Collective Genius

Hey, check it out. Estrogenius is now expanded into Collective Genius. 

Estrogenius was started by Fiona Jones at Manhattan Theatresource and it's very cool that it is the legacy of Theatresource more than a quarter century ago (!).

Sharon Fogarty's Bride of Frankenstein

I saw Sharon Fogarty's Bride of Frankenstein tonight. I saw her original version way back when at Theatresource. It begat in me a love of the second movement of Beethovan's 7th Symphony.

My thoughts about the show are disjointed. I suspect that was the intent of the production. Meaning, that it was created to confuse me. You know, I wrote that just now to be amusing but there is something about Sharon Fogarty's work which has always spoken to me, like it's work that is just for me. And I have to presume that is true for much of her audience. It seems like "oh look, she made this for me" even though any rational person would have to conclude that she's doing it for her.
Right?
Catholic, identity, women, image, monster. I don't even know what it's all about. Mary Beth Schroeder is simply un-human as the monster. From the very opening when she is nothing but an open mouth, a baby gurgling, perhaps a nascent Elephant Man but of the horror by human and not divine creation. Her mouth becomes limbs, becomes speech, becomes understanding other people and/or understanding herself. I don't know. Her physicality was the descant over which the music and the story played.

There's a fairly large chorus. Sharon has always done something with casting that's consistently blown me away. All the actors were very interesting to me and they made me want to know so much more about their characters. Dangerous territory, eh? When every chorus member who trots onto stage can be so fascinating and yet have such depths and secrets that one wants to follow them home, live in their worlds and their works -- it is then you are opening up beyond the simple four walls of the stage, into worlds you cannot control. It is beautiful.

You know, one thing about Theatresource is that our space was always difficult for dance. My recollection of the first version of this show is that Sharon had choreographed the dance to be rather restrained. I felt this show opened somewhat, could be played somewhat wider (the floor at Theatresource was never a good dance flooring and I always worried about dancer's feet on that deck.) But still the "restraint" is actually a part of the tension of the piece. Mary and her beloved monster can run outside chasing cars but their souls are constrained to such small spaces. As they are.
As they are.

Festival Dates:
Monday, February 16 @ 6:15 PM
Friday, February 20 @ 9:00 PM
Sunday, February 22 @ 4:30 PM

Robert Moss Theatre
440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor
New York City, U.S.A.

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1168985

On Theatresource

This conversation happened regarding the Theatresource space at 177 MacDougal Street.

We: The space is fallow. The landlord is apparently using the old rehearsal room as an office but otherwise the place is empty.
They: I [heard a rumor] that the landlord was [recently] calling around to some producers to see if they wanted to rent the space.
That's funny, because when I asked about that before Theatresource closed they said no.
Well, apparently they changed their minds.
It's worth doing. I mean, it is, after all, a theater.
It would not be easy to make that a theater again.
Why not?
They took down the grid.
Putting up a new grid isn't that hard. That grid went up in one day.


I'm just saying it isn't a turn-key operation.
It wasn't a turn-key operation even when we were producing plays there.
[Raucous laughter.]

Innovative Theater Awards

I really love the NYIT Awards. The thing, to me, about them is that they have a real "home town" feel in a place (New York City) which can frequently feel cold and brutal. Especially the theater scene.
Plus a lot of my friends won. Which is also awesome. Even more were nominated. Also awesome.
I'm just straight-up stealing these pictures from Facebook. I don't know who took them. I'd love to credit whomever.

Director DeLisa White

 Actually, I think the NYIT website hasn't actually posted the winners for 2014. But Backstage has an article on it.

Lighting designer Kia Rogers. 

Two thousand productions. The awards are based on two thousand productions. Thousand.
A list of the winners.

"Y" Because We Love You

My Mac keyboard died. Specifically what happened is that I spilled water on it and the "y" key just up and died. Typing emails without the letter "y" became interesting. But I got a new keyboard today. Rejoice.

Here is a by-no-means-complete guide to Theatresource folks who have Fringe shows this year. Fact is that so many people have been through or done shows at Theatresource that you'd be hard-pressed to get a final count.
Coinstar. It's a coin depositing thing in supermarkets. Nominally they charge a fee but they don't charge a fee if you get, for instance, an Amazon gift card in the amount of change you put in. And for me that's pretty much just like getting cash.

Post-Theatresource

The word on the streets is that those from the now-closed Theatresource have migrated primarily to the Workshop Theater and to the Secret Theater.

Chairs With Wheels

I've seen all of John Scalzi's top sci-fi movies you probably haven't seen except for one — whatever that Buck Rogers thing is.
Ato Essandoh is on the NYC Actor podcast. Angela Dee interviews him. He explains that he has a chemical engineering degree from Cornell. Ato used to be one of the regulars — all men — in the morning at Theatresource. Wow, that was over 10 years ago. Whenever he showed up in a suit I'd say "Lawyer or FBI agent?" because suits would be audition-wear for either of those roles.
"People apologize for being actors... and that's awful... Never apologize for being an artist, never apologize for being an actor ever."

John Bruno discusses his policy of not taking lunch. Except for the bit about complaining about my hair, my one diva thing is that I like to take a half-hour lunch with the cast and crew. I also insist on a comfy chair at lunch because it's the only part of the day I get to sit down. I mean except for those times I claim a "director's chair" to shoot from. It's usually a chair with wheels...

Lockout

So, there's this movie called Lockout which has gotten like zero publicity. Like much of Luc Besson's stuff it seems like it's almost a parody of American action-movie making. But there are parts of it that look extremely cool. And obviously Guy Pearce can act (which is a huge plus in these action pictures.)
Are you writing spec scripts for TV shows? This is a fascinating "What is Hot and What is Not" article about what shows to spec:
http://www.tv-calling.com/drama-spec-script-2012-what-is-hot-and-what-is-not/
Remember how there used to be a theater called Manhattan Theatresource? The building it was in has been sold. The Theatresource space is totally unusable as a retail space (which is why it sat fallow for over a year — way back in '99 when the real estate market was at its highest point.) So if you want to start a theater, call up the new landlord!
Potentiometers.

Nicolo' Zubbini is a Blender artist. He's working on the Mango project with Ian Hubert. 

InGenius

The 2012 InGenius has been announced. I think this is the first real post-theatresource theatresource show. As far as I know this is Vinny Marano's baby. It goes like this:

manhattantheatresoure presents
InGenius 2012
Voices from the Writers' Forum
OPENS Monday, May 07 at 8:00PM
RUNS SUNDAY-TUESDAY, May 6-8, May 13-15, & May 20-22
All performances are at 8pm. Tickets are available here.

Submit!

You are suspiciously conversant.

Clone Hunter is now on Gigaplex.

EstroGenius -- the short play festival -- has opened its submission window for plays. I have zero idea where they're going to be holding the festival, as Theatresource the theater is now closed. Interestingly there's now a submission fee of $10. I don't think we've ever had that before. I'm not entirely sure that getting into the submission fee business is that good an idea -- that's probably mostly from my experience with film festivals -- but the producing organization can very quickly get addicted to bringing in all that cash from suckers who enter their plays in the festival.

Hmm... from the FAQ:

Q: Why is there a charge this year?
A: Because EstroGenius is growing! The loss of our  space on MacDougal Street creates a unique opportunity for the festival to expand into a larger venue, but it also means we need more money up front to rent that space and produce your play in a bigger, more prestigious and versatile venue. Your submission fee helps make that possible. 

Well. A "unique opportunity"? Yeah. Not so much. If we had wanted to produce the festival at another theater, we certainly could have.  My distaste for this kind of corporate-speak is... well it makes me want to retch. Producing the festival without a venue in place is going to be one major league pain the in tuchus.

Here's a model of a dead dragon.

Theatresource Doesn't Even Bother

So wait, you're still ticked off about Theatresource?
Me?
Most people go through a number of stages -- you know, anger, bargaining, etc., until they finally reach "acceptance"?
Do you have any idea what those destructive idiots on the Board have done?
Well, yeah, they closed Theatresource and are operating "virtually".
They're not even bothering to do that.

How do you mean?
You know that newsletter that used to come out every week?
The one that had audition notices, job notices, upcoming shows, and rooms for rent? The one that was a key part of our community keeping people informed even when they were away from the space?
There have been maybe two of those since the Source closed.
Well at least it's still a valuable resource for the theater community.
They listed a show.
Hmm... I guess you could just do that on Facebook.
Yep. Theatresource. Now something you can just do on Facebook.

I Need a Theater

New York City simply doesn't have any jewelbox theaters. I guess I'm basically looking for the theater in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

You'll never find a theater with a stage that small but with fly space above.
I think I'm basically looking for a puppet theater. Which would be perfect for Tyrannosaurus Mouse and for the upcoming Blade Runner the Musical.
Plus, of course, we need puppets.

Now, of course, I am talking about an indoors-version of the Doctor Parnassus theater.
When we made Manhattan Theatre Source I needed a place for Prague Spring. That show was basically a scrim with front and rear projections. But now we need something else.

Easier to Destroy It

It sure was easier to destroy Theatresource than it was to build it in the first place. All it took was the Board of Directors deciding they didn't want to have a theater anymore.

What used to be "DigitalSource" -- our studio and office for about eight years. 

The irony is that personally this has worked out pretty well. I have a new set of partners and we have a great new space. But no more theater.

Most of the lights are down but the grid is still in the air. Of course, a theater being dismantled doesn't look substantially different than a theater being striked between shows.

I stopped by today -- probably for the last time.

The irony here is that the theater from the outside actually looks warmer and more inviting now than it has in the past few years just because there's less stuff actually in the window.

If only the landlord had been willing to rent to someone else, a new organization would have picked up the rent and moved right in. It's too bad. This Board is just made of spectacularly destructive people. They took out Theatresource at 177 MacDougal Street in what, three months?

Goodbye theater!

Adieu

Well, it's official. Those morons on the Board of Directors of Theatresource killed the place. They didn't lift a finger to keep it going, nor would they get out of the way to let people in who would work to keep it going.

My piece of business advice? Don't hire any of these people unless you want your organization destroyed.

Courtney Birnbaum - Andrew Frank - Eric Laufer - Matt Quint - Melissa Riker - Doug Silver

The Absurdity

Wow, we actually had bookings on the calendar at Theatresource all the way 'till May. Aren't you excited about Pandora Machine moving to TriBeCa next week so you don't have to hear me talk about this? I mean, this is worse than my endless guitar case discussions.

Here's my favorite new absurdity: an email was circulated today looking for volunteers to help clean out the theater on Sunday the 18th and to take down the grid. I have no idea where they're planning to put all the pipe or how they intend to transport it, but it gave us all a good laugh.
+++++
Google Voice isn't quite doing what I want. But hopefully soon it will. Soon. It will.
+++++
Vinnie Marano found the 12-year-old Scotch that Mitchell had left in our office. I was going to drink it when we moved in to the new place, but I hadn't realized that it had been opened -- four years ago. So Vinnie blew the dust off the box (dust -- everywhere -- all over my computer, ahem) and we imbibed. Me, I'm feeling a cold coming on so I drank strictly for medicinal reasons.

Where the Rats Go

It seems that many of the writers, directors, and performers who've lost a home at Theatresource are moving over to the Workshop Theater. Workshop seems like a groovy joint. I've never been there myself. I should stop by and see a show.

The biggest thing I think I'm going to miss about having our studio in the theater is how people would and could just stop by. I don't know if there's another theater in New York which is as situated toward people just coming and hanging out. At the new place the Pandora Machine is going to you have to get buzzed in, and you'll probably need to call first as you really can't just stop by and see if we're there.
So that's too bad.

Greg Bodine in Poe Times 2.

Why I'm Annoyed

The Board of Directors at Theatresource are stunningly blase about shutting down the theater.
The President, Courtney Birnbaum, just came into my studio.

Me: "Why are you destroying my theater?"
She throws up her hands.
CB: "We don't have any money."
Me: "We never have any money."
Conceding:
CB: "Well you know that better than most people."
Annoyed:
Me: "So why didn't you step aside to let someone else run it?"
Defensive:
CB: "Nobody stepped up to do that."
Irked:
Me: "You never gave anyone a chance to step up before you scuttled it."
CB: "Well we'll just have to disagree on that."
Me: "No we don't. Get out of my office."

And these people are wondering why I'm annoyed. They destroyed my theater and I'm supposed to be friends with them? No, I'm going to move on to work with people who aren't destroying things but instead are creating things.

Apologizing

You know, and I realize that I'm cranky at this, but the incredible level of arrogance it took for this Board to stomp out all the hard work and energy that so many hundreds (thousands really) of people put in over the last 12 years is simply vile and atrocious.
Sure, I'm the last survivor of the founding members who never left to take a "sabbatical" and who has been inside, and remained inside, from the very beginning. But I'm going to be perfectly fine.
But all of those people -- even those who have been away for a while -- those people put a tremendous amount of work and heart into this place, making it what it is.
And they did it with a faith, with a trust, that the rug wouldn't be pulled out from under them by people who are either too lazy to do the work to keep the theater going, or to arrogant to admit that anyone, anyone could do a better job then them.
This Board, these dunderheads, few of whom ever even enter the building more than once every few months, are scuttling it. Selling it off for spare parts and walking away, as though they have no responsibility to any of the people who have put so much blood and sweat into the place.
Some of the people on the Board I'd considered friends. So I'm a little stunned at the spectacular level of destruction they're in the process of wreaking. It's destructive, arrogant, and deceitful. They're tearing down what has become an institution in New York Theater. They're doing it because they won't simply resign and let better people take over. And all this time they smiled and told everyone that they were working in the best interest of the theater, they were lying.
That's Courtney Birnbaum, Andrew Frank, Eric Laufer, Matt Quint, Melissa Riker, Doug Silver. I would also include former Board member Fiona Jones and Executive Director Jennifer Thatcher as they have done much to ensure the closing of the theater.
How much contempt do they have for the volunteers? Obviously so much that they don't care enough about the volunteers to even try to keep the theater open. The patronizing attitude toward the real people who have worked here so long is just sickening.
I think that each one of these people should apologize to every volunteer at Theatresource. They should apologize for abrogating their responsibilities to the public trust that is this fine and wonderful theater.

No, C'mon, Tell Me How You Really Feel

It says a lot for the quality of the structure of Theatresource that it took so long to destroy.
Yeah, it does. But this Board is motivated to destroy it.
Explain to me why the Board of Theatresource is closing the theater? 
Well in their own words it just became too hard for them to book the theater.
Really? Is it actually that hard?
They went and spoke to as many as (and I'm being generous here) three theater companies who Theatresource used to work with. And those companies either said "We only want to work in 99-seat spaces" or "we'll only do it if we can use the Development Series Contract" or "no."
Uh. So three companies...
And that was it. Work is hard.
Well who coulda guessed that after years of being hostile to volunteers the whole place didn't turn around in two months and we'd be booked solid through the new year?
We actually did have bookings -- up through April. Which was better than two years ago.
So. This Board has been actively not paying attention for a while. 
This Board and Jennifer Thatcher, the Managing Director.
Surely there was more due diligence by the Board did before deciding to close the doors. 
Well, I guess that we can count the Board's whining that people didn't give enough the last time the Board cried for help, and that people didn't just, you know, intuit that Theatresource needed a lot more money.
What a load of bad energy they are.
It's quite sad. And completely avoidable. If, for instance, this Board had decided to resign rather than destroy the place, the theater would still be going.
Who is on this Board?
Courtney Birnbaum - Andrew Frank - Eric Laufer - Matt Quint - Melissa Riker - Doug Silver
And they destroyed Theatresource. 
Yup. It took them to destroy it.
But there was a two-year warning that the theater's funding model was going to cause this problem?
You're talking about my February 2010 post about the cash flow at Theatresource.
Yeah. So, er, how does that all work out?
Well, we were cash - flow poor at the time and then as far as I can tell they used Board member Eric Laufer to pour money into the organization rather than grooming new theater companies and writing grants. This is something of the way of conjecture on my part. But... probably what and how it all went down.
So when Eric stopped pouring money into the long run of Greenwich Village Follies...?
Jennifer Thatcher suddenly realized they were out of cash.
And in the meantime the organization hadn't been bringing in new companies or focusing on writing grants or anything.
We were overtly hostile to other theater companies and nobody was working on grants.
And we weren't going to milk Eric Laufer for cash anymore?
That's the way it reads to me at least. But he's not interested in filling the money - hole, and we can't get anybody else to donate because they (shockingly) don't believe in this Board of Directors.
Can't we overthrow the Board and then correct all the mistakes?
Theoretically possible but unlikely. You'd have to get enough Board members to constitute a quorum, and have a majority of them vote to create members which could then vote in a new Board.
But with 100% of this Board voting to close the theater that's not likely to happen.
Not likely.
Is there a plan B?
Plan B was to get a hold of the landlord, get together a dormant 501(c)3, and rent the space.
How'd that go?

At first the landlord said he was "definitely" willing to rent and then a few days later he told me that he wasn't renting it now but would contact me when he was willing to rent. Landlords, counter-intuitively, don't always want to make money. He does seem to want to be able to sell and deliver the building with the Theatresource space empty to buyers, but there are several issues for buyers. It's a long story, do you really want to hear it?
No. Not really. So, what's plan C?
C1 is: find a brand-new space somewhere. C2 is wait for the landlord to get bored with having his space unrented and start to rent it. C3 is work with other theaters instead.
But that whole thing where we had that groovy space and all that great energy...
Yup, they destroyed that all back at the coup.

Theatresource Town Hall Notes

For those of you who, you know, actually do theater and couldn't make it to the "Town Hall" called by the Board of Directors of Theatresource, here's the official notes from the meeting.
The logic of closing Theatresource seems to be a petulant "Well, nobody would give money to our last call for donations so we decided not to call for donations again."

JEN: In regards to fundraising, in August, when we almost got evicted, we put out an urgent plea and from that we only raised $2000.

Again and again the lack of communication came up. The Board of Theatresource has always been secretive. I have no idea why. But this Board is more secretive than any of the others I can remember. In the case of the previous "urgent plea" the Board was obtuse about the reasoning for the "urgent plea". It was because the State was coming after the organization for not having paid State Unemployment Insurance. Now, I will not say for sure this is the case in New York State, but I believe that in New Jersey the Department of Labor can send the Sheriff to the banks of the Board of Directors, the Officers, and anyone with check-signing powers and drain their accounts without even going to the trouble of an administrative law hearing. So the Board was personally liable for that debt.

Sourcie: I’ve talked to Jen about grants and corporate sponsorships. There were other options not explored. There are other members in the tribe who could do this work.

This Board, unable to raise money, arrogantly didn't assume that they were just bad at it, but rather that it simply couldn't be done.

Perhaps it's best to realize that at this point the Board was talking about not being able to bring in any money and they have had only $100 in Corporate income and $500 in Foundation income. Year to date, that is.
So yeah, there was no serious effort put in over the last few years to bring in money. Heck, after we announced we were closing the Mayor's Office called to talk about funding and pointed out that we hadn't even bother to apply for City funding since 2008.

Nobody could have done a worse job of running Theatresource than this spectacularly incompetent Board. And nobody did. It took this Board to close down the operation.

So it's ironic to me that there was so much stress on "saving" the 501(c)3. As far as I know, this Corporation has an incredibly deadly liability tail on it. At least as far as I know, and in my understanding, makes it less than worthless because the liability for the other unpaid employment taxes actually penetrates the corporate shield and can touch (and strip) the bank accounts of the present members of the Board, the former members of the Board*, and anyone who has signatory rights on the bank accounts.

*I presume this to mean only the former members of the Board who were active when the tax was being unpaid. Also, it may be that the Board's insurance inures them from direct financial liability. Also, I don't know about people who used to have signatory rights on bank accounts.