News Letter
Archived NewslettersNOVEMBER 2009 |
Fall Playwrights' Festival
Editor's Notes Frrom the President From Karen Billard |
Two
FABULOUS weekends of theater! |
The winning playwrights in the Fall Playwrights’ Festival of the
Provincetown Theater cordially invite you to view their work, beginning Saturday, November
7th, when the Festival will kick off at 2 pm with a full-length reading of Priscilla
Sample’s play: Feel the Bend. Sample’s play explores the love/relationship
between a woman and her two lovers, Betti and Jon. In an interesting subplot, she
discovers her memories are held in her hair. |
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Tim McCarthy, President: Well, the last few weeks have been quite a time for
us at the theater. You came out in force for the Annual meeting and dropped to a trickle
the next week. Why? It is your right to complain all right, but you need to back up your
rights with the responsibility of participation. Do you think it is fair for you to come
in and complain once a year without being there on a regular basis to ensure things go the
way you want? This weekend we are showing John Waters’
“Polyester.” We have signed DVD Boxed sets to be raffled off to movie ticket
holders as a first prize. The second prize is an unsigned boxed DVD set with a signed
photo of John. Third prize is an unsigned Boxed set of DVDs. We have these prizes for both
Friday and Saturday. And Thirsty Burlington is doing make-up beforehand. So please come have a spooky and smelly time, all benefiting the theater. Thanks, Tim |
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Karen Billard, President Elect The year ahead promises to be both exciting and challenging as we move towards our goals of moving back into production through development of new works; building collaborative relationships locally, Cape-wide and beyond; broadening our sources of funding and revenue; and facilitating and encouraging community involvement. These goals are in keeping with the purposes of the Provincetown Theater Foundation as stated in the by-laws: a. Foster all phases of the professional and non-professional performing arts within Provincetown and the Outer Cape community; b. Produce established works; c. Produce and develop new works; d. Provide training and foster creativity through classes, internships, workshops and seminars; e. Operate and maintain the Provincetown Theater The board of directors has worked hard over the last few years to bring the Theater back to financial health through focusing on the income stream brought by outside rentals. Continuing to bring in other organizations to rent the facility will help meet not only our financial goals, but also our goal to ‘foster all phases of performing arts’ We will continue to seek to provide space for excellent and varied programming, such as the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill’s Dance Festival. In order to achieve these goals we need you to be involved. Choose one of the seven committees formed at the last board meeting to serve on, or send us an email telling us how you would like to be involved at the theater. |
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Chairman’s Report- November 2009 – Brian O’Malley The lengthy planned conversation that followed the
legally required business, was an opportunity for many to express their appreciation for
what has been accomplished at the theater in the last few years, and their concerns that
recent changes with the departure of Counter Productions would imperil those developments.
The Board responded with a preliminary vision of how we expect to meet next year’s
budget, as we substantially build the ability of the PTC to produce far more of the season
than we have in these past two years. The areas in which the membership felt more effort
should be focused were the program area, essentially the Artistic Director function, in
order to more clearly define our “artistic vision”; the rental function, to
improve our interface with tenants and potential renters; and the governance and bylaws
under which the PTF operates. Members were invited to continue their support by working on
one of the board committees, and even seeking election to the board. (One very significant outcome of this large
meeting was the chance to gather contact information, which allows us to include you in
the workings of the Provincetown Theater. In fact, many of you are receiving this email
newsletter for the first time because of this.) The Board, after reviewing carefully the
very detailed notes of the dialogue that were compiled by board member Judith Partelow of
Harwich, responded with a reorganization plan adopted at their meeting a week later. We
established seven standing committees to oversee the varied aspects of the full
organization; these committees will each have at least one or two Board members, with the
others coming from the membership. The role of these committees will be to recommend policy
and advice for the Board in their respective areas. The committees approved, and a brief note on their
role, are these:
We need your help to keep this theater running. One
of the principal reasons that we have been able to stay within budget, and show a positive
operating balance these past two years, is the large contribution of volunteer effort on
the part of the Board members and others. More hands will make not only lighter work, but
will ensure that the theater will continue to function to our satisfaction, and to meet
the needs of this community. So please, consider where your talent and
interest could be best invested, and volunteer to work on one of these committees. They
will be free to set their own means of functioning; whether in person and/or by email, so
no meeting schedule is required. Just your energy! The surest way to have an influence on what happens at the Provincetown Theater, is to be a part of it. Please join us! |
The call for submissions for new works written by
playwrights anywhere in Massachusetts has been extended
to October 30th (that’s right – it’s just before Halloween!). The guidelines are: 1.
Only works that have not been produced
previously are eligible. 2.
Plays
selected for readings will be eligible for further workshops or full production as part of
a future season. 3.
For each selected work, the playwright
must be available to work with the director and cast during reading rehearsals. 4.
All
works must be submitted in digital format. 5.
The Theater Company will do its best to
recruit a director for each work, but playwrights are free to recruit their own. 6.
The director must be available for
casting auditions.
Provincetown actor and vocalist Adam
Berry has volunteered to chair the selection committee, which will be made up of anyone
who replies with a "yes" to this invitation.
Email submissions to operations@provincetowntheater.com Include Winter Reading
Series Submission in the subject line. Call 508-487-7487 to volunteer for the
selection committee. (If you have already submitted for this series, don’t bother to
resubmit.) PLANS ARE UNDERWAY FOR A HOLIDAY PRESENTATION! We will send out a special announcement regarding audition dates and times --- but November 21, 22 and 23 are very good bets! Be sure to read all the news you receive by email from Provincetown Theater! Auditions will also be scheduled for the Winter Reading Series in the very near future. Stay tuned. |
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FROM THE EDITOR: Judith Partelow -- Continuing with the
theme Allen Gallant set in last month’s article about the origin of “Break a
Leg,” this month – since we’re getting this out very close to Halloween
– I thought I’d throw in a couple of other superstitions. (See his article about
“whistling in the theater” following this.) I won’t steal Allen’s
thunder about other superstitions he will want to write about, especially because we’re
opening our Fall Playwrights’ Festival next week! But here are two more: |
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WHISTLING IN THE THEATER CAN KILL! by Allen Gallant, Board Member, Provincetown Theater Yesireebob ......whistling in the
theater is considered bad luck....not to mention ill-mannered, and once upon a time,
"Life Threatening." This superstition is derived from the days before the
invention of back stage headsets. Commonly called Clear-com, the most used
communication system, keeps the Stage Manager in touch with the technicians back stage to
call cues for scenery movement, light and sound changes. The most dangerous of these
changes was the movement of scenery up and down into the "fly space" above the
stage. Technicians (fly men) who controlled the fly space with hand controlled ropes,
communicated across stage with a series of whistles. Not audible to the audience, but to
the actors and crew...it was a cue that scenery was being moved up or down from the fly
space. Needless to say, a whistle on stage could result in a piece of scenery
being dropped on your head! Next time you are in the theater, remember that whistling is
not only hazardous to your health; it is also considered bad luck....duh! Next month.....a bit of history about
Bacchus or Dionysus....the God of Theatre, wine, grapes, ritual madness, and ecstasy! And
the statue is naked!! |
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The Provincetown Theater
Foundation Board Members: Tim McCarthy, President Brian O’Malley, Chairman of the Board Joy McNulty, Vice President and Treasurer Karen Billard, Grants and Website Coordinator Robert Cardinal, Special Events Luceil Carroll, Special Events Allen Gallant, Sound Engineer Robert Seaver, Program Committee Sewall Whittemore, Building Committee Candace Perry, Playwrights’ Lab Liaison Judith Partelow, Newsletter Editor |
Many thanks to
Pearlene for helping to deliver the finished newsletter to you at the beginning of each
month, and for the tireless efforts of Patrick Lamerson, our excellent theater office
assistant! “A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.” Tennessee Williams |
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