I just got done reading a post on MN Playlist about local companies that have figured out how to “use the internet better.”  [sigh]

Although you wouldn’t know it from reading Playlist, there are some really fresh ideas floating around the theatrosphere right now.  If you’re not keeping tabs on them, you’re missing out.

My current fave:  here and then here (in that order) — two posts discussing a “membership” model as opposed to the “subscription” model.  It’s a fascinating idea and one that’s currently in practice at ACT over in Seattle.

Who knows?  Maybe someone in the TC might try something like this once the excitement of YouTube dies down.

HEY, IVEYS…YOU DIDN’T TOTALLY SUCK!

After taking a day to reflect on Monday’s Ivey Awards celebration, I’ve come to an odd conclusion:  it didn’t totally suck.  I know, right?  I expected it to 100% suck.  I’m used to it 100% sucking.  I even kind of wanted it to 100% suck.  But it didn’t.  In fact, I’d only put the suck factor at about 47%.  That’s 53% less suck in only one year!  How’d they do it?  Let’s look at the math.

• Lady Eifrig — Okay, now here we go!  If we in the Twin Cities want to play dress-up and pretend like we’re celebrities, Kate Eifrig showed us all how to do it:  be a blatantly drunk awards presenter.  Duh.  It’s so obvious, I’m surprised somebody didn’t think of it earlier.  Now next year, if everyone presents like they’re Paula Abdul with a concussion, this would really be a party.  Much kudos to Ms. Eifrig for blazing that trail.
• After Party — Although I heard some complaints about the location of the after party, I have to admit that I kind of liked it.  Not having to walk eight blocks outside to get to the fun stuff was definitely an improvement.  And let’s face the facts; a lobby is a lobby.  Sure, this lobby was a little tighter for a crowd that size, but it still got the job done.  Side note:  a great place for this entire event might be…wait for it…Guthrie Corp.
• No Fashion Show — Perhaps some people missed this little escalator excursion.  I am not one of those people.
• Greta Oglesby — She won an award and then “sang” a song from Caroline, or Change.  I used quotes because what she actually did was smash us all over the head with a gigantic club of awesome.

Now if you’ll recall, I still felt there was a good 47% of suck floating around out there.  Here’s where I found it.

• No Host — I pulled this one from last year because it’s still not working.  Yeah, the job was turned over to locals and that’s great; much better than people from NYC who have nothing to do with theatre in the TC.  However, they were on stage…um…I think three times.  Maybe.  And as much as we all love Claudia Wilkens and Richard Ooms, they’re not the funniest people in town.  Dearest Iveys, we do have some performers in our community who make their living solely by being funny.  Sure, they don’t work at Guthrie Corporation, but people still might recognize their names.  Grab an actual comedian to host your shindig and let them write their own jokes.  The End.
• Advertise the Lifetime Ivey — I don’t understand why this is a big secret.  It seems pretty obvious that if you let people know ahead of time that you’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs, you might sell a few more tickets to people who want to come out and help you honor Dudley Riggs.  ”Come to the Ivey Awards next month, where we’ll be honoring Dudley Riggs with the Lifetime Achievement Ivey”.  What’s wrong with that?
• No Categories/Nominees — Here’s another one that I pulled from last year’s list.  This is the single stupidest thing about the Iveys, and until it’s corrected, these awards will continue to make my butt itch.  The lack of clear categories makes the show frustratingly difficult to follow.  The lack of nominees creates a fun little moment of surprise, sure…but it comes at the expense of the artist receiving the award.  I think I counted four acceptance speeches that included something like “I would’ve invited family and friends had I known I was being considered” (yet another way the Iveys could easily sell more tickets).  The justification I keep hearing for this no-nominees decree is that without it, people would feel like they’ve lost.  If this truly is the reason, it’s adorably dopey.  Having nominees — aside from giving even more people a reason to buy tickets — would give the Iveys a chance to honor an entire group of artists instead of just one.  I have a feeling that even after the initial disappointment of “losing”, artists would still be quick (and proud) to add “Ivey Award Nominee” to their bios.

Okay, okay…this post is becoming MN Playlist-long, so I’ll stop here.  When all is said and done, this annual dispensation of little green lava lamps is certainly improving.  Finally.  And who knows?  Maybe someday, it will 100% not suck.  My fingers are crossed.

100% OF ME LOVES THIS

If you haven’t been checking out MN Playlist’s surveys, you need to start.  It’s a bonanza of theatrical enlightenment.

For example, did you know that 48% of Playlist readers think the Minnesota performing arts are “bouncy” while only 24% think they are “razor”?  I know, right?!  Playlist also unearthed the fact that 74% of their readers live in Minneapolis, 19% in St. Paul, and 7% in southern Minnesota.  Wowee Maui!  But the one I really connect with is pictured above.  Can you believe that only 17% of Playlisters make art to “stir hearts”?  I would’ve thought that number to be higher, frankly.  On the plus side, there seems to be an awful lot of truth-finding going on in the TC.  And if you ask me, it’s about time.

We’re totally going to steal this idea, by the bye.  Look for such upcoming FringeFamous surveys as “How many times a day do you tinkle”, “Pick the word that best describes your soul”, and “Which song would you most like to whistle”.

If you occasionally read FringeFamous, I’m assuming you regularly check out MN Playlist.  But just in case you’re stupid, here’s a nice little interview they did with the Old Log’s Don Stoltz.

Stoltz might be 114 years old, but he’s a theatre person you can actually listen to because he’s just a regular guy.  He wears a scarf only if it’s cold outside.

Another plus for this video?  It’s only 6 minutes long instead of the 30-minute blowhard drone-a-thon that MN Playlist usually releases.  Hopefully, this will become a trend and not just another TC theatre community Stoltz sluff off.

ACTORS!  READING!  BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES!

Remember this post where local actor Casey Greig put his foot down and trumpeted the following:

We need a new audience — Now, I know there is a lot of handwringing across town about how to build a new, younger audience. And I have a crazy idea: We start picking plays that speak to a different generation.

Enough. No more Shakespeare; no more Shaw, Chekhov, Albee, or Ibsen. I call for a decade-long moratorium on dead writers!

I guess by “decade-long”, Greig actually meant “month-long”.

According to this MN Playlist post (and their Facebook event page), a little something called The Seagull Project has popped up.  This fresh idea will feature local actors (Candace Barrett, Raye Birk, Zach Curtis, Cathy Fuller, Nat Fuller, Casey Greig, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Steve Hendrickson, Barbara Kingsley, John Middleton, Stacia Rice, Alan Sorenson and Cheryl Willis) reading Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (Tom Stoppard’s version) for your listening satisfaction.

Why would they do this?  It must just be a fun thing to do with a few of your actor friends on a Monday night, right?  But…then why do it at The Jungle?  Why not in Stacia Rice’s living room?  And why seek an audience?

ANSWER:  Because this is The Seagull Project.  It’s bigger than someone’s living room.  It’s much more than just a simple play reading.  It’s a project, man.  Things are gonna happen.  I can feel it.  Actors are “plotting”.

Why would the average twenty or thirty-something want to see another version of Richard III? Because they’re supposed to? Because it’s good for them?

What an insightful question, Casey.  I’ll get back to you as soon as I get the taste of hypocrisy and vomit out of my mouth.

So…you got your World Theatre Day pump-up from Augusto Boal via MN Playlist here.

And…an opposing viewpoint from The Guardian here?

THE POPULARITY MYTH MYTH

Generally, I love MN Playlist.  They took a site that was already awesome and made it 500 times awesomer.  There’s always something interesting to read, and they give the Minnesota performing arts community something it’s desperately needed for a long time — a voice.  But this might be the silliest thing I’ve ever read on a website:

The popularity myth

We wound up in a movie theater Saturday night because both the live shows we wanted to see were sold out… The movie theater was less than half full…

I know its not an exact comparison but still — where does this myth come from that people would rather go to movies than theater? We would have been in the theater last night if it wasn’t so popular.

I’m just sayin’

They’re not for real with that, right?  This is some kind of joke that I’m not in on.  Har-har, everybody…you got me.

I LOVE YOUR STEAKS

So, clearly this isn’t how you want your “talent profile” to show up in the upper right-hand corner of Minnesota Playlist’s main page.  If there’s one thing I know about theatre (and there just might be only one), it’s that you’re never going to make it big unless you complete your Minnesota Playlist talent profile.  Dowling is more than likely rifling through it right now, hoping against all hope that he’ll find his next…hey, let’s just say “Rosalind”.

SERRAND LOVES TALKING, WOOL

Please allow me to give you the SparkNotes version of Minnesota Playlist’s recent 34-minute interview with Dominique Serrand (being that 90% of it basically amounts to artistic gibberish).

• First, he talked about how important Jeune Lune’s space was to the organization, saying that “space was fundamental”. He explained how excavating the building made sense and helped the work that was being produced. He also added that moving to a space that was not a theatre helped to define what theatre meant…”instead of those grand proscenium spaces”. I guess Jeune Lune’s new space was modest? I’m sure Yellow Tree would totally agree.
• Then we get to the question of “Why couldn’t Jeune Lune survive?” Surprisingly enough, it turns out that Jeune Lune could’ve made it after all. The problem: they would’ve had to compromise their work. And Serrand explains to us that, “it’s not about rooms and buildings and stone, it’s about the work.” Wait. I thought “space was fundamental”? I guess once you get the gigantic building, THEN it’s about the work.
• Serrand then blows our minds by informing us of a major problem in the theatre today: that theatre artists aren’t salaried. I know…take a minute to wrap your head around that. He thinks we’d all be better off if we got paid more. THAT’S CRAZY TALK! He then says “it’s not that costly” to put artists on salary, which is funny since the vast majority of Jeune Lune’s theatre artists were jobbed in just like everywhere else. Brilliant.

That’s just the tip of a gigantic dumb-ass iceberg, so check it out. Basically, if Serrand ran his theatre even close to the way he aimlessly meandered around in this interview, it’s very easy to see why Jeune Lune no longer exists.