The Halcyon Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Yes it’s true- I play Maj!

HalcyonJenn — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:43:28 -0000

Denise, you are quickly becoming one of my favorite people! I love this post. I completely agree- if we took some time out each week to regroup and gain perspective, maybe things wouldn't always feel so Do-or-Die! Thanks for the post!

Re: A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Jenn Adams — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:32:34 -0000

I love this, MIkah! And I am sooo excited to take the workshop! I haven't done a lot of mask work since college, and I LOVE it... And physical theatre is just awesome!

Re: Other People's Stories

Jenn Adams — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:51:42 -0000

Very humbling, Natalie, thank you for sharing this. I can't wait to see your show at Strange BedFellows.

Re: I Am a Runner

Daftweerunner — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:08:26 -0000

Wow you talk about running with a lot of passion, I am looking forward to my morning run now, going to try for a nice long run! Thanks for the blog post, it was a good read

Re: I Am a Runner

Jenn Adams — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:50:52 -0000

I love it! I just got my new shoes, and I am starting with walking, but hope to get back to running... The daydreaming is fun, and for some reason I love it when I finish, and I'm so tired and sweaty it almost hurts ;) Someday I'll get there again. Thanks for the inspiration!

Re: Community of Strangers

halcyonjenn — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:26:01 -0000

I experienced a little bit of that tonight, getting to watch theatre with a stranger who offered me her 2nd tix on the good faith I would pay her back, because through a mutual friend on fb she knew I couldn't get a ticket. It is sometimes hard to remember with all of the negative soundbytes every day the generosity that exists! Thanks for the reminder!

Re: Marl and Me

Jennifer Adams — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:33:18 -0000

First, I love the term Adorkable! I also love how something that seems cute and easy can become something intricate and challenging if you keep learning after you think "you've got it." I would also like to invite some puppets to perform at The Ceyx Series, if they are interested!

Re: On Stories and Home

Jennifer Adams — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:27:54 -0000

Beautiful, Mikah! Isn't it funny how the places we least expect can stay in our hearts as "home?" I can't wait to read more!

Re: Squirming In The Nest Lab

Jennifer Adams — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:37:24 -0000

I love the idea of doing something BECAUSE it makes you uncomfortable. Like a sign our subconscious gives us that it is EXACTLY where we need to be going. Thanks for sharing this!

Re: Weight Loss Challenge

Jennifer Adams — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:20:51 -0000

This is awesome, Derrick! I think you will do great!

Re: Draft of Reading List for Nest

Caridad Svich — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:49:47 -0000

Lovely list! I"d include as well Martin Crimp's ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE, David Harrower's KNIVES IN HENS, Tim Crouch's ENGLAND, Phyllis Nagy's WELDON RISING, debbie tucker green's DIRTY BUTTERFLY, Roland Schimmelpfenig's THE GOLDEN DRAGON, Abi Morgan's TINY DYNAMITE, Joanna Laurens THE THREE BIRDS, JON FOSSE'S I AM THE WIND...

Re: Pic of the Week: January 5, 2012

Mvelez160 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:47:13 -0000

Hey check out (and like) an awesome video interview with the talented David Henry Hwang, playwright of the Broadway play "Chinglish" at: http://culturecatch.com/vidcas...

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Kevin Heckman — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:04:59 -0000

It should be pointed out though, Bries, that Signal is not one of the theatres that pays playwrights a bill-paying (if not living) wage. The problem is that the resources, foundation-wise, are generally going to theatres like Steppenwolf and Goodman, but they're not, generally, doing work from a wide range of potential sources. They're pulling from playwrights with a history of work elsewhere and graduates from that small handful of MFA programs. And Steppenwolf, in particular, is one of the better large theatres out there for supporting new work. But are they positioned to find someone groundbreaking? They're following exactly the model Tony lays out.

I have two thoughts on this, after many years of serving as AD/lit manager of my company. Firstly, big theatres should embrace small theatres as a sort of farm system for playwrights, actors, directors and designers. Fund down. Support risk taking where the risk is relatively low with enough money so that the artists and administrators can make a little bit of money, which preserves knowledge and prevents burnout (there's a reason I'm now enrolled in an MBA program). Thriving companies either invest in R&D or job it out. If big theatres don't do a great job of developing, then truly job it out to small theatres by paying for it.

Secondly, educate the foundations. The money received by large theatres to run dead-end new play programs could fund entire theatres at the small storefront level. It makes sense for the riskiest plays to happen at the smallest level, but it still costs money. If we could pay readers, we could plow through all kinds of blind submissions. Plus we could search out scripts through Google, Doollee, and other new play festivals/theatres around the country. I tried to do both when I was at Stage Left, and we had a good run of new work. But it takes work. And at some point sweat equity needs to be augmented with money, lest the sweat dry up. If the foundations gave generously to support new play programs at the theatres that do that well, they would be making a real investment in the future health of the industry.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Bries Vannon — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:24:08 -0000

Pia, my response to you and Tony regarding the systemic limitations of Google-fu largely plays into what you're both talking about in other areas. I think we're tearing down different walls to get to the same goal. When you say we need to innovate on a broader basis, I would say one of the things that most needs innovation is the idea of needing the rough to find a diamond. Any Lit Manager searching for scripts who can't find quality unproduced, unpublished playwrights on the internet isn't going to help innovate squat.

To use very direct examples, I very distinctly remember coming across your name in reference the Emerging Writers Group, mostly because I was already familiar with it from conversations I had followed on Twitter. Gwydion recently had a production here in Chicago. It came loooong after I became acquainted with him the same way. Cody Daigle, who posted a great reaction to this post on his blog? I was not aware of him previously. But I am now. None of you came to my attention because of productions. And that's just three examples surrounding this one post. There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of playwrights that have entered my periphery without me having the slightest idea where they've been produced. Hell, Adam Szymkowicz has provided a veritable encyclopedia all by himself. The idea that you can't find a playwright on the internet if they haven't received a production is simply not true. Whether all Lit Managers are being utilized in this way is another story, but I can tell you that if I had to concern myself with digging my way out of a slush pile, I'd be a lot less focused on who else I can find and where I can find them. (And in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't requested scripts from any of the three of you. This shouldn't be seen as a judgment -- I would estimate I contact one in every 40-50 names I come across. Not because I don't think the rest will be any good, but because I can narrow my search to exactly the sorts of scripts that I'm looking for at the time, another benefit of the approach.)

Bries.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Pia Wilson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:30:42 -0000

Great post, Tony. I agree with so many of your points, it's ridiculous! Thanks for expressing it so thoughtfully.

To your point, Bries, the Google method of finding (or getting to know) new playwrights – while certainly adventurous and much appreciated – still creates access issues. Before I submitted to The Public's Emerging Writers Group, I had self-produced (and directed) one of my plays at a small theater in New York. When I was looking for places to submit my next (read: second) piece of work, I was disheartened and discouraged every time I looked at a theater's website and saw that they had closed submissions or were only accepting submissions from agents (since I didn't have one at the time). Boy, was I happy to see that The Public had an open submission policy. That ultimately became my entree into the theater community: a program designed to give access to those who might otherwise not have any. It doesn't mean I was any less of a writer before I got into that program than I am today. It just means that I couldn't get into the theater community before then. I wonder how many other good writers like me are good but just outside the system. It's that loss of art that the theater community is cutting off. That said, having been a volunteer reader, I understand your pain! I will confess to having cried after reading a particularly bad pile of scripts. But I kept going in the hopes of finding that one person who would be a genius waiting in the slush pile. (Naiveté has gotten me far in this business.)

I think the theater community really needs to innovate on a broader basis. I say on a broader basis because I know there are some smaller theaters out there working it! I think if we keep on discussing our issues and trying some things, we'll come out ahead.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

CMC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:43:00 -0000

Excellent commentary, Tony. I wish the AD will actually pay attention. What you are saying is so true. I see it here, in my town. I hear it all the time. We have one of the most famous theatre company in the country, and yet, everything is funnel through in a way that ends up being the same people, the same style, the same mood. It's sad.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Tony Adams — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:43:25 -0000

While it's certainly a better alternative to the status quo, casting a wider net to Toronto or London etc. (or Austin or Vegas) can be a great option for some companies.

However, it doesn't do much to change systemic issues of access or relying on sweat equity (free labor) for the entire field. It's still relying on those without resources to do the heavy lifting so you can google them. And while it's a great answer for Signal (and other small companies) it's more of an aspirin for the field.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Gwydion Suilebhan — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:28:02 -0000

Bries, I think you have hit the nail on the head here... and, in the process, captured the spirit of my own position on the subject. More soon.

Re: Bringing Submissions Out of the Cave

Bries Vannon — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:31:51 -0000

The preface to this comment is that it's not a counterpoint, it's an alternate.

I don't know if I happen to have lucked out or if you've just been talking to a different group of Lit Managers, but I could not be happier with my position and the relationship I have with the ADs and ensemble re: new plays. And I strongly welcome anyone take me out for a drink to hear the truth -- I'll be singing the same tune, and hey, free beer! But again, I may have been lucky enough to land in one of the few companies that has this sort of respect for the position, so I feel I should use it to relay how I make it work for me, the company, and the work. Because my approach is very different to the one you describe.

We have a closed submission policy and I think it's a phenomenal decision. To continue the wheat/chaff metaphor: I don't ask people to deliver the grain to me. I don't *want* people to deliver the grain to me. It might be that I'm a little too independent, it might be that I'm impatient, it might be that I'm just a pessimist, but I don't trust a system where I have to rely on people to deliver the grain to me. If my job is to find the best scripts, new and old, to represent our ensemble, you better believe that I'm going to be out there doing the harvesting myself. Now again, I may be the lucky exception, but I scoff when you say that in order to be produced on a small stage, most plays must be published. When hunting for scripts, the first thing I go after are a playwright's unpublished work. And it's not a qualitative decision at all, it's just easier. In my opinion, there are no more frustrating institutions to deal with than Sam French and Dramatists. Give me a chance to e-mail a playwright or an agent any day of the week. And where to find these mystical unpublished playwrights? At this point, I think I'm giving away no industry secrets by saying they're under every rock you could turn over.

Here's my advice for any theatre out there seeking new scripts: think of the top five new or newish plays you've seen in the last few years. Google them. Find other companies that have produced them. Browse their last five seasons or so. Anything you haven't heard of that sounds interesting? If so, hunt down a copy. If not, see if the playwright has a website. (I'm assuming you've already tracked down copies of more of their work, which should be a given.) See if they have a links page with other playwright friends or theatres whose work they enjoy. Look further into those. If at anytime you find something you haven't heard of that sounds interesting, hunt down a copy. If you're having a real run of bum luck and still haven't found anything of note (and this would be pretty astounding), think of a random city whose theatre scene you haven't heard much about. Say, Las Vegas. Whether or not you've heard of it, there's theatre there. Run it through the Google machine. Find a couple of theatres -- look for storefront/fringe/underground/whatever you want to call it. See what they've got. (I just picked Vegas out of the blue, haven't dug in myself, either. For all we know they could be sitting on the next Tenny Williams.) And if you've defied all the odds and repeated and repeated all of the above and still have nothing of note to show? Go to doollee.com. Point and click at random. Continue until you find something you like. When you do find it, also see if the playwright has anything else of theirs that they would recommend you read. Yeah, if you're looking for a copy of a particular script, you can probably find it. But if you're talking to someone whose work you already know piques your interest, *that's* when asking for submissions is going to reap the best rewards.

As one of the few, the proud, the happy Lit Managers, let me tell you: it is no challenge at all to find good work. And it is no challenge at all to find good work that has not been seen before by theatregoers in your region, your country, or maybe anywhere ever. But dammit, you've got to look for it. If that means you digging through the waves of submitted scripts, that's your prerogative. I've got no beef, you're still pointed in the right direction. But if companies have closed submissions and say it's in the interest of the work, don't balk completely, at least not right away. Finding and sharing new work (of any media) in an online world is a skill every Lit Manager should possess. Those who do and know it? They'll be better off running the field and grabbing the good stuff where they find it, not where it finds them.

(Unrelated side note: I'm in firm agreement on the idea of sharing scripts that your AD/company isn't biting on with others. And if you are stuck in the unhappy position of the ignored Lit Manager, believe me, it'll only take two or three successful productions elsewhere of scripts your AD passed up before they sit up and start listening.)

Bries Vannon
Literary Manager
Signal Ensemble Theatre

Re: Looking Back at 2011

Tony — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:54:39 -0000

Thanks. Finally able to pull the trigger on some stuff we've been talking about for a while.

Re: Looking Back at 2011

Devilvet — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:28:17 -0000

Sounds like a lot of great ideas

Re: Looking Out Windows

Melissa — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:23:57 -0000

Excellently well-written, deeply moving piece. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Re: Upcoming Reading on 9/11

Greg Romero — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:26:28 -0000

Tony-- I was able to watch a streaming version of the reading and enjoyed it so much. Thank you for putting this together, and with such sensitivity and fun.

sincerely,

Re: Interview with David Henry Hwang

Arvin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:36:32 -0000

Wow, and all this was happening while I was cramming as much quality time in the theatre, even after David said to me, : "... OH, don't be nervous, it is Only a rehearsal ...... just have fun ". Such kind words from a literary Giant.

Re: Pic of the Week: July 28, 2011

Arvin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:17:23 -0000

From lower clockwise: Katelyn Foley, Neal Ryan Shaw (partly covered by Kate's head), Jennifer Adams, David Henry Hwang, Fernando Alvarez Jr. (in shadow above Arvin), Arvin A. Jalandoon, Kaori Aoshima. Thanks Tony