I’ve got to start SOMEwhere. If I even start at all. Already, I’m getting discouraged.
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Yeah. Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about how a theatre group gets started. I’ve done and seen a bunch of smaller theatre events (a dinner theatre murder mystery fundraiser, Shakespeare in the Square, memorial events, performing for seniors, community fairs, Fringe Festivals, pantomimes, cabarets, etc.), but all of those were smaller events put on by well-established theatre groups. Starting one all the way from scratch… I wouldn’t know where to start.
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It’s not even to make money, or anything like that - just SOMETHING TO DO.
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I know there’s a city-wide music festival this Friday in Chicago, and I believe it’s not the only town doing this Make Music Festival. You can sign up as a musician to perform in literally thousands of different sites, including street corners, parks, buildings, etc. You can stay in your own neighborhood or go elsewhere, and perform only once or multiple times over the course of the day. Whatever you want. Maybe where you live has something like that?
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Finally got the newer one into factory reset.
But it’s a pain, and a lot of things get lost.
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Choir? Theater group? Off the top of my head. A chance to meet people, which I think is the really important thing.
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And that is how I wound up being married. He kept promising to show me radio show production until I was too busy with my job to have time for it.
Le sigh.
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Entire art movements have started this way – go for it!
There’s always the cachet of going to a Magical Mystery Venue in someone’s backyard. I used to go to events at a guy’s apartment he’d turned into an art gallery.
(It was the top floor of an old factory. His bedroom was an old office. There was a huge long hall area which used to be where the typing pool sat, and that was the gallery part.)
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Well, it turns out the nasal polyp study is a wash. The research center doctors say my polyps are certainly ugly (good for their work), the pharmaceutical panel doesn’t think they’re big enough nor bilateral enough for them. Two strikes, and I’m out.
Sooo, the research center wants to take a different tack and try an asthma study instead.
About 2/3 the pay in only 1/3 the time needed for the polyp study, one (of several) payment will come in a big lump for staying at their office for a 12-hour period in mid-July.
I’m hopeful this will work out, because during this time I cannot address the polyp situation except for using Nasonex (I think).
I’m still getting paid for initial screenings, but have to wait 30 days each time, so not much income this way.
My asthma medicine ran out, and I still have 12 days until the study (free meds). Can anyone float me a small loan for a couple weeks, maybe $40-50 for some Advair?
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On a lighter note, the power went out in the neighborhood today, just as the neighbors were about to crank up the music. Yay!
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See, I live in a place where it’s verrrry cliquey - trust me, I’ve tried. And the Warren (MI) group CHARGES you to be in a play. I kid you not; it’s in the same rec building as the city pool. And I don’t want to be a little part of a big group and be told by someone else what to do. I want to direct, for once. I’m capable of it.
Ever since I read about the salons of the intellectuals and the creatives of Paris and New York, et al, I’ve wanted to have one of MY OWN. I have a PLACE I OWN now, I can do this. And if people want to put money in the hat - or whatever receptacle that’s handy, just so’s it’s not the potty - I won’t stop them. Helps defray operating costs.
I just want nice, creative people around.
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I live near Detroit. I’m sure they do. My problem is cash. And, lol, control. I have something to say/sing/dance to, and somehow I want to do it so’s others can see it on my terms. Not someone else’s.
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I accidentally did that to my new phone and was totally clueless about the Chinese snow on my screen. We’re both back, yay!
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It’s too late for this year, but Detroit has a Fringe Festival, which tend to be pretty flexible in who and what they show.
If you want something with a lot less lead time, Detroit is also participating in Make Music Day on Friday.
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ZOMG, does it ever end? I called my MI-DHHS worker…no wait, she called ME last month re an electric-bill shutoff notice that had to be paid by 5/29 - I made it, thanks to me getting my settlement check - and she told me it wasn’t enough to worry about. I guess $138 and change to her isn’t a lot to worry about. Anyhow, I distinctly remember asking her if my review for my MI Bridge care for food-assistance had been received from me and she said YES. Then I got a notice saying they hadn’t gotten in, so I did the review online BEFORE the deadline of 5/31/19. So guess what? NO GUESS PLEASE, lolololol!!!
So I’m reupping online and I have to use money for bills - AGAIN - on food. FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.
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I don’t fit their requirements. As usual, I’m too freaky for the straights and too straight for the freaks.
I’m finding no information on this year’s schedule, not on their website or their Facebook page (I don’t Twit). And I sing every single fucking day - just not in front of people.
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You know, you probably aren’t the only person this establishment has snubbed. You may find a few people around willing to help you hoist a big “fuck you” sign (metaphorically speaking. Or not, if you so choose. You did say theatre).
It’s not going to be easy, but as long as you are realistic about your goals (i.e. you will probably never get the snobs to admit that they were wrong), then there’s always room for more creativity – especially if you can establish that your circle is looking to bring people in, not push them out.
As an example: when his wife died, a beighbour of my parents turned the garden he’d built for her into a memorial garden. Then he put up signs saying there was a free, walk-through garden (it really was nice). People came out of curiosity, or to see what it was about. This wasn’t in an area with a lot of drive-by traffic, he didn’t advertise other than the signs on the road, it wasn’t a nursery or a business, but people came and took pictures and posted them. It wasn’t a destination, just the yard and garden he’d built for his wife to enjoy.
It’s a small thing, but it’s also not a lot of money to start. You could put a few chairs in the backyard and paint up a sandwich board for the front saying “Live Music Today, 3 - 5.” Then go out in front of those chairs and play. You may get nobody. You may have someone wander in and decide it’s not for them. Some might stick around. Someone might ask if it’s just you, or if they can play, too. Check your city by-laws, of course. You don’t want a fine over something like that. Set it up right and people won’t assume that you’re just playing in your backyard, but that it’s an actual thing. Think of the whole set-up as part of the show.
If, of course, you’re willing to invite strangers into your yard.
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Never forget the cardinal rule of arts grants: BBB.
(That’s Bullshit Baffles Brains.) You’re not applying for a driver’s licence here.
Going by: https://www.detroitfringefest.com/apply-now
- Works that foster artistic experimentation –
Translation: there has to be an angle.
- Works that take risks – trying things untried and expanding expectations about what performance is and what it can be
Translation: there has to be an angle.
- Artistic excellence - does this proposal, and its accompanying work samples, indicate artistic rigor?
Translation: explain how it won’t suck. This is where you talk about your experience.
- New performances in development – the Detroit Fringe Festival is a great way to try out a work in progress!
Translation: there has to be an angle.
- Work that celebrates facets of our Detroit community - specifically voices that have been historically under represented
This is where you get to SHINE. Unless Detroit has a lot of middle aged women with sucky day jobs on the scene. Judging by the Fringe site’s photos, I’m going with “no”. You can nail them on ageism and probably classism.
Sooooo, they think they’re Fringe, eh? Are they Fringe enough to let the most invisible segment of society get stage time? Channel Cindy Gallop and maybe also Gertrude Stein.
- Inspiration – How does this work inspire you? Why are you inspired to have it be a part of the Detroit Fringe Festival? You can let us know by uploading a PDF of your response to the “Statement of Inspiration”.
Translation: there has to be an angle.
So if you want to get up and sing and play guitar, do that, but have your angle – scripted patter between the songs that makes a point, creates a juxtaposition with the songs, something.
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Some creative people, even some who have some success, can be real assholes. The REALLY successful people tend to be nice, I think, with a few exceptions.
Example 1: We were invited to some parties by the guy who taught sf at the local writers’ center. I was talking (or listening, really) to two of his guests. One of them quoted something familiar, and I said “what’s that from?” The other said in a very snobby way, “Don Quixote,” pronouncing it very carefully, Don Kay hote tay. Obviously I was a cockroach for not knowing when I around a bunch of writers. Well, I was trained as an engineer, and if I read it in high school, my memory from those days is so bad I don’t remember.
Example 2. At a dinner with friends, someone said something about a New Zealand opera singer of the late 19th century. Seeing my puzzled look, she said, “You mean, you’ve never heard of her?” So I asked her what the real name of the chemical element masurium, a name given to a mistaken discovery. She had no idea. It was just to show that different people have different areas of expertise. (Answer: technetium.)
I think it’s a matter of hidden insecurity.
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Unless they quoted it in Renaissance Spanish, they’re full of shit anyhow. “Ah. Which translation is that?”
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