Don't get me wrong. If there is/was a producer/theatre/theatre group out there that read my work and said, "Damn, Loren. Where have you been all of our lives? This is great! So good that we'd like to do your show and we'll pay for everything!
I'd be all for it - what playwright wouldn't, right?
BUT...I have, much to my creative chagrin, always lived in the real world. Kind of ironic for a guy who spent most of his career in advertising; convincing people to buy things they really didn't need.
Because I live in the real world, I find it impossible to ask a theatre to take a risk on an original work by an unknown playwright (Me), without putting some of my own financial skin in the game. If I believe in my work as much as I want the theatre to, I need to be willing to take some financial risk as well. And don't for one minute think that my bank account is anymore fluid than most playwright's, because it's not. I had to put money away, while trying to pay the bills.
Strictly my opinion, but there's no better way for myself as a playwright, to understand what I'm asking a theatre to do, than to put myself and my work in their shoes.
That's why I try to write projects that require a small cast, and one set, OR...three or four mini-sets, all on stage, and use LLR (Limited Lighting Required - yeah, I made that up, sorry) as the actors cross into that area of the stage.
Does that make me a better playwright? Yes, because it keeps me from getting lost in my own self-gratifying wonderfulness as a writer, and forces me keep the story moving; which keeps the audience from going to sleep or getting up and walking out - lol!
I love musicals...but the one I have written (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, THE MUSICAL?) and the one I am currently writing (BACK IN THE WORLD): the orchestra is one musician playing a keyboard. Musicians cost money, so do actors, and I don't believe in anyone NOT getting paid. We all work too damn hard to just give it away in the hopes that IT MIGHT go somewhere.
One final point... just a thought, but who says you have to stage your show in a theatre?
With my domestic violence show, my choreographer had a dance studio that would seat up to 100 people. I needed rehearsal space and a performance venue. She needed to get more exposure for her dance studio...both of us got what we needed and wanted - exposure wise, creatively, and financially.
For me, the idea is to get my work seen. After that, we'll see what happens; BUT...if nobody sees my work, it's guaranteed ain't nothing gonna happen.
Three times I have taken the risk and have yet (knock wood) to not end up in the black - yes, each time we made money.
That's not me bragging.
Like I said I'm a realist.
There will come a time when, as we used to say in my Marine Corps days, I will have to "embrace the suck."
I'm not saying my idea is for everybody, but thus far, it's working for me.
Give me your thoughts, for good or ill...and thanks for reading my blog!
Loren
Comments