My time is important. Why should I use it to see your show?

I have to say, this week kicked my butt a lot more than I thought it might.  I started strong, but somewhere in the middle I was still able to meet my 6am yet lost functionality at 6pm.  Sometimes exhaustion is a good thing.  It is a reminder to stop and think about what is important.

That 6am is very important.  I have a goal for the end of this year.  I have to tighten up my discipline, but I am not going to give in to the temptation of I can do it tomorrow.  Writing is my priority as I go into year 40.  Actually, if you’ve been following along, it’s been a priority for year 39.  Just now it has ambition

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The thing about having that discipline, though, is that other things have to fall away.  I won’t let family do that.  Or friends.  Aside from the value of moments in the shared company of those I love, it is necessary to come up from the submarine of isolation into which writing a novel at warp speed puts me.  And on that very fundamental level, it brings me down to earth so I remember how people engage and speak to one another.

My next great love is theater.  That is where a lot of those friends meet.  But, I’m afraid, this is the lamb I have to contemplate sacrificing.  Maybe that is a bad metaphor.  It is a sacrifice of precision and selection.  The one where I am willing to make a calculated choice.

As of two weeks ago, I was elected to a vice presidency of my local community theater.  I take this very seriously not because I see it as an opportunity to start doing plays I want to do, but as a way to give back to the organization that gave me the love and confidence and skill to go to other places.  They need help right now.  Help that my recent professional experience in strategic planning and fundraising and marketing can provide.  That is my focus in the coming year.  Not directing or acting or even stage managing.  That takes a lot of mental energy and creativity.  And time.

There are only so many hours in a week – and unfortunately a lot of them are committed to work and doing some level of maintenance around the house and I’m sure there are other things that aren’t forefront of my brain right now.

The point is, I don’t have many hours left for theater.  And by theater, I mean going to see other people’s shows.  But this is important to me.  Not as important as my 6ams or the WWC writeins or my family or my supper club.  I value art.  I value very much how it feels to have someone come and sit in the audience of a show towards which I have put my time.  And when I go to a play I want to celebrate that time and effort and skill.  I want to support my friends.  I want to see theater that I love unfold on a stage.  To make me laugh or cry, or best of all think about something in a different way.  

I just can’t do it every weekend.  I can’t be there for every show.

Because, yes, I am making a self-indulgent choice for this year to come.  I need the time to write.  And I have a stressful job that requires a quiet weekend night to clear my head so I can get up and write on my days off.  I’ve made a decision that outside of the theater to which I am obligated by office, I am limiting myself to one or two shows a month.  

I don’t know how many of my theater friends are reading this blog or maybe they started and stopped before getting to this point, but if you are still with me, I have a request.  Tell me why I should pick your show.  

I want you to think about it.  I mean really think about it.  Maybe me being in the audience isn’t that important… but I hope some of the points I’m about to raise will make you think about how you sell your shows not just to me, but to theater people and to the audience in general.  Because you know what?  We have over 25 theaters in Central Massachusetts alone.  And those are the ones I could find that have a website.  

There are new theaters born every year.  That’s great on some levels.  The part of me that loves artists taking risk is thrilled that people are trying new things.  That we have the resources in this area (the Singh Center) to help people get off the ground and try out some plays and methodology that the old dinosaur theaters think are a waste of time or too risky to try.  That said, there are only so many weekends – so many dollars – that one can use up in the name of the art she loves.  Why is your play different?  How is it unlike the other dramas, farces, musicals that are being performed every weekend of the year – sometimes in duplicate at different venues?  Sometimes in triplicate.

Convince me.  Convince the theater going population of the county.  Why should we pick your show?  

I’ll tell you a few of my reasons.

1. My friends are in it.  That’s a no brainer.  Although, truth be told I’ve been around this circle for quite a while so I have a lot of friends doing plays.  Indeed, I could probably find a friend in a show almost every weekend.  What will make me choose them?  Well, either we go way back and I know how important this particular play is because I see their posts on Facebook about the process – or even better, she has come to my dining room and told me herself.  I will be there for anyone who has poured out his heart in a face to face conversation about what doing the play means to him (illness and snowstorms excepted).  If we don’t have that close personal relationship where you feel it is worth your while to drive to my house in the boonies, but you have helped me out in some way or come to my show, I’m a sucker for the quid pro quo.  Of course, the logic would be if I feel that way about other people, wouldn’t they feel that way about me?  So shouldn’t I go to more plays?  Yes.  And in the years when I have a show of my own, I will make more of an effort to do this sort of thing.  Now, that just isn’t the case.

2. Shakespeare.  It isn’t always a selling point.  If I had the time I would go to Shakespeare whenever I could.  But that’s the niche to which I belong.  Get a clue, Worcester County.  This is an untapped audience… oh, wait, never mind.  I have a theater that needs to build its revenue…

3. I’m going to get more than just a show.  I love theater.  I protest that I don’t like musicals, but that isn’t entirely true.  I prefer Shakespeare (duh).  I like new scripts.  But I also like new interpretations.  More than that, I like to know the thought process behind those interpretations.  So maybe you aren’t going to come to dinner. But I’ll tell you what we talk about here.  Art.  Why we make the creative choices we do and how they excite us.  If your show has a talkback or Q&A where you will tell me about those things, I’m more likely to show up.  In fact, after doing book readings where my miniscule audiences have no questions, I’ve gotten much better at asking at these sort of things.  Invite me as a plant.  I’ll ask the questions to get the discussion going.  

Or maybe there isn’t a talkback officially.  But if there is a social opportunity, I’m in.  If it’s a social opportunity that I know involves conversation and not shouting over loud karaoke or a mindless game, I’m more likely to be there.  I love theater, but I like the real life dialogue more.  I don’t give up supper club nights to go to a play because I value conversation.  I’m more likely to show up to your play if I know that is a guarantee – especially if you are my friend and you are asking me to come see your show.  I want to see your show.  But you are my friend, so I want to see you.  It’s always a huge letdown when I come to a show and don’t get to have that time with the real person after.

There are more reasons, but there are also things that help me to eliminate the possibility from my list pretty swiftly.

1. The only reason you give me to come is a Facebook event invite.  Look, I know you are busy too.  I know we just don’t have the reason or excuse to get together.  Maybe the only reason we are friends on Facebook is we did a show together anyway… and isn’t this the point of friending former cast mates (I mean it’s not like we’re trying to keep tabs without maintaining an actual friendship or anything).  Right.  So anyway.  I do want you to send me that invite.  But if it means something to you for me to be there, a quick personalized message doesn’t hurt.  Hey, remember the laugh we had about that prop or whatever after the play we did in 2002?  Yeah, well I was thinking about that when I was in rehearsal for this and I’d love it if you were there.  We don’t have to have that conversation I mentioned before if you are the sort of Facebook friend who won’t even like my scary strong opinionated posts, but if you tell me that it will mean something to you to have this random person from a play you did twelve years ago show up in the audience, you’ve pushed the right button.  How do I know that?  Because when people I did a show with twelve years ago show up to my play, I feel really smiley.

2. You tell me that your show is the best thing happening in local theater right now (especially Shakespeare).  No.  It’s not.  You are one – let me say this again ONE – of at least 25 theaters in this area.  You are not better or worse than any other person who shows up for six weeks after work memorizing lines and blocking and building sets and giving up sleep.  I don’t care what ‘method’ you use or how you think your theater is somehow more ‘professional,’ you are playing the same game of pretend as the rest of us.  And if you dare to diminish anyone else (and I don’t care if you have legitimate personal angst between you and another theater/person – that is for drinky drink conversation between friends, not superiority complexes), I will not support you.  I do not, will not respect or give money to people who think they are above being kind and respectful members of the community of theater.

3. You are doing god damn Annie.  Or Oliver.  Or Neil Simon.  Or The Christmas Carol. Or any other overly done to death version of The Christmas Carol, oh isn't life suddenly wonderful and oblivious to the darker part of the universe because it's Christmas. You want an audience?  Do something we’ve never seen before.  Can’t think of anything?  Write it.  You don’t write?  I can hook you up with some writers.  Or just take a break.  Do a reading instead.  Do something new.  I love new.  I love originality.

Now, everything I’ve said has exceptions.  These are not hard fast rules.  And to say they are is ridiculous.  I just want us to start thinking a little differently, with a more heart and intention and appreciation.  I promise you I don’t make these demands without the intention of going to your show with that heart and appreciation.  I think if you read some of my reflections from this blog, you’ll find that’s the kind of audience member I am.  But I need you to convince me why your play is worth my time and money.  If you believe in the play you are producing, making the effort to think about these things should be a labor of love.

So tell me.   Why should I see your show?