off-stage right

I need to start this post by saying one of the best things about the New York Theatre Community is all shared information and resources.  There are countless organizations that offer great workshops and information about how to produce theatre – especially commercial theatre.  There is of course the Commercial Theater Institute (CTI) which was started by the late Fred Vogel.  CTI has provided almost 30 years of training, published a great resource in The Guide to Producing Plays and Musicals, and has an impressive list of workshop leaders and alumni. [Most folks don’t know this but Fred’s work grew out of the nonprofits.  He was one of the founders of FedApt and worked along with George Thorn and Nello McDaniel.]  Certainly ART-NY has helped more than few organizations thrive and survive through all of the resources it provides to 350 or so nonprofit theaters in New York. 

These are just two of the many great organizations who offer support, guidance, and a forum for discussion about theater.  In the last year several organizations have stepped up their services to address the shift economy.  I certainly didn’t have to attend all of the offered meetings and workshops, and I am sure as with all programs like this some were better than others.  What I think is very valuable is that discussion was happening – I am sure some of it was frustrating, some of it inspiring, some of it self-serving, some of it cathartic, some was useful and some was undoubtedly invaluable.  I find talking about issues to be vital, even when I disagree with the discussion.  The most recent example would of course be the Emily Sands study on gender equality in the field of playwriting – was Sands the first person to ever address this, of course not, but her work has certainly stoked the discussion of gender in the theater.  Talk leads to action, even if it sometimes seems that there is way too much talk eventually it inspires someone to activate change.

So (you knew it was coming) when I started writing this post I was planning to tear apart the below as and example of what is wrong with commercial theater and what was behind the decline of off-Broadway.  I was gong to rail about theatre’s issues having begun far before the economic issues of the day and that this workshop was the perfect example of the wrong kind of thinking that played into many of the problems we are currently experiencing.  I was incensed enough that I was going to declare workshops like this as having a murderous effect on the creation of new work.  But when I started to write, I wanted to set a context about the resources we have available including Theater Resources Unlimited who is producing the “offending” workshop.  I went to their website and saw some really interesting topics for programming and, well, I felt obligated to start a discussion not lead an attack.   So here is the workshop that caught my attention when the information was posted at Life Upon the Sacred Stage:

PRACTICAL PLAYWRITING:

How to Write for Commercial Production
A HALF-DAY INTENSIVE for writers presented by
Theater Resources Unlimited and The Drama Center

 

Saturday July 25th, 1pm to 6pm
The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, Studio 2D

 

What often holds playwrights back is that they rarely consider the person who will buy and produce their product: the producer.  With all the work, hope and sweat they invest in considering character, theme and plot, playwrights rarely take into account produceability.

 

This half-day intensive will be taught by Diana Amsterdam of The Drama Centre, TRU’s new Program Director for Playwrights. With segments of the workshop taught by presentation coach Grace Kiley, who will help writers capture the essence of their piece in an effective synopsis, and learn how to present themselves successfully; and a panel of commercial producers, to be announced.

 

• WHAT IS PRODUCEABILITY? The fact that producers always ask this question, and playwrights hardly ever do, causes a serious disconnect between the commercial producer and most playwrights.

 

• WRITING TO A MARKET – We will ask each playwright questions he or she has probably never considered before: Who is your market? Who is going to buy tickets? Who is this play written for?

 

• WRITING VIABLY – Creating writing that holds the attention of the audience with a strong storyline and defined events. This module will cover such primary writing elements as: arc, desire, motivation, conflict, and the clear delineation of theme.

 

• WRITING ECONOMICALLY – Number of characters, number of sets, extravagance of sets: all these are serious considerations for most commercial producers.  Does the play require a casting director, or can it be done successfully by seasoned unknowns?  Is there a  chorus of thirty that can be pared down to two?  Are you kidding yourself when you think one actor can play eight parts?

 

Our curriculum and instructors are as follows:

 

Saturday July 25th

1:00-1:15 Introduction

1:15-2:15 How to Write a Play that a Producer Can Love – taught by Diana Amsterdam

2:15-3:15 Getting to the Essence: A Good Synopsis and How to Pitch It – taught by Grace Kiley

3:15-3:30 Break

3:30-4:30 Identifying Your Market – an inter-active "pitch" session with feedback from Diana Amsterdam, Martin Platt, Cynthia Fritts-Stillwell

4:30-5:30 Cost and other Commercial Considerations – taught by Diana Amsterdam, Martin Platt, Cynthia Fritts-Stillwell

5:30-6:00 Open discussion and Q&A

Now that I have calmed down from my initial reaction, I have to say that I can imagine some of the discussion that might happen under this outline could help a playwright market themselves and sadly may be things that Playwrights haven’t thought of.  But I can also easily see the the discussion leading to something I might find uncomfortable and compromising. 

I think the core idea that one can write to be produced vs. write to tell a story is what first ignited a fire in me.  It also seems geared towards early career playwrights and setting a tone with words like “viably” and “economically” that are not as important as quality – from a glance would August Osage County with its large cast and goodness forbid three acts have met the implied terms of “produceability?”  Should a playwright be thinking about the above while writing, after writing, at all?  I have mixed feelings on some of it.   Certainly playwrights would benefit from thinking of who the audience is for a theatre or what type a work a producer normally produces BEFORE sending a script, but not when writing it.  Maybe it is the title, but “How to Write a Play that a Producer Can Love” seems counterintuitive.   Shouldn’t playwrights be writing for the audience?  But at the same time shouldn’t a playwright be aware of what is happening in the field whether good or bad?  I certainly have been guilty of looking at the cast size, time period, and setting before even reading a script.

Thoughts?  Discussion?

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