Putting it Together

The Backers Audition that is, finding the right space. Jeez. Nothing is ever easy is it? I thought it would be fun for us to do it in a church theatre as Girl Gang takes place in a parochial reform school. I love St. Clement's Theatre and have seen off bwy work there, showcases, readings, and seminars. It is conveniently located on West 46th Street but it is not available for our first day of spring dates, March 20th and 21st. I understand it is tough to negotiate a run there but I am getting ahead of myself. I also called Roundabout (www.roundabouttheatre.org) they have a couple of beautiful spaces. The penthouse lobby is lovely but not a theatre and they wanted 3 grand for the event for one day. Oh and it was just available one day. The other day we could do in the space where they are running a show, the Laura Pels on 46th Street. As it turns out it is the same price. So much for our not for profit status. The booker was helpful but it sounds like she doesn't even have an office. I really wasn't up for negotiating with her. I also contacted the Duke via email at the suggestion of the operator at their state of the art 42nd Street location. I haven't heard back but it may be a place for a run. They need to establish themselves and Doris Duke was a music theatre lover and in her day was definitely an honorary Girl Gang Member. I am keeping my fingers crossed to establish a connection with this organization.
Originally we wanted to go back to the Lortel. At 800 bucks a day not a bad idea. They loved GG but again, they were not available for our dates. The 'martians' our GM's could get us into Dodgers so that is an option, I am just trying to think outside the box in every way and every day.

The making of a musical

Angry Young Teenage Girl Gang-a startling musical of juvenile delinquency was created in tandem by David g. Smith (concept, music and lyrics) and Mark W. Knowles. (Writer, Designer, Director). I had the great honor of attending the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in the early 80's where I met Smith and Knowles in a Children's Theatre adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. Soon after they created Plan Nine From Outer Space the musical of Ed Wood film fame.
AYTGG was developed in the LA showcase format in 2003. Opening on Valentine's Day of that year and running thru May with various cast changes and script changes. The role of Myra-the girl gang leader with a heart of gold was written for me and I travelled from NY to help Mark develop and produce it. I applied for the FringeNYC for 2003, and again in 2004. As we had won some ADA awards in LA and had a pretty slick review and press package were accepted and were one of the first shows to play the lovely Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street. More people saw the show, and got it in the four performances there than did the entire run in North Hollywood. Our press was good, our attendance could have been even better had not Mr. Bush chased everyone out of town with his Republican convention that year which ended our run. The Lortel staff encouraged us to get our NFP standing and attempt to return for a limited run, sharing the space with another show. Budgeting at 600K plus for a limited run was daunting but we got our umbrella Not For Profit Status from Emerge Arts LA/NY and managed to raise our seed money for a commercial Off Bwy run in March of 2005. Our Gala held at Barnsdall Art Park on a rainy Monday in LA was hosted by our lovely muse and friend Jill Clayburgh.
Since then, Mark and I attended the Commercial Training Institutes Weekend Bootcamp Seminar for producers and learned a lot. A) Gotta have legal representation. B) Need General Management. I interviewed 2 referred lawyers, the first a downtown powerhouse; Fred Bimbler gave me some excellent advice about the NFP route: Don't do it. Run commercially! So that is what we are going to do. Referred to the gentle Ben Feldman we found a match for our creative style and in turn interviewed several General Managers. The likes of which I will get into in another blog. We learned so much from all of them. It was important to click and that we did with Martian Entertainment. The Martians are taking us under our wing and as our CFO's moving us forward as we do our Backers Audition this spring. Our hope is to do an out of town run somewhere this summer and bring the Gang into NYMF in September and to have her on the boards in the fall of this year.

More later