How does anybody ever get a play put on?

[breakinglight11]

This weekend I made a point of looking up as many theaters that accept open script submissions that I could find. I sent out a bunch of things, and am planning on sending out several more. I'm fairly pessimistic about whether anything will come of it, but at the moment it's all I really know to do right now.

I hear of classmates of mine getting productions here and there, and I don't understand how they do it. Do they know people? Are they just luckier? I hope so, because the alternative is to think that I'm just not good enough and they're all so much better than me. I really really don't want to believe that.

I have a lot of moments where I can't quit thinking that nothing's ever going to come of my writing. That I'm wasting two years and putting myself in debt for a degree that's never going to get me anywhere. But it's what I want, and the alternative is not really making me happy, so I guess I just need to keep working on making it happen. Guess I just wish I knew it would pay off eventually. I could struggle forever if I was sure that it was getting me somewhere, but it's hard to keep going when you're not at all sure your effort isn't ultimately going to come to nothing. Positive thinking has never been my strong suit, but I resolved this Lent to try to do more of it. That's why I'm trying to take positive actions, because sometimes you can control how you act a lot more easily than you can control how you think.

I am beginning to want more and more to just do it myself. To start my own theater company where I can act and write as I please. I'm tired of waiting around for other people to decide whether or not I'm allowed. I'm not sure if this is a crazy idea, as it probably takes a lot more capital than I have free to get something like that going, but I hate being at the mercy of other people. You guys all know that I am much more inclined to do all the work myself if it gets me what I want rather than wait around for somebody else's permission. Unfortunately I'm not sure if this is just plain too far outside my means to handle under my own power.

Comments

[nennivian.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to ignore the rest of your post, but is the picture at the bottom of a black box theater at Harvard? It looks a whole lot like where I saw Equus with Dave and Caitlin.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

It might be. I just chose it because I liked the space and also the suggestion of emo loneliness off the guy in the center. :-P Because I'm emo like that.

[crearespero.livejournal.com]

RE starting your own theater company. JKSDLF:SDKLFSLDJ. I am probably coming back this fall (unless unexpected stuff happens) and . . . If you decide to do this I am behind you 100% and would help you to the best of whatever abilities I have (yeah, I can be irresponsible/disorganized, but I've been putting a lot of effort into trying to improve in that area so it doesn't get in the way of Doing Things With My Life). I don't know much about theater as a business, but hell, I have a lot of energy (and hopefully some intelligence) that I would be willing to employ towards making awesome things happen.

PS: one way to start an independent theater is to run camps and do workshops, especially in the summer . . . that's what a friend/director/mentor of mine did in Seattle, and now she has a super awesome theater company that she created from nothing, starting when I was about 14 years old. I think you could do that too, or something like it, in your own way . . . you have her kind of making-stuff-happen magic. She basically made a career that was tailor-suited to what she did best, and somehow it worked. I think that you also will make something work. If it doesn't happen for you within a given framework, you will make your own framework. (Yeah, here's to positive thinking --- kind of hoping this will happen for me as well, because other prospects just look dreary and boring)

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Actually that would be amazing. I would seriously seriously love that. :-D

[katiescarlett29.livejournal.com]

We will make this theater company happen. We'll figure it out. And I know your writing will NOT come to nothing. You've already put on two wonderful plays you wrote yourself, and everyone who was part of them, or saw them, loved them. That's something.

<3

[morethings5.livejournal.com]

Re: Starting your own company: I would also love to help with this in any way I can! It sounds like an awesome idea. I may be misunderstanding this camps/workshops angle, but maybe I could put some of my teaching skills to work? Let me know if you want my help in any way.

Re: Getting your play run in existing theaters: I know pretty much the #1 rule in art circles for getting your stuff out there is to form relationships with galleries so that they're not seeing your work for the first time, unsolicited, when you send it to them. Translating this to Theater, I imagine this means seeing all of a company's shows, talking to their directors and producers afterward, auditioning for them time and time again with great gusto, etc. You may have tried all this already, but maybe it's useful advice.