Title: Landscape of Jewish Theater Sunday, March 6 2005
1Landscape of Jewish Theater Sunday, March 6 2005
- The State of Theater in General
- The State of Jewish Theater
- Jewish Theaters vs. Jewish Theater
- New Play Commission Grant 1994-2005
- Other Programmatic Initiatives
2The State of Theater Today
- Costs to produce increase/ decrease in risk
trend of revivals, Juke box musicals, celebrity
stunt casting. - Severe decrease in New Play production diverse
voices are not being heard.
3State of Theater Today (continued)
- New plays originate in the non-for-profit world
of Regional and off-Broadway theaters. - Future life of a new play depends on publication
or access to the script. - Community Theaters rely heavily on published
scripts when choosing their season.
4Theaters That present Jewish Work
- Broadway
- Regional Theaters
- Jewish Theater Presenters
- Fringe/Alternative Theaters
- Community / JCC theaters
5You wont succeed on Broadway If you dont have
any Jews
6REGIONAL THEATER
- To strengthen, nurture and promote the
- not-for-profit professional American theatre.
7Theater Communication Group (TCG)
- 400 Theaters in 47 states
- 36 have budgets under 500,000
- 21 in the 500,000-1 million range
- 25 in the 1-3 million range
- 6 in the 3-5 million range
- 8 in the 5-10 million range
- 4 have budgets in the 10 million or more range.
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9TCG Study of Regional Theater
- From 1999-2003
- Attendance has risen by 4.2
- Performances rose 6.4
- Over half of the 125 Theaters ended the year in a
deficit - - 30 more in 2003 than in 2000.
10Performing Arts Coalition 10 City Study
- In past 6 months more people attend a LPA than a
professional sports event - Audience not limited to older and affluent
individuals
11Regional Theater Study (cont)
- 75 of respondents strongly agreed that attending
a LPA is thought provoking. - 74 of respondents strongly agreed
- Attending LPA helps them better understand other
cultures
12Regional Theaters Jewish Work
- About 10 of TCG affiliates (of 400 member
theaters) seek to present Jewish work (not
including NYC)
13TCG Members Interested in Jewish Work
14JEWISH THEATERS
- What is a Jewish Theater?
- Defined as such in Mission Statement of the
Theater - Produces Plays of Jewish Interest
15- Theatres whose mission statements or seasons
promote production of plays that reflect the
broad range of the Jewish experience or
individuals whose interests reflect active
involvement in Jewish Theatre
16Major Jewish Theaters
- Theater J, Washington DC
- A Traveling Jewish Theater, San Francisco
- Jewish Ensemble Theater , MI
- Winnipeg Jewish Theater
17DEFUNCT JEWISH THEATERS
- Jewish Repertory Theatre
- American Jewish Theatre
18Major Jewish Theaters (TCG)
19THEATER J
- Ari Roth, Artistic Director
- NPC Received David Shadow and Light, A Drive
to Israel, Peter and the Wolf, Life in Refusal - Other NPC Produced The Common Enemy, Catskills
Tzimmis, Exile in Jerusalem, I Will Bear Witness,
The Peoples Violin, and The Last Seder - 236-seat Theater
- this past season, performed to just under 20,000
ticket holders
Passing the Love of Women
20TRAVELING JEWISH THEATRE
21TRAVELING JEWISH THEATER
- Founded 1978 Founders Corey Fischer, Albert
Greenberg, Naomi Newman - Aaron Davidman, Artistic Director
- NPC Received Blood Relative, Come My Beloved,
See Under Love, The Last Yiddish Poet,
A Fatherless Sky - Yearly budget 900,000.00
- Has performed in over sixty cities around the
world
Blood Relative
22JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE
23JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE
- Evelyn Orbach, Artistic Director
- NPC Received Exile in Jerusalem
- NPC Reading Angel of History (New Play Festival)
Exile in Jerusalem Has gone on to be produced
many times in the USA and abroad.
24AJT - Member Theaters
- Chicago Jewish Theater
- Jewish Theater of Grand Rapids
- Jewish Theatre of New England
- Jewish Theater of the South
- The New Jewish Theater St. Louis
- Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company
- Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts Montreal
- Jewish Repertory Theatre of Western NY
25New Play Commission (NPC) Grant
- New Play Commission - 1994
- How did the grant come about?
- Need to nurture work of Playwrights via Theaters
the Institutions are not weak - NPC Report, August 2003
26New Play Commission ReportAugust 2003
NEW PLAY COMMISSIONS IN JEWISH THEATER
27New Play Commission Report
- Completed List of 74 Grant recipients including
- Theater, location, playwright, play title, and
grant amount - Copy of Survey sent to NPC recipients
- Results regarding impact of NPC
- Results regarding recommendations for future NFJC
support - Grantees comments/recommendations
- NPC Production History
28NPC REPORT - Findings
- The grant has succeeded in fulfilling its basic
intention to facilitate the development of new
Jewish work for the stage.
29NPC REPORT - Findings
- Without any seed money, there wouldnt be any
new plays being developed. - - Kayla Gordon
- Artistic Director,
- Winnipeg Jewish Theater
30NPC REPORT - Findings
- NPC has been invaluable in allowing us to spend
more time developing new work rather than being a
slave to existing repertoire in an effort to
generate income. - - James A. Kleinmann
- Managing Director,
- Traveling Jewish Theater
31NPC REPORT - Findings
- I had every intention of writing/producing
this play before the New Play Commission grant.
The grant however, made this intention into a
reality....it comprised one-third of our original
budget.
-Mark Levenson, - Playwright
Between Two Worlds
32How Grantees Allocated Funds
- To support first performances (readings,
workshops, productions) - Personnel fees (actors, musicians, dancers,
directors, musical directors, composers, lighting
designers, set designers, dramaturgs) - Rehearsal space fees
- Publicity materials
- Production materials
33NPC REPORT - Findings
- The Grant enabled me to workshop the play at a
theatre that would have had trouble paying the
actors due to the large cast...Without the
grant I dont know how far down the road I would
have gotten with developing this particular
piece. - -Jennifer Maisel,
Playwright -
The Last Seder
34Impact on Grantees
- The award was able to help by offering validity
and credibility within the Jewish and theater
communities.
35NPC REPORT - Findings
- As a non -Jewish writer telling a Jewish story,
it was very helpful to feel the encouragement
that NFJC found the material worthwhile and that
they believed we could create a powerful piece of
theater - - Elise Thoron
- Playwright
Green Violin
36NPC REPORT - Findings
- Productions of NPC often led to success with
subsequent productions - A Certain Raquel - Nora Glickman
- Donna Blue Lachmans Work
- The Action Against Sol Schumann Jeffrey Sweet
- Tours I Will Bear Witness, Traveling Jewish
Theater, One Way Street, Between Two Worlds
37A Certain Raquel
- Produced 5 times thus far
- Future Publications
- NPC Anthology
- Bilingual Anthology of 5
- Nora Glickman plays
- (in Argentina).
38The Trouble with Peggy Pieces of
Guggenheim Toured at least 5 theaters By Donna
Blue Lachman
39 The Action Against Sol Schumann By Jeffrey
Sweet Produced 4 times, included in NPC Anthology
40One Way Street By Eric Bass Has had 4 tours
including throughout Europe
41Other NPC Enter the Canon
- Defined as having 3 or more productions
- 8 - Exile in Jerusalem, Motti Lerner (1994)
- 4 The Gate of Heaven, Lane Nikishawa Victor
Talmadge (1995) - 3 The Peoples Violin, Charlie Varon (2001)
- 3 Girl Under Grain, Karen Hartman (1998)
- 3- Goodnight Irene, Ari Roth (1994)
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43NPC by Theme
44NPC Facts
- For the 74 grants (including 2005)
- Over 126 Theaters developed or produced an NPC
- About 70 have had full productions
45NPC REPORT - Findings
- Some recipients reported a more personal and
profound impact of the grant - It had an effect on their interest in Jewish
identity and inspired them to re-imagine
themselves as Jewish artists.
46NPC Impact on Writers Jewish Identity
- I would not have written something Jewish-themed
if not for this grant. I'd really never thought
of myself as Jewish artist. Now I doThis play,
is to date, one of the best things I've written
and one of the most complicated. I am deeply
proud of it. - --
Brooke Berman, Playwright -
UntilWeFindEachOther - Developed at Makor, ONeill Playwrights
Conference - 1st full Production at Steppenwolf Theater,
Chicago - 2002
47UntilWeFindEachOther
I believe great things are ahead for this
talented playwright. Chicagocritics.com
48NPC Impact on Writers Jewish Identity
- This continues to be a direction in which I am
inspired to workI have not really thought of
myself as a "Jewish artist" in the past.
Receiving this grant helped me understand how my
Jewishness is a tremendous artistic source, and
that I can plumb it more deeply. - -- Dan
Froot, Performance Artist -
Shlammer - Developed at A.S.K. Theater Project,
- Productions L.A. Theater Center,
- Dance Theater Workshop NY March 2005
49 Shlammer
Dan Froot danced, juggled and all-around amazed
and delighted audiences a hyper-animated tour de
force that gave us the truly memorable Jewish
gangster turned vaudevillian star. -- Sara Wolf,
LA Weekly "Best of the Year" December 28, 2001
"A brilliantly sustained performance"-- Lewis
Segal, Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2001
50What Next?
- Publishing
- Access
- Networking
- International
51Publishing
- NPC Anthology
- Nine Contemporary Jewish Plays
- From the New Play Commissions of the National
Foundation for Jewish Culture - Additional publishing funding?
52Access
- Updated Catalogue of Jewish Plays
- Online
- Database capabilities
- a la google
53Networking
- Getting the word out
- Conference?
- Retreats?
- Fee based on-line community?
- Listservs
54International
- Exchange
- Residencies
- Israel/Europe
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