Tuesday 3 – June 12th – Day 8
Can you believe I’ve been here over two weeks? I’m half way done.
My legs were killing me when I got up this morning. Took a long hot shower then walked to Lincoln Center to stretch them out.
I left the script I’m working on in the room so I went back to pick it up at lunch. I took the subway back to the hotel then had lunch and walked back to Lincoln Center.
I had a pastrami on rye. There is no question NYC has the best pastrami. Really good.
I learned something today. Lets say that I didn’t learn it – I just came to believe it. Mazz had told me this before I left and I think someone else did too. Lincoln Center has been holding these labs for over 15 years. Each year they have around 60 directors so about 900 people have attended them.
The people that attended years ago were like most of the people who are attending this year except that they have moved up in theater. They are now the artistic directors of regional theaters. In a few years they will be the artistic directors at the big national theaters – Mark Taper in LA, the Rep in Seattle, the Goodman in Chicago, Kennedy Center in DC and possibly Lincoln Center itself. When these people start to look for directors they will be the people that have also attended the Labs. For those looking to make their careers in professional theater this Lab is an important career step.
Today was a butt day – spent all day sitting on our butts.
One of the things I like best about LCT is that things start on time. Time is so limited that each minute counts so we start on the minute each time. My kind of place.
First up was Bernard Gersten – Executive Producer of LCT. REALLY interesting speaker. He talked informally with us for an hour and half and it seemed like 20 minutes.
Here are several points he made:
The LCT Board “urges us on in our follies.”
To pursue success is beneath an artist but popularity is not but they both are measured the same way: Butts in seats.
“Profitability occurs from time to time despite our best efforts.”
What is American Theater going to be in 5 – 10 -15 years? It is going to be you (us) and what you (we) bring.
There is an economic penalty to being in the theater. People in the theater rarely make a living although they can make a killing (ie, big hit).
Success in the For Profit market is about 20%. 80% of shows lose money, 20% break even or make money. There are no figures for non profits (we’re not supposed to make a profit. Remember?) But they are probably the same.
The annual budget of LCT is $25 to $30 million. 68% comes from ticket sales and 32% from donations.
He compared the theater to the trapeze in the circus. There are flyers (artists) and catchers (producers). The flyers put their lives in the hands of the catchers. If they trust their catchers they will attempt far more risky things and will succeed.
LCT charges $50 a year for a membership and members get their tickets for half price.
Of the 160,000 people who saw The Coast of Utopia, 30,000 members bought 55,000 tickets.
You might know more about it than I do but Utopia set a record for the number of Tony’s. It consists of three plays that take a total of NINE hours to see. The staff told the LCT Board a year ago that they expected to lose $4 million on the show. Instead they will make money on it.
In response to a question about Government subsidies, he said that the biggest subsidy is the tax donation donors got for their donations. Without that, none of us (Non profit theaters) would be here.
The second speaker was Richard Eyre – past Director of the Royal National Theater in England.
Another wonderful speaker.
He started as an actor but as he said: “As an actor, it was cruel to take out my inadequacies on an audience.”
“When I started directing, I thought I had to know everything and have it all figured out before rehearsals started. Then I figured I could do it all in my head. Then I finally realized that I need to lead and provide structure but now I let the actors figure things out. Listen and watch and comment on what the actors do.”
“Blocking can be done very late in the rehearsal process after the actor has inhabited the character (love that phrase). It works better because of this. If done too early, the actors are trapped in blocking that might not work for the character they develop.
He co-wrote and directed Judy Densch in the film IRIS. That might not mean much to most of you but it was my singing debut in Steven Anderson’s class at the old SOAR program at Camp Orkila before it moved to Seabeck as AIRE. Remember, Patty?
There is a built in conflict between the playwrights vision of the character and seeing his character through the actor.
“Only a garden can teach gardening.”
And finally:
A successful play is a massive accumulation of minor incidents.
I couldn’t have said all this better myself – I felt like I wrote his words.
Here is an interesting aside:
There are more jobs for actors as a percentage of those seeking work than there are for directors looking for work. Except that Directors can make work for themselves which an actor can’t do.
By the time we got to the final two speakers (7 to 10 pm), I was tired so I didn’t take as many notes. We had Michael Miller head of the Actors Center (training actors) and Daniel Swee, the Casting Director at LCT.
Two things prompted me to write them down:
The Casting Director never casts. The role is to narrow down the number of actors for the Director to audition.
Molly’s and Ted’s stuff on Auditions is spot on. There are three parts of the audition: (1) The entry, (2) the work and (3) the exit. (Sound familiar?) Number 1 and number 3 must be there for your work to be seen.
Make sure your audition reader is talented and can work off what the auditioner is giving him/her and can give the auditioner something to work off of.
Full Day – time for bed.
