First Exchanges

The first artisan exchange between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Milwaukee Repertory Theater is underway. Scenic artist Thayne Abraham is in Milwaukee and Kira Nehmer has arrived in Ashland. It has been a little hectic finalizing all the details. We decided to create a simple letter of agreement between all of the participants to clarify who was responsible for what. We had  help from our HR Department and others in assuring that all artisans are covered by workers compensation insurance and arranging for transportation, housing and stipends.  I would like to thank OSF's Production and Artistic Associate Rachel Maize, Safety Manager Janice Tacconi and HR Director David Taylor, plus the partner theaters and artisans who are making this project happen.

Bill Tiesi

Project Director

Artisan Exchange at OSF

Unlike actors and artists, production artisans tend to be isolated in their home theatres and don’t have many opportunities to interact with artisans from other theatres. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) received AHA funding to partner with up to five regional theatres on an exchange program for production craftspeople. Five staff will be released from their OSF assignments to work at one of the other theatres, and each will send an artisan to work in a parallel position at OSF. We want to explore the benefits and challenges of sharing production skills and resources across the field. We believe that the potential impact is profound.

Production Manager Tom Knapp recently retired after more than 30 years at OSF. Technical Director Bill Tiesi has stepped in as our AHA project director. Bill has identified five potential partner theatres: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Children’s Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre, and Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. He solicited applications from OSF artisans, asking them to submit a resume and a short statement about what they hope to learn from the exchange. In November, Bill and other OSF’s shop managers went through the process of selecting the artisans for the exchange. These sessions felt very much like casting, with the added complication of matching OSF applicants with the applicants from other theatres.

The first exchange is set to begin this month: OSF Scenic Artist Thayne Abraham will head to Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and Milwaukee Rep Scenic Artist Kira Nehmer will come to OSF.

We are very excited to see the Artisan Exchanges actually happening. Thanks to the MetLife Foundation, TCG, and all the people who helped make this a reality.

 

 

Staging Success - 9th Grade!

Nick Luckenbaugh here from Atlantic Theater Company in NYC! This year – with the help of the MetLife/TCG A-Ha! Program alongside other amazing supporters – we’ve been able to create a four-year arts education program called Staging Success. This is the largest arts education program in Atlantic’s history, and we’re thrilled to be working on it.

Just a quick overview of the program in case you’re unfamiliar: We’ve partnered with Park Slope Collegiate (a public high school in Brooklyn) to provide in-school theater classes to its entire student body of 300 teens. At each grade level, our teaching artists and administrators work with PSC faculty to create a curriculum that not only teaches theater but incorporates academic curriculum from students’ other classes. Beyond our work in the school, we also offer an intensive afterschool mentorship for select seniors – in which they form their own theater company and write and perform a new play at Atlantic.

Things have been going well with the program so far. Actually, we’ve already completed theater classes for the entire 9th grade. (110 students from four different periods!) Before even getting into acting exercises, students started by creating rules for their classroom ensemble. I really think they came up with some great stuff: “Stay open-minded and listen to others’ opinions.” “Act your age; not your shoe size.” “Take responsibility for your actions.”

I felt fortunate enough to see the culmination of each period’s work in their final presentations – in which each 9th grader performed a few lines of a personal narrative from their English class. They were totally memorized, and even when a few forgot their lines, their classmates jumped right in and started prompting them. It truly was an ensemble effort. I was also impressed that so many students voluntarily chose writing that was intensely personal – with many sharing moments about their loss of parents, bullying, or even mental illness. It really took a lot of courage on their part to share those stories.

After the presentation, 9th graders had a chance to discuss their thoughts on the program. This was the first exposure to theater for almost all of them, so it was heartening to hear so many talk about how they loved Staging Success and that they’re looking forward to working with Atlantic again next year. A few took this a step further, saying that they understood their theater work applied to other parts of their lives – from public speaking to day-to-day interactions with their classmates and teachers. In addition, many students talked about how they felt the program helped them bond with each other in new ways and showed them how “cool and awesome” their English teacher is.

For me, one of the most powerful moments of the day was seeing students who didn’t have mastery of the English language get up and share their personal stories. One of these students came to the United States not long before attending Park Slope Collegiate. At the beginning of the program, he refused to participate out of fear that his classmates would make fun of his accent. But teaching artists continued to encourage him, telling him that he was an important part of the ensemble and that he needed to be heard. It was difficult for him, but he finally began speaking up in class and even participated in the final presentation. What’s more, when other students spoke about their experiences, several (including some who had teased this particular young man in class) singled him out along with similar students – saying that they admired and “looked up to them” for their courage and confidence even when struggling with the language.

Thanks for taking the time to read! I’m looking forward to the next update on the program (10th grade and afterschool programs are already underway!) – but until then, feel free to contact me at nluckenbaugh@atlantictheater.org if you’d like more information about Staging Success!

Fancy digs!

This is my last blog for The Austin Scenic Co-op and I am really happy with what we have been able to accomplish in the past year, thanks to TCG and Metlife.

This year we have created some reliable and consistent systems for inventory and check-in/check-out processing. We have a website and a facebook page... but the most exciting new growth spurt happened in just the last two months with the opening of a Co-op Scene Shop at the Rude Mechs CenterCenter space. This scene shop will be available for low rent to the Austin theater community. Over the past year many artists complained about a lack of space to build their shows and we are so happy to be able to finally meet that need! Not only does it meet a community need but it also offers us opportunities to create systems of sustainability within the Co-op. With the rental fees for use of the shop we hope to continue to be able to employ at least one Co-op staff member after the Ah Ha grant has ended.

Here are a couple of pictures of our fancy new digs...

 Thank you once again TCG! This has been a really rewarding year and we hope to continue to grow and strengthen all of the foundations that have been laid.

Jenny Larson, The Austin Scenic Co-op/ Salvage Vanguard Theater

Mark your calendars! TEDxCalArts is official

Mark your calendars! We are pleased to announce that on March 9, 2013 the CalArts Center for New Performance will host TEDxCalArts. With the generous support of the MetLife/TCG A-ha! Do It Grant, this all-day event will gather together a diverse array of the world’s brightest minds to talk about the big ideas and innovations that are shaping our world.



Through a series of talks and performances, our conference will explore how new understandings of performance and liveness are radically changing the world we live in.

TEDxCalArts will be held at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), CalArts’ downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts.

Visit our website, http://tedxcalarts.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates and announcements about our line-up of speakers.

Who We Are

The Center for New Performance (CNP) is the professional producing arm of CalArts, established to provide a unique artist- and project-driven framework for the development and realization of innovative theater, music, dance and interdisciplinary projects. Extending the forward-looking work carried out at CalArts into a direct dialogue with professional communities at the local, national and international levels, CNP offers an alternative model for the support of emerging voices and directions in the performing arts.

About TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED- like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED.

Who is using the Co-op?

For this months blog I wanted to share a few projects that have been using the Scenic Co-op for their set needs.

Currently running at the Salvage Vanguard Theater is local latino theater company Teatro Vivo’s production of Raul Garza’s CURA. Cura explores what happens when faith is tested to its limits. In 1938, in a small Texas bordertown, a humble, defeated woman of faith, Amparo, encounters both spiritual hope and crisis in a young man who may or may not be the legendary Curandero/Saint, El Niño Fidencio. The Spanish word “cura” means both “cure” and “priest.”

Last month Glass Half Full Theatre ran their production of FupDuck on SVT’s mainstage. FupDuck is a puppetry adaptation of the novela Fup, by Jim Dodge, an anti-authoritarian fable about whiskey, ducks, life, death, and the untamed spirit of the West. The Puppets: Granddaddy Jake is a foul-mouthed, back-woods octogenarian who receives unexpected custody of his grandson Tiny, a child as gentle as Jake is cantankerous. Fup is their ornery twenty-pound duck, who embodies both chaos and heartfelt wisdom. The story explores this non-traditional family’s diverse obsessions, namely whiskey-brewing, fence-building, checkers, and an enthusiasm for sitting still. Granddaddy Jake's memories of his conversations with Johnny Seven Moons, the local Medicine Man, and Tiny and Fup's ongoing feud with the wild boar, Lockjaw, lead to a wry examination of what it means to live and how it is to die.

7 Wonders of the World +1 by Tongue and Groove also used the Co-op this past month. The source material for this original comedy, directed and adapted by David Yeakle, is a 1940s-era suite of songs by the late record producer, Robert Scherman. The story follows a dreamer across time and space to various landmarks of both the ancient world and modern U.S., bouncing from then to now, from temple to skyscraper, classical drama to screwball romance. This production ran at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

In the coming months the following companies will be using the Co-op library for their shows: Trouble Puppet Theater’s Toil and Trouble, an adaptation of Macbeth. The Exchange Artist’s The Man Who Planted Trees.

Jenny Larson, Salvage Vanguard Theater/ Austin Scenic Co-op

Meeting minutes...

This is not my most exciting blog ever but here are our meeting minutes from the partner meeting we held last month... The biggest and most exciting thing is that we are now moving forward with creating community shop space at the Rude Mechs venue and opening up community storage space at the SVT venue...

Co-op Partners Meeting, July 18^th 2012
Present: Connor, Eliot, Thomas (Rude Mech), Joe (St Edwards University), Zac, Jenny

The goal of the meeting was to discuss with partners what would be useful to them in creating a relationship with the Co-op and exploring and discussing ways that the larger budget partners can help make the Co-op more sustainable. Are the bigger organizations interested in making an annual contribution to the Co-op and what would make that viable for them?

Joe from St Eds said that they are not interested in making an annual contribution or having a "membership" but that they are willing to let the Co-op manage the rentals of the St Eds stock and keep the profit. The details need to be worked out but Joe said he would be happy to get an Office Depot gift card back from the Co-op at the end of the year and the Co-op keep all profits from the rentals. For example, Joe would love for the Co-op to manage the rentals for their prop stock. Joe would also like to give the Co-op a lot of furniture that they no longer need or use. They need more storage space but for them to buy in to the Co-op storage it would need to be closed to St Eds.

Eliot, who also works at St Eds, is going to help complete the St Eds inventory at the same time that the Co-op inventory is being completed. Both inventories are due by August 31^st.

The basic idea being that the Co-op would almost be a consignment shop for the St Eds inventory. Managing other peoples stock and rentals.

Thomas talked about Scott Guthries desire and intention to create a rentable and usable scene shop space out of the CenterCenter at the Rude Mechs space. The lease would be $300 a month. The talk started to revolve around the idea that SVT could become the main storage space and Rudes could house the shop space. The shop space could be rented out and companies could rent out parts of SVT for their storage, this can potentially create income for the Co-op right away. Scott would be the person in charge of managing the Shop. He wouldn't be paid by the Co-op but would be paid through his contract work and some money from scene shop rentals. The Co-op would cover 1/2 to 2/3 of the rent for this shop space.

The next steps are that Connor needs to talk to Scott about collaborating on this scene shop idea. We need to create a system of how the space and the rental rate of the space is shared. The Co-op also will approach Ia and Rupert and PaperChairs about their storage needs and interest in taking up some space at SVT.

The idea was discussed to use the remaining storage budget to pay for tool repair and rent at the CenterCenter for the new shop space.

Jenny Larson, Salvage Vanguard Theater and The Austin Scenic Co-op