News Letter
Archived Newsletters
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Fall Playwrights' Festival
Editor's Notes Frrom the President From Karen Billard |
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To the Fall
Playwrights’ Festival winning submissions
6 SHORT
PLAYS FOR PERFORMANCE: NOVEMBER ---- JAMES MCLINDON FORGET ME NOT --- MYRA SLOTNICK JOCK ITCH --- GEORGE SAUER BEACH ENCOUNTERS -- BOB SEAVER 5 FULL LENGTH PLAYS FOR READINGS: DANCING WITH THE DEVIL -- JIM LUCASON FIRST DANCE --- JERRY THOMPSON Contact
Judith Partelow at judithdp@yahoo.com for further information. AUDITIONS: Sat., Oct. 3 (1 - 3) and Sun., Oct. 4 (5 - 7) (PERFORMANCES
– First two full weekends in November) |
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FROM THE EDITOR: Judith Partelow --
WHEW! Lots of reading for the members selected to judge the 9 full-length and 17
short-play submissions in the period of a little less than 2 weeks. This Festival will
showcase the short plays in staged, memorized performances, and the full-length plays as
readings. We would like audience feed-back, as well, and will provide opportunities for
delivering your thoughts to the playwrights. We’ll need people of all types and ages
to perform or read, so please come to the auditions, or, if you can’t possibly make
it, send a note to me and we’ll try to work something out. Also, see the note from
Bob Seaver about the Winter Reading Series. There will be lots of opportunities for
serious playwrights to have their works considered to be read and developed at the
Provincetown Theater! judithdp@yahoo.com |
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Tim McCarthy, President: On Oct 14 we will be holding our annual owner/membership meeting
where the owner/members of the theater will hear all the details of the work we, the Board
and staff, have done over the last year. This will be the last membership meeting that I
will be addressing as the President. My term expires at the end of this year, December 31.
As I stated when I ran two years ago, I will work for two years to get things straightened
out and then someone else must take over as President. That person, supported by the Board
of Directors, is Karen Billard. She has worked with the executive committee and the staff
very closely these past 6 months and will continue to in the last three months of my term.
She is certainly the most qualified person we have on the Board now to take on this
position. However, I want to remind you, the owner/members that nominations
for the Presidency are able to be made from the floor. So if you would like to run or know
someone else that should run please come and nominate them. It is by majority vote. So
bring as many of your supporters and theater supporters in general as you can. The
Presidency is the only position voted for directly by the owner/membership. The rest of
the Board is self perpetuating. But there is much room on the Board for new people as
well. So I suggest that anyone who wishes to run for the Presidency and does not win that
they get on the Board so their views and energies can be used for the theater’s
benefit. |
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Karen Billard, Board Nominee for President It has been my great good fortune to be a member of the Board of
Directors of the Provincetown Theater Foundation since July of 2008. Through that association, my love for the
Provincetown Theater and the very special community of Provincetown has grown deeper and
richer. I am so grateful to the many people I
have come to know here for inviting me in and embracing me in such a warm sense of
community. That sense of community, and
the artistic richness that is everywhere you turn here are but two of the many treasures
I, like many others before me, have found here in Provincetown. I am honored to be nominated by this hard-working
and caring Board for the office of President of the Provincetown Theater Company at this
exciting time in our theater’s history. I
see this as my chance to return that warm embrace. The board has raised funds through a variety of sources. We have hosted creative fundraising events from
community supporters and artists like Mary Oliver, Aoifa Clancy, Eddie Dillon, Geraldine
Mills, Cape Cod Cultural Center, Dan Adams, and Robert Cardinal. We are supported in part by grants from VSB,
Edward Bangs Kelley and Elza Kelley Foundation, the Heibert Foundation, the GALE Fund of
the Cape Cod Foundation, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, the Sunfield Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. And, central to our heart as well as our mission,
is the support of the Provincetown community. We
are grateful for the support and sponsorship of local businesses such as Fanizzi’s
Restaurant, the Lobster Pot, LIP TV, the Wired Puppy, the Provincetown Banner,
Adrian’s, Bayside Betsy’s, Cape Cod Beer, Far Land Provisions, Truro Vineyards,
Saki, Victor’s, PAAM, Provincetown Florist, Front Street. We are also very grateful for the support, in time
and dollars, of private donors and our membership. When the financial crisis hit in earnest last fall, we were
already a lean operation, thanks to the diligence and hard work of the Board of Directors,
our operations manager, Patrick Lamerson, and our part-time staff tending to box office
and concessions. And thanks to that
diligence, we are in a position to move forward on our goal to revitalize the Provincetown
Theater Company as an active production company.
We are in the process of planning for a Holiday production, as well as for our 2010
season. We are very excited about focusing on supporting the development
of new works, either through our own Provincetown Theater Company, or by encouraging other
companies, both local and otherwise to utilize our Theater for developing their own
productions. To support these initiatives, we
plan to diversify our programming, step-up our fundraising efforts, fine tune our
marketing, develop collaborative relationships across the Cape and beyond, and optimize
our current income streams. This revitalization opens the doors even wider to the community
as we look to you to be an active participant in the working of the Provincetown Theater
Company. We are looking to you for help with
all aspects of production, backstage, technical and front of house as well as performance. Have a green thumb?
Like to lick stamps or file? Have a
knack with a broom, brush or wrench? We need
you here at the theater. I look forward to meeting you at the Annual
Meeting. Be sure to introduce yourself whether you support my candidacy or that of
another. As a Board member, I would like to know how you see the future of our
theater and how you would like to be involved. |
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Chairman’s Report- October 2009 – Brian O’Malley As the national economic belt-tightening continues, these other
needed supports have become much harder to secure. Supporters and granting agencies alike
are much less able to give than they were, not long ago. All of us who operate in this
environment have had to carefully watch our expenses, and be more creative in our
fundraising. So it is sobering for us to recognize, that even a very well
attended and critically acclaimed season ends with a parting of the ways. We wish Counter
Productions good luck in their efforts to continue the kind of ambitious programming
they’ve been doing. At the same time, we also deserve to celebrate our own successes.
We are completing our second season operating in the black. After the nearly disastrous
2007 season, and the soul-searching in its wake, the Board of Directors adopted a plan to
dramatically reduce our risk exposure. We simply could not afford to gamble with our
future, with so much at stake. The rental model that has been the mainstay of these two seasons
has helped to greater income security and stability. We have no current debt, and
sufficient operating reserve to carry us through the off-season. Our situation has also
been helped by the successes of our own productions. The Spring Playwrights’ Festival
this year, which brought good houses, was kept tightly within budget, and aided by Board
contributions, generated a net surplus. The Board responded by establishing a separate
Production Fund, as reported last month. This will be solely for the purpose of supporting
the PTC’s own work, which include the upcoming Fall Playwrights’ Festival, the
Winter Reading series (returning this year to the usual Wednesday evening slot) and,
hopefully, a Holiday show. Finally, we continue our own fundraising work. We are
exploring and applying for granting, and seeking collaborative efforts with other cultural
organizations. Our second annual Art Performance with Robert Cardinal on
September 5 was outstanding. A very satisfied house of patrons enjoyed a great spread of
appetizers, fine Truro Vineyard wines, and lovely chamber music, while Bobby painted and
discoursed. His truly beautiful painting was raffled off, to cap the event, and went home
to Miami with Eileen Diamond. This is our major fund raiser of the year, and planning is
already well underway for an even bigger event next year, to be on Friday September 3. Meanwhile, our very important responsibility for maintaining the
building itself, has not been neglected. In August, the Theater- now completing it’s sixth season-
had a needed painting of all the exterior trim. Provincetown resident Peter Ciluzzi- also
known for the beautiful acoustic guitars he creates and plays- took advantage of some late
summer dry weather to do a careful job of preparation, then caulking and applying two
fresh coats of paint. He found only two minor areas where trim repairs are needed, one of
them around the actors’ door in the front, slated for replacement shortly. The work was done to very careful standards, and no mess whatever
remained. The building looks great. A sincere “thank you” to Peter for giving us such an
excellent makeover, at so very reasonable a cost to us. And, as special thanks, Peter and
a friend enjoyed the final production of “Gross Indecency,” as a guest of the
Board. Just in time for the Robert Cardinal event, James Roderick’s
crew re-graded our side drive. The potholes had become rough; the new drive is comfortably
smooth. And, as reported in the Banner, all exterior locks, as well as
the tech booth and office, have been changed after the Counter season rental concluded. We
will increase our level of key control, to limit the number of people with free access to
the building. Finally, the state-of-art ventilation system is being returned to
full functionality, after a period of unsatisfactory performance was traced to a
contractor that cleaned up the Theater after the January 2005 fire in the system. The
original installer has been back to guide full restoration of the whisper-quiet AC
units. This month’s very important Annual Membership meeting on
October 14 brings real challenges, and opportunities. We are committed to maintaining the
Provincetown Theater as the anchor of the theatre community, and confidant that we have
the support of the many, many people who have been a part of it, as actors, writers,
techies, and supporters (which of course includes audience members!) And of the many other
people and groups, who have helped to bring theater on the outer cape to its present
exciting state! The awareness of Provincetown, in particular, as a major theater locus was
evident in the Tennessee Williams Festival, where the streets were filled with people who
spent their days enjoying the flood of plays. The Board looks forward to a conversation about this future. We
seek novel ways to foster new creative partnerships with performance arts groups- theatre
companies, and others. Dance, poetry, film, music… All have been under our roof
before, and we want more! Encore! This theater is a community resource. As we share in its
enjoyment, we must also share responsibility for it. Help to keep it the vital center for
the outer cape’s performing arts, and in particular, for developmental theatre, by
joining this discussion. The meeting is open to the public, but to vote, you must be a
“card-carrying” member. The $10 membership fee can be paid at the door; if you
have worked one of PTC’s productions this season, bring proof, and your card is
free! I hope to see you on Wednesday, October 14 at the Provincetown
Theater. |
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I am
happy to announce that the Board of Directors of The Provincetown Theater/Theater
Company has approved a new direction for the winter reading series. This year it
will be on Wednesday evenings, again at 7 pm and will be exclusively for new works written
by playwrights anywhere in Massachusetts. This is a call for the submission of
new works for the series. Deadline for submission is October 15th. It is also
an invitation to the membership to serve on the selection committee.
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Repeated from last month’s
newsletter - From Sasha Curran: The Provincetown Theater and the
Playwrights’ Lab are compiling an email list
of people to be notified of opportunities to participate in future Playwrights' Festivals or other production opportunities
(actors, directors, tech people, etc.). sashaptc@gmail.com or operations@provincetowntheater.com |
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BREAK A WHAT??? by Allen Gallant, Board Member, Provincetown
Theater Theater lore
is full of stories, symbols, rituals and superstition. When I first started working in
theater, "Big Wind on Campus" was playing at the new Meeting House Theatre. Joe
Massa, the director/producer, gave me the theater bug and showed me the magic
of theater. One of the memorable moments was his explanation of the saying "Break a
Leg." The story goes that during the era when the guillotine was used frequently for
punishment of criminals, family members would be at the steps of the guillotine platform
hitting the accused with poles in an attempt to break his legs. You see, to this day, they
will not execute a person who is physically sick ( sick huh?). SO, if the family broke the
leg of the accused, his execution would be postponed until it healed. It became good luck
to "Break a Leg.” Now it is considered bad luck when someone wishes an actor or
tech person "Good Luck"..... "Break a Leg" is the proper greeting. See
other explanations at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_a_leg .
For next month....did you know it
is bad luck to whistle in a theater? It could kill you!! |
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Annual Membership meeting, Wednesday, October 14 at 6pm |
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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! |
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