Global Snapshot
Posted: December 28, 2009 Filed under: Gen Z Global Stage, Young Voices | Tags: Gen Z. Florida Stage, Robert Goodrich Leave a commentThe date itself was the source of inspiration for this project. You will notice that 01-01-10 contains all ones and zeros. I was trying to think of a way to link this unusual numerical occurrence with Gen Z’s theme of global digital communication. Since all the participants are interacting with each other and contributing projects using digital technology (all ones and zeros), what better way to involve everyone in a singular, global event?
I know, cool right?
Obviously we all live in different time zones, and a time had to be chosen when the participants would all be awake. So after consulting a time zone map (online, of course) we found it. So if all goes as planned, all the members of Gen Z will be taking a photo of themselves at the same exact moment on planet Earth.
Writing for Theatre as an Outsider
Posted: December 22, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Christopher Demos-Brown, Florida Stage, playwright Leave a commentPlaywright for When the Sun Shone Brighter
And it happens in the theatre too. Is there something about the play Speed-the-Plow, for example, that makes it particularly relevant to what’s happening in contemporary America? Something to explain the fact that this twenty-year-old play is suddenly being revived in every region of the country at the same time? I mean… it’s an excellent play and all, but now? Everywhere? Gotta be the echo chamber.
The theatre community prides itself on its openness and daring, but inside the echo chamber, I see a lot of assumptions, biases, preferences, taboos, and stale ideas, just like in any other profession. Unspoken rules that theatre must be politically liberal, that it must challenge conventional forms, that it must appeal to the masses. As an outsider I don’t buy these assumptions. I think theatre should aim at the elite. I think it can espouse any view a writer has provided it’s done with skill. I think most of the great plays I’ve ever seen adhere closely to conventional structure and do little to push the parameters of form. Theatre, at its core, is about people in a room watching other people pretend with all their heart. How those two groups interact depends on so many things—the quality of the material, the skill of the artists, what the audience members had for dinner, etc. And when it all clicks just right, I still think it’s better than any other entertainment experience.
My two best nights at the theatre were seeing The Music Man on Broadway and Oleanna in a crummy cabaret style room at the already-on-the-skids Coconut Grove Playhouse. I’m not much for musicals, but the angels of the art were in the room the night I saw The Music Man. The entire cast—from twelve-year-old kids to octogenarians—took a curtain call playing trombones. Fifty cast members beaming with pride that they’d learned to play “Seventy-Six Trombones.” Jesus—it was fantastic! Oleanna, Act III. An old man in the audience stood up and yelled “Bitch!” at the female character. Mamet had us by the Adam’s apples! (That play’s the most effective “sensitivity training” I’ve ever seen and I’ve never interacted with a woman in the workplace quite the same way since).
That’s what it can be. That’s what I, as an outsider, want to experience, and, as an insider, strive to create (regardless of the “rules”). The lump in the throat. The belly laugh. The epiphany. The deep longing of first love. Dread. Insight. Wonder. Joy. All the stuff we outsiders push out of the way while we’re busy taking out the garbage and paying the bills. And sometimes all it takes… is a bunch of trombones!
Florida Earth & Agriculture Module
Posted: December 17, 2009 Filed under: Creation of a Play | Tags: Andrew Rosendorf, Creation of a Play, Florida Stage, Water Play 1 Comment*This blog is part of a series of blogs about the creation of a play for Florida Stage as part of their “Florida Cycle”,
click here for the previous posts.
Enough chit-chat though! Let’s get to why we had to feel the pained neglect of not being with one another. Last Thursday and Friday I was off spending two days participating in the Florida Earth Agriculture module and spending time with people that were environmental scientists as well as working for the Army Corps of Engineers. Needless to say I did not feel like the smartest guy in the room.
Florida Earth is an organization you all should get to know. They have the following mission: “to bring people together through education, public outreach, and facilitation to ensure the future integrity of Florida’s environment and quality of life.”
This is the second event I’ve gone to that has been hosted by Florida Earth. The first was a talk by Michael Grunwald who wrote the book The Swamp (I believe I mention the book in an earlier blog…). The organization is run by Stan Bronson (Executive Director) and Yveatte Rothermel (Project Coordinator) – two of the friendliest people you could have with you when going on a journey into areas that aren’t your background. They have both been incredibly gracious with their time as I’ve bombarded them with questions and requests for information.
So I know your first question is: What is an agriculture module? Well this module neither had anything to do with a spacecraft or a unit for measuring. This module was actually a two-day course on Florida Agriculture – shocking, right? We had a number of people come talk to us about Florida soil, sugarcane, farming, and cattle. One of the most informative parts of the module was hearing from the many different industries that all share different opinions and perspectives. We also got a hands-on experience by going on to a sugarcane field and a farm. It was an invaluable experience. Especially since water and agriculture go hand in hand.
What follows are a few pictures that represent some of the highlights of the experience. I should also say a big thank you to Florida Earth for letting us use the following photos.
These are houses that trace all the way back to the 1920s – having survived the 1928 Hurricane. Notice that it is raised above the ground. This is because people knew about oxidation and built their houses on stilts (I’m sure there is a better word…). As the soil subsides, people have to continually add steps so they can get to their house. The modern University of Florida facility we were at for the lectures was built on the bedrock to avoid this.
These picture were taken on Roth Farm. It gives you an idea of how large a farm is. The fields just go for miles and miles. Really you feel very small and that you could get lost out there. It reminds you of how large of an industry agriculture is just in acreage.
This is essentially a sprinkler system. The pipe is in the right hand corner and connects to one of the canals. The above-ground irrigation is being used here because this part of the farm is being leased to a farmer from Long Island who felt more comfortable working with above-ground irrigation than seepage irrigation.This is a box for a barn owl – they nest in them. The barn owls are used as a natural way to get rid of rodents as the owls will eat them.
![Florida Earth - Sugarcane Florida Earth - Sugarcane](https://floridastage.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/6a0120a5618503970b0120a75f811d970b-800wi.jpg?w=300)
How the Atlanta girl made her way to Florida Stage
Posted: December 14, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Bethany Anne Lind, Florida Stage, The Storytelling Ability of a Boy 1 CommentDora in The Storytelling Ability of a Boy
Early last summer I sat down with myself and had a little talk. It went something like…
Me: Bethany, you've been working pretty steadily over the past couple of years. I: Steadily-ish, I guess. I've been pretty lucky.
Me: This season, you need to work though. I mean, you really need to work at making sure you're working.
I: Awww… come on, dude. I'm doing what I can. Me: No. If this is what you're gonna do with your life, then you do it right.
I thought the conversation went pretty well, considering the parties. Then I sat down and listed all the possible shows that I would be called to audition for in Atlanta. There were a couple of slots with several good possibilities and a few slots with only a couple of possibilities. There was one slot, however, which held nothing for me. The holiday slot. What to do, what to do…
Meanwhile, my friend Cara and I had been working at trying to figure out this crazy business. We decided one day to blitz our headshots to a bunch of theatres in Florida and South Carolina. It was a long day of stapling and licking and trying to figure out the right words to say to promote yourself without sounding like you're totally into yourself. I submitted about a dozen different headshots and within the next few days my inbox was FLOODED with… two responses. One of them, thankfully, was from none other than Jonathan Wemette encouraging me to come down for Florida Stage's general auditions later that summer.
I kept an eye on the season Florida Stage had announced and as I was considering making the 9 hour drive down for the general audition, I noticed they had also scheduled some auditions specifically for a new play called "The Storytelling Ability of a Boy" (which happened to fall during that empty "holiday spot"). Jonathan was nice enough to extend an invitation to the "Storytelling" callbacks, instead of having to come to the general auditions first. I told him I was very interested in that and he e-mailed me a copy of the script. I knew it would be a risk, so I wanted to make sure it was something I really liked first.
My husband, Eric, who is also an actor was checking out some flights as we decided it would end up being a little cheaper to fly. I read the script and Eric asked me what I thought of it. "I think I'm kind of in love with it" I told him. So he booked the flight.
I flew out of Atlanta early on a Monday morning. We had found a cheap, discount car for me to rent from the airport. I drove down 95 toward the theatre with all my maps spread out on the passenger seat. I stopped at a gas station just up the road from Florida Stage and changed into my audition clothes and sat in the car looking over my highlighted lines one last time.
I was the first one at the theatre and couldn't get in. For a moment I just knew I had gotten my dates mixed up. But soon enough, some guy named Andrew Rosendorf came to the door. He told me there were some new scenes to be read and gave me a bunch of papers. They turned out to be the wrong papers but he fixed it eventually and we've since talked through that incident and are really trying to move on. We're getting there. (Okay, fine, he's also one of my new favorite people.)
I finally got to go in the theatre and read scenes with a bunch of different actors. Everyone was super nice even though they seemed to think I was a little weird for flying from Atlanta. But they kept letting me read and Lou asked me to try some different things and I did my best to do what he asked and Carter-the-playwright shook my hand (I love playwrights) and I even got to read with Jonathan one time!
Then I was off again. I stopped at the beach for an hour on my way to the airport and sat in the sand and splashed in the clear water and felt very happy with my adventure. When Eric picked me up from the airport, I told him I was glad I did it and that even if this one doesn't work out I felt like they might call me in for something else later on.
Days go by. These days that go by after an important audition, they are the worst days of an actor's life. Every time your phone rings, your heart starts beating wildly and you run around your whole living room with your hands in the air before you pick up. And then it is just your neighbor asking you to get her mail while she's gone. But then maybe 5 days later, just when I had begun to chalk it up to "a good experience," Nan Barnett (another new favorite person) calls me. She had spent the last 5 days calling everyone on my resume (lesson: never lie on your resume) to make sure that I wasn't a crazy person, and I guess most of them said I wasn't… so that meant I could have the job!
Phew. So sometimes risks pay off. Because here I am in South Florida for the winter with amazing people all around me, feeling artistically stuffed to the gills, and working.
Where’s Andrew
Posted: December 10, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Jonathan Wemette Leave a comment Posted by Jonathan Wemette, Artistic Associate
I know you’ve all been enjoying Andrew’s Thursday posts about the development of his “Water Play,” but I’m afraid he won’t be able to join us today. He’s got a good excuse, though: for the next couple days, as part of his research for the “Water Play”, he’s taking (attending, visiting – I don’t know the proper verb here) the “Florida Earth Ag Module.” You can find the complete schedule of the event at that link, but it looks like a fantastic opportunity for anyone who wants to learn about Florida’s connection to its land and water. Today, for instance, starts with an overview of agriculture in South Florida, then moves on to presentations about the sugar cane industry, the citrus industry and the Florida cattle industry.
Since Andrew’s gone, I’ll take this opportunity to give you a rundown of how Andrew, Nan (our Managing Director), and I spent last weekend. We flew up to Atlanta for the National New Play Network’s National Showcase of New Plays, hosted by member theatres Actor’s Express and Horizon Theatre Company. It’s a great weekend, one of the highlights of my Florida Stage year. Over three days, representatives from the 26+ NNPN theatres and many other new play organizations gather to watch readings of six new plays, plus a full performance at the host theatre. It’s a chance to see a lot of good friends, including our fellow Florida NNPN theatres, Florida Studio Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theater and New Theatre, and to spend time with professionals as passionate about new works as we are here. (My only complaint this year? The 30-degree weather. Yikes.)
All six readings had something great to offer, and I know we’ll be hearing more from them as they start to get productions around the country, but one reading had a special significance for us: Andrew’s latest non-water-themed play, currently titled Brilliant Corners, selected for the showcase from a pool of more than 20 submissions. I got to see Brilliant Corners develop page by page while Andrew wrote it in residence with us last year, and to hear it read by top-notch actors in a room full of the savviest theatergoers imaginable was immensely satisfying, and it made me proud of Andrew and of Florida Stage’s support for his writing. It’s a beautiful family drama that feels both classical and new, but you don’t have to take my word for it: we’ll be including Brilliant Corners in our 1st Stage New Works Festival this coming March.
But you don’t have to wait until then to hear from Andrew: he’ll be right here, at 1st Draft, next Thursday. (Oh! And I hope you’re enjoying his Wee Plays on Twitter.)
The Storytelling Ability of a Boy opens this week!
Posted: December 8, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Actor's Vlog, Amie Conner, Florida Stage, The Storytelling Ability of a Boy Leave a comment Posted By Amie Conner, Marketing Intern
Carter W. Lewis' The Storytelling Ability of a Boy begins previews tomorrow and opens this Friday! It’s a bold new play
about two dangerously smart teenagers and the teacher struggling to help them. It is a story that speaks to some universal truths. Who among us, no matter how smart or talented, has not at some point felt like they didn’t fit in? If we are lucky, we find those people who keep us from falling off the edge.
Click here for more information or here to purchase tickets.
The cast features three young actors who are enjoying spending the winter in Florida (they are from NYC and Atlanta). To get an inside look into the world of these actors, check out the video blog they have created: Actor's Vlog!
See what playwright, Cater W. Lewis, has to say about the show below:
Florida Stage on Radio Disney!
Posted: December 4, 2009 Filed under: Young Voices | Tags: Florida Stage, Heidi Harris, Radio Disney, Young Voices 1 CommentThat’s why it was so exciting that I got to be a guest on Radio Disney 1600’s talk-show “Kids Concern”, hosted by our own Gen Z Global Stage student participant, Lori Perry (from G-Star), who is one of Radio Disney’s student DJs.
Robert Goodrich (Florida Stage’s Media Arts Specialist) and I spent half-an-hour talking to Lori about the various education programs here at Florida Stage. I spoke about the Young Playwrights Festival and Student matinee series, while Robert talked about Gen Z Global Stage, the Young Playwrights’ Mentor Lab program, and what it’s like to be a professional playwright and filmmaker.
It was great to be able to share why we feel theatre and the arts are so important. Thanks so much to Lori Perry and all the folks at Radio Disney 1600 for the opportunity to get the word out about Florida Stage and our education programming. Anyone interested in listening, the broadcast is at 6:30 am on Saturday, December 5th.
Chess Pieces
Posted: December 3, 2009 Filed under: Creation of a Play | Tags: Andrew Rosendorf, Creation of a Play, Florida Stage Leave a comment*This blog is part of a series of blogs about the creation of a play for Florida Stage as part of their “Florida Cycle”, click here for the previous posts.
It has come to my attention that while I’ve chatted about the time periods in the Water Play (1928 & Present Day) I haven’t really mentioned who the characters are and the reason why these characters populate this world.
For this particular play, the characters have to allow for an exploration of the issues that have come up in my research. However, I never wanted the characters to simply become talking heads debating issues with one another. That, to me, just is not interesting drama. To me drama comes out of the human stories and conflicts that relate to the day-to-day struggles of living our daily lives. Dramatizing these struggles will allow the issues to organically rise to the surface. What this meant was that I had to really think about the characters’ roles in society and how each character can come into conflict with others.
When thinking about characters in a play I sometimes find myself thinking of the characters as if they were chess pieces on a board. If I move the Knight how does that affect my opponent’s Pawn? Or if I move the Castle vertically in front of my opponent’s Queen, what will that make the Queen do? What are the options for the next move and how will I counter that? In other words, how can my characters be placed in society in such a way to create the best possible scenario for conflict with one another.
I looked again at some of the overall water issues that I wanted to deal with. This ranged from water management to Lake Okeechobee to agriculture to drainage. It became clear that I needed at least one character to be a farmer. Why a farmer? Because a farmer is someone who is living off the land. Relying on the land for survival. For his/her family’s survival. A farmer in 1928 was at the mercy of nature. Having a character that is directly having to deal with nature and fighting the elements for a living – for survival – felt as strong a way as possible to find the human stories and conflicts that relate to the larger issues.
So, meet Eddie Wilson. The main character of the 1928 section of the play. He’s a farmer who farms right in the shadow of Lake Okeechobee in Belle Glade. He has been there for twelve years – so before the muck dike was built and when Lake Okeechobee was constantly flooding. He was there for the 1917 frost that wiped out a number of farms. He’s built his house on stilts so it would stay above flooding water. He wants to make his fortune. Right now he’s growing beans and potatoes, but has aspirations of getting into the sugar business. Eddie also owns a store in downtown Belle Glade right on the Hillsboro Canal. He’s a hard working man who thinks he has control of his situation.
After landing on Eddie as a character, the rest of the characters began to evolve and take shape. There’s Eddie’s wife, Ruthie, who has birthed children and raised them in Belle Glade. She’s supportive of Eddie, but feels that she’s reached her limit with dealing with the weather. The elements. That maybe it’s time for them to stop fighting nature and go back to a city. Go back to where there is snow. And not water in sight for miles.
There’s Jacob Gold who runs the Everglades News. He believes that the management of Lake Okeechobee has been mishandled. And the consequences have already been deadly as seen with the 1926 hurricane that caused Lake Okeechobee to burst through its dike and kill 800 people. He himself has felt a personal loss at the hand of the Lake. From a playwright perspective, having Jacob be a newspaper man allows me the opportunity for him to be able to get away with talking about some of the issues and concerns without it seeming as if the playwright is talking about the issues. It’s my goal that it feels a natural part of Jacob’s daily discourse.
There’s Noah Brooks who is a World War I veteran that has felt the impact of coming home from war, but not having the pension he was promised. He moved to South Florida with hopes of making money even though he has very little. The central story of Act I centers on a conflict between Noah and Eddie over land. A conflict that comes directly out of the lack of water during a drought.
Lastly, there’s Harriet who is 7-months pregnant and an African-American field hand who works with her family on Eddie’s land. The secrets she carries, some revealed in the first act, will affect these characters’ lives in ways they don’t expect. And be one of the ways of directly connecting the second act with the first one.
And those are the characters in the 1928 part of the play. Well, all of the characters played by actors. There is also the land and the weather that I want to become characters all their own.
The characters in the second act, the ones in present day, I haven’t pinned down quite yet. I don’t want to say much more until I know exactly what I have to say. Right now I have musings. The characters are still formulating. And while they’re formulating I’ve gone back to rereading and researching further about modern day water issues as well as taking part in a two-day module with Florida Earth about agriculture on December 10th and 11th.
Next time, I think, it might be time to start to refer to the Water Play with its working title. As always, feel free to contact me (andrew@floridastage.org) with questions, comment, and/or articles that you feel I should read. I’ve appreciated all the e-mails to this point. Namaste!
“Masterful Diagnosticians”
Posted: December 2, 2009 Filed under: Florida Stage | Tags: Florida Stage, Israel Horovitz, Jonathan Wemette, Sins of the Mother Leave a comment Posted By Jonathan Wemette, Artistic Associate
Even with all the excitement around here about our upcoming move to the Kravis Center, we have to keep working on our also-exciting current season. To that end, I’m doing some research for my production notes for the Sins of the Mother playbill. (Those dramaturgical notes in the playbill are new this year. Like ‘em?) I’m reading a lot about the show’s playwright and director, Israel Horovitz, and ran across the following sentence in an article comparing the works of Eugene O’Neill and Mr. Horovitz:
“Israel Horovitz, John Guare, Sam Shepard, Wendy Wasserstein, Marsha Norman—to name only a few—are masterful diagnosticians of various forms of American malaise.”
Audiences from our 1st Stage New Works Festival will recognize a few names from that list. In fact, all of our past Keynote Speakers are there – Mr. Horovitz, Mr. Guare and Ms. Norman. Makes me wonder if we should be adding “masterful diagnostician of American malaise” to the job description…
Speaking of 1st Stage, it’s coming together behind the scenes here; look for a lot of information sometime this month – including our next great keynote speaker!