I Just Wanted To Use The Phrase "Mea Culpa"
Trying to catch you all up on everything since fringe madness began would be silly. Suffice it to say--the four shows we've had since Friday's opening were stellar--crowds have been hot, reception has been great, and truly: I am having so much fun being in that theater watching people watch this show.
Rumor has it that the lovely Miss Rhea spit her gum out onto the stage mid-laugh last night. Seriously, that's the best kind of compliment we can get.
Personally, I will be glad to have a little break once this week is over. I have something of a respite now, but do need to do some Fringe viewing myself. Right now, I'm feeling a little bit reluctant to sit in a theater any more than I already have, but I know I will regret it if I don't get myself out and about to at least a handful of shows.
On another note, I've been thinking a bit about the negative qualities Fringe-ing brings out in me. Some of them flared up over drinks at Bar Pillar last night while chatting with Hannah and Sweet Charles. A mea culpa to them both.
I think because during Fringe you are directly aware of who is getting press, who seems to be getting advantages of location or schedule choices--and it's so present in every conversation and every various blog update--that it pushes my competitive buttons. Which is ridiculous and awful because that is so not what Fringe is about. And also ridiculous for me to fixate on this when I know we have been very fortunate to get the amount of press we've gotten, when many shows have had to fight for even a mention.
So it's like I'm looking the great gift horse that is the Fringe in the mouth and then pulling out it's teeth because I get kind of tired and moody and arrogant, sometimes.
I'll chalk it up to lack of sleep and a recent shitty diet, and hope that Charles and Hannah forgive.
I can be happy. I am happy.
If nothing else, Jason Linkins--and the fact that he will be at our show on his special day--makes me happy.
posted by SAS @ 2:56 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
I hear you on the negativity,
the past few days I've gotten really obsessive about the reviews, I keep checking and re-checking the City Paper blog (why aren't there any more up yet?)
And I loved your show, and love all y'all, but my god I've read about ten positive online reviews, and we haven't gotten a single full review for Nutshell, just a couple of comments hither and thither. Although compared to the rest of the spectrum we've done ok, as you said, some shows have terrible timeslots and aren't getting any coverage at all.
I'll just be glad when it's over, because I feel defensive and icky about a lot of it. It's hard not to get that way when you have been rehearsing for months for something that is over in mere days.
august will be a regenerative period. I can feel it.
no need for apologies. really. glad we were able to get a drink in the midst of fringe frenzy.
wowzers. gwen and me left comments at the same time. we're so in sync
hannah, I am thinking your thoughts.
Gwen--I know. I shouldn't be complaining. We've gotten tons of great press. But it rubs me that the Post hasn't come. That's what I mean by me being silly and ungrateful. It's not rational, at all, I know. I've just been a bit in soft-underbelly mode since Friday...
Anyway, I'll see YOU tonight and that will make me happy.
Hannah-- Yes, hoorah for drinks and for your Gwen-tel Telepathy (heh, heh)
You know its funny. Fringe is meant to be a bastion of freedom, but in a lot of ways its ends up bringing out the comercialism in many. I don't know how to combat this. Maybe its our culture so ingrained in all of us.
I say a ton that the key to participating in Fringe is to know why you are doing it. If the goal is to make money then you should complain about coverage especially if you have made the effort to invite all the right people and have built relationships over the years.
I remember the hardest moment for Fringe for me last year was when my friends doing the 24 hour dance piece yelled at me because they didn't sell enough tickets. It hurt a lot and they later appologized. Being up 24 hours will wear you thin. In then end, i think they realized that there was no where else in DC that they could do a 24 hour dance piece and be so embraced.
My favorite moment of Fringe last year was when after my friends who did the aerial performance at Woolly told me that Fringe was an important tool for their growth as artists. They had never done a show with a real story before and Fringe awakened all new ideas. Now, I'm sure it helped that they sold well.
In the end, everyone has to remember why you are doing it and be honest about it. To be discovered. To make money. To try something new. To write your first play. To overcome your fear of public speaking. If you are true to yourself then you will enjoy it for what it is. An outlet.
City Mouse, you are a brilliant director and Washington DC is very lucky to have you. You don't need fringe. Fringe is blessed to have you. You deserve all the reviews and attention and I mean that truly.
I hope you don't read this as a missive of your comments. I hate that Fringe does this to many many people. I hate that the arts have become so competative. I hate a lot of things I guess.
Anyway all, thank you so much for coming to Fringe and blogging about it and thank you most of all for being in DC now. Please stay.
Damian
well put Damian, that's lovely.
i think the main reason we were so peeved with Nutshell is that with a 27 person cast, unless you sell an ass-load of tickets, ya aint gettin paid.
but hooray for the art, AND the money, and the experiment.
good to see you shirley. When all this is over, let's have us a nice long drink.
That is quite a cast. Well, hope the show was at leat fun for everyone.
BTW, I want to be clear, I am not in any way saying that there should be no anger out there. I just was more reflecting on the internal struggle I go through with this Festival.
I say good things like, you should know why you are doing fringe and enjoy, while at the same time I track sales like a hawk and work out coverage of the Festival in every Washington Post. I am seeking my own balance in this world.
Peace love
you know, I think I was at that show when the gum was onstage. I remember thinking, that looks like a piece of chewing gum...
Damian and Gwen,
Great points and great discussion.
Damian: Firstly, thank you. Shucks, gee, golly--kind words--all of them. And the fact is--Fringe was a surprise financial success for Bouncing Ball. We so far surpassed our expectations of financial success last year, and again this year. So--no complaints there. And Fringe has been exactly what Shawn and I needed both years, though hose needs were slightly different each time: last year it was a chance for a local playwright to produce work in DC (which is really tough to do, I know, and something that riddles me with guilt in my position at Catalyst--why aren't we doing more local playwrights?) and this year it was a chance for both of us to try something new that realistically wouldn't ever fit in a more mainstream venue (neither TRIXIE or CAUTIONARY are, or ever aspire to be, "traditional book musicals").
Maybe next year we'll shift in another direction and do the most straightforward, traditional book musical you can imagine--shock everyone that way.
The bottom line is, we love working together. We love working with the members of our casts. We love making people smile and laugh and chuckle and gasp in the theater. It's just fun.
So you are right--knowing why we are doing Fringe has helped us to set and meet objectives for the experience.
That being said, if a big theater in DC saw one of our shows and said, "We want to produce a fully staged and funded production of this" neither of us would object. Doesn't seem likely however. We don't quite have the right aesthetic for any of the big players producing musicals.
So what am I complaining about in the first place? I guess the only thing the Fringe Fairy God-mother didn't grant us with was a Post mention. Is it really that big a deal? Maybe not. Maybe it would have been negative anyway and that certainly doesn't help the future of a show. And I understand, they can't cover everything. And the Post has been so consistently good to me--and to the smaller DC theaters over the years (pretty consistently)--that I do not want to sound like I am bitching at them at all. In fact, I don't know what I want to sound like.
There is an overall dilemma of a scarcity mentality in the arts, at all times, and I think it comes into focus during a festival like this. Eg. We know there are 110 productions and we know that the City Paper will realistically only be able to cover say, 30. That means that 70-odd shows will not be covered by the City Paper. It leads us to hope that the production before us doesn't get covered to increase the chances that we will be covered. It applies to everything--tickets sales, buzz--there is only so much to go around so someone has to get less in order that we get more.
I guess that's capitalism.
The scarcity mentality bleeds into our actual work. If there are fourteen great parts for women in their early twenties in a season and forty actresses in town right for those roles... well, some people aren't getting cast. If every theater can hire two freelance directors in any given season, then what of the eight emerging directors struggling to get their proverbial feet in the door?
It's the way it is. I don't think it is this way for lawyers or doctors where, presumably--if you know how to do your job and our well-trained to do your job--you get work. There are so many other factors at play when trying to get work in the theater.
Anyhow, I think it was the sense that this scarcity mentality behavior was running in the air that I was reacting to. It is always present, it HAS to be present, but it feels particularly active during this time--when we are all trying to get people and press for our shows. It's the way a festival works and I don't think there is anything to be *done* about it. I think the adjustment comes from inside, and I am struggling with that myself.
As always, great to have bright people in this community to toss these ideas around with. Happy fringing, friends.
Sorry about the "our"/"are" substitution. Got all typing fast there and missed it.
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