Monday, August 16, 2010

Mondays are Dark

Moving
The Miami Herald talks with M Ensemble about their upcoming move to a new space being developed by The Miami Light Project.

Moving On
Jonathon Wemette, Artistic Associate at Florida Stage and a long time Theatre Scene supporter, is heading back to school.  But before he gets caught up in Yale's Theater Management MFA program, he says good bye on 1st Draft. Best of luck!

Moving up
Mosaic Theatre has become a full Equity contract theatre, according to South Florida Theater Review. (Actors' Equity Association is the union for professional stage actors and stage managers).  The company has used Equity actors in the past, but by "special arrangment."  Now the company has a fixed contract with the union that not only makes it easier to hire Union actors, but will allow them to help actors enter the union.

Richard Simon's "little theatre that could" isn't the first Equity theatre in Broward County;  the defunct companies that held AEA contracts included the Off-Broadway Theatre, the Vinette Carol Repertory Company, and the little Hollywood Boulevard theatre. Even the Stage Door Theatre employed union actors for a time. Have I missed any?  Did the Hollywood Playhouse ever get beyond "guest artist" status?

Another First For Actors'
Well, a first production, anyway.  The Drama Queen reports that Actors' Playhouse will be premiering See Jane Run, a new musical by Maribeth Graham and Dana P. Rowe.

Word of Mouth, um, Text
Butts in Seats mulls over what happens when social media picks up your event promotions.
What people are choosing to include in information to their friends often isn’t what I think sells the show.
In this case, the author notes that sometimes stuff gets out because of Twitter's 140 character limit, or poor copy-and-paste practices.  But I remember an artistic director complaining that whenever he was interviewed about a show by the media, he always felt that they missed he reasons he chose the show and fixated on something he thought mundane.

Which begs the question: do any of us really know "what sells the show?"

Lucie does some 'splainin'.
American Theatre Wing posted an MP3 of and interview with Lucie Arnaz. At about 49:50, she talks about working at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, including keeping Sonia Flew open.
"...I called my buddies over there... Bacardi... the next day... gave us a check for $50,000.   But the board of directors was already so crazy that they had shut the door to the theatre and locked us out for three days, not knowing we were in this campaign raising mode, and then all the people we had emailed to help us said 'we're not going to throw good money after bad - the place is closed!'  It was a disaster."
The more things change, the more they stay the same; the Grove board still can't seem to manage to talk to people.

3 comments:

  1. Re: Moving Up.

    Inside Out was EQUITY but they're not technically gone are they?

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  2. Thanks, Chris. Leaving my home of four years is hard, but it helps to know I'll be able to keep an eye on South Florida theater through your blog. It continues to be great work you do.

    All the best,
    Jon

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  3. I can't remember the last time Inside Out produced anything; they may pop up with something. But since they don't have a regular production schedule, they're not really providing dependable employment for anyone.

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