Week 6: December 22, 2002

While it has been a pretty stressful week, we still absolutely consider this project a success. We went into this to (a) learn how to produce in NY and (b) to judge whether or not the black-and-white shows have a place in NY. And we accomplished both of these goals.

Here's what we've learned about producing in NY:

• Don't assume that people who work in NY theatre know more about what will work in NY than you do. Trust your instincts.
• If someone on the production team acts like an asshole early on, replace them immediately. One asshole can cause a HUGE amount of extra effort for everyone else involved in the project, not to mention a lot of unnecessary tension and trauma.
• Never work with any lighting designer except Sam Nance if you can help it, even if the proposed lighting designer is married to the director.
• If you think you've spent enough on marketing, you're wrong.
• When you're working with NYers you haven't worked with before, get EVERYTHING in writing. While you're at it, get it signed and notarized too. "Trust" is not a word in most NYers' everyday vocabulary.
• Assume that every cost and time estimate you get is unnecessarily high, and be ready to fight for what you believe is reasonable. (Why, I wonder, did we need an Assistant Lighting Designer on the show, in addition to a Mongolian horde of people who actually hung the lights and strung cable?)
• Accept that in spite of all your effort, events beyond your control (e.g., a transit strike) may happen. Have a contingency plan in place.

Here's what we've learned about the black-and-white shows in NY:

• There is definitely an audience for these plays here. Even though the audiences were small, it was clear from our conversations with people in the lobby after the show that they were amazed and impressed. They used words like "brilliant" and "awesome" , and they wanted to know if we were bringing any more of these plays to NY in the future. The black-and-white shows could definitely develop a cult following here.
• We clearly didn't fully tap into the correct audience in the short time we were here. We now have a better idea of what to do (and not do) from a marketing perspective, especially how to take better advantage of the show's unique appeal.

And of course no New York report would be complete without the usual "NY observations" :

• We have a mouse in our apartment. (Actually, Kurt thinks the mouse crawled off and died of a little rodent heart attack after it heard me scream.) We considered getting poison or a trap, but frankly this is the closest thing to a pet we're going to have in NY. So I named the mouse "Binky" and we've decided it's OK if he/she wants to stay.
• You know how "smiles are free" at McDonald's? Not in Manhattan.
• The Times Square subway station is always filled with music. Styles range from jazz sax to hip-hop to classical violin to hammer dulcimer. And the talent level has a pretty broad range as well, from concert quality to noise pollution. Some of it is so good, it actually draws a crowd!
• Cell phone service here truly sucks. The odds of your phone actually RINGING when someone calls are about 50-50 in some areas of town. And whether or not you receive a voice message in a timely fashion is a bit of a crap shoot as well. Ah, better living through technology!

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Special Edition Week 6 Final Report

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