Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Finding a place to call home

This is a big question for performing arts groups to deal with when they start. Local theater auteur, John Dranshak, has stated that this seems to be a reoccurring theme in many local organizations since there doesn't seem to be any affordable performance spaces in this town. John talked about how this has been an ongoing issue in Columbus for the last couple of decades and that there have been others before this organization who have tried that have a lot of power and influence. The Greater Columbus Arts Council has done at least 2 studies on the issue in the past to no avail it seems.

The solution that no one seems to be able to put together economically has been to create an incubator performing arts space for small arts organizations. The Drama Foundry is determined to get a performance space that isn't going to take us to the cleaners. As John pointed out, performance spaces are the single largest expense for any performing arts organization. (He named some figures last night for using a theater for a week in Columbus.) As far as my long hesitation in trying to engage my community and following my passion, it is issues like this that make me want to run away and hide. It is a hard pill to swallow that a city the size of Columbus does not have an incubator performance space for local arts organizations.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Pale Imitations on board for the Independences' Day Festival Presentation

Andy over at MadLab gracefully declined to collaborate on the presentation on Sept. 20. However, he suggested contacting Pale Imitations. An invitation to Pale Imitations Sunday Night Improve Jam at the Gresso Bar in German Village was extended and received. That event is about as much fun one can have sober and clothed.

To make a long story shorter, 2 1/2 hours were spent in the second story of an old Victorian home that had been converted into bar doing improve with 2 dozen strangers. It was absolutely FABULOUS! The Pale Imitations troupe work like a well-oiled machine and they all have a very commanding presence when performing. They are Bill McKinley, Earl Larimore, Amy Talbott, Yury Khidekel, and of course, Scott Summit. Hopefully TDF will be able to cultivate a collaborative relationship with them so that we can work to provide writers the tools of improvisation to help in the writing process.

That, of course, is the icing on the cake. TDF got a troupe of well-seasoned actors and writers to collaborate with for the festival. Working with them is a real joy. Other improv groups attend too like the members of the 8th floor improv group also. They are the OSU improvisation acting club. Lindsey Smith (what a woman) and her cohorts were great performers and funny. Their next workshop at the Gresso is Sunday Oct. 5th at 6:30pm.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Friday meeting with Adam Brouillette Scheduled

There is a meeting Friday morning with Adam Brouillette from the Couchfire Collective. He runs a design firm too. The meeting will be about him designing a logo for the organization and creating promotional material for the September 20 presentation. Other topics to be discussed will be his fees and services for designing the web site. Several domains have been bought in anticipation for the TDF's web presence and world domination sans delusions of grandeur.

Ok... So what is this foundry going to forge?

Well, the short answer is drama. Being one of the suckers (desperate undergraduate liberal arts graduates) who bought into the oversell marketing campaign of DeVry University, I actually did learn something from those technical snake oil salesmen. I learned about system analysis and design. I can visualize ERD diagrams for a manufacturing or data retrieval process. I know, sounds fascinating... However, I can translate this into a diagram for the manufacturing process of a dramatic work of art. I know I might be making the creative flare in your eyes start to extinguish while your eyes glaze over with the mere mention of such a methodical approach to trying to create works of art - bear with me.

The raw material input: a first or second draft script or scene synopsis. If we end up using Viola Spoilen improve techniques it may be rawer than this. The final output: a performance/screening/broadcast of the piece with audience feedback. No, I am not forgetting all the entities (objects/processes) in between needed to go from input to output. This would include a writers' group, group critiques, table reads, rehearsals, by-weekly improvisational writing performances. The final product of the organization's efforts on an individual writer's work could be an individual performance or a yearly (bi-yearly) festival. Think of the process as an assembly line. Henry Ford would be proud, right?

The most important aspect to this process is integrity. The solicitation of work and the choice of what works get workshopped need to remain as unadulterated as possible. The way I think we will keep organization integrity is by having anonymous submissions. When you mail, email, fax a work to be considered for the foundry process, your name will be removed from the piece and an I.D. number will be assigned to the work and the writer that match up. If the piece is chosen, the assigned number for the piece will be posted on our Web site and the writer can identify themselves with their matching number. If the piece is not chosen, then you can call and request all the critique forms that were filled out by the readers of your work so as to get feedback on your work.

This will keep work from being chosen based off of who submits it and also from me getting calls from people saying, "HAAA! - HAAA! My uncle gave you money to fund your organization and if you don't workshop my play about alien space monkeys I am going to tell my uncle that you suck." Or the other nightmare call I foresee getting will be, “Hey Arvin, errr, my main man, long time no see, uhhh... friend. I have this great idea for a screen play that I am dying to write. Can you help a friend out and let me come to your workshop?"

This will level out the playing field, hopefully. I will be in the same boat with those other nightmare people. If I want something workshopped, I have to submit it anonymously like everyone else. If someone tries to compromise the process, they are banned from submitting work. To make this work, the plan is to solicit a stable of script readers to go over submissions. We will have a critique process in place with standardized forms that the readers will have to fill out for each script. Each reader will pick the best script or two (depending on how many submissions) and then they will meet to pick 3 to 6 scripts for the Drama Foundry to help workshop.

We'll also be organizing workshops put on by successful dramatic writers, a library of dramatic literature, criticism, and technical manuals, and a possible lecture series. Yes, all of this will cost money. Though, I will be working to find ways of keeping it affordable for all of us poor starving artists. I am thinking of having memberships, charging admissions to events, offering sponsorships, advertising, and applying for grants. There are still more details and logistics to work out but these are some of the ideas I have so far. With feedback and trial and error - it could change...

The Inspiration for TDF

I decided to start The Drama Foundry out of desperation and my perceived lack of options. It was my childhood friend Matt who came back to Columbus from L.A. after 10 years to go to grad school in Art at OSU who really kicked me in the pants. I was whining... errr complaining that I was trapped in Columbus and that I would never be able to leave. I know, poor me. I had this idea of the grass being greener on the other side - of where? I didn't know. However, it had to be some place other than a Midwestern city like Columbus that could only seem to get a large group of people together to watch football. (Nothing against football per se except when I am stuck in traffic near campus trying to get someplace other than a game...) I am "trapped" here because of my commitments. I have a 7 year-old son who needs his dad and I have two elderly parents who need their only child to help take care of them.

However, I wanted to go to grad school some place really "artsy fartsy" and study something really impractical like - creative writing, play writing, or screenwriting. I have been trying to be practical for the past 9 years since I graduated with my B.A. in English from OSU. I have worked in publishing, done freelancing writing, temping, tech writing, government, I.T., and worked in a pharmacy. Matt told me to stop whining and figure out how to bring the art I wanted to do to me hear in Columbus, Ohio. I brooded over his statement for a couple of days. He was right and I figured I needed to take it a step further. I needed to not only create these opportunities for myself but I also needed to present these opportunities to the universe. I have been told that if you give to others what you most desire, you will get it back three-fold. The other major inspiration here is the Law of Attraction. I have been told by numerous people that if I surround myself around creative people like myself trying to do the same thing, I am much more likely to be successful and in turn bring success to others. My hope is that I learn a lot about starting and running an arts organization and that I am able to help other people like myself in developing their ideas into performances.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Today it's legit

The Drama Foundry is committed to presenting at the Independents' Day festival on September 20, 2008 in downtown Columbus. A meeting with Adam (Couchfire Collective) has been set up to discuss hiring his design firm to do a logo, create some promotional material, and find out about his fees for designing a web site.