</td></tr>
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Later, we brought the show to the Looking Glass Theater, and
it received <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/arts/11fami.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0" target="_blank">a wonderful review</a> from Laurel Graeber at <i>The New York Times</i> ("exquisitely ingenious!").<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But having an Oz audience who knew my work
so intimately was really my ideal experience. </div>
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You can <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlIhANuVsw" target="_blank">see a performance on YouTube</a>—not, I think, the same
as in person (and that particular show had definite glitches), but still, worth
checking out, especially if you are a fan of Oz!</div>
Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-1544766686933395632013-05-09T12:45:00.002-07:002013-05-09T14:11:05.369-07:00The Tragedy of the Village Voice<i>The Village Voice</i> introduced me to New York theater.<br />
<br />
In 1990, when I was a college student, I saw the first show in New York that was somewhere other than Broadway. It was well beyond Broadway—in the Lower East Side, in a tiny venue called House of Candles, produced by the Independent Theater Company, one of the originals in what many of us now call indie theater. I went because I had read a short blurb in the <i>Voice</i>, and they were producing one of my favorite shows, Ionesco’s<i> Rhinoceros</i>.<br />
<br />
The cab driver that picked me up at Penn Station refused to drive me all the way to the theater. “Why do you want to go into that neighborhood?” he asked. “I’m seeing a French absurdist play,” I told him. “Drugs,” he concluded. He let me out at the corner of Houston and 1st Avenue.<br />
<br />
When I came to New York, the <i>Voice </i>was the one publication I was sure to read to know what was going on in downtown theater (and the downtown art scene in general) It was more important to me than the <i>Times</i>. I didn’t always agree with Michael Feingold, but I always respected and enjoyed his reviews and the fact that he valued deep critical analysis. But the <i>Voice </i>was not just Feingold, it was a host of reviewers engaged with downtown theater: Charles McNulty, Alissa Solomon, Alexis Soloski, Jorge Morales, and the many freelance reviewers (like my friend Trav SD) who covered the independent theater scene. I am grateful to them all.<br />
<br />
And of course there was the OBIES, the awards ceremony seemingly made to celebrate that scene. Thank goodness, I thought, we have an advocate. The OBIES championed the lesser known but valuable artists such as Richard Foreman, Vaclav Havel, Ellen Stewart, and all who struggled to create art without a giant budget. Foreman told me that the only reason he survived as an artist is because of one <i>Voice</i> reviewer who continued to believe in his work. This is for us, I believed.<br />
<br />
The <i>Voice</i> was the first paper to review my work, back when I directed a show at Nada, just around the corner from House of Candles. The Lower East Side was slightly more respectable, by then—cab drivers would drive in, though the nightclubs and hipsters hadn’t yet arrived. It devoted a full page lead article to my first downtown festival, the Ionesco Festival, at a time when few other publications bothered to cover it.<br />
<br />
In fact, thanks to Joe Holladay, the <i>Voice</i> sponsored the festival, as it did my next two festivals as well, providing advertising at a very discounted price because they believed in the importance of the work.<br />
<br />
A few years ago, suddenly people started getting fired. It started with editors. Then freelancers. Then some prominent names, such as Hoberman in film. Dance was cut out altogether. The <i>Voice </i>stopped reviewing my shows. It stopped reviewing almost any small budget show. The one remaining working reviewer was Michael Feingold, and one man with one column can only review so much. He covered the major productions, but downtown was forgotten.<br />
<br />
But I knew the rot had crept in earlier. Because, frankly, the <i>Voice</i> had lost its way. It had lost its identity. Even in the OBIES, which I attended at first enthusiastically, I realized that the ceremony had been transforming to one of glamour and big budget self-congratulation. Occasionally a true downtown artist would slip in, and the recognition would be well deserved and deeply needed. Metropolitan Theater, Peculiar, The Ice Factory. But rare was the show financed under $250,000, and the majority of the work came from theater institutions with multimillion dollar budgets: Manhattan Theater Club, The Public, Roundabout, Classic Stage Company, New York Theater Workshop. Soho Rep seemed small and scrappy by comparison. Movie stars gave out the rewards and often movie stars received them. It has become not so much a celebration of Off-Broadway as it was of Little Broadway.<br />
<br />
I have been thinking for a while about talking about what’s wrong with the Voice, why it has lost its way, and what it can do about it. How it can regain its spirit. Its name. It is called <i>The Village Voice</i>. The voice of Greenwich Village, from the time when the village was the home to bohemian artists. What is it the paper now? What has it become? Who do they expect the readers to be, when it has lost its identity?<br />
<br />
I write now even though I suspect it is too late to have a rallying call.<i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/business/media/top-editors-abruptly-leave-village-voice.html" target="_blank">The Times</a></i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/business/media/top-editors-abruptly-leave-village-voice.html" target="_blank"> reports</a> two chief editors have quit rather than fire the five (of twenty) staff members demanded. On Michael Feingold’s page appeared a status report: “It looks like I may need a job.”<br />
<br />
Am I writing an obituary for a once great paper? Perhaps. The OBIES are on May 20. I wasn’t planning to go, I had given up on the spectacle, and I’ll be busy in tech But maybe there’s one last chance for the voice of the village to be heard. Fellow theater artists, if you do go to the OBIES, if by some reason you know an uptown star that will be handed a piece of paper giving him or her downtown cred, it’s time to speak. It may be past time. <br />
<br />
New York has too few reporters left that care about the smaller theaters. <a href="http://theaterofideas.blogspot.com/2013/04/on-backstages-plan-to-end-reviews-and.html" target="_blank">Recently, I wrote about the demise of <i>Backstage</i>.</a> That was sad. This is a full on tragedy.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542596610865219081.post-47314379736263269772013-04-26T08:02:00.000-07:002013-04-26T08:02:15.049-07:0020th Anniversary Memories - Cat's Cradle, Brains & Puppets, & Hiroshima<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMERBdYIkSES-MvzqiLYO3iL8O1XLBCMZVSKjocFd33DJtx7_2wOxKc49X6Kslv8vPI8hnu-jTS5bkdXUrOMI01DziCBIm5eQ7PLMVBT7rbIoggFXOTKlbnn9S0H8IvfIBetwpp9saVg/s1600/Barry+with+Robots.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMERBdYIkSES-MvzqiLYO3iL8O1XLBCMZVSKjocFd33DJtx7_2wOxKc49X6Kslv8vPI8hnu-jTS5bkdXUrOMI01DziCBIm5eQ7PLMVBT7rbIoggFXOTKlbnn9S0H8IvfIBetwpp9saVg/s320/Barry+with+Robots.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barry Weil in <i>Brains and Puppets</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiurXIxMldhX8_uVSJ81-aR7e2BV868GqN1kXboHANxfNUuVYmGOXaGz6UeUaykZWOd2UrdmRTJLPFwiIc1amnZEX6sq2KBKXKTmInDXCWkMmTXCo0tbX3vrx_o9o0qiwr5Urk5BPjlQ/s1600/City+of+Ilium.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiurXIxMldhX8_uVSJ81-aR7e2BV868GqN1kXboHANxfNUuVYmGOXaGz6UeUaykZWOd2UrdmRTJLPFwiIc1amnZEX6sq2KBKXKTmInDXCWkMmTXCo0tbX3vrx_o9o0qiwr5Urk5BPjlQ/s1600/City+of+Ilium.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Hi, Barry Weil of <a href="http://evolvepuppets.com/" target="_blank">Evolve Company</a> here. My creative partner Tanya Khordoc and I are puppeteers, and our company has been given some amazing opportunities (as well as some really weird challenges) through the work we’ve done with UTC61. When Edward asked me to write a reminiscence of the 2008 Walkerspace plays (<i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/cats-cradle.html" target="_blank">Cat’s Cradle</a>, <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/brains--puppets.html" target="_blank">Brains & Puppets</a></i><a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/brains--puppets.html" target="_blank"> </a>and <a href="http://www.untitledtheater.com/previous-productions/hiroshima---crucible-of.html" target="_blank"><i>Hiroshima: Crucible of Light</i></a>), I have to admit that it took me a while to actually come up with anything. Not because it was an uneventful experience – far from it. It’s just that Tanya and I were so involved in all three plays that our memories are a very tired blur.<br /><br />At one point, while <i>Cat’s Cradle</i> was running, I remember ending an evening performance and heading uptown to Edward’s place to help Tanya cut out <i>Brains & Puppets</i> shadow figures for hours, catnapping on Edward’s couch briefly and then getting up to perform a matinee of<i> Cat’s Cradle.</i> Tanya’s schedule was similar, though she probably wins the crazy award for setting her model of the Trinity nuclear site watchtower on fire in her living room (not out of frustration, I should add, but for filming purposes).<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiurXIxMldhX8_uVSJ81-aR7e2BV868GqN1kXboHANxfNUuVYmGOXaGz6UeUaykZWOd2UrdmRTJLPFwiIc1amnZEX6sq2KBKXKTmInDXCWkMmTXCo0tbX3vrx_o9o0qiwr5Urk5BPjlQ/s1600/City+of+Ilium.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiurXIxMldhX8_uVSJ81-aR7e2BV868GqN1kXboHANxfNUuVYmGOXaGz6UeUaykZWOd2UrdmRTJLPFwiIc1amnZEX6sq2KBKXKTmInDXCWkMmTXCo0tbX3vrx_o9o0qiwr5Urk5BPjlQ/s320/City+of+Ilium.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many models from <i>Cat's Cradle</i></td></tr>
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<br /><br />Confused? It went down like this: Tanya and I designed and built two huge bakers’ racks full of puppet/models for Cat’s Cradle, which I puppeteered while also having an acting role in the production. Tanya created stop-motion models for <i>Hiroshima</i>, and we each directed, designed and performed one of Edward’s two single-person plays that made up <i>Brains & Puppets</i>. On top of that, I designed the brochure and graphic art for the entire endeavor. Now, when you’re in college, staying up all night is fun, and you can do that amount of work without breaking a sweat. When you’re forty and attempting it…well, you just want to lie down for a few minutes. Or a week.<br /><br />So why would anyone in their right mind do things like this? Well, the plays were amazing, and we’d have to have been insane not to be a part of them. How often do you get to create a model airplane that mounts to a video camera and crashes into a sand castle, or a pair of elegant Leonardo da Vinci wings? A tiny period UNIVAC computer decorated for a Christmas party, or Matisse and Kandinsky paintings that come to life? A multicolored dragon with an East European growl, or a miniature Caribbean dictatorship with its own flag, buildings, hotels, shantytown and taxicabs?<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgReo-EGnWsoZ9HC10ZXdStncxmXuIxsq9elVilCgaGeGGtLeoc0NTRQwLPWQwkPlqrbgQLzeIxiLqy8XTxeRhtVCjUxo10SaBFlRH4NH2CQzS84GiLZI_QiTOXj4Ujpe1WLCeqKQUtA/s1600/Tanya+with+art.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgReo-EGnWsoZ9HC10ZXdStncxmXuIxsq9elVilCgaGeGGtLeoc0NTRQwLPWQwkPlqrbgQLzeIxiLqy8XTxeRhtVCjUxo10SaBFlRH4NH2CQzS84GiLZI_QiTOXj4Ujpe1WLCeqKQUtA/s320/Tanya+with+art.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanya Khordoc in<i> Brains and Puppets</i></td></tr>
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<br />We’ve always loved the way UTC61 incorporates puppetry into its work, and appreciates its value as a unique form of theatre. And Edward has always shared our joy in getting to create and use cool things. That’s definitely worth a few days’ sleep. Over the years, Evolve has provided UTC #61 with living houses, electronic sheep and intricate temple arks that contain shadow puppet shows. And we always look forward to hearing a crazy idea and realizing there’s no way we can say no.Theater of Ideashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10124743041051665112noreply@blogger.com0