Monday Night

Well, last night I went to the play reading committee meeting for the theatre. I spent several years on the committee, and it's a very tough (satisfying, but tough) job. You need to balance determining what kind of theatre you want to be with what kind of theatre you can be (because of your home audience, and core of actors, and technical capabilities, so forth); you need to balance shows you do "for your soul" with shows you do for box office; and (no small feat) you need to set aside your hat as an actor or a director and make sure you choose shows that will be good for the theatre, not shows that you want to star in or direct. Plus, we tried -- with some success -- to never capitulate to the siren song of simply doing popular shows that we don't like. We tried -- always! -- to do shows that were actually quality scripts.

Plus -- also no small task -- it's nice if you can present a season that, taken as a whole, is something you're proud to present to the public. This current season,we went with a "classics" theme -- presenting the original, classic "Dracula", followed by "The Importance of Being Earnest", and finishing with "Once Upon a Mattress" (which, while maybe an inch deep, truly and deservedly is a classic of musical theatre).

After having served for several years, it was time for fresh blood, so I wasn't going to be on it this year. But....it kind of came to my attention that they were meeting (sporadically), and had gotten exactly nowhere. So I was asked to maybe be on it again, and I was glad to help....and, essentially, we were starting from zero. They were looking at a few plays; a mish-mosh of shows that no one knew, a themeless season, and no general plan or even direction for progressing. I did NOT want to just take it over; that's not why I agreed to serve....but I felt I could give them some direction and a process (or at least describe for them the process we had used for a long time, which may not be the only way to do it but which worked for us).

Anyway.....

We made progress. We've -- more or less -- established a framework for the season (drama or straight play; comedy; musical), with the possibility of sneaking in a small Christmas show (like, f'r example, "A Child's Christmas in Wales"). We are going to look hard at the possibility of doing Shakespeare in the fall (a hyooge leap for us (scary and exhilerating to attempt)); followed by a mainstream comedy (like maybe Woody Allen's "Don't Drink The Water"); followed by a more mainstream musical (although maybe not quite so mainstream, provided we can find the right marketing hook for whatever we choose). Don't know what the "theme" for that hodgepodge is, but at least it's a start.

And at least we've got an umbrella under which to focus.