BLOG: Traditions 'n' Whatnot

A Tradition of Giving Another November is upon us. Winter has decided to be an absolute harpy this year and ride screaming in with a snow storm right off the bat. So, it's time for our winter traditions to kick into high gear. Chief among them are trying to remember where you packed your wool socks, forgetting how to drive in snow and remembering how to stave off the midwinter depression with warm alcoholic beverages. (Remember, it's not alcoholism if you have to cook your drink first). Then there's also our relatively new winter tradition of giving a crapload of money away. I have to say, Minnesota, this year I'm disappointed in you. Give to Max Day happened, and you didn't manage to completely break the donation website. Sure, you gave a record $18 million to charities and nonprofits in one day, but I remember not so long ago that a certain state was able to suffocate the GiveMN website in its loving bosom last year. Of course, after last year's technical debacle, GiveMN ditched it's old tech partner Razoo and shacked up with a new infrastructure provider, and their hot new romance meant that, despite our rush to do all this giving in one ridiculous day, there were only a series of relatively minor glitches. Sure, if they happened to you, they weren't so minor, but, in the aggregate, all you nonprofits (including the theater companies out there) made out like bandits; especially theatre company Savage Umbrella, who drew a lucky lot and scored one of the $20,000 golden ticket awards. Now that all the festivities have died down, though, I would like to remind you givers that you can give to your favorite theater company at any time. Seriously, GiveMN exists all year round. And for all you theater companies looking for more givers, here's some homework to prepare for next year: (1) How to tell a better story about yourself. (2) How to make a fundraising video that pays. (3) Mistakes nonprofits make with fundraising videos. And Some Other Traditions, Too! November is not just when we hunker down and toss money at nonprofits. We have plenty of other traditions, like snow emergencies and remembering where the city impound lot is after your car has been towed during a snow emergency. It's also the time that holiday-themed shows slouch onto the stages across the metro. Even though we haven't even made it to Thanksgiving yet, it's time for that Christmas spirit, apparently. The Guthrie, for example, will be bringing some version of A Christmas Carol to the stage for the 40th year in a row. Some other traditions, though, are ones I look forward to. Applications for the next Minnesota Fringe Festival go live. The big ping pong ball drawing doesn't happen for several months, but it will still be winter then, too, so it's never too early to dive in and commit to that one-person puppet show about your warped adolescence, your obsession with Roy Orbison and your never-ending search for nude photos of Janet Leigh. Or whatever it is you want to do. Just do it, whatever crazy thing it is. Apply today. But, there's no tradition like a new tradition, and this year's newest thing that I hope becomes a tradition is Paul Herwig's Right Here Showcase. Herwig has put together an fascinating series of performances from mid-career artists (that is, too old to be "emerging", too young to be "lifetime achievers") who have been creating amazing things right here in our own back yard. There's still one more weekend left Maximum Capacity There was an interesting discussion on MPR the other day featuring Damon Runnals from the Southern Theater and Michael-Jon Pease from Park Square. Both guests had well-known agendas to fulfill (the Southern is launching its ambitious ARTshare program next year, while Park Square will be sharing its brand new space with some smaller theater companies), but I was surprised by the framing question of the discussion: "Does the Twin Cities have more theater supply than demand?" It's a tricky question for artists in general to answer, because they will usually either answer that question with a knee-jerk "NO!" or an exceptionally well-reasoned "Yes, except for mine, of course." Arts of all forms have always attracted more people to them than could be reasonably explained by cold, hard economics. That's why half the population of LA has a headshot or a screenplay they would like you too look at while they're handing you your morning latte. For what it's worth, the Twin Cities isn't the only place this discussion happens. A recent article in the Kansas City Star posited the same question for its home town theater scene. If you, the smug, sophisticated Twin Cities arts patron are chuckling quietly to yourself about Kansas City's theater scene, read the article and just swap in the names of theater companies and theater people from around here. You'll quickly see how relevant the discussion feels. Oversupply of product and undersupply of demand in classic economics (sorry to discuss economics again after last week) leads to some very weird things when it butts up agains people who just stubbornly continue on with something because they love it. Mostly, it means that a lot of people put in a lot of work for something that pays almost nothing (for reference, see the actor pay survey Minnesota Playlist conducted earlier this year), and by definition, that drives down overall wages for everyone engaged in the practice. So, does this mean that it's all right for artists to work for free? It's another discussion that MPR held recently. You could say, "yeah, sometimes. Or you could listen to Mike Monteiro. Or you could admit that the advent of a major musical based on Duck Dynasty is a sign that we should all just give up and go home. Whatever you decide, it's up to you. That's Some Cow Hey, remember Into the Woods? Of course you do! You're in theater, silly! And what's the most memorable part of that show? The cow, of course! Never mind that I forgot that there is a cow in the show and that it is named "Milky White". I stand by my supposition that this cow is far more important than all the singing and symbolism in the rest of the show. And this is why you need to see what happens when you try to do Milky White without the budget to support it.