I love when I get excited about something enough to want to write a blog post about it. It means whatever I have seen or experienced made the wheels inside my head start turning and that, my friends, is a what good theatre should do.
Ask and you shall receive. That’s the saying, right?! Well on Thursday I wrote a post asking for my theatre experiences to be a little less on the boring side and a little more on the entertaining side. And viola! I found myself smack in the midst of one of the most entertaining shows this year: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood playing at the Waterfront Theatre from now until January 2, 2010.
I laughed until my eyes were watering. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Josue Laboucane) and Guy of Gisborne (Ryan Beil) were absolutely hysterical as the baddies. Robin Hood (Lawrence Haegert) and his merry men spent most of the play sword-fighting, shooting arrows and swinging on ropes. And the end…oh the end. There might be a little singing and dancing but I won’t give it away. Just go see it because trust me it will definitely be a “good, good night”.
This was fairy-tale storytelling shrek-style and it was pure fun! The best part is I could tell, as an audience member, everyone on stage was having fun too!
I’ve never been to a Carousel Theatre production before (I know, I know, my bad) but if this is the quality of show they put on you can be sure I’ll go back. Yes, it is a TYA theatre production, but this show is fun for all ages. The little kids were shrieking and laughing which makes my grown-up heart burst because if this is the type of theatre kids are being introduced too then we are definitely building an audience for the future. Teenagers will love all the pop-culture references, even if they pretend not to in order to look cool to their friends, and every adult in that theatre last night was walking around with a giant smile on their faces. They weren’t there just to give their kids a good time. They were having just as much fun as the kids.
And guess, what?! The house was packed!!!
I haven’t said too much on my blog about the cuts to arts funding but it makes me sick to my stomach to think that a theatre company like Carousel - who puts on shows of this quality and who are helping to build the audiences of our future - is having their ability to do this kind of work threatened.
So, please, go support them. Last night was the first preview. Tonight is their official Opening Night. You have 5 weeks to go see this show. GO SEE IT!!! Take your kids. Take your parents. Your grandparents. Just go see it.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Rock Concert or Musical Theatre
Somehow, a couple weekends ago, I ended up at the KISS concert and if that isn’t a form of theatre I don’t know what is. I mean, really, you’ve got 4 men on stage dressed up in these crazy costumes that range anywhere from a bat (oh, sorry, I mean “demon”) to a cat. Gene Simmons (aka The Demon) during his solo bit had fake blood gushing from his mouth and then flew like Peter Pan up into the rafters. At one point Paul Stanley (aka The Starchild) hopped on a trapeze-type thing and went flying through the air circus-style onto a revolving stage in the middle of the audience.
Only 2 hours previous to that concert I was at a matinee performance of another theatrical production and while I appreciated the performances given by the actors overall, and I’m sorry to say it, I was bored by the play and the subject matter. And, when I go to the theatre, I want to be more than appreciative of the performances. I also want to be entertained. Now the KISS concert on the other hand was more than entertaining. It was a visual and auditory assault and it was fabulous!
Now, I’m not saying, every time I go to the theatre I need to see men in platform shoes or a pyrotechnic show; but I do want to be entertained. At least a little. And, I’m not the only.
I would say the other major difference between KISS and the other production was the audience. I know, I know, I can already hear you saying “Oh, she’s back on that again” but I wouldn’t be saying it if there wasn’t an ounce of truth to it. GM place can hold approximately 18,000 people, so with 1/3 of the seats being blocked by the stage, there was, what, maybe 12,000 people there, give or take. Back at the other theatre, that can hold approx 150 people, I did a head count of the audience during the show and there was approximately 15 people in the audience.
My question is: how many people at KISS regularly go to the theatre? I don’t know but I think it is a fair assumption to say not all 12,000 of them. Maybe 5% and that is being VERY generous. Yet, 12,000 people paid on average approx $100 for what could be thought of as essentially a piece of musical theatre.
When you look at it that way it’s hard to come up with the justification that people in this city don’t want to spend money to go to the theatre now isn’t it?!
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Only 2 hours previous to that concert I was at a matinee performance of another theatrical production and while I appreciated the performances given by the actors overall, and I’m sorry to say it, I was bored by the play and the subject matter. And, when I go to the theatre, I want to be more than appreciative of the performances. I also want to be entertained. Now the KISS concert on the other hand was more than entertaining. It was a visual and auditory assault and it was fabulous!
Now, I’m not saying, every time I go to the theatre I need to see men in platform shoes or a pyrotechnic show; but I do want to be entertained. At least a little. And, I’m not the only.
I would say the other major difference between KISS and the other production was the audience. I know, I know, I can already hear you saying “Oh, she’s back on that again” but I wouldn’t be saying it if there wasn’t an ounce of truth to it. GM place can hold approximately 18,000 people, so with 1/3 of the seats being blocked by the stage, there was, what, maybe 12,000 people there, give or take. Back at the other theatre, that can hold approx 150 people, I did a head count of the audience during the show and there was approximately 15 people in the audience.
My question is: how many people at KISS regularly go to the theatre? I don’t know but I think it is a fair assumption to say not all 12,000 of them. Maybe 5% and that is being VERY generous. Yet, 12,000 people paid on average approx $100 for what could be thought of as essentially a piece of musical theatre.
When you look at it that way it’s hard to come up with the justification that people in this city don’t want to spend money to go to the theatre now isn’t it?!
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
In the Slow Times
Hopefully if you are very lucky in your life as an artist you will never have a ‘slow time’ but for many of us that is sadly not the case. This year November is my ‘slow time’.
I’m not working on anything currently. The next costume design contract doesn’t start until the first week of December. Things for my own theatre company won’t really start to pick up again until the New Year. So, what do I do with my time?
Well to be honest I pretty much do nothing (hence the lack of interesting tweets). And, by that, I mean I kind of hermit myself especially if it is November and raining every single day. Then I take this ‘slow time’ as an opportunity to regroup and figure out what my goals are and the things I want to accomplish in the future…
No wait, that must be someone else, because most of the time I just end up watching tv on my computer. Don’t judge me, I mean I can’t sit around all day, staring into space and pondering the big life questions, can I?!
Ok, so seriously, what do I do then? I try to do all the admin work that I don’t have time for the rest of year. The boring stuff like filling out those government documents I need to complete for the CRA (Please don’t come and audit me. Thank you.) I hate it because it is a mind-boggling mind-field of language that even the most intelligent of us don’t understand. Trust me. I took these documents to my lawyer on Friday and both of us were a bit stumped with certain questions.
But, this is where watching tv on my computer comes in handy. I do a little bit of work, then I watch the next episode of Dexter and then I do a little more work. It’s a reward system. I’m five years old and after I’ve been a good girl and gotten some work done I give myself a gold star and watch tv.
Don’t make fun of me. It works.
Oh, and this year, I’ve been trying to organize the disaster area that I call my office. To me, I can find anything, anywhere, at any time. It’s my own organizational and filing system I like to call “Piles of Paper”. But, to other people, it looks like the photocopier threw up all over the place.
Ok, so now that I’ve let you in on a few of the more idiosyncratic, behind-the-scenes elements of my day-to-day, now it's your turn?
What do you do in your ‘slow time’?
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
I’m not working on anything currently. The next costume design contract doesn’t start until the first week of December. Things for my own theatre company won’t really start to pick up again until the New Year. So, what do I do with my time?
Well to be honest I pretty much do nothing (hence the lack of interesting tweets). And, by that, I mean I kind of hermit myself especially if it is November and raining every single day. Then I take this ‘slow time’ as an opportunity to regroup and figure out what my goals are and the things I want to accomplish in the future…
No wait, that must be someone else, because most of the time I just end up watching tv on my computer. Don’t judge me, I mean I can’t sit around all day, staring into space and pondering the big life questions, can I?!
Ok, so seriously, what do I do then? I try to do all the admin work that I don’t have time for the rest of year. The boring stuff like filling out those government documents I need to complete for the CRA (Please don’t come and audit me. Thank you.) I hate it because it is a mind-boggling mind-field of language that even the most intelligent of us don’t understand. Trust me. I took these documents to my lawyer on Friday and both of us were a bit stumped with certain questions.
But, this is where watching tv on my computer comes in handy. I do a little bit of work, then I watch the next episode of Dexter and then I do a little more work. It’s a reward system. I’m five years old and after I’ve been a good girl and gotten some work done I give myself a gold star and watch tv.
Don’t make fun of me. It works.
Oh, and this year, I’ve been trying to organize the disaster area that I call my office. To me, I can find anything, anywhere, at any time. It’s my own organizational and filing system I like to call “Piles of Paper”. But, to other people, it looks like the photocopier threw up all over the place.
Ok, so now that I’ve let you in on a few of the more idiosyncratic, behind-the-scenes elements of my day-to-day, now it's your turn?
What do you do in your ‘slow time’?
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Monday, November 2, 2009
Status Quo
I am sick to death of hearing this phrase (or some version of it): “Oh, well, it’s Vancouver, it’s just the way it is”. If I hear one more person take a deep breath and sigh and begin a sentence with “Oh, well, it’s Vancouver…” and end it with any of the following statements – “they don’t go to theatre” or “they prefer musicals” or “it’s the summer and no one goes to the theatre” – I fear I might hurt someone. No joke.
Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be.
To me when I hear those words come out of someone’s mouth they might as well have a sticker plastered across their forehead that says “I’ve given up”.
If everyone in society just accepted the status quo as though it were fact and something they can’t change then women wouldn’t be allowed to vote, Martin Luther King wouldn’t have uttered the words “I have a dream”, Rosa parks wouldn’t have refused to give up her seat on the bus, same-sex marriage wouldn’t be legal in Canada and Obama would not be President of the United States. I could go on and on but I won’t. You get the point.
Yes, these are all examples of huge social movements and I’m not suggesting we compare theatre to the civil rights movement; however, the point I am trying to make is that any change in society begins with one person (or two or a handful of people) saying “Yes, I can” rather than “No”, “Can’t” or “That’s impossible”.
It’s not impossible. If I had listened to everyone who had told me “No” or “That’s impossible” I wouldn’t be where I am today but maybe that is just me. When I hear someone utter those words my gut reaction is to say (not necessarily out loud) “oh, yeah, well I’ll show you” because in my world anything is possible.
Maybe Vancouver (or any other city in the world facing the same problems we are) isn’t going to change overnight but it will happen. All we have to do is stop thinking “Oh, well, it’s Vancouver (substitute name of your own city), it’s just the way it is”. We may not have all the answers and we may stumble along the way but we’ll get there because I, for one, don’t care about the status quo or “the way it is”. All I care about is the way it should be and how we're going to get there.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be.
To me when I hear those words come out of someone’s mouth they might as well have a sticker plastered across their forehead that says “I’ve given up”.
If everyone in society just accepted the status quo as though it were fact and something they can’t change then women wouldn’t be allowed to vote, Martin Luther King wouldn’t have uttered the words “I have a dream”, Rosa parks wouldn’t have refused to give up her seat on the bus, same-sex marriage wouldn’t be legal in Canada and Obama would not be President of the United States. I could go on and on but I won’t. You get the point.
Yes, these are all examples of huge social movements and I’m not suggesting we compare theatre to the civil rights movement; however, the point I am trying to make is that any change in society begins with one person (or two or a handful of people) saying “Yes, I can” rather than “No”, “Can’t” or “That’s impossible”.
It’s not impossible. If I had listened to everyone who had told me “No” or “That’s impossible” I wouldn’t be where I am today but maybe that is just me. When I hear someone utter those words my gut reaction is to say (not necessarily out loud) “oh, yeah, well I’ll show you” because in my world anything is possible.
Maybe Vancouver (or any other city in the world facing the same problems we are) isn’t going to change overnight but it will happen. All we have to do is stop thinking “Oh, well, it’s Vancouver (substitute name of your own city), it’s just the way it is”. We may not have all the answers and we may stumble along the way but we’ll get there because I, for one, don’t care about the status quo or “the way it is”. All I care about is the way it should be and how we're going to get there.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Friday, October 30, 2009
Our Audiences
This morning I received notification of a comment on my last post. Wow, that was quite the comment and one that should be addressed.
First of all I haven’t seen ”The Miracle Worker” at The Playhouse so I am not about to comment on the production itself. And, while I think that saying that they deserve to lose their funding because of the play, is a little harsh (ok, maybe way harsh, especially at a time when the words “arts funding” is such a contentious issue), it is his opinion and he is entitled to it.
However, the point that he raises, and one that obviously has made him so angry, is what I want to address. Obviously, he did not enjoy this play choice. The major reviewers in this town, Peter, Jerry, Jo & Colin, all seemed to either at least like it, if not full out, love it. But critical praise does not necessarily equate into audience praise or vice versa. What we have to remember is audience members, for the most part, are just Average Joe’s. They didn’t spend years in school studying theatre or reading plays. They haven’t written plays themselves or seen everything playing in town for the last 30 years. Plus since most of these critics (I don’t know for sure, I am just guessing here and I mean no offence) are at least 50 years old they certainly don’t represent a young audience members opinion.
Furthermore, if what he says is correct and the house count for the evening was approximately 25%, then that certainly says even more than the comment itself. For one of the largest companies in this city, who has a lot more exposure and reaches a lot more people than most of the theatre's in this town, to be selling shows at one-quarter of the House then there is definitely something terribly wrong and broken with our system for sure.
I don’t have all the answers but I do have a question: if audiences aren’t coming, plus they leave the theatre feeling the way this man did, then why are they doing it?
Theatre is about the audience. If I have to keep screaming it from the rooftops until someone hears me I will. Without the audience you might as well being doing sculpture or painting or something. If all you are interested in doing is creating theatre that is going to get you good reviews or win you a Jessie then you are missing the point. Theatre exists because of its relationship to the audience. Read Kris Joseph’s and Simon Ogden’s blogs for more on this discussion.
We write letters and get all worked up because the funding to arts is being cut but what if we created theatre that was so popular that we didn’t need funding from the government.
STOP. Before I continue I am going to make a statement because I can already see the hate emails piling into my inbox:
Yes, of course, I believe arts should receive funding from the government.
Ok, now that I’ve made that statement everyone can stop hating on me. Thank you. And continue…
What if we started listening to our audiences and we started having full houses instead of 25% houses. Then maybe someday, down the road, maybe after I’m dead, we won’t need to rage against the government because we won’t be relying on them to fund us. We would rely on our audiences. Wow, now that is an amazing dream and one that I want to be a part of. It could happen. I believe it could happen but we have to start investing in that dream today.
How do we do that, Mrs. Soapbox? Well, thank you for asking Mr. or Mrs. Reader.
We could start by the taking the same energy we put into writing letters to the government and put that same energy into writing letters to our theatre’s. If you want them to listen, to you the audience, then you need to start taking action. So, my advice to Doug is, if you felt so strongly about your experience at The Playhouse then you should write them a letter and tell them. It could all begin with one letter. Then one letter turns into 50 and so on and so forth. And, maybe the next time a theatre goes to choose their season they might just think twice about the material they choose to produce.
But that’s just me. And my two cents.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
First of all I haven’t seen ”The Miracle Worker” at The Playhouse so I am not about to comment on the production itself. And, while I think that saying that they deserve to lose their funding because of the play, is a little harsh (ok, maybe way harsh, especially at a time when the words “arts funding” is such a contentious issue), it is his opinion and he is entitled to it.
However, the point that he raises, and one that obviously has made him so angry, is what I want to address. Obviously, he did not enjoy this play choice. The major reviewers in this town, Peter, Jerry, Jo & Colin, all seemed to either at least like it, if not full out, love it. But critical praise does not necessarily equate into audience praise or vice versa. What we have to remember is audience members, for the most part, are just Average Joe’s. They didn’t spend years in school studying theatre or reading plays. They haven’t written plays themselves or seen everything playing in town for the last 30 years. Plus since most of these critics (I don’t know for sure, I am just guessing here and I mean no offence) are at least 50 years old they certainly don’t represent a young audience members opinion.
Furthermore, if what he says is correct and the house count for the evening was approximately 25%, then that certainly says even more than the comment itself. For one of the largest companies in this city, who has a lot more exposure and reaches a lot more people than most of the theatre's in this town, to be selling shows at one-quarter of the House then there is definitely something terribly wrong and broken with our system for sure.
I don’t have all the answers but I do have a question: if audiences aren’t coming, plus they leave the theatre feeling the way this man did, then why are they doing it?
Theatre is about the audience. If I have to keep screaming it from the rooftops until someone hears me I will. Without the audience you might as well being doing sculpture or painting or something. If all you are interested in doing is creating theatre that is going to get you good reviews or win you a Jessie then you are missing the point. Theatre exists because of its relationship to the audience. Read Kris Joseph’s and Simon Ogden’s blogs for more on this discussion.
We write letters and get all worked up because the funding to arts is being cut but what if we created theatre that was so popular that we didn’t need funding from the government.
STOP. Before I continue I am going to make a statement because I can already see the hate emails piling into my inbox:
Yes, of course, I believe arts should receive funding from the government.
Ok, now that I’ve made that statement everyone can stop hating on me. Thank you. And continue…
What if we started listening to our audiences and we started having full houses instead of 25% houses. Then maybe someday, down the road, maybe after I’m dead, we won’t need to rage against the government because we won’t be relying on them to fund us. We would rely on our audiences. Wow, now that is an amazing dream and one that I want to be a part of. It could happen. I believe it could happen but we have to start investing in that dream today.
How do we do that, Mrs. Soapbox? Well, thank you for asking Mr. or Mrs. Reader.
We could start by the taking the same energy we put into writing letters to the government and put that same energy into writing letters to our theatre’s. If you want them to listen, to you the audience, then you need to start taking action. So, my advice to Doug is, if you felt so strongly about your experience at The Playhouse then you should write them a letter and tell them. It could all begin with one letter. Then one letter turns into 50 and so on and so forth. And, maybe the next time a theatre goes to choose their season they might just think twice about the material they choose to produce.
But that’s just me. And my two cents.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Amen, Hallelujah, so on and so forth...
I've discovered a new blog to follow (not new to anyone else probably but new to me as I am a little slow on the uptake). One of the most recent posts on this blog is about getting young audiences into the theatre so you can see why it sparked my curiosity. If you have been reading my blog this will be obvious and if you haven't I won't take it personally (although I may secretly be shedding a single tear right at this very moment). The title of the post is "No-Brainer Secrets Revealed" and here's what he has to say:
"Went to a panel yesterday about theatre.
Want to guess what the discussion eventually focused on at length?
I'll give you a hint... it's the thing that all public conversations about theatre eventually gravitate to.
Still don't know?
Why, it's how to attract younger audiences, of course! With the sub-conversation how do we use the twitters and the facebooks and the internets to do it?
So I'm going to reveal, right now, the secret to getting young people to come to your theatre and see shows. Because it's a no-brainer and I'm tired of having this conversation (For reasons that should become obvious in a second). Here's the secret:
(1) Do work they want to see.
(2) Endeavor to do it well
(3) Offer it at a price point they will find reasonable"
Amen! Hallelujah! And any and all other exaltations that would describe my enthusiastic agreement! From there he goes on to say why theatre companies talk but don't seem to act:
"Theater companies and producers for the most part do not want to do the above three things. What they want to do is do the same work and use marketing to trick younger audiences into thinking it's what they want to see.
So the next time we have this conversation... can we please have it honestly and start asking some more interesting questions, some more difficult questions? Questions like: Do you actually want younger audiences, or do you just want their money? or Would your theater company be able to sustain itself on a younger audience base? And if not, are you just fucked? Are you just riding it out for as long as possible knowing it's not going to work out in the long run?
Now let's say for a moment that you are a theater producer or larger theater and you want to do the above three things. You just don't know how. That's fine! Here's the secret to solving that problem:
There is probably a theater company in your area that is succeeding at doing those three things. Produce their next show in your space.
You know where this happens with some regularity? Chicago and D.C. Both quite healthy theatre towns with interesting, vibrant scenes with quite a bit of interplay between more established theaters and young up-and-comers. This is not a coincidence.
I'm sick of this shit. The answers aren't that hard, they're only hard because the answers are things that people don't really want to do, so they're trying to find ways to cheat. Well, I'm sorry, you can't cheat. It doesn't work that way.
And if you don't want to do that, that's okay. If you don't want to do that kind of work, that's okay. Just stop claiming you want younger audiences. You don't want them. You feel entitled to them. There's a difference. Be proud of the audience you have and keep making work for them. Do the work you actually believe in. That's okay, for the most part.
Just stop asking about twitter already."
All I have to add to that very honest and truthful statement is that the facts speak for themselves. Every year Twenty-Something Theatre grows it's audience. This year, as I already stated in an earlier post, we had an 88% audience attendance and 6 sold out shows. In the summer! A time that is traditionally not thought of as a good time to do theatre unless you are Bard on the Beach or some kind of outdoor roving show. Young people showed up in droves. Why? Because we do items 1-3 on the list above.
It's a No-Brainer.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
"Went to a panel yesterday about theatre.
Want to guess what the discussion eventually focused on at length?
I'll give you a hint... it's the thing that all public conversations about theatre eventually gravitate to.
Still don't know?
Why, it's how to attract younger audiences, of course! With the sub-conversation how do we use the twitters and the facebooks and the internets to do it?
So I'm going to reveal, right now, the secret to getting young people to come to your theatre and see shows. Because it's a no-brainer and I'm tired of having this conversation (For reasons that should become obvious in a second). Here's the secret:
(1) Do work they want to see.
(2) Endeavor to do it well
(3) Offer it at a price point they will find reasonable"
Amen! Hallelujah! And any and all other exaltations that would describe my enthusiastic agreement! From there he goes on to say why theatre companies talk but don't seem to act:
"Theater companies and producers for the most part do not want to do the above three things. What they want to do is do the same work and use marketing to trick younger audiences into thinking it's what they want to see.
So the next time we have this conversation... can we please have it honestly and start asking some more interesting questions, some more difficult questions? Questions like: Do you actually want younger audiences, or do you just want their money? or Would your theater company be able to sustain itself on a younger audience base? And if not, are you just fucked? Are you just riding it out for as long as possible knowing it's not going to work out in the long run?
Now let's say for a moment that you are a theater producer or larger theater and you want to do the above three things. You just don't know how. That's fine! Here's the secret to solving that problem:
There is probably a theater company in your area that is succeeding at doing those three things. Produce their next show in your space.
You know where this happens with some regularity? Chicago and D.C. Both quite healthy theatre towns with interesting, vibrant scenes with quite a bit of interplay between more established theaters and young up-and-comers. This is not a coincidence.
I'm sick of this shit. The answers aren't that hard, they're only hard because the answers are things that people don't really want to do, so they're trying to find ways to cheat. Well, I'm sorry, you can't cheat. It doesn't work that way.
And if you don't want to do that, that's okay. If you don't want to do that kind of work, that's okay. Just stop claiming you want younger audiences. You don't want them. You feel entitled to them. There's a difference. Be proud of the audience you have and keep making work for them. Do the work you actually believe in. That's okay, for the most part.
Just stop asking about twitter already."
All I have to add to that very honest and truthful statement is that the facts speak for themselves. Every year Twenty-Something Theatre grows it's audience. This year, as I already stated in an earlier post, we had an 88% audience attendance and 6 sold out shows. In the summer! A time that is traditionally not thought of as a good time to do theatre unless you are Bard on the Beach or some kind of outdoor roving show. Young people showed up in droves. Why? Because we do items 1-3 on the list above.
It's a No-Brainer.
~Sabrina Evertt
Artistic Producer
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Playwright
New plays frighten me. As a writer, I have all the requisite anxieties to put me in a state of terror if trapped in a dark room as part of an audience, watching a cast of actors do The Robot in time to experimental whale music and multi-coloured strobe lights. I’ve since discovered that not all plays are like this, thank god. Only the ones I erroneously think look “fun”.
There’s something about the immediacy and inescapable act of theatre that has kept me from jumping into playwriting. A lot of credit is given to the author here. To a Canadian screenwriter, that can either be ruinous or an extremely empowering experience.
I started writing “Prodigals” as a way to avoid completing other projects. Initially, I sent 10-15 pages of this play to the Cold Reading Series in 2006. They were holding a special night for students from Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film & Television program (where I was studying at the time). Despite the fact that these few scenes went over surprisingly well, I quickly abandoned them to return to my mounting screenwriting demands.
Flash forward to 2008. After seeing Twenty-Something Theatre’s call for submissions (a phrase that’s like a bat signal for writers), I immediately recalled that play I flirted with two years before and quickly-yet-artfully dumped another 20 pages onto the previous 10 and hoped that amounted to something.
I’m extremely grateful Sabrina Evertt found a glimmer of a story worth telling in that mashed-up Frankenstein of a play I sent to her. With her help, alongside the talents of some amazing young local actors and the ever-patient dramaturgy of Peter Boychuk, we turned “Prodigals” into a story I now desperately want to bring to the world.
After expanding the play’s depth and scope, we kneaded each role into shape through table reads, one-on-one story sessions, and most recently, an intimate staged reading that proved the kind of straightforward drama and comedy I want to write isn’t interesting just to those directly involved in “Prodigals”. I think there’s a lot of potential here to appeal to a broad, young audience who – like me – might skittishly avoid more experimental theatre or the same handful of rehashed productions from other companies.
Rewriting this project has helped unearth new creative ground for me: I don’t believe my writing has ever been more personal. And because of that, I think this is a very truthful “dramedy” about a group of young adults marred by small town life, each trying to make the transition from irresponsible youth to contributing members of society.
I can’t give enough thanks to Twenty-Something Theatre. Without the Spotlight Series initiative to find new plays from emerging writers, I wouldn’t have finished “Prodigals”. The hardest part now is waiting until the spring when we get the play on its feet in front of audiences. It’s going to be great.
~Sean Minogue
Playwright, "Prodigals"
There’s something about the immediacy and inescapable act of theatre that has kept me from jumping into playwriting. A lot of credit is given to the author here. To a Canadian screenwriter, that can either be ruinous or an extremely empowering experience.
I started writing “Prodigals” as a way to avoid completing other projects. Initially, I sent 10-15 pages of this play to the Cold Reading Series in 2006. They were holding a special night for students from Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film & Television program (where I was studying at the time). Despite the fact that these few scenes went over surprisingly well, I quickly abandoned them to return to my mounting screenwriting demands.
Flash forward to 2008. After seeing Twenty-Something Theatre’s call for submissions (a phrase that’s like a bat signal for writers), I immediately recalled that play I flirted with two years before and quickly-yet-artfully dumped another 20 pages onto the previous 10 and hoped that amounted to something.
I’m extremely grateful Sabrina Evertt found a glimmer of a story worth telling in that mashed-up Frankenstein of a play I sent to her. With her help, alongside the talents of some amazing young local actors and the ever-patient dramaturgy of Peter Boychuk, we turned “Prodigals” into a story I now desperately want to bring to the world.
After expanding the play’s depth and scope, we kneaded each role into shape through table reads, one-on-one story sessions, and most recently, an intimate staged reading that proved the kind of straightforward drama and comedy I want to write isn’t interesting just to those directly involved in “Prodigals”. I think there’s a lot of potential here to appeal to a broad, young audience who – like me – might skittishly avoid more experimental theatre or the same handful of rehashed productions from other companies.
Rewriting this project has helped unearth new creative ground for me: I don’t believe my writing has ever been more personal. And because of that, I think this is a very truthful “dramedy” about a group of young adults marred by small town life, each trying to make the transition from irresponsible youth to contributing members of society.
I can’t give enough thanks to Twenty-Something Theatre. Without the Spotlight Series initiative to find new plays from emerging writers, I wouldn’t have finished “Prodigals”. The hardest part now is waiting until the spring when we get the play on its feet in front of audiences. It’s going to be great.
~Sean Minogue
Playwright, "Prodigals"
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