On SCARCITY

The title of a play can be a very tricky thing. A title can say volumes about the play or it can say nothing at all. It can enhance a theatrical experience or it can mislead and distract. It can sound cool or it can sound silly. But no matter what, it’s always worth thinking about and it definitely is in the case of Scarcity. The scarcity that the Lawrences, the family at the center of this play, face is not only a scarcity of intangible qualities like hope or love or respect. It is also a literal scarcity, a scarcity of resources. In fact, when examining the considerable challenges that confront this family, it is this literal scarcity that provides the context and thus ignites the action of the play. In this way, the play becomes firmly grounded in a tough, nuts-and-bolts reality, and it becomes the job of the production to examine the details of that tough reality so as to better understand the emotions that flow out of it.

One such detail is the setting of the play, a small town in Western Massachusetts. As our production began to dive into its work and the reality of the life of this family began to emerge, this setting began to take on a notable significance. Western Massachusetts can be defined in several different ways. For instance, it can be defined by what it once had but does not anymore. The area was a center of growth during the Industrial Revolution, and many of its towns sprang up in the early part of the twentieth century, powered by the revenue that new factories and mills provided. But those times have long since come and gone and large pockets of Western Massachusetts remain mired in a decades-long, economic stagnation. But at the same time, the area is also defined by the promise that is all around it. New York City is a three-hour drive away. Boston is two hours away. And of course, the region is famous for the impressive number of prominent and elite universities located there. These include Amhearst, Williams, Smith, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke. This presence means that for as much scarcity that might exist in Western Massachusetts, there is also the constant promise of a better tomorrow.

This duality between scarcity and hope is a large part of what drew us to this play. When we consider a play, we consider the universality that the play can embody. And this duality is indeed universal. It is something we all have to reckon with, these days especially. After all, our society and our world is now largely defined, like it or not, by an insufficiency of supply. And yet, there is always the promise of a better tomorrow. This promise and this potential is what powers us through the tough times. It is what gives our lives momentum. And it is what enables us to succeed.

Scarcity runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm until November 22 at The Imagined Life Theater, 5615 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019.

NeedTheater Blog Readers Receive Discount to Aaron Henne's Writing Workshop

Wordstrut Presents:

WRITERS IN RESIDENCE
Another 6 week session of "Writers in Residence" an ongoing program of writing
study will begin on October 13th.
In this class, you will get a large selection of writing exercises and specific
dramaturgical guidance for your project, be it a play, screenplay, novel or memoir.
A great opportunity for forward momentum before the holidays and the first of
the year.

No more than 8 students - Availability is limited.

When: Tuesdays from 7pm -10 pm, October 13 - November 17
Where: Silver Lake
Cost: 350.00 to the general public.
200.00 for friends of Need Theatre if signed by 10/7.

Aaron Henne's plays include King Cat Calico Finally Flies Free! (published by Original Works Publishing), Record Storm Spreads Ruin! (commissioned by the Los Angeles History Project) and Sliding Into Hades, which received LA Weekly Awards for Playwriting and Production of the Year. Aaron has served in script development capacities for Culture Clash, The Colony Theatre, Center Theatre Group and The Theatre @ Boston Court, where he serves as Co-Literary Manager. Mr. Henne also works with spoken word and movement based techniques. His exploration of machines and their relationships to humanity, Body Mecanique, was developed and produced by LA Contemporary Dance Company. His playwriting process book, You Already Know, is now available through Writ Large Press. He teaches writing for the Playwrights' Program at The Robey Theatre Company, Writing Pad and runs the writer's studio, Wordstrut. Aaron is a proud member of The Playwrights Union.

The Vetting Process

One of my favorite parts about being a part of a theater company is getting to have a hand in selecting the plays that the company will next be producing. If you work in theater professionally (or are trying to) then that means you have read or been exposed to hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of plays and you carry with you a mental, laundry list of the plays you dream of one day doing. Twice a year, my NeedTheater cohorts and I get to bring our lists up to the light of day to see if and where we can all find some common ground.

Obviously, while the aura of limitless possibility makes choosing a play thrilling, the questions that this looming decision demands that we face make it all quite stressful and terrifying too. After all, we are a small company that can only afford to produce two, fully-staged plays a year. And because these shows are the most publicized and visible things that we do, the responsibility that they carry is huge. They are our most effective means of communicating our message and ideals to our audience. So we must tread very carefully and we must address, if not answer, all the questions that arise. When this predictably spirals out into a sort of panicked, philosophical point-counterpoint, the process becomes that much more difficult.

For instance, the idea of doing a classical play has come up and intrigued many of us. NeedTheater’s plays have tended to be contemporary pieces with decidedly modern styles and attitudes. So doing something classic might be a refreshing change of pace and a way for us to show some range. But even this fairly innocuous bit of reasoning can give way to huge, conceptual questions. Namely: What is the benefit of range? Isn’t there something to be said for rigorous, stylistic consistency? If we have developed a reputation for doing edgy, modern work that does not dance around conflict but rather attacks it head-on, then shouldn’t we continue with that trend? Shouldn’t we play to our strengths and continue to nurture the audience that has come along for the ride? Touché.

Ah, but watch now as the conversation spirals out. See, one could easily defend the choice of a classic by saying it is exactly that challenge of breathing modernity into the production that makes it so rewarding. The thrill of uncovering the timeless relevancy of a play written two hundred years ago is huge and it’s a big part of the reason why guys like Shakespeare and Chekhov and Molière are considered the literary titans that they are. A sharply conceived take on a classic could add to the modern, aesthetic identity of our company that has already been established with shows like Fatboy and Mercury Fur while also showing a broader style of thinking that would open up our doors to new audience members. So, again, touché.

But this uncovering of the timeless is a risky process, and it walks a fine line between inspired and pretentious. For example, is there a more tired, interpretive move then taking a classic play and moving it around in time and space to demonstrate how its themes are bound by neither condition? Do we need another Romeo and Juliet set in 1871, or 1945, or 2002, or, God forbid, in a “timeless” space where everyone wears black t-shirts and totes acting cubes around the stage? It’s gimmicky and self-congratulatory and, yes, pretentious and even if we don’t do something like that, the very act of putting an interpretive mark on a classic means we walk that line. Is that a risk we’re willing to take?

This is what I’ve realized: No matter how convoluted the conversation becomes, almost every one we have had about our next play leads inevitably to that same question. Is that a risk we’re willing to take? There are no sure things in theater. Just as every time the curtain comes up, there is the possibility of complete disaster, every play we consider carries with it the faint whiff of doom. So what is the risk we’re willing to take?

Essential Arts and Flying Fur

Check out this oped from today's LA times, in which Shakespeare LA's founding Artistic Director, Ben Donenberg, makes the case for continued arts funding during these dire economic times.

It's up to all artists, at every level, to make this case, that the arts are essential. Even small LA theater has a role to play. Especially small LA theater. The onus is on us to demonstrate that we can take responsibility for our role as the grassroots/petri-dish/heartbeat of our communities.

In other news, Jonathan Dorf of ALAP (Association of Los Angeles Playwrights) recently posted on LA Stage Blog with a extensive response to the LA Times' review of MERCURY FUR, needtheater's most recent main stage show.

For those interested in needtheater activities this summer, check out THE NUCLEAR FAMILY and our Reading Series.

Erik Ehn Will Leave CalArts to Head Playwrighting Program at Brown

A recent Culture Monster posting broke the news.

Erik, we will miss you in Southern California.

Theaters Increasingly Turn to Facebook to Promote Shows

Check out this article on Live Mint, a fascinating look at how theater is going to the web.

Facebook is a powerful seat-filling tool indeed.

Day Laborerer Theater Without Borders

Do you guys know about this? It's a group of day laborers who formed a theater group after their experience working on LOS ILEGALES, a play that Cornerstone did last year. My friend Ethan Sawyer is their project manager, and he forwarded me info on their new tour, to day laborer sites throughout the area. Should be very interesting.

Here's that info:

The June tour for Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (Day Laborer Theater Without Borders) is off and running -- below you'll find a list of upcoming performances. This new tour features three brand new pieces: Demolición (a comedy), Caminos al Paraiso (a drama) and Salud (play that tackles issues of health and safety in the workplace). You can find out more info here on our blog.

Hope to see you at one of the sites!


- - - - -

Wednesday, June 10 @ 9am
Cypress Park Job Center
(Home Depot parking lot)
2055 N. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90065

Thursday, June 11 @ 9am
Pasadena Job Center
500 N. Lake Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101

Friday, June 12 @ 11am
Pomona Job Center
1682 W. Mission Blvd.
Pomona, CA 91766

Monday, June 15 @ 9am
Carecen Job Center
(Home Depot parking lot)
1675 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Tuesday, June 16 @ 9am
(on east side of Home Depot parking lot)
Hollywood Job Center
5569 W. DeLongpre Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028

2009 LA Arts Town Hall

Don't miss the 2009 LA Arts Town Hall.
http://www.artsforla.org/2009ArtsTownHall

2009 LA ARTS TOWN HALL
LA ARTS LEADERS CONVERGE ON THE JACCC
FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2009

Arts for LA and the Center for Cultural Innovation are pleased to present the 2009 L.A. Arts Town Hall, a daylong convening of Los Angeles arts professionals taking place on June 12th at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. The convening will feature a keynote address by Americans for the Arts President & CEO, Robert Lynch, a morning plenary session on the future of arts funding in Los Angeles by a distinguished panel of arts leaders and an afternoon series of concurrent breakout sessions geared toward empowering the nonprofit arts sector to address the critical issues facing the field, including regional advocacy, marketing and new models of operation. Participants will hear from leading arts policy makers, advocates and funders and learn about important trends and initiatives that will impact Los Angeles’ artists and arts organizations alike.

The convening is the largest gathering of arts leaders since the last Arts Town Hall in 2007. Over 400 arts managers, arts educators and artists, from top-level executives to grassroots organizers are expected to attend.

The 2009 L.A. Arts Town Hall is free but registration is required and closes Tuesday, June 9th.
For further information and to register visit www.ArtsForLA.org/2009ArtsTownHall.

Plenary panelists include:
• Robert Lynch, President, Americans for the Arts
• John E. McGuirk, Program Director, The James Irvine Foundation
• Claire Peeps, Executive Director, Durfee Foundation
• Judilee Reed, Executive Director, Leveraging Investments in Creativity
• Laura Zucker, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Arts Commission

The afternoon series of concurrent breakout sessions will follow the plenary session. Organized by leading arts community partners, these facilitated conversations provide in-depth information and create opportunities for dialogue around topics such as Arts Education, Capacity Building, Cultural Policy and Self-Organizing an Artists’ Community. Sessions organized by: LA Stage Alliance, Department of Cultural Affairs Los Angeles, Arts for All, the Music Center’s Arts Education Department.

What: 2009 L.A. Arts Town Hall: A daylong convening of arts professionals

When: Friday, June 12th 2009
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Where: Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
244 S. San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo, downtown, LA (between 2nd and 3rd Streets)

For more information and press registration, please visit www.artsforla.org/2009ArtsTownHall.
Contact Arts for LA at 213.225.7580 or Camille@artsforla.org.

on MERCURY FUR

Mercury Fur is a shocking play. There’s no denying this. Its language is violent. Its action is brutal. Its world is unhinged. It was shocking when I first read it and it continues to shock me today, months later.

There are many challenges that come with doing a play like Mercury Fur. Chief among them is this question of the value of shock. After all, we, as a theater company, ask a lot out of you, the audience. We ask that you pay money for the privilege of watching us perform. We ask that you give us your Friday or Saturday night. We ask that you put on a coat and do your hair and sit silently for two hours, staring straight ahead. These are sacrifices. So to then present you with something shocking and insist that you forsake your own contentedness in the name of some ambiguous, higher purpose might seem like a bit of a buzzkill. I mean, isn’t theater a medium of entertainment? Aren’t we here to make you happy? Isn’t this why you pay the money and put on the coat and do the hair?

The short answer is no. Theater is not just entertainment, it is art, and the job of art is to ask questions of its audience. If those questions are tough and if the answers are tougher, well then, all the better. This is why all theater isn’t sunshine and lollipops and Neil Simon.

Mercury Fur does ask tough questions. It is, after all, an undeniably sociological play. Its references to mid-20th century, global pop icons like Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, along with primitive Aztec, Egyptian and Greek cultures suggests a path between the two that might be charitably described as a steep decline (though which end is the top and which is the bottom is a question up for debate). Meanwhile, its vague allusions to a series of devastating riots and its characters’ frequent, almost casual use of racial slurs take on a political tone when you look at the general escalation of racism in Western Europe and the race riots that broke out in England during the time that Philip Ridley wrote this play. The play doesn’t so much demand answers as show you how those answers are becoming increasingly grim. But to stop here when contemplating Mercury Fur is to do injustice to the play itself.

While researching the play, I looked into accounts of genocide in Rwanda in an attempt to provide our production with a real-life parallel to the sort of violence that is exhibited in the play. While interviewing a group of the killers who perpetrated this genocide, writer Jean Hatzfeld found himself—against his better judgment—developing an affection for these men. As he says in the book Machete Season:

“At first, I feel only natural hatred or aversion for them…But as time goes by, a kind of perplexity creeps in, which makes the Kibungo gang not more likable but less unpleasant to spend time with…Their friendly solidarity, their disconnection from the world they soaked in blood…their patience and serenity, and sometimes their naïveté, finally rub off on our relationship and touch particularly on their mysterious willingness to talk….Perhaps they feel the need to glimpse themselves as they were, even from this distance, in the stories they tell. Perhaps they are telling their stories to convince us they are ordinary…”

Mercury Fur seeks to convince us that, even amid the shocking brutality of its story, its characters are ordinary. They love one another. They stand up for each other. They are like us. There is a moment early in the play when brothers Elliot and Darren recite a sort of poem to each other that speaks volumes about the strange but recognizable warmth that is at the center of this play and that drew needtheater to it in the first place. It goes, in part, like this:

I love you so much I could chase you and chase you.
I love you so much I could grab you and grab you.
I love you so much I could punch you and kick you.
I love you so much I could make you bleed and bleed.
I love you so much I could kill you and kill you.
I love you so much I could burst into flames.


Mercury Fur opens tonight! Go to www.needtheater.org for all the details.

The Human Trickle-Down Project, part 2

We had another meeting regarding our docudrama project this weekend. In attendance were myself, Artistic Director Matt Wells, Associate Artistic Director Ian Forester and Associate Artists Brandon Baruch and Mike Wells. We’re still very much in the preliminary stages of this whole idea and so the major question of the day boiled down to, “What do we want this play to feel like?” This is a tricky question. Obviously, there is a gravity to the idea that can’t be ignored and if this project is truly going to be a reaction and a reflection of the huge fight to survive that many of us are looking at now, then we have a responsibility to capture the truth of that fight in all its dirty details. But, on the other hand, part of the ethos of needtheater is an effort to get away from the self-seriousness and pretension that has infected so much theater today. With some plays and some companies, you can almost see the production patting itself on the back for being so hard-hitting and socially aware, and it is that smug, self-congratulatory streak that has turned off so many audience members; all of whom have come to, at least in part, be entertained. One of the reasons we are all so proud of our production of John Clancy’s “Fatboy” is that the play managed to be both incendiary and socially relevant while maintaining a loose, fun tone that allowed our audience to sit back and enjoy themselves. When you have both of those things working together, you have the potential to do something really great. So it’s a balancing act. How do we create a play that will tell such an important story while continuing to prize theatricality and a spirit of entertainment that will keep the play from becoming too leaden? Pondering the answer to that question at this point only leads us to more questions. For instance, is there a kind of humor to be found in our current economic crisis? Are there bad guys out there besides the bankers and brokers and Bush? And, most importantly, is there a happy ending to this story? One great thing we discovered during this meeting was that we think there is. After all, you have to knock down the house if you want to rebuild it. And in asking these questions, we begin to see the basic, building blocks of the play we will create: character, tone, an arc to the plot. So maybe it’s not a docudrama. Maybe it’s just a play. Who knows? More importantly, who cares? The classification isn’t important. The spirit behind the work is what matters. And we’ve got spirit. Yes we do

In Praise of The Nation

Recently, I embraced American liberalism wholeheartedly and got a subscription to The Nation magazine.

Not only does The Nation have the left-ist hemorrhage on a weekly basis that I just don't have the energy for, but they also deserve praise for their prominent coverage of arts and culture. They treat the arts as a necessary part of American civic life.

As examples, consider two recent cover stories.

This week's is entitled A New Deal for Culture. It is a very thoughtful piece by Jeff Chang (whose writing I adore) on the new role that culture may play in this recession era (I think it might last long enough to be an era), and under the Obama Administration's leadership.

The cover story for the March 26th issue was entitled Tell Her the Truth. It was a marvelously intelligent piece of dramatic criticism written by none other than Tony Kushner (Kushner is on the editorial staff for The Nation, did you know that?), on Carol Churchill's searing new play about the recent war in Gaza, Seven Jewish Children. The play, incidentally is available for free download from the website of the Royal Court Theater. It is short (only about 12 minutes long probably) and definitely worth the read. Check it out here.

So yes, the Nation. I recommend it.

The Next 25 Years of American Theater

In case you haven't seen this yet, American Theater has asked some of the coolest kids in town to predict the future of theater in the next 25 years. What they say is very inspiring -- very galvanizing! Soak it up and pass it on.

http://www.tcg.org/publications/at/apr09/at25.cfm

Mixed Progress Report on President Obama, the NEA, and the Arts

This article offers an insightful report on the mixed progress the Obama Administration has made on the Arts.

Baby steps...

The Human Trickle-Down Project, part 1

It would be easy to think that the role of an artist in these tough, economic times would be something akin to that of the violinists on the Titanic; just play something melancholy and poignant and stand by as the crew desperately tries to cram as many people as possible on to the lifeboats. But the reality is a little more complicated and a lot less bleak and this is because—and not to sound too self-inflated here— it is during times like these that people look to storytellers. To watch the news these days is not only terrifically depressing, it also only tells you a part of what’s going on. One of the most fascinating things about our current crisis is how far-reaching it has become. Everybody has been affected by it and that means its effects are deeply personal and intimate. And this is not something that the news can capture. It’s not about facts and it’s not about macro-trends and it’s not about what the stock market did yesterday or what President Obama will sign into law tomorrow. It’s about what this one family in this one town is struggling with today. Like I said, it’s intimate and it’s an intimacy that only a well-told story can reflect. This is why people in theater sign up to do theater.
So, we here at Need Theater have decided to jump into the fray. In the coming months, we’ll be working towards creating a theater piece that will reflect what is happening to people as we all ride through the storm together. It will be collaborative and based on the stories that people in our community share with us. In a best-case scenario, these stories will create a sort of unity of experience that will help us all to collectively band together and heal our society. Granted, that’s a best-case scenario. We had our first brainstorming meeting about this last weekend and it was just as terrifying as it was thrilling. We like to believe that we’re pretty good at taking a fictionalized world and creating a reality for it on stage. But to take reality and to create a fiction for it is quite a different story altogether and we have no illusions about the tough road that lies ahead of us. But we know that this is what we should be doing. This is our contribution. Thanks to those who want to come along with us.
By the by, if any of you want to contribute your stories, ideas or general comments as we go forward, I can be reached at DylanS@needtheater.org. Cool.

LA Theater Criticism 2.0?

Can LA theater survive without adequate coverage from journalists?

More and more I am convinced that the only way that will happen is if someone creates a huge non-profit website to cover LA theater. Combining volunteer reporting (Michael Ritchie used the phrase "peer-review" in a recent discussion on this very topic on KPCC's Airtalk) with professional journalism.

How to make this website work? Let's look to Martin Denton and the New York Theater Experience (NYTE) as an example. This group is a non-profit organization to support the NY Off-Off Broadway "Indie" Theater Community. In New York they call him "St. Martin." He is a former Marriot employee who founded NYTE nine years ago on a whim, after taking an internet training course. Since then, NYTE has grown to be one of the most admirable theater-service organizations in the country. We in LA could learn much from St. Martin.

NYTE is focused on providing online theater coverage. It does not charge dues to the tiny theaters that it serves. Rather, NYTE's revenues come from ad sales and tax-deductible donations.

It maintains nytheater.com, indietheater.org, and nytheatercast.com. They even have mobile.nytheater.com (instant theater on the go, directly to your cell phone!). They have reviews of every small theater show in town. And NY has just about as much small theater as LA. If you are putting on a play, NYTE will review you.

They have great blogs, and they have a wonderful podcast series. These are interviews that Martin conducts with the leading artists in the NY Indie Theater community. These podcasts are such a great chance for dialogue, community, and publicity.

For nine years, NYTE has published annual anthologies of small NY productions. Can you imagine if LA theater were published in an annual anthology? NYTE also hosts annual Indie Theater convocations. I could go on.

If we had an organization like this in LA, perhaps the collapse of theater coverage at the Times and the Weekly would be easier to deal with...

...Pilgrimage to St. Martin anyone? Next time any of you are in NY, call him and ask for a meeting. I'd be happy to facilitate.