Putting it Together – Die Laughing
I’m moving my Putting it Together blog to Sunday. It used to be on Monday but I decided to switch things up. If you are OCD, this is probably messing with you. Otherwise, you probably don’t care.
As I write this, we aren’t even halfway through Die Laughing. I don’t know if we’ll manage to raise the funds we hope to raise with this insane idea. I really hope we make it (looks like we will). I’ll tell you one thing about this crazy show I already know – I want to do it again.
Running a theatre company is expensive. And the more you want to do, the more expensive it gets. I would love to tell you that everyone can raise all the funds they need from ticket sales but the truth is, there is hardly a company in existence that makes all of their money that way. Fundraising is a reality that most companies will have to face.
So we have to raise money. The idea, however, is to find ways to make the fundraising enjoyable. Because nobody likes asking for money all the time. And people get tired of being asked.
Making it enjoyable for the audience is obvious. I’d like people to show up for some percentage of a fifty hour marathon. I’d like to believe they will enjoy some of it.
But it also has to be enjoyable for the people putting on the event. Any event that lasts fifty hours is a lot of work. If you aren’t having any fun, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
Putting it Together – Collaboration
Putting it Together is my Monday “artist talking about art stuff blog”. The title comes from “Sunday in the Park with George,” the best (and possibly only) musical that is entirely dedicated to an artist talking about his art. Is that pretentious enough?
Collaboration is one of those words that theatre people throw around in the same way corporate America throws around the word “Paradigm.” We make it sound really important. Can you actually produce theatre without collaborating?
Can you produce business without a paradigm?
While I’m certain that you can do business without paradigms (or synergy), it’s pretty hard to produce theatre without collaboration. Even if you are writing a one person show and the person in question is you, you probably aren’t going to be running your own lights. You might want someone else to direct your show.
Grail Diary 