TEam Work

from Christa Kimlicko Jones, Associate Artistic Director, Director of Programming: 

We have begun the creative discussions. Last week we held our first production meeting for our fall shows NORMALCY and THE JUNGLE BOOK. What’s most exciting about this season is the challenge of discussing two productions at once that need to work together. It is a lot to take on in a short, 3-hour meeting, but because of the team that we have, we all left inspired and ready for the next steps. 

 

First production meetings are so much about coming to the table with initial ideas and problem solving. Everyone has been doing work on their own and the time has come to begin to put it together—to collaborate, to really work as a team. I’m always amazed to see what the various departments have been working on. In many ways it’s the same excitement we, as school children, felt on Show-and-Tell days. It’s a lot of oohs and ahhs. Set, lighting, costumes, sound and music—all these incredible folks gathered in a room presenting their ideas, supporting the director’s vision...and the production manager making sure it all stays within budget. 

 

It was a great beginning, resulting in very workable and exciting ideas. We all left inspired and ready for more! Go TEam! 

 

You can also be a part of the TEam and help make these productions happen.  DONATE TODAY  to Theatre East!

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We Are Family

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 
 

In school, I was constantly bullied; I was ganged up on, beaten, and terrorized on a regular basis. Or at least that is how it felt at the time.

On my first day of sixth grade, I transitioned to a middle school in Norman, Oklahoma. It was the first time I wasn’t able to walk to school; I had to ride the bus.  This concept to me was terrifying. At 11 years old, I was already almost 6 feet tall and I was painfully shy—a combination that would prove to be a liability.

I sat on the bus that first morning, scared of the new experience. To soothe myself, I held my books to my chest, trying to make myself as small as humanly possible. I can only assume that I thought that if I stayed still, none of the other kids would notice me and, therefore, wouldn’t pick on me. My height made this impossible.

One of the boys on the bus asked if I was a boy or a girl. I, of course, told him that I was a boy. At the time I didn’t realize it, but the next move would be the beginning of my many encounters with bullies. He told me that he thought I was a girl, because I carried my books like one. Everyone laughed and that was all it took, I was called a fag for the first time in my life.  At the time I didn’t even know what the word meant, let alone whether I was one or not.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones. When I look back on that time and the events that followed over the course of the next six years, I am oddly thankful. Without that teasing I wouldn’t be the person I am today, nor would I have found a home in the theatre.

In the Drama Club, I found my allies, a merry band of misfits who were all looking for some kind of escape from the cruel, unjust world that we were forced to inhabit. In the auditorium after school, during countless hours of rehearsal, I felt like a valued member of the team. That feeling gave me the strength to ignore the name-calling and fight back when pushed.  I discovered who I was.

The theatre has always provided me with a sense of family. Whether it was high school, college, or Theatre East, the people who surround me when I am actively engaged in the art of making theatre are the best people I know. 

I think much of it has to do with the collaborative nature of the theatre. Nothing can get done without everyone involved doing his or her job. Success depends upon it.  Even when things don’t seem to be going well, the show, as they say, must go on, and the players must pull together and do whatever it takes to make it happen. That lesson may be the most valuable thing I have learned from the theatre.

I am honored to be a part of the Theatre East family, and as part of that family, I am committed to doing whatever it takes to make it a success. Thank you for welcoming me and above all for your continued support.

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In Support of the Arts

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 

It is hard for me to watch the news without spending a great deal of time with my head in my hands. I would think this is true for many viewers on both sides of any given issue. We have become an extremely polarized society and, in doing so, we are losing the middle ground.

I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to politics. I don’t know the intricacies of the banking industry, or the factors that have led to our current economic crisis. I should know more, but it is difficult to wade through the talking points coming from both sides of any given argument. I am not sure when our world became so black and white and uncompromising.

Part of my confusion comes from how I was trained to view the world. I am and have always been a student of the Arts. In the fifth grade, I played the cello in the orchestra. I learned harmony and what it means to be a part of a group, each with their own individual part that makes a whole. In high school, I took Speech & Debate and learned how to present facts, debate issues and, in the process, form my own opinions. In college, I turned to playwriting and was taught how to tell a story, present differing opinions and allow disparate voices a chance to be heard.  The Arts...taught me how to think.

The Arts now suffers the same fate as other debated topics, it has been boiled down to a black and white issue. To one side, the Arts are a waste of tax dollars and less vital to the education of our children than math and science—an argument that has successfully led to the decimation of funding for public arts education. To the other side, the Arts are not only integral to a quality of life, but they have a positive impact on local economies and provide our community with a platform to explore ideas.

As a finance manager I understand that the arts can be seen as the easiest thing to cut in order to make ends meet. However, the very principles that art taught me are now missing from the way we as a society debate our most pressing issues.

As we approach the end of 2011, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked so tirelessly and given so much in support of Theatre East. I am proud to be part of an organization that focuses so much of its time, energy and resources to arts education and community engagement.

Thank you for your continued support; I look forward to continuing the dialogue in 2012.

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original photo by cseeman

How Sausage, er Theatre, is Made

from William Franke, Director of Development 

Recently I was listening to the podcast of THIS AMERICAN LIFE, episode 241: "20 Acts in 60 Minutes." I really enjoyed this particular episode, not only because it was a radio show inspired by a theatre company (the Neo-Futurists), but also because one of the 20 stories made me think about the magic of theatre.

About halfway through, at the 34:16 mark, they share a story from Jim Bodman, Chairman of Vienna Sausage Co. in Chicago. I recommend listening to the whole story but briefly: Bodman tells the story of how the company built a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in 1970, replacing their old factory, which was actually a warren of buildings on Chicago's south side that was built up by gradually buying up buildings over the course of 70 years, until the factory complex occupied an entire city block. Once they moved into their fancy new digs, however, they faced a problem: the hot dogs weren't coming out the same. They didn't have the same distinctive red color or desired snap. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, since the ingredients, spices, cooking time, everything was the same.

After a year and a half, they still haven't figured it out...until one night, when some guys from the plant are out at a bar, reminiscing over drinks about the old days in the former plant. They start talking about Irving, a fixture at the old plant who knew everyone, whose job was to take the uncooked sausages to the smokehouse. But, given the "Rube Goldberg" layout of the old factory, it took Irving half an hour on a circuitous route to get from A to B. And they realized: Irving & his trip was the missing secret ingredient.
 
With apologies to Christa Kimlicko Jones & any other vegetarians out there, this story of how the sausage is made got me to thinking about how theatre is made. No, not (just) that it happens over drinks in a bar, but also how, once the house lights go down, and the lights come up onstage, and the first words are spoken, something magical happens, and it's easy to forget all the many ingredients—all the people who come together to make it happen; all the hours spent designing, rehearsing & discussing; all the ideas that get thrown out, tossed around, tossed out or modified; all the paperwork that has to have i's dotted and t's crossed; all the collaboration—that go into making that magic. (Scott O'Brien, our Resident Composer & Sound Designer, keeps telling me that you don't want to show people how the sausage is made, but if you want to take a peek at how we've made it in the past, you can check out our YouTube channel.)

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The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

 
 from Judson Jones, Artistic Director

Gestalt. It’s one of my absolute favorite words. It's a German word that basically means that the whole cannot be derived by a simple summation of its parts. For me, this isn’t an example of how theatre can work, but instead how theatre should work. A few years ago a group of artists, members of our business community, and supporters gathered in a room to ask a question. That question was: 

Can we build a theatre company whose commitment to community, whose commitment to operating in a transparent and inclusive manner, whose commitment to the incredible power theatre possesses, is matched only by the commitment to producing earnest, catalyzing, provocative, needed, and great work?

While it has not always been easy, and we haven’t always succeeded, this continues to be our goal. The success of this company—our educational and community programming, past and future productions—is not due to the work of any individual, but to the work of many.

I’m constantly fascinated by the process of putting a production together. Everything about it. From selecting the script (or the script selecting you)…to assuring the playwright you won’t destroy their play…finding the space…hoping you can afford it…bringing on the director, supporting their vision…hiring the creative team and hoping the designers get along…the director leading the creative team to his or her vision and then being brave enough to let them run with it…finding your cast…hoping you find them…trusting that you’ll find them…being so thankful when you finally find them…doubting every decision you make…production meetings….staff meetings…marketing meetings…board meetings…meetings about meetings…publicity…unions…realizing that, while you have 10 bottles of wine for the opening night gala, you need to frantically run to the store immediately after curtain because no one brought a corkscrew…all of this, and ultimately hoping you have the budget to pull it off.

And you do all this in the fervent hope…to share a moment. All of these people working together, giving of themselves, their craft, working around the clock, hours of rehearsals, months of planning…hoping to create a single moment. A single shared moment with you. Why? Because it is in that moment we are closest to the gods.

I believe that.

TomOppenheim, Artistic Director of The Stella Adler Studios, lauded Theatre East at our first benefit with the following words: "I see there a mirror that reflects exactly the vision of a sane theater that Harold Clurman calls for. They have beautifully articulated alist of values, which are sound, noble, and creatively potent. They sing of the theatre providing a communal experience, connecting us to the world and each other, catalyzing critical thinking, educating us; they insist the theatre be accessible and, like Harold Clurman, see it ultimately as a civilizing force." I told Tom then that we did not deserve such words, but I hope we can earn them.

All my very best,
Judson

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