ShortLived Short Going to Film

A piece called "Witness to a Murder," written by Evan Winchester, which competed in ShortLived 3.0, has now been renamed to "Low Shoulder" and is in pre-production for a short film. Elijah Wolfson (who has shot numerous excellent things for PianoFight) has signed on to direct and Gabrielle Patacsil (starred and produced many PF shows) is handling production.

The whole process has been pretty interesting. After seeing the Threshold show "Terroristka" in Berkeley, I grabbed a drink with Threshold members (read: theater power couple) Jessica Holt and Alex Curtis at some burger place whose name I can't remember. As we were leaving, I saw Evan and Elijah walking in so I joined 'em for beers while they kicked around ideas of how to rework "Witness to a Murder" into a film. The script has undergone major changes since and from that point on the project has taken on a life of its own spawning a blog which produces original content while documenting the process of turning the piece into a short film.

You can check out the blog here and while you're there also have the option to donate to the project via PayPal (something PianoFight has yet to figure out).

We'll be posting more on this process and cross posting to the "Low Shoulders" blog as often as possible. Enjoy!

Playwright's Career Takes Off After ShortLived

The other day I sent a note to Allison Davis, a playwright whose piece "The Boyfriend Store," made it all the way to the finals in last year's ShortLived. She impressed the hell out of us, both with her writing and with her awesome human-ness, so we produced another one of her pieces in the world premiere of Monday Night ForePlays.

Anyway, I sent her a note to see if she'd submit again to ShortLived, and this was her response:

I have to tell you-ShortLived kicked off so many things for me. The Boyfriend Store going as far as it did gave me the confidence to keep writing...and I wrote a pilot that got me representation in LA...and a producer attached to the pilot...and now I'm writing a feature...and i swear to God it was all becuase of you guys, and the inspiration! I don't think I ever told you that. So thank you :-)

Outside of finding out she's so busy with all these new projects she doesn't have time to write a new piece for ShortLived 3.0, this was so cool to hear, and for me, really gets at the heart of PianoFight.

We may not pay much (or, well, anything in some cases), but we do provide access - you got a play? Submit it. Who knows, it might just kick serious ass and lead to hella awesome sheez down the line.

So congrats to Allison, couldn't happen to a nicer, more talented lady.

NY Times on PianoFight: "Good for Theater"

The New York Times' theater/culture/arts reporter in SF, Chloe Veltman, took the time to call up PianoFight the other day and get some info on ShortLived 3.0, the largest audience-judged playwriting competition in the country. Chloe's been keeping an eye on PianoFight ever since we ran Throw Rotten Veggies at the Actors Night last year, so after I sent her an obscenely long email pitching the virtues of writing about ShortLived, she called, had some questions, played Devil's advocate and ended up writing a pretty killer piece in the Times about creative ways to involve the audience being employed by arts organizations in general, and about how PianoFight has come up with some outside the box ways to engage the community in particular (Rotten Veggies and ShortLived).

The last few grafs read as follows:

Conversely, PianoFight’s all-out approach, though fun, threatens to sacrifice quality at the expense of interactivity. And the barriers to entry for “ShortLived” are exceedingly low: Anyone can submit a play. Because the audience is responsible for judging, authors frequently bring their fans. The winning play may therefore be as much the result of a popularity contest as it is a reflection of artistic merit.

Arts organizations should be careful not to let these interactive elements debase the quality of their work. Or it won’t be long before audiences start hurling rotten veggies on a regular basis.

And it's a fair warning indeed - be wary of engaging the audience just for the sake of interactivity as it could lead to a dip in quality. It should also be noted that Chloe, who has not seen a performance of ShortLived, is not saying that this is how the competition plays out - she's merely posing a hypothetical which could happen. That said, there are quality controls we've set in to the format and rules of the competition to prevent these things from happening, and which get a bit glossed over in those last two paragraphs.

1) While anyone can submit a play, and there are absolutely no registration fees or submission costs to writers (I'll be posting a note on the generally terrible access points in theater later this week), there is one huge barrier between submitting and actually getting in to the competition - the script has to be picked by the six experienced directors who make up the ShortLived Directing Team. It is only once a script has been vetted by that directing team (and two producers), that it is entered into the competition, produced and subsequently left to the audience to decide if it's any good.

2) Yes, a playwrights' fans, friends and family can influence the outcome to a degree, however, the format and rules of the competition are such that you've got to be pretty freakin popular to really sway voting. The 13-week competition is broken into six, two-week long rounds with a final Championship Weekend at the end. The only way to win the whole competition is to win that Championship Weekend, and the only way to get into that Championship Weekend is to win one of the rounds. Each round consist of four performances, which, if sold out as they usually are, is about 60 people per show and a total of 240 people scoring for one round. So even if a playwright cajoled 25 friends into seeing ShortLived over that two-week period (a pretty massive count as anyone who frequently invites friends to see their work well knows), that's still only one-tenth of the people who will ultimately be scoring pieces in that round. Furthermore, if that playwright happens to make it on to the next round, the scores reset, so she would have to continue pulling in more and more friends to keep stacking the odds in her favor.

In any case, just look at history as an indicator: audiences last year picked William Bivins as the winner. Bivins then went on to become the most produced local playwright of the 2009-10 Bay Area season with five world premieres; the writer/producer of the show at the 2009 SF Fringe which won more awards than any other; and the recipient of a 2009 Critics Circle nomination for Best Original Script.

Audiences at the first ShortLived picked Daniel Heath as the best playwright. Heath's play FORKING!, a fully-scripted, choose-your-own-adventure play in which audiences voted on how the plot would proceed, was so successful in SF it moved to Los Angeles for a month AND spawned a holiday spin-off titled A Merry FORKING! Christmas, which the Bay Guardian called "A runaway Christmas classic."

The writers of PianoFight's S.H.I.T. Show had top three finishes in both previous ShortLived competitions, and have gone on to play the LA Comedy Fest and headline at the SF SketchFest, while picking up critical nods like this one from LAist who called the S.H.I.T. Show, "San Francisco sketch legends."

Essentially, audiences said they wanted to see more of these writers, and local theater critics and producers agreed.

As I said above, Chloe's warning is a fair one. Any companies taking the risk of inventing new ways to engage audiences need to keep a fundamental focus on quality, otherwise that audience engagement is ultimately pointless.

But I'll also submit another fair warning to those involved in the larger theater industry: do not underestimate your audience. Theater makers need to have a fundamental respect for A) what their audiences want to see, and B) what their audiences can and will accept, understand, be moved by and throughly enjoy. As ShortLived has proven in the past, audiences know just as well as producers what makes good theater.

Thanks for Reading,

-CB

Headlining SketchFest and a Million Other Things

Hello and Happy New Year!

With 2009 in the can and a new decade in front of us, it is PianoFight's New Year's resolution to kick more ass more often. And we're starting by kicking the crap out of January.

PianoFight's SHIT Show Headlines the Eureka Theater in SF SketchFest this Thursday

Thursday, January 21, 8:00pm - Only it's second year in the SF SketchFest, PianoFight's SHIT Show is headlining at a 200 seat house, the Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson St, with a killer group from Chicago, The Cool Table, opening the show. It will be the biggest SHIT Show to date, with our best material. Tickets/Info at: www.pianofight.com - check out the first promo video below:

The SHIT Show will also be playing a one-night only show at the Asylum Lab in Hollywood (6320 Santa Monica Blvd, 90038) on Saturday, January 30, 8:00pm. If you're going to be in LA or know a few peeps who dig The Comedy, all are welcome and brown bags encouraged.


PianoFight's First-Ever Full Length Drama, The Position, Premieres Feb. 4

WANTED: Six finalists for The Position - must be willing to relinquish clothing and identity, be recorded around the clock, and engage in dangerous psychological games ... survival not guaranteed.

Starting January 23, The Concern will be accepting applications for The Position at www.applyfortheposition.com - every applicant will receive a discount for $5 off tickets and will be entered in a chance to win two free tickets to the show. Also set to release on January 23rd is a helpful video designed to walk you through the steps of applying, while giving a bit more information about The Nation's most caring company, The Concern.


All Star Ladies Line-Up Returns in Monday Night ForePlays

Monday nights at 8:00pm, from Febraury 15 - March 29, mark the return of the Bay Area's only Monday night variety show featuring all new comedic sketches, dance routines, musical guests and stand-up comics.

The Ladies are also accepting script submissions for future shows, so if you happen to be female or know a couple who write, feel free to forward The Funny to TheLadiesWorkShop@gmail.com


Audience Judged Playwright Battle, ShortLived 3.0, now in SF & LA

Due to widespread demand (mostly from PF company members), PianoFight is now challenging Los Angeles (along with SF) playwrights/theater companies to put their work up to be judged by an audience in ShortLived 3.0. The winning writer in each city will receive a one-month run in SF and LA of a full-length they pen.

Check out the rules and format and how to get involved here (www.pianofight.com/shortlived-3) if you've got the balls.


PianoFight Reaches Out To (Drinks Beer With) Community

T.F.N. - Tilted Frame Network: Two Cities, One Show, Live Improv

PianoFight bro-homie business partner Combined Artform's TFN kicked off last weekend to big crowds in SF and LA who waited anxiously to see how two casts in two cities performed live improv while being hooked up by an internet video stream.

The resulting premiere (last weekend) was damn hilarious as SHIT Show regular Alex Boyd joined the TFN improv team while PianoFight AD Rob Ready jumped in to be the SF Host and PF's Exec Dir. Dan Williams signed on to help produce. T.F.N. runs Fri & Sat nights at 8:00pm through January 29. Tickets/Info: www.tiltedframe.com

PianoFight Tapped as Producing Partner for Bay One Acts Festival

PianoFight is producing Sam Leichter's razor sharp and dark one act play "The Philadelphian" in the BOA Festival, starting Feb. 18 - March 13 at the Boxcar Theater.

Starring the SHIT Show's own Ray Hobbs in his first dramatic role with the company, and PF newbie Brian Trybom rounding out the cast, "The Philadelphian" is directed by PianoFight AD Rob Ready. Tickets/Info: www.threewisemonkeys.org


PianoFight / Combined Artform filling Off-Market with Crazy Awesome Acts

As the resident companies / managing partners of Off-Market Theaters, PianoFight and Combined Artform have been hard at work filling out the line-up of knock-out Bay Area performers hitting the stage at Off-Market. Here'a the rundown:

Alicia Dattner's Eat, Pray Laugh! returns from World Tour, Lands at Off-Market

Jewish princess seeks Indian guru for one life stand in Alicia Dattner’s Eat, Pray, Laugh! Stand up comic and solo artist Alicia Dattner, winner of SF Fringe's 2008 "Best Female Solo Act," returns to the Bay Area after a world tour with stops in London and Mumbai, with her award winning solo show Eat, Pray, Laugh!. Alicia chronicles her three-month solo trip across India and everything from seductive French yoga teachers to scary Indian toilets, the Italian fashion exporter with a Krishna fetish and mosquitoes the size of small ponies, to Chabad Jews on the Ganges and ultimately, the true meaning of mustaches and masala chai. Wednesday nights at 8:00pm through Feb 24. Tickets/Info: www.aliciadattner.com

San Francisco Solo Artists Team Up for City Soulo

A culturally diverse collection of the finest solo artists in the Bay Area perform excerpts from their own full-length shows in. Thao is gay-er than a rainbow-farting unicorn but her parents have no idea. Vanessa is terrified of having a baby because of breastfeeding four-year-olds, eight hundred dollar strollers and nipples that look like monkey fingers. Zahra is struggling with middle school, specifically being seen as a Muslim fundamentalist who happens to be a fan of the greatest rapper of all time, MC Hammer. And Nicole is searching for self as she stumbles through drugs, sex, shoes and Jesus. See the heart of San Francisco in City Soulo. Sunday evenings at 7:00pm through Jan 31. Tickets/Info: www.offmarkettheaters.com

Tilted Frame opens up signature technologically-driven improv format to public in Techno Improv Jam

Combined Artform’s Research and Development department, publicly known as Tilted Frame, has been lighting up Bay Area improv for the last five years with its unique brand of technologically driven improv. Originally conceived as an evolving platform to test out the heights and pitfalls of tech in theater, the format has grown to include an ever-widening array of gadgets, games and genres. Now the R&D Department is giving the reigns to you. The most cutting edge improv platform in the Bay Area opens up its stage to the public with Tilted Frame’s Techno Improv Jam. Running Thursday nights at 8:00pm through January 28. Tickets/Info: www.tiltedframe.com


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And, for all of these events, brown bags are most certainly encouraged.

See you in the New Year!

-CB

Sleepwalkers v. PianoFight in Round 6 of "ShortLived"

SF Weekly's Best Theater Companies in the City, both the Editors' Pick and the Readers' Poll choice, Sleepwalkers and PianoFight respectively, will be battling it out in Round 6 of PianoFight's audience judged playwriting competition "ShortLived" - June 12, 13, 19 and 20.

Check out the promo below:




TICKETS - TICKETS - TICKETS - TICKETS - TICKETS

Congrats to Sleepwalkers (and SF Weekly)

Many heartfelt congratulations are in order for Sleepwalkers Theater for being named the Best Theater Company in San Francisco in SF Weekly's annual Best Of issue.

Sleepwalkers is one of the VERY few companies in the Bay dedicated solely to producing new work, and is the only one that comes to mind which has a "Submit a Script" link on its website.

These guys are the real deal, edgy and talented, smart and funny and always entertaining, and it's phenomenal to see them getting the recognition they so rightly deserve.

And speaking of recognition, I'd also like to send out a personal congrats to SF Weekly for naming Sleepwalkers the best. In terms of critical coverage of theater, a pervading theme is coverage and subsequent rewarding of previously produced work (for an explanation of what the hell I'm talking about, see my post on the Critics Circle here). Way to get out in front of the pack, SF Weekly, and honor a company that truly deserves it.

You can catch Sleepwalkers performing as the guest group in Round 6 of PianoFight's "ShortLived 2.0" June 12, 13, 19 and 20 at the Off-Market Theater.