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.

DevilDriver - "Fate Stepped In"

UPDATE OF AWESOME: Here is video of the actual event I attended with S.H.I.T. Show crew ... you're welcome.


WTF pro-wrestling w/Einstye concert, guts, sheep?

roseman (kevin) | MySpace Video

So I got invited to this event on Sunday which features semi-pro wrestlers, metal, and all the beer you can consume while rocking out and rooting for more steel chairs!! (I would give details but the email I got had this line in it: "Tap the bottle, twist the cap, and prepare your blunts as some of the most highflying and exciting professional wrestlers from around the state will compete in front of a rowdy audience." - so I don't think this event is exactly on the radar, or, ya know, legal)

Anyway, in honor of the event, here's the DevilDriver vid "Fate Stepped In," directed by PF homie Dan Burke.



And here's some hella dank wrestling footage from back in the day:

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

Info on SF Critics Circle + Thoughts on Awards

The San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle posted nominations for their annual awards a few weeks back which sparked some questions from local theater makers on the SFBATCC in particular and debate about awards/press coverage in general. This post is an attempt to shine some light on the working of the SFBATCC and kick around some thoughts on awards. (Full Disclosure: PianoFight and Original Sin's co-pro of "Pulp Scripture" was nominated for two SFBATCC awards).

The whole concept of awards can be seen as a bit idiotic - a bunch of people patting each other on the back for essentially doing their job. However, don't most businesses do this in some form or another? (think Employee of the Month)

There is general debate about whether awards are necessary, and the simple answer is no, they're not. But that doesn't mean the SF Theater Scene should just forget about them. Awards are used to highlight excellence and I'd argue more importantly, to market the industry. The Oscars bumped up their Best Film nominees to ten this year in large part due to the ticket sales and awareness that result from a Best Film nomination. Locally, I'm sure the reason the SF Fringe gives Sold Out awards to every sold out performance at the festival is in part to encourage performers to heavily promote their shows. (For a great post on why awards are great tools and how they could run more effectively, and to see just how behind SF is on the awards front, check out LA producer Rick Culbertson's blog)

So assuming that awards are inherently good for awareness, ticket sales, and generally speaking, the bottom line, I emailed Critics Circle member (and all around awesome dude) Tom Kelly to get some more info on the SFBATCC, and here's the synopsis:

CB: How do journalists get on the Critics Circle?

TK: In the past, membership in the Critics Circle has been by invitation. Circle members (via the Membership Chairman) invited members of the print media press to join us. Nowadays, with blogging and online reviews, the world of theatre reviewing has opened tremendously. And the Circle is still trying to figure out how to pick through the multitude of online reviewers to invite the best (and most dedicated to theatre coverage) to join us.

CB: Is the Critics Circle funded by any person, group of people, or organization?

TK: No. All of the Circle does their nominating, voting, event-night-work for FREE ... The only function of the Circle, the way I see it, is to see theatre (as much as our lives permit) through the year, to nominate and vote for what we think is the very best, and then to announce and applaud that excellence.

The SFBATCC is essentially a bunch of theater critics who love theater so much, they give up their time and energy to see tons of it, organize themselves enough to get a consensus on what was the best, then throw a party for Scene to honor that excellence. Pretty awesome.

But as with anything, there are definitely areas which could be improved upon. As I see it, there are two main problems with how the Critics Circle is set up right now:

A) They have no website
B) There is no organization, producing entity or fiscal sponsor behind the Circle (NOTE: Actors' Equity is sponsoring the awards ceremony though it's not clear exactly how involved they are with that event or with the SFBATCC in general)

Having no website means that there is really no effective way to communicate with the community. TBA tries to help by posting up the nominees and winners on its website, but even that's not enough. There is no place people can go to see who is on the Critics Circle, why the Critics Circle exists, how the Critics Circle operates or how to get involved and support. Failing to provide basic information to the public can appear like secrecy and raise suspicions, and the inability to calm these suspicions and answer basic questions leads to frustration which the Critics Circle can never really respond to because it doesn't have a website.

And I'll bet the simple reason the SFBATCC has no website is because there is nobody to pay for it, create it or update it, because there is no private or public entity backing the Circle.

So the question becomes, how do we solve this problem? How do we embrace the basic concept of honoring outstanding work for the purposes of awareness and marketing, and move the only big theater awards in SF from the questionable fringes into the thriving center of the scene?

Theater Bay Area could probably help organize awards, and to their credit, I think the organization has tried to in the past (going to forward this post to TBA's marketing director Clay Lord and see what he thinks). Some of the larger theater companies (ACT, Berkeley Rep, The Magic etc) could also get involved and provide some interns to help organize/email or provide a venue etc.

But until we have a big enough entity willing to put their time, energy and cred on the line for the community, we're going to run with those bunch of theater crazy critics at the SFBATCC.

CB: So what's up with the big hoopla Awards party?

TK: Before the dot-com bust, we celebrated every year with large parties of 400+ theatre-folk coming together as a community to honor our best achievements. For the last eight years, due to no money, we cut back to a small winners-only event which precluded the community celebration. This is our first attempt at returning to the large-scale "let's party" event (and this year, we're on a shoestring budget). Help spread the word cause it's going to be a grrrreat party!

The San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Awards Ceremony will be held at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, Monday, May 3, 2010 at 6:00pm. Tickets are $20.

The following is a list of Critics Circle members in 2009, as put together by Theatre Bay Area in its "Sources of Publicity" book:

Jerry Friednman (President)
KGO Radio
jerryjsf@msn.com

Joe Marchi (VP, Newsletter Editor)
Pacifica Community TV
amerimus@sbcglobal.net

Jeff Smith (Treasurer)
The Carrier
JeffreyRSmith@aol.com

Richard Connema (Awards Co-Chair)
TalkinBroadway.com
connema@comcast.net

Tom Kelly (Awards Co-Chair)
SF Bay Times
writeguy.tom@gmail.com

Kedar K. Adour MD
Theatre World Internet Magazine
kadour@aol.com

Linda Ayres-Frederick
SF Bay Times
lbaf23@aol.com

Carol Benet
The Ark, ARTSSF.com
carolbenetcritic@comcast.net

Charles Brousse
Marin Independent Journal
cbrousse@juno.com

Ken Bullock
The Commuter Times
bullock83@gmail.com

Mario Echevarria
SF Tribune
editor@sftribune.com

Albert Goodwyn
SF Bay Times
albertgoodwyn@hotmail.com

John Angell Grant
Burlingame Daily News, Palo Alto Daily News
Redwood City Daily News, San Mateo Daily News
JohnAngellGrant@gmail.com

Robert Lee Hall
Piedmont Post
bmkjhall@comcast.net

Sally Hogarty
Contra Costa Times
sallyhogarty@gmail.com

Charles Jarrett
Rossmoor News
Megaline@comcast.net

David Kashimba
Joint Forces Journal Web Site
kashimbareviews@hotmail.com

Mark Langton
Marin Independent Journal
mark.langton@comcast.net

Dr. Annette Lust
West of Twin Peaks Observer
JeanLust@aol.com

Georgia Rowe
SF Examiner, ARTSSF.com
growe@pacbell.net

Judy Richter
AisleSay.com
jarichter@earthlink.net

David Templeton
North Bay Bohemian
talkpix@earthlink.net

Barry Willis
Marin Independent Journal, Pacific Sun
barry.m.willis@comcast.net

Theater Needs Better Rivalries

The aspect I most love about sports, be they professional or college or Olympic, is the ever present element of good old fashioned competition between rivals. A hotly contested rivalry gives each camp something to shoot for, a bar to meet and surpass, and pushes both sides to compete harder, better and smarter against all other competitors, not just the hated rival.

And for the most part, the competitive spirit between teams is usually pretty good natured as it's in the interest of both parties to keep the rivalry going. For example, the 49ers don't spend hours working diligently into the evening on the total destruction of the Cowboys organization (at least not publicly), because SF knows that when arch rival Dallas comes to town, tickets will move and beers will be sold at a quicker pace than when the Seahawks come visit.

Yes, of course, there are downsides whenever you're dealing with competition. Chloe Veltman has some thoughts on the alternative papers of the Bay Area, the Weekly and Bay Guardian, who apparently do work late into the evening desperately trying to destroy each other. Veltman argues that it's all a bit silly, considering they're both pretty excellent papers, but that the behavior is especially egregious given the gloomy economic prospects of newspapers these days. "If this continues," Veltman writes, "It won't be long before The Bay Area has no alternative papers at all."

And if you think that sounds a bit hyperbolic, just think about some of those crazy gnarly rivalries in politics, hip-hop or international soccer. Shit can get outta hand, for sure.

However, generally speaking, I think a little competition is a good thing. It's the basis for capitalism right? (Note: capitalism may or may not be a good thing, but for now it seems pretty well accepted around the world, so let's call it a solid.)

Look at the 2007 show down between Kanye West and 50 Cent - both agreed to release their latest albums at the same time and subsequently retire from hip-hop if the other sold more copies in the first week. Though generally regarded as a marketing ploy to boost sales, the face off was hyped as some super personal rivalry between two mega-star rappers. According to Forbes, it worked, "Rivalries sell records."

What's ingenious about sports rivalries, is that a) there is theoretically no end to the rivalry, and b) the start of each new season essentially wipes the slate clean as both sides retool, change line-ups, hire some heavy hitters etc, and the rivalry resets itself. Example: every year every Cal Bears fan says the following about their football team, and it basically never comes true: "This year, we're totally going to beat USC and go to the Rose Bowl."

Theater could use some this competition, or any competition for that matter. Throw down challenges, level ultimatums, ratchet up the rhetoric and have some fun while you're doing it. Developing a marketing plan around competition energizes sales in other industries, so why not theater?

So how could good ole fashioned friendly competition play out in the theater community? Well, I can think of one example off the top of my head, but here's a few more:

1) Two theaters should agree to premiere the same play at the same time. They'd each do their own, individual, and unique as a snowflake productions of the show, but they'd build an entire marketing strategy around competing to sell more tickets. The theater that sells more tickets to its version of the show wins, and the competing artistic director has to shave his beard, or the other company has to agree to be pelted with rotten veggies.

2) Impact ran this pretty dope event called Beer Theater, an experiment which asked the very scientific question, "Could medieval actors hold their liquor better than Impact actors?" Great question, and one that desperately needs to be answered right away and frequently. Now toss a little competition into the mix and you've got some uber dank entertainment. Pit two companies against each other who both perform the same scene and decree that whichever group manages to polish off more pitchers of beer over the course of their scene wins. The loser has to immediately sing a drunken karaoke version of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn".

3) Build a social networking marketing campaign around winning Best Theater Co. in all these Best of the Bay lists that the Chronicle, Weekly and Bay Guardian put out in the Spring. Fans would get more active on Facebook pages or comments sections and eventually start doing their own marketing for their chosen company. The losing company has to put out a YouTube video acknowledging the winner as the Best in the Bay ... or agree to get pelted with rotten veggies.

Point is, all of these strategies would energize fan bases, increase sales, and be generally fun for participants and audience alike. If rivalries can sell records, they should also be able to put butts in seats.

"Happy Birthday To Me"

A short film made by PF homie Mauriccio Baiocchi and starring PF artistic director (read: d-bag in residence) Rob Ready.

Happy Birthday to Me from Mauricio Baiocchi on Vimeo.

Off-Market Gets Nods from Critics Circle and ... Dave Chappelle?

As you well know, Off-Market's a pretty small venue in the grand scheme of things. But we pride ourselves on providing intimate, provocative and fun entertainment at a relatively low cost. So when we suddenly get a bunch of compliments from creative and critical contemporaries alike, we're compelled to brag like idiots about the kudos.

For example, did you know that:

5 plays which ran at Off-Market in 2009 recently received 9 Critics Circle nominations? Plays that ran at Off-Market in '09 were "A Delicate Balance," "Putting it Together," "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," "Pulp Scripture" and "The Santaland Diaries." Shows were nominated in categories ranging from Best Entire Production, Best Male Performance, Best Original Script, Best Solo Performance, Best Ensemble, Best Female Performance in a Musical, Best Musical Director to Best Ensemble in a Musical. Congrats to Off-Market alum Custom Made and current Off-Market groups Ray of Light, Combined Artform and PianoFight for making live theatre thrive in 2009.



World class kick ass comic Dave Chappelle stopped by Off-Market last weekend to catch City Solo? Here's what he thought of the show: "City Solo at Off Market is like an adventure, it's funny then heartfelt then funny again. I've never seen solo shows done like that before." And if you think we're BS-ing, check out a photo of Dave hanging with buddy and City Solo producer Nicole Maxali in the lobby of 965 Mission below. City Solo runs Sundays at 7:00pm, Ticket/Info: www.OffMarketTheaters.com



The only improv show in the country which hooks up two casts in two cities using live, streaming video over the Internet, Tilted Frame Network, returns to Theatre Asylum in Los Angeles and Off-Market in San Francisco? Once again, two casts separated by nearly 350 miles will use audience suggestions and in some cases the audiences themselves to create Tilted Frame Network's new "season" through short-form improv games based on TV, Film and the Internet. Tickets/Info: www.TiltedFrame.com



Eat, Pray, Laugh! - Alicia Dattner's comic solo show, has been extended for a second time at Off-Market? Dattner's show, the tagline to which is "Jewish princess seeks Indian guru for one life stand," will continue through April on Wednesday nights at 8:00pm for a 15 week run at Off-Market. Tickets/Info: www.AliciaDattner.com



The last time Ray of Light Theatre performed at Off-Market, the show was nominated for a Critics Circle Award? ROLT is back at OM, this time with the musical "Baby." If history is any indication, it's going to be a great show. Tickets/Info: www.ROLTheatre.com

ForePlays is on its third all new show in 4 months? Monday Night ForePlays continues to draw killer crowds to its female-driven variety show with award winning comics, jaw dropping musical guests, crazy awesome dance numbers and damn funny sketch comedy. Plus, there'll be an ALL NEW show in April! Tickets/Info: www.PianoFight.com/Monday-Night-ForePlays



Spontaneous Combustion is exploding comedy on March 27th? Back for its eleventh show at Off-Market, short and long-form improv comedy troupe Spontaneous Combustion is lighting up audiences with laughs and features musical guest Yael Schy. Tickets/Info: www.SponComSF.com

ShortLived is rumbling into town with Sleepwalkers, Threshold, Crisis Hopkins, Bill Bivins, Daniel Heath and tons more playwrights and theater companies all competing against each other - and you decide the winner? Oh yeah, the largest audience judged playwriting competition in the nation returns to SF with some of the finest talent in the Bay - not to mention, ShortLived is running in LA this year also. Tickets/Info: www.PianoFight.com/ShortLived-3

Hyper Raje Records is throwing another rock show March 27? Hyper Raje, which bands in and out of their recording studio in the basement of 965 Mission St typically puts together one or two straight-up rocking shows every month. Hi Like 5 plus two more bands - Tickets/Info: www.HyperRajeRecords.com

And, as always, you can get more info about everything going on at Off-Market at our bitchin new website www.OffMarketTheaters.com and more on resident company PianoFight at www.PianoFight.com

Thanks for reading, and see you at the show!