Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Super Picture

Hung out with Brian and Greg last night and did a lot of catching up and envisioning. 11:11 has a new 5-play season structure. Aggressive for a young theatre company in Boston. Excluding summer, that's one production every 8 weeks. Will Boston audiences, aside from friends and family, want to see one company's work every two months? Can a company structure that is based on a barter system of serve-the-company and grow-as-an-artist support such a schedule?

In the year I've been away from the company, a lot has happened. There is now more support - monetary, artistic, technical - and there is less groping for space. Doors are opening more.

Brian embarks on grad school at BU next year. That too is probably going to mean more exposure, more growth, a greater scope.

The season begins with The Unnoticed at the Devaughnan. There are two 2-week slots at the BCA in March and May, Brian said. He plans to do Where the Lost Boys Go and the musical. The theme is "magic" and so we discussed the script Neverland which I so wanted to produce for the slot I got at the BCA the first 3 weekends in April. Greg felt that Neverland was too great a risk for a first go at producing and we eventually found and were thrilled to choose Dancing at Lughnasa, which I plan to dramaturg and play the role of Agnes.

But a huge part of my heart still holds a dream for Neverland to enjoy its Boston premiere, if not with Way (the group I started to secure the BCA and future slots for some dream projects). And I pitched the play to Brian for 11:11 to consider for this season if there is a slot or the next. He asked to see the play. I shall e-mail him the first half I got online and give him the play at the first Unnoticed rehearsal next week. Greg brought up issues with Neverland which he hadn't voiced before, perhaps because he knew how much I saw potential in it. He had said it could be a good second year play to produce, but not for our first project. This time he mentioned the character archs. Good points. I'm not sure I totally see what he saw. It will be good to see what Brian thinks. If 11:11 could produce it, I would be so excited for the audiences and the playwright.

So I have the context of the bigger picture now. The Super Picture as I call it. Brian said The Unnoticed has a lot of dramaturgical possibilities. Like mermaid research, he said. I also see possibility in the characters' backgrounds. The context of a culture that embraces communal isolationism as its default in an apartment shared by 3 individuals. I think starting high level and then zooming in on the various pieces is the best approach. We shall see!