Monday, August 9, 2010

Economic Report: The West


Hey! We're home!
This tour went pretty damn well. We ordered new shirts to start things off, then we went up to Toronto for the People's Summit, which was well worth going to, and performing there almost paid back our travel costs. Then we drove to Wisconsin, met up with Peter, got in his van, the USS Gerald Holiday, and hit the road for weeks, and THEN we drove to Buffalo to play the Infringement Festival. Then we came home and performed one last show as a benefit for the folks who got arrested up in Toronto at the G20. It was a pretty crazy month. We didn't make a lot of money, but all in all, it was well worth it.

Someday soon we'll get a car that runs on veggie oil and/or happy thoughts and then we'll worry about tour expenses no more!

What's up with these numbers?
We did things a little differently because we were on tour with Peter. We didn't pay for food, and we split the earnings with him (logged as a "misc travel expense"). We played a lot more concerts, which led to more door charging than hat passing, but the hat passing we did do worked pretty damn well. Also, the door charge was very voluntary most places.

See the breakdown below:


What about the Future?
Now that we're back home in Columbus, it's time for some serious local focus. Our first priority is getting the intentional community strongly on it's feet. We're in the process of buying a HUGE building that needs a bundle of repairs. At any rate, Kate and I gotta get some income going on so as to be able to contribute our share to the community. It'll probably be at least 6 months before we tour again (unless some sweet opportunities fall into our laps).

Our second priority is getting some new work together. Ulysses' Crewmen has served us well, I still strongly believe it's the best piece of theatre I've produced, but we've grown over the course of producing it, and have new ideas and new things to say that this piece cannot. But! Have no fear the next touring script is in the works. It's three short acts, for three actors playing five or more roles, and may involve some crazy shadow-puppet type visuals. It kind of grew out of the idea of producing an updated re-write of Heiner Mueller's Mauser, but has gone some very different places.

At this moment it's called "The First Image of the New is Terror..." and it's in many ways the opposite of Ulysses' Crewmen. UC seems to be about our powerlessness in the face of global empire. Terror will be about how we can be powerful, what that takes. UC is very ambiguous and open, leaves audiences with lots of questions. Terror will present a specific and direct statement (which we will then discuss and debate openly with the audience). UC presented a few pointed moments for audience interaction, Terror will involve the audience throughout and will sometimes dissolve into direct dialog with or among the audience. UC is really intense and violent, and... well, I guess that's one thing they'll have in common.

Our third priority is finding a place for radical theatre in Columbus. We definitely don't want to repeat mistakes we made in Milwaukee. Right now this means producing variety shows like the Solidarity Showcase to get a sense of what and who is interested in theatre among the radical community, and maybe even who's interested in radicalism among the theatre community. After that, who knows what'll happen. I've got some ideas, but which one occurs will depend entirely on who else wants to get involved. Who knows, we might end up just doing children's plays for the neighborhood residents around the big fucking building mentioned above. That'd be pretty fucking sweet if you ask me.

1 comment:

  1. I'm interested in hearing (reading) more about your intentional community. The urban part of our intentional community started in the same way (?) - buy a run down old building and fix it up - gives everybody something to work on together - pulls the group together, and you build your own dream rather than buy someone else's!

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