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Theatre Vault proudly continues Dramatis Personae, a series of essays written by and about local theatre artists.  In this essay, Robert Weesner, local theatre producer, director, and playwright discusses what he has learned about making good theatre during his fifty-plus years in the entertainment industry. Learn more about Mr. Weesner by connecting with him through Linked In.

WHAT MAKES GOOD THEATRE?

To explore an answer to this question, I must first expand it slightly – what makes good theatre for me? In other words, I start with the premise that not everyone looks at “theatre” the same way. This observation allows me to create a simple rule - If I see something and like it, it’s good theatre. If I don’t, it isn’t.

Why complicate something that’s subjective to begin with?

“This above all: to thine own self be true.

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Yeah, yeah, thank you Willy for filling in the last half of the rule – How can I expect anyone else to believe in what I do … if I don’t?

Look at it this way. We live in an age of “good enough.” If there’s something in your play that’s “good enough,” it’s not. Fix it! Find it and change it until it is a treat all by itself. Get the idea? Your work should be one treat falling over another. Make blah blah transitions into memorable highpoints.

Here’s another constant; as a director, make your stage picture attractive – always always always. This should be obvious, but apparently isn’t – your actors aren’t there merely to occupy space. Think of them as pawns in a Maxfield Parrish painting. Let one picture flow into another. Get passionate about this, because it’s important and infusive.

So … you getting the idea yet? Good theatre is all about you. Look your best. It’s your first date with a drop dead gorgeous redhead.

Weave your style throughout the play you are directing. Be bold in presenting your personality. Why? Because great theatre goes beyond what is on the written page. Once a playwright adds “The End” to a script, no matter how well written it may be, that script becomes history. Even before the first printing, the society that spawned it will have evolved. Your personality encourages a homogenous relationship between your audience and the playwright. (I presume you are in agreement, understand and support what the playwright is saying. I assume you actually have – or can convincingly fake – a personality.)

Listen to what your actors suggest. Your authority won’t be emasculated by listening, and sometime you will be given a real gem of an idea (for which, in spite of your modest denials, you will ultimately be given the credit).

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. A mistake won’t destroy your career. (Probably.) A mistake only tells you what doesn’t work. That’s all. (Mostly.)

Don’t be afraid to break the rules. In fact the rules change almost daily. Absolutely nothing is sacred. Expand your mind past the physical limitations you observe while ambling down the aisle toward the stage. What can you see? What could you see? What might be improved by being unseen? (And who knows? You could get lucky and actually do something innovative, and they would erect a statue of you directly across the street from the statue of George Cohan, thus forcing the pigeons to make hard decisions regarding which statue to visit in order to … visit. Wouldn’t that be great?!)

And finally – remember the old adage “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” followed by “It’s all small stuff?” Remember that? Well, ignore it. In creating great theatre it should be “Sweat the small stuff,” followed by “Because there’s no big stuff.” Past the obvious disciplines of blocking, pace, and characterization, everything – and I mean everything - is detail and nuance. Everything is foreshadowing, motivation, color, mood, temperament, subtext, and the list of details goes on and on. Take care of these, concentrate with everything that’s in you on these, and by seeming magic the big picture is suddenly there. It may not be exactly what you expected – it seldom is. But it will be true, and that’s everything.

A little over fifty years ago I saw The Glass Menagerie for the first time. I still remember that production, still distinctly remember all the sights, sounds – even the sweet smells. I’d like to think that – fifty years from now – someone will remember my work that way.

If that happens, I’ll know why.

Actors’ Equity Association, the performing arts labor union that represents more than 48,000 actors and stage managers throughout the nation, as announced its support of health care reform.  To that end, the AEA has called for its New York City and area supporters to show “make make health care reform the centerpiece” of the 2009 Labor Day parade in the Big Apple.  Marchers will kick off the celebration at 10am on Saturday, September 12 at East 44th Street / Madison. If you happen to be in the area and want to march, sign up and pre-order your t-shirt (specify size) at rsvp@actorsequity.org

Theatre Vault proudly continues Dramatis Personae, a series of essays written by and about local theatre artists.  In this essay, Arvin Donner, creative force behind The Drama Foundry, a Central Ohio group dedicated to providing opportunities for dramatic writers to hone their craft and forge new work. The first writers’ group meeting will be held on Saturday, July 11 from 5-7pm at the Junctionview Studios in Grandview. Learn more about the group and the meeting by visiting The Drama Foundry website.

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What makes a great writers’ group? I thought I had been doing a really good job in my attempts to avoid answering this nagging question for the past two weeks. That is until Theatre Vault asked me to write about it for this series. The timing is uncanny…

You see, on Saturday July 11, 2009 from 5-7 pm I will be standing in front of a group of like-minded people proselytizing as a witness to the good news of cross-disciplinary collaboration. To put that another way, I am the guy who is starting The Drama Foundry, a writing group for dramatic writers at Junctionview Studios.

My intentions are to bring writers and actors together to develop new work, and to create an incubator of sorts to help foster new work for local theaters, filmmakers, and other dramatic artists. After careful thought and some teeth gnashing, here is a list of what I think makes a great dramatic writing group.

1. Be dignified
A great dramatic writing group promotes and values an environment where its members know they have the dignity to fail, find their own way, learn, and experiment.

2. Don’t hog the earth as it orbits around you
A great dramatic writing group has to be accessible. This includes everything from having a timekeeper to manage the critiques so everyone has an equal opportunity to share, to making sure everyone has an equal opportunity to submit work to be read.

3. Know whom you are ultimately serving
A great dramatic writing group cannot please everyone. At the end of the day when the chips are down, there needs to be a group consensus on how the group is going to best serve the writers. When people make suggestions on how the group can be improved, always ask the question, “How is this going to serve the writer?”

4. Have ground rules
A great dramatic writing group has some structure, but not too much structure. Ground rules are a jumping off point not meant to be a straight jacket. They are there to create a space so people will feel safe and respected during critiques. Rules build trust in the group by allowing everyone to know there is common ground shared among the participants that will foster dignity. Ground rules also help to manage focus.

5. Communicate
A great dramatic writing group has an email list, phone list, and uses them. Remind people when the next meeting is. If your dog used your only copy of your next submission as a piece of toilet paper, well… that may be a sign from the Gods that your play wasn’t very good. If it is a sign, then notify the group to let them know you won’t be reading at the next meeting and try and find someone to take your spot.

6. Be flexible
A great dramatic writing group knows that the Buddha said stuff is impermanent. The group’s needs change. Individuals’ needs change. Well-intentioned ideas thought up by guys like me don’t work and need to change. Have a regular group conscious to discuss possible ways the group can address new issues that arise and make changes accordingly.

7. Be predictable
A great dramatic writing group meets at the same place every week but also has some flexibility with the time.

8. Meet anyway
A great dramatic writing group meets anyway even if the members don’t have anything to read and critique. This is a good opportunity to do improvisational exercises on new story ideas and to work on all those exercises in those screenplay and playwriting books that are collecting dust next to your toilet.

9. Have Kibble
A great dramatic writing group has the writers being critiqued bring some kibble to feed the actors who are being very kind and generous with their time to come and read the writers’ brilliant-yet-stilted-and-unfocused first draft.

10. The writer chooses the focus of the critique
A great dramatic writing group puts the focus of the critique in the hands of the writers. Do you want to talk about a particular character, or beat, or event in the story? The writer can even choose to not have the piece critiqued and instead may just observe what the emotional responses are to the work by the group members.

11. Focus on the process and not the outcome
A great dramatic writing group focuses on the process of writing and the development of stories. Ultimately, if the writing is solid, the agents will come, the cinematographers and directors will find you, and the productions will happen. Though, it is nice to share the contact information of a good entertainment lawyer or two.

12. Have some fun
That’s the most important. If you are not having fun, what’s the point?

My hope is that with these ideals and some luck, The Drama Foundry will run smoothly and help forge the development of new work, and avoid leaving too many blood stains on the carpet.

Theatre Vault proudly introduces Dramatis Personae, a series of essays written by and about local theatre artists.  In this essay, Paul Lockwood, Artistic Director and Founder of the Evolution Theatre Company discusses launching “I’ll Take Romance” while struggling with a bare bones budget.  Visit ETC’s website here and be sure to check out their world premiere before it closes.

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Presenting a World Premiere on a Shoestring Budget

When ETC got the opportunity to produce the world premiere of Edwin Sanchez’s “I’ll Take Romance,” we were excited – and very frightened. We wanted to do the new play justice on a non-existent budget – a dilemma that most small theatre companies know all too well.

I have known Edwin for nearly 30years, since we were both struggling actors in New York. The fact that I knew him did cushion the situation a wee bit, but we still wanted to knock his socks off when he came to Columbus to see the preview and opening night. So me and my co-director, Mark Phillips Schwamberger (thank god for him!) created a plan and a budget to make this project fly.

We knew play licensing and rental fees at the CPAC were inevitable, but we also had to figure out how to raise funds for advertising and marketing costs, actor/crew salaries, set and costume expenses, opening night reception, and on and on. Faced with an $8,000 budget (that’s huge for us!), we sprung into action.

We’ve discovered in the last year who our audience base is and we appealed to them for help. We garnered individual and business sponsors, sold subscriptions for next season to build up a reserve fund and we talked up the show as much as possible – in the press, on radio, through fliers, post cards and posters, and in personal appearances by the cast. We also timed the gay romantic comedy to coincide with Gay Pride Month and the incredible Festival that Columbus hosts – one of top ten largest in the country!

Our efforts have paid off. We’ve got a show we are proud of, that Edwin loved, that has gotten some strong reviews and we have had good-sized audiences. Is everything perfect? No, of course not. We would have liked a larger set budget and even larger audiences. While 50 to 70 is a respectable amount each night, the theatre holds 188. Full houses are wonderful for boosting morale and the coffers.

We still have three more performances to go (Wed, Thurs, Fri, June 24, 25 and 26), so anything can happen. A full house one night would be the icing on the gay wedding cake!

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