PRODUCING: Thus It Ever Was...

... high ticket prices edition:

And when it opens Antony and Cleopatra on October 22, tickets won't come cheap: $42 for the best seats, a new high that this season will match Goodman, Steppenwolf, and Northlight for prime weekend evening performances.

The new top ticket price puts these not-for-profits in the same league as commercial producers. While downtown touring productions of Broadway shows may charge $70 for their best seats, off-Loop commercial ventures--like Forever Plaid at the Royal George or The Irish...and How They Got That Way at the Mercury--have been typically asking less than $40.

Chicago Reader. (h/t Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago)

ARTS POLICY: League of Independent Theaters Endorses Koster for AEA Council

I'm not a member of Actor's Equity, nor does my company work with Actor's Equity actors, but for those of you who are involved, you will be interested in this note that the League sent to its members:

My name is Chris Harcum and I am writing you to voice my support of Erin Maureen Koster for Actors' Equity Council. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for the League of Independent Theater. I am also a proud member of Actors' Equity, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, and the Newspaper Guild. I believe in strong unions. At the same time, I completely support the creation of independent theater. Actors should be able to work on contracts when they are fortunate enough to land those jobs, and be able to create their own work to hone their craft and potentially gain future employment. 

Independent theater is an important part of the NYC theater scene. It impacts the financial well-being of the city. It gives artists an invaluable chance to get their work seen in front of an audience in the best theater town in the world. It gives actors an alternative to paying for classes and auditions for industry people. It gives respect and recognition to some of our finest.  

But the restrictions of the Showcase Code make doing this difficult.  

Most showcases do not have enough time to rehearse. Frequently, word of mouth and press don't begin to drive audiences to these shows until the final weekend. Runs do not have the requisite number of performances to qualify actors for some awards. And the leap in cost to go from Showcase Code to a Mini or Off Broadway Contract has sidelined potentially successful runs of hits for many years. 

Erin Maureen Koster is running for a Stage Manager slot on the Actors' Equity Council. You can read her statement here: http://kosterforcouncil.wordpress.com/category/statement/. Her two main positions are to get more union work for stage managers and to make positive changes in the Showcase Code.  

I have already voted in support of Erin and encourage members of Actors' Equity to do the same. Voting is open until Wednesday, May 23. If you have signed up to e-vote you should have received an email with instructions. Otherwise, you should have received a paper ballot in the mail. If you want things to change for the Indie Theater community, please vote and forward this to all your theater friends to forward to all their AEA member contacts.  

Like Erin on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/KosterForCouncil.

As mentioned above, I don't work with AEA actors -- in part because of the difficulties that Chris Harcum notes in the message.

The vote is underway. There are two days left. If you participate in this organization, please look into this and the issues and exercise your vote.

RESPONSE: Quick Thought

Unlike a stand-up comedian or a comic literary stylist such as James Thurber, who engaged in obviously implausible situations, Sedaris’s stories fall into a gray area. 

Sorry, Washington Post, did I miss something? I'm pretty sure David Sedaris is a comic literary stylist...


(From an article about whether David Sedaris should be in trouble for "realish" memoirs).

FILM: Well This Seems Like A Bad Idea

Let's review:

Mark Zuckerberg got Jessie Eisenberg:

Bill Gates got Anthony Michael Hall:

Steve Jobs gets Ashton Kutcher:

I think that makes two degrees of separation between Jobs and Charlie Sheen. 

CHANGE: Millenial Advocacy

Here's how the bright new generation sees advocacy:


From the manifesto of the website Upworthy ("Here's what we think is wrong with the Internet, what we plan to do about it, and a picture of a cat.")

For those of you who tut-tut this younger generation of Upworthy's and Kony2012s who think that the "importance" of the message trumps anything like depth, complexity, or accuracy to the facts... just know the same rules apply to high-brow performance.

 No naming names.

POLICY: Weddings are Beautiful. Damn them.

A fantastic look at marriage, actually presented at a real, honest to god wedding:

I celebrate Taylor. I celebrate Karina. I celebrate [Taylor&Karina]. But this wedding also has a third party involved, and it ain’t the Holy Spirit. It is the State. After today, Karina and Taylor will be a legally recognized union, and with that recognition the State will provide a package of benefits and rights which should be inalienable, and offered to all people regardless of relationship status. These rights include but are not limited to joint holding of property as tenants, lower tax rates, access to joint healthcare, and, according to the Government Accountability Office, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of federal benefits, rights, and privileges. You may think it’s a big deal to update your relationship status on Facebook. When you update it with the State, you suddenly have more rights. You are more of a person now.

This should not be.

Applying to the State to endorse a relationship is ceding to the State the power to define, condone, and judge the validity of relationships. This is a power they do not have, and it is one I am distinctly unwilling to allow them.

RTWT.


- Posted from brain to blog via iPad.

PERSONAL: Coming Up For Air

Take this as another apology from me... Periodically, I get swamped by work and by performances, and it takes me a bit to reboot. So I'm back in the saddle, will do some catching up.

Also, in order to try and get my life back in order, I'm looking at using my iPad to its full potential.


- Posted from brain to blog via iPad.