If I Had a Million Dollars (part 1)

Did you ever play this game with your friends and family, on long car rides?  The old "if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?"  I think it comes naturally to writers, as we fantasize about huge windfalls from our fabulous success.

I don't have a million dollars.  But if I did a spare million bucks (you know, after the house has been paid off, and we buy a farm, and a tractor, and all that), I'd want to give it to a bunch of folks and organizations whom I admire and respect.

One place I'd start is with StageSource, the Greater Boston Theatre Alliance.  They're an organization that supports theatres and theatre artists in a multitude of ways--through regional auditions, professional development, social gatherings, putting on the Boston Theatre Conference, having online profiles for all kinds of theatre artists (not just actors), putting together the Circle of Friends discount card, and a bunch of other programs.  Plus they have a library.  And a weekly newsletter.  And they foster, through their staff and board, a great intermingling of theatrical energy and knowledge across the theatrical community.  New Executive Director Julie Hennrikus is a visionary and wiz when it comes to social networking, always thinking of ways we can enlarge the conversation around theatre in our community.

I'm on the board, so I get to see first hand how well this organization works to promote and support theatrical artists and organizations. All on a very tight budget.

A million bucks would go a long way.  I'd vote for using it for a spiffy new office that has a cool space for classes, meetings, workshops, and other gatherings.  And to boost the level of tech that's available for programs and social media.  StageSource is kind of this invisible force that is constantly pushing the theatre community forward, and strengthening the bonds between our members.    Maybe sometimes it isn't as flashy as it should be, since they're in a support role.  Which is why that million bucks would come in real handy.

They're actually in the middle of a fundraising campaign right now, called Live from the Library, where they're trying to raise $15,000 towards improving StageSources access to technology and social media, to enhance a whole variety of discussions with, between, and to members. 

I gave 50 bucks today, because that's what I can spare right now.  But if I had the spare million, I'd give it to StageSource.  (If any of you have a spare million hanging around, hey, give it some thought.)

Playwriting in 3D: Playwriting and Puppetry, May 29

Next Tuesday, May 29, I'll be moderating the fourth installment in StageSource's Playwriting in 3D series.  This time we'll be talking about Playwriting and Puppetry.  We'll have an in-depth discussion at the Brookline Puppet Showplace Theatre with Roxie Myhrum, Bonnie Duncan, Faye Dupras, and Brad Shur.  And show-and-tell, too.

The use of puppets dates backs to the very beginning of theatre, and now more and more new plays and theatre productions are using puppets as ways to help tell stories. Recent examples include Paula Vogel's Long Christmas Ride Home and the production of Wild Swans at American Repertory Theatre.   The very popular Avenue Q is running right now at Lyric Stage.

The panel will discuss different uses of puppets in narrative theatre, and how writing for puppets is both similar and different from writing for live actors. Whether you're interested in writing your own puppet show or want to integrate the use of puppets into your own script/production, this is a great chance to learn from the experts.

Panelists will show examples of their own work, and there will be plenty of time for audience questions and discussion.

The cost $20 for StageSource members, $30 for non-members.

To purchase a ticket visit http://www.stagesource.org/store/product/53/

Come check it out.  We've had great discussions at the other panels and this one promises to be more interesting and fun than ever. 


(You can also help spread the word, by inviting people to the event via Facebook at the Facebook event page.)

Playwriting in 3D: Writing the Fight workshop, March 14

The third installment of the Playwriting in 3D series that I've been leading for StageSource is coming up soon.  On March 14, 7-9pm, at the Boston Playwrights Theatre, Boston playwright/PhD candidate/fight choreographer/martial artist Meron Langnser, will lead a workshop he's calling: Writing the Fight. 

It'll be a fun and informative look at the implementation and implications of physical violence on stage.  If you're a Boston-area playwright or director or producer, I hope you'll check it out.

Here's the write up:

This workshop will examine violence as a manifestation of character conflict and plot device, as practical aspects of putting violence on the stage in production and rehearsal.  The focus will be on what the playwright needs to know in order to have specific choices made by their characters in relation to physical violence, and to write fight scenes that would allow competent fight directors to design safe and exciting combat.

Violence will be examined as a choice that characters make or are forced to make. The craft of setting up dramatic conflict in which words fail and physical confrontation becomes necessary for a scene will be examined.    Power dynamics between characters will be discussed as they relate to violence, potential violence, past violence, and consequences of violence.  

Well known texts that have well crafted fight scenes in them will be examined, both the scenes in which the physical confrontations take place and scenes that contain exposition concerning how characters may interact during a physical confrontation; for example, Mercutio’s speech to Benvolio about Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet or Larry teasing Burton about being an Aikido instructor in Burn This.

The dramatic effectiveness of stage combat will be explored.  The idea of knowing when and if to write in a fight will be explored.  Certain words punctuated with slaps become more powerful.  Other times writing in a fight will weaken a play.

On a pragmatic level, weapons, props, and common training will be explored.  The difference between writing in a knife as opposed to a broken bottle may shave hundreds of dollars off of a production budget, as will making a gunshot happen offstage rather than on.  Additionally,  knowing what to expect from standardized actor combatant training might allow for a playwright to develop characters with skill sets they may not have even known were possible.

Finally, the workshop will cover violence as it exists and is perceived in modern society, including Asian martial arts, firearms, and gender issues.    

StageSource Conference coming up

If you're involved in theatre in Boston, in any way (actor, designer, playwright, director, stage manager, producer, etc.), you should plan to attend next weekend's StageSource 2011 Boston Theatre Conference, which runs March 27 and 28, at the Paramount Theatre (and other venues).  It's cheap ($40 for members, $50 for non-members, for both days), and provides a great way to interact with other members of the Boston theatre community.  This year's theme, Home Grown, uses the local/slow food movement to look at what we're up to, theatre-wise, in Boston, and how that relates to the community as a whole. 

I've been to the conference in past years and it's a fantastic way to take some time to meet other Boston theatre folks and think and talk about the issues confronting our artistic community (and learn something in the process).  If you're a playwright, you'd be a fool to skip this conference.  There's no better networking opportunity in town. 



Seriously.  I'll repeat this:  if you're a playwright, get your ass over the Paramount on the 27th and 28th.  The topic of the conference is Home Grown--this is our topic.  If you want more theatres to produce your work, you need to be engaged in this conversation.  The more playwrights who attend this conference the better.


Sign up here.
Here's the basic write up:

The Boston Theatre community is made up of artists, organizations, and enthusiasts united by the desire to provide and experience exceptional performances, inspired programming and unforgettable events. As a community we have grown and been strengthened through our ongoing engagement with each other, our diverse perspectives and our interest in dialogue.  

On February 27 and 28 we will convene the New England theatre conference, Home Grown and come together to talk about:  How the Boston theatre scene has taken root, grown and flourished. And what steps do we take to keep it alive and growing

With inspiration provided by our keynote speaker, Barbara Lynch (Founder of The Barbara Lynch Gruppo http://barbaralynch.com), our panel of theatre innovators will comment on parallels with the Slow Food movement (local, fresh, sustainable http://www.slowfoodusa.org). Over the last twenty years, the slow food movement has organized, educated and nurtured our appreciation of local food.  We think we can learn from the movement how to nurture our community.
Who is the Boston Theatre community? Huntington Theatre Company, Managing Director Michael Maso reflects on the changes he has seen in New England theatre during his tenure. As we define ourselves, how do we engage with the community at large? What role does the theatre community play in both mirroring and shaping our multi faceted society? The Boston Theatre Conference aims to engage all theatre practioners, including actors, directors, designers, technicians, dramaturgs, administrators, board members, educators and audience members in tackling these themes.

We invite everyone who has an interest in theatre to join in this year’s conversation.  Taking a lesson from the slow food movement we want to grow our local theatre community by bringing everyone around the table.  During workshops, performances, and panels we want to encourage relationships between the creators of the art and those who enjoy it, cultivate an appreciation for theatre by changing societal values towards the art and by examining alternative ways for people to engage and participate.  Virtually we will work through the bostontheatreconference.wordpress.com blog to define Slow Theatre for Boston in preparation for the conference.

Playwriting in 3D notes

The Playwriting in 3D talk on Saturday felt like it was very successful. We had about 30 people attend, and I'd say that almost all of them were writers (next time, I hope we draw in some designers, too).

I was there early to work with our four terrific designers--Karen Perlow (lighting), PJ Strachman (lighting), David Remedios (sound), and David Reiffel (sound)--and Dawn Simmons from StageSource to set up the space. Every time I get to meet with this group of designers, I am reminded how much I like designers as a group--in addition to being terrific artists, they're intensely practical. They're used to jumping in and solving problems as they arrive--so the fact that our borrowed digital projectors were crapping out on us less than an hour before the event, didn't seem to phase anyone. They just found a way to solve the problem.

The format of the afternoon was pretty simple--each designer did a 15-20 minutes show-and-tell, then I led a discussion between all of us, and then, after a break for some homemade brownies (baked by yours truly), we opened up the floor for Q&A.

The show-and-tell segments were particularly fun--we alternated between lighting and sound designers. The lighting designers showed slide presentations of work they'd done in the past, and talked about how they'd approached the script or how various elements of the show all worked together. The sound guys had all kinds of fun gadgets with them that we hooked into the theatre sound system (and a big shout out to the Central Square theatre and to Alison from the Nora, and Taylor, the T.D.) for all kinds of cool, loud, and disturbing sounds.

The end result of the entire afternoon was not a take-home list of dos and don'ts, but something much less tangible but, in my opinion, more valuable--a much clearer sense of how sound and lighting designers approach a script and a production. In terms of how to communicate with them via stage directions, the answer is probably to write more descriptively (minimally) and less proscriptively. But really, the designers are looking deeply at the themes and characters in our plays, and trying to figure out how to enhance and clarify or amplify all of it.

One thing I appreciate about all the designers at our workshop was their inherent flexibility--they understand that some elements of their design will have to be changed as the production of the script begins to be fully realized. This same lesson applies, I think, to playwrights as well--though we keep in mind our original intentions, we also need to come to a realistic embrace of the elements of each particular production and try to understand better how to rewrite to make all the collaborative aspects of the show work effectively.

In the end, the afternoon felt like a great gift--it's not often that we're able to sit down with a bunch of designers and just talk about the art of theatre, without the pressure of a production bearing down upon us.

I'm hopeful that we'll do more of these sorts of talks here in Boston (next up on my list: costume and set designers, magic and its practical applications in making theatre, and an introduction to stage combat for writers). I also hope that writers in other cities will put together similar events--it's so important that we keep finding ways in the theatre to learn from each other, and these sorts of peer-to-peer, artist-to-artist, exchanges aren't really that hard to arrange. It's up to us to keep finding ways to improve our writing and our productions, and this can be one of them. Not every city has an organization like StageSource, which made all this run smoothly, but there are plenty of dark afternoons in theatre spaces, just waiting to be filled.