It was one of the points of discussion at last week's Outrageous Fortune forum (about how fucked American theater is—and, specifically, American playwrights are), which seemed to take the NYC presenters by surprise.
They said the Seattle discussion had been more honest, contentious, and productive than discussions in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, etc. I attribute that to two things: 1. We've got less to lose. 2. A few years of Shitstorms have gotten Seattle theater-people used to wrestling in public.
Seattle hasn't seen a Shistorm in awhile... maybe it's time for another one. And maybe we could discuss this fringe-to-big house pipeline proposed by Jim Jewell (of Seattle Children's Theater) and posted on the blog of playwright and Stranger Genius Award-winner Paul Mullin. Excerpts here, full proposal after the jump:
Seattle Local Playwright InitiativeA partnership between one of the LORT theatres and a fringe theatre with a dedicated space to encourage the ongoing development and production of plays by local playwrights, with a starting time line of three years.
The partner organizations will choose two plays each year to be produced in the fringe theatre with marketing and artistic support from the LORT house. The fringe house commits to producing six such plays over three years, and the LORT house commits to producing one play of the six as part of their mainstage programming no later than the season that follows the third year.
Expectations:
The fringe house will act as primary producer of all six initial productions, acting as lead for design, production, promotion and execution, and will staff all admin, front of house and crew. As primary producer, the fringe house accepts the majority of financial risk and reward.
The LORT house will provide artistic support, including dramaturgy and design, promotion support, including production and distribution of print and electronic marketing materials, and technical support. The LORT house will also be asked to advocate to AEA and/or IATSE for any union artists or technicians interested in working on the productions.
The expectation is that the minimal one production at the LORT house that comes from the partnership will be given institutional and budgetary support on par with other productions in the season in which it is performed.
Footnote: Beloved local playwright Scot Augustson (of Sgt. Rigsby fame) had a reading this week at the Rep. Fifty people showed up. That's a lot for a reading of a new play. But they got booted from the Rep's PONCHO theater (its smallest stage) to an obscure rehearsal room that wasn't big enough to hold all 50 folks. Why'd it get booted? The people from Fences wanted to use the PONCHO for a rehearsal.
So a performance of a new play (a reading is a quasi-performance) got demoted from a stage to a rehearsal room so a rehearsal could move to a stage. See how that works? It's a small thing, but it's the kind of small thing that happens too often and indicates (and exacerbates) the bad blood between the big houses and the locals.
Anyway. Jim Jewell's full proposal lives below the jump.
UPDATE!
For all five of you following this tempest in a teapot... (Shouldn't you be sending emails to a certain Mississippi school board?)
The folks at Northwest Playwrights' Alliance want to be very clear that I'm doing their complaining for them:
Hey Brendan:As board members for NPA, we feel a need to step up and defend the Seattle Repertory Theatre regarding Monday night's reading of Scot's play.
Northwest Playwrights Alliance is tremendously grateful to the Rep for donating us the space to have our monthly readings during the past two years. Thanks to their generosity, the profile of our organization has been greatly increased here in Seattle, to the benefit of the dozens of local playwrights that we've featured. They have also donated us space for other special events, including readings from such eminent writers as Lee Blessing and Arlene Hutton.
The Rep, and specifically Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Associate Artistic Director Braden Abraham, have been active and enthusiastic in helping us produce and promote these readings.
Of course it was unfortunate that we weren't able to use the PONCHO forum for Mondays reading, but seeing as “Fences” opens at The Rep in two weeks, we entirely understand that their rehearsal needs took precedence over our event. These sort of last-minute shifts in scheduling and locale are common in theatre and seeing as they were happy to accommodate us with another room, we had no complaint about this change at all.
This was also not a last minute change. The email that went out prior to the reading informed people to go in the front entrance, which typically means we're downstairs. If we failed to publicize this change, it was our fault, not the Rep's.
Sometimes a last-minute change of venue doesn't reflect on the insensitivity of large art institutions to individual playwrights. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a last minute change of venue.
Best,
John Longenbaugh
LaChris Jordan
Nick Stokes
Tim Hoban
Bryan Willis
Rosalind Bell
NPA Boardmembers
Duly noted, board members of NPA. You're very nice, grateful, and accommodating.
I'm the jerk.
Seattle Local Playwright InitiativeA partnership between one of the LORT theatres and a fringe theatre with a dedicated space to encourage the ongoing development and production of plays by local playwrights, with a starting timeline of three years.
The partner organizations will choose two plays each year to be produced in the fringe theatre with marketing and artistic support from the LORT house. The fringe house commits to producing six such plays over three years, and the LORT house commits to producing one play of the six as part of their mainstage programming no later than the season that follows the third year.
The initial playwright pool will be drawn from Seattle-based applicants to the program and any local playwrights with whom either of the partner organizations has an existing relationship. One play per playwright will be submitted to a reading pool, to be read and commented on by artistic staff at each partner organization (one page response to each play by each organization). The partner organizations will then meet and come to a consensus on two plays to produce each year; in the absence of consensus, each partner organization will select one play.
Expectations:
The fringe house will act as primary producer of all six initial productions, acting as lead for design, production, promotion and execution, and will staff all admin, front of house and crew. As primary producer, the fringe house accepts the majority of financial risk and reward.
The LORT house will provide artistic support, including dramaturgy and design, promotion support, including production and distribution of print and electronic marketing materials, and technical support. The LORT house will also be asked to advocate to AEA and/or IATSE for any union artists or technicians interested in working on the productions.
The expectation is that the minimal one production at the LORT house that comes from the partnership will be given institutional and budgetary support on par with other productions in the season in which it is performed.
Benefits:
Both partner organizations benefit from positive PR generated; six local playwrights get the opportunity to draw on the best the fringe and LORT theatres have to offer to develop their work, with one receiving a full production; the LORT theatre is able to locally outsource some measure of workshopping; fosters more direct relationship between local playwrights and largest institutions; offers and opportunity to develop a local voice in theatre that may help speak to untapped audiences for both LORT and fringe theatres.
