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7PMVNF-*/VNCFSr'BMMr Shakespeare Meets Twitter How Social Media Marketing Can Build Community, Audiences Tips, Best Practices from Tech-Savvy Theatres Entitled Read 2010 Getchell Award Play Inside The West Georgia Theatre Company at UWG The Professional Degree Program Where Success is an Attitude! NAST Accredited Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Write, call or e-mail for more information Costume Design & Lighting Design by Senior Theatre Majors Costume Design & Lighting by Senior Theatre Program University of West Georgia www.westga.edu/~theatre 1601 Maple Street [email protected] Night – Twelfth Carrollton, Georgia 30118 678-839-4700 2008’s department of theatre & cinema at Virginia Tech We will surprise you. Discover a brand new flexible performance space opening fall 2009 newly renovated teaching studios and classroom facilities innovative theatre/cinema studies, production and practice faculty-student creative collaborations individualized professional training a commitment to new pieces and reenvisioned traditional works The experience can be yours. B.A. in Theatre Arts | www.theatre.vt.edu | 3-year M.F.A. Uncommon Experiences • Unexpected Opportunities Immediate hands-on training: Performance - Acting, Directing | Design - Scenography, Costume, Props, Sound | Technical Design and Production | Cinema Studies and Production | History, Literature and Playwriting | Stage Management | Arts Administration CVolume LI Number 4 ontentsl Fall 2010 l Southern Theatre – Quarterly Magazine of the Southeastern Theatre Conference Focus: Social Media 8 Social Media Marketing Takes Center Stage Departments by Richard St. Peter Case Studies: Theatres Share Tips, Techniques 4 400 Words 9 YouTube Previews: Videos Help ATL Reach Younger Audience Violate This! Tossing the Gauntlet Down by Amile Wilson to Copyright Infringers 11 Facebook Fundraising: LCT Raises Money, Profile with by Ray Paolino Chase Community Giving by Quiana Clark-Roland 6 Outside the Box: Design-Tech Solutions 12 Contests: Alliance Theatre Invites Singers to Compete on YouTube Rock Construction by Amile Wilson Make Your Own Formable Fabric 14 High Schools: Paul Dunbar Involves Students in Facebook Events by Brent Menchinger by Alice Allen 16 Social Media Onstage: Romeo and Juliet Are on Facebook, 32 Words, Words, Words... Orlando Sends Tweets Review of Get the Callback: by Deanna Thompson The Art of Auditioning for Musical Theatre by Jonathan Flom 18 Education: NYFA Turns Fans into Paying Students reviewed by Hardy Koenig by David Balthrop Cover 2010 Charles M. Getchell Award Robert Arbaugh as Orlando in As You Like It tweets his poetry to followers rather than carving poems on trees during a 2009 production at 21 The Playwright: Alice Shen Regent University. The tweets were delivered to the phones of audience members in a “wired” Alice Shen Finds New Inspiration as a Playwright section of the theatre and projected on a screen Interview by Steve Burch behind Orlando for the entire audience to see. See story, Page 16. Directed by Scott Hayes. Scenic design, lighting design and projections 23 The Play: ENTITLED by Michael Burnett. (Photo by Vincent Schilling; Photoshop work by Garland Gooden; cover The 010 winner of the Charles M. Getchell Award, given by design by Deanna Thompson) SETC to recognize a worthy new play, is published. 400 Words from Ray Paolino, Director of Theatre, University of Georgia Violate This! Tossing the Gauntlet Down to Copyright Infringers he year 1984 seems to have been original material, and there is plenty of ra- able and unseasoned students? Many enter T a rocky and seminal one for play- tionale to spread around for such choices. a college-level theatre program without a wrights. An all-male production of Who’s In this age of digital media – with open ac- high level of respect for the playwright’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was shut down by cess to download and change various forms text. Shouldn’t we be teaching them to author Edward Albee. Arthur Miller took of music, art, photography and literature honor the authors’ contributions? Are our legal action to halt the Wooster Group’s pro- – anyone and everyone with computer savvy institutions encouraging illegal behavior by duction of L.S.D., which contained a large has the technology to alter original works. openly ignoring a contractual agreement? excerpt from Miller’s The Crucible. And However, there are copyright laws that I had a recent conversation with three Samuel Beckett disclaimed a production of prohibit the alteration of published dra- professional playwrights, whose reactions Endgame at the American Repertory Theatre matic material without permission from the to unauthorized alterations of scripts were that did not follow his stage directions for publisher or playwright. Clear restrictions uniformly negative and passionate. One a “room and two small windows.” are printed inside the cover of each Samuel writer had shut down a New York pro- Recently, I have seen university pro- French and Dramatists Play Service script. duction of his play at dress rehearsal after ductions of plays in which directors have In addition, the standard contract sent by learning that the director had moved a changed dialogue, altered the casting re- the publisher to the producing entity for major monologue from the end of the play quirements, re-written scenes, eliminated signing includes very specific clauses con- to the beginning. scenes, and created prologue and epilogue cerning unauthorized changes, deletions Edward Albee now requires submission scenes for the characters. Defenders of these or additions. Yet I’ve seen directors con- of headshots of actors for all productions practices may claim the right to deconstruct tinually violate what their organization has of Virginia Woolf. Beckett and Miller are pledged to do: honor the contractual rights gone. All three were some pretty big guns. of the playwright and/or publisher. Who is going to protect, honor and serve Whether these practices are artistically playwrights without that kind of clout in valid or ethically justifiable is a matter for the future? n debate in venues other than this column. What concerns me, at the university level Disagree? Agree? Send a letter to the editor or a 400 Words column to at least, is this question: What kind of behav- [email protected]. ior model are we presenting to impression- Letter to the Editor Dear Editor: consciousness collaboration is, by definition, I haven’t responded to a letter, rant or impossible in e-mail and text exchanges. The article in some time. That’s probably because time taken to digest the previous thought, to it’s been some time since someone’s pas- process and then to respond clogs the stream. sion about a subject moved me to respond. How about more e-mails/less meetings for In short, I say “bravo” to David Balthrop’s administrative matters, so that production letter (“400 Words,” Summer 2010 Southern meetings can be dream-and-realize ses- Theatre) denouncing artistic communication sions crucial to collaborative artistry? And through texts and e-mails. I cannot recall to those who can’t do without cell phones any significant idea ever being generated or texts for an hour, I say, “If you’re that through texting, and darned few through e- damned important, stay home.” mail. There’s just something about the group Murray Chase dynamic which fertilizes the germ of an idea Executive/Artistic Director into a seed and a full-grown plant. Stream-of- Venice Theatre, Venice, FL s o u t h e r n heatre From the SETC President TSETC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Elizabeth N. Baun EDITOR Deanna Thompson ADVERTISING MANAGER Cheryl Ann Roberts, [email protected] BUSINESS & ADVERTISING OFFICE Southeastern Theatre Conference PO Box 9868 What’s new in theatre? Well, for starters, technology continues to transform the Greensboro, NC 27429-0868 arts in enormous ways. We strive to update you on cutting-edge developments 336-272-3645 that artists, educators, technicians and administrators are incorporating into PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Chris Hardin, Chair, Austin Peay State University (TN) their work. David Balthrop, Murray State University (KY) W In this issue, we focus on social media, the online world that is becoming J. Caleb Boyd, University of West Georgia Sam Sparks, Independent Theatre Artist (TX) part of both our theatre productions and the marketing of our plays. Richard St. Scott Phillips, Auburn University (AL) Peter shares information on how theatres are using social media for marketing, EDITORIAL BOARD Jesse Bates, Alabama School of Fine Arts discusses the importance of linking online efforts and offers tips for how to gauge Sonya/Tim Bixler, Washington School/Delta Center Stage (MS) success in this area. Accompanying his story are a number of case studies, offer- Doug Brown, Freelance Technical Director (NC) Tessa Carr, Lees-McCrae College (NC) ing helpful information from theatres and schools that have used social media Denise Gillman, Christopher Newport University (VA) for marketing, fundraising, student recruitment and building community. Kendra Johnson, Clemson University (SC) This is the issue of Southern Theatre in which we regularly spotlight the work Jerry Lapidus, Independent Theatre Artist (FL) Ray Paolino, University of Georgia of the playwright. Beginning on Page 23, you’ll find the playEntitled , published Scott Phillips, Auburn University (AL) in its entirety. The winner of SETC’s 2010 Charles M. Getchell Award, the play Richard St. Peter, Texas Tech University Jim Stacy, Louisiana State University at Alexandria was written by Alice Shen. On Page 21, you can read about Shen, her work and Steve Willis, Bennett College for Women (NC) the development of Entitled in an interview conducted by Steve Burch. Amile Wilson, Pippin & Maxx Arts and Entertainment (MS) PROOFREADERS Inclined more to the technical side of theatre? You’ll find helpful tips from Philip G. Hill, Furman University Brent Menchinger for creating your own fabric for rock construction in our “Out- Chris Chandler, SETC Marketing/Website Manager side the Box” column, which focuses on innovative and cost-saving design-tech PRINTING Clinton Press, Greensboro, NC methods.