BLOG: The Theater Space Shuffle

Moving On In 1961, Brave New Workshop moved into a storefront in Uptown Minneapolis. Over the decades, the improv comedy company made its name in that dingy little hole (even though it tried to escape to Calhoun Square at one point, the fools). When BNW decided to make the leap to the big time in 2010, they moved up to Downtown Minneapolis, but still retained the old Uptown storefront as an improv comedy school. An era is passing, friends. Brave New Workshop has finally decided to cut the cord from Uptown forever. The company purchased a second downtown location that will eventually house the BNW Student Union leaving behind the old building that graduated performers like Louie Anderson, Al Franken, Lizz Winstead and Penn Jillette. BNW may be gone, but it will be leaving behind opportunity. The old space has already been sold and will soon be a new theater space. In November, Uptown can say hello to the Phoenix Theatre, not to be confused with local small company Phoenix Theater Project. It is also not connected to the Old Arizona Theater, despite my brain's insistence that "Phoenix" and "Arizona" go together. Big and Small There are two competing, contradictory, completely antithetical ideas about building new theater spaces that both also happen to be true: (1) Everyone wants to have their own space for the opportunity and prestige it can bring; and (2) Nobody wants to have their own space, because physical infrastructure can be the millstone that drags you to the depths of debt, doubt and despair. In the Heart of the Beast, purveyors of giant puppets and May Day Parades, have lived in a converted movie house since 1987. Even on a budget of $700,000 a year, the expense of the building and mortgage have landed the company in difficult financial straits, meaning that the entire staff will be furloughed until the new fiscal year. Granted, HOBT's fiscal problems are not the result of building big, shiny, expensive new facilities, but the push for successful arts and organizations to continue to scale up until they reach their breaking point is very real. That's why I was very interested in a recent interview with local choreographer Laura Holway, who has very quietly gone about redefining success for herself through a series of small, intimate performances. For her, the key to stability and happiness is to resist the urge to keep getting bigger We Are Legion There was a time on Broadway when a small number of rich producers held all the keys to the kingdom; the money, power and access all resided with a handful of wealthy individuals. Thank God those days are over, and we can let Disney do all that instead. If you watched the Tony awards this year (and I sincerely hope you didn't), you may have noticed the huge crowd of "producers" who flooded the stage when A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder won its big award. That show by itself had over 140 investors, 44 of whom ponied up enough cash to be billed as producers. Gentleman's Guide may have taken it a tad far, but having an absurd number of "producers" is becoming something of a norm on Broadway. I would say that it is the equivalent of Kickstarter or Indigogo for Broadway, except that someone has rolled out a new online platform that is literally the equivalent of Kickstarter or Indiegogo for Broadway. This is actually not a new idea. The 2010 revival of Godspell tried crowdfunding to finish out its budget, and while the money was raised, the production did not turn a profit for those investors. Earlier this year, though, a private group in England successfully crowdsourced its West End production of Wind in the Willows, which has put the idea back on the market. So, now you've got a shot at being a Tony-winning "producer", too (as long as you've got another $2500 laying around). We Are Local Casting agents in Minnesota, get ready for everyone you represent to start bugging you about getting an audition. Howie Deutch, one of the producers behind True Blood has inked a deal to produce a new show called Stillwater, which is supposedly set in Minnesota. Crazed fans of True Blood have obsessively tallied every filming location of True Blood, so now I know that most of it is actually shot on location in Louisiana where it is set; so it may not be unrealistic to think that they may want to film on location here, too. Then again, the last time TV producers tried to find Minnesota on a map, they wound up in Canada instead. Still, we can hope, right? That's what that Film and TV Board is for, isn't it? Out, Damned Phone! In the theater world, we've all decided that smart phones are dark demons that must be purged from our hallowed ground. We love our stories of Broadway actors bringing entire productions to a halt to belittle cell phone users, and we'll happily trade curmudgeonly tirades on all the evils that glowing rectangles bring; but let me for one moment propose a counter-argument: what if our hatred of smart phones is just old-fashioned nonsense? (Not to suggest that theater people might ever believe in old-fashioned nonsense). Google's research department took time off from cataloging and selling information on your pornography purchases to do a study on smart phone usage at live events. It turns out that 2/3 of attendees use their smart phones at these events, and not just to take a phone call (do smart phones even take phone calls anymore?). They take photos, write about the event in live time, look up future opportunities to be at similar events and even buy tickets. Instead of shunning these useful devices and damning our profession to the dark ages, maybe we should be exploring better ways to channel and redirect that obsessive connection people have with their smart phones. The sports world is definitely doing that. Your Psychology Today Every once in a while, I like to silently judge you, the reader, by offering you two links, but only telling you to read one of them. Your choice reveals your personality. Do you choose: (1) The Guthrie will be hosting an enlightened, civil, highbrow and most likely witty and urbane conversation between two respected and successful directors, moderated by the man who runs the Playwrights Center. Tickets are available now. or (2) Some random blogger for Time Out New York wrote titled "Five life hacks to mentally survive the unbelievably shitty Fringe shows you will see".