Hothouse Block Party
Just a picture of the little COVID hothouses that sprang up outside restaurants back in 2021 or so.
This past Friday and Saturday, Theater Alliance in SW DC had a two day showcase for local playwrights. I am not going to review any of the readings, because firstly, I am not a theater critic (in public anyways). Secondly, I was a participant, so talking about the work presented would be a bit messed up.
What I do want to jot down, while the experience is fresh in my mind is some of the connections and thoughts that I experienced in the past couple of days. First, a quick description of Theater Alliance Hothouse New Plays Block Party.
Not in DC, but it’s a reading. Provided here as reference for folks that wait for things like lights and costumes before going to experience a play.
Public readings over two days.
As shown in this example, a public reading often involves a fair number of music stands. Maybe there is a small prop involved, but it is a bare-boned affair, with the intent of giving folks a chance to hear the words as written. If you’ve never been to one, it is a bit like listening to audiobook version of novel, rather than watching the movie version.
For this particular event, Theater Alliance presented a couple of full length plays and a half dozen excerpts from others selected through an open submission process. They also had a few selections from writers that were part of their season, a showing of a solo show in development, and a selection of short plays by young writers that were developed with support of Theater Alliance.* There was a nice variety. Again, I say that not as any comment on the work presented, but to give a sense that the whole affair was showing off a bit of this, and bit of that. A teaser here, an introduction there.
And it was this sense of introductions that I personally appreciated.
So, yeah my thoughts and connections:
A bit of swirl of associations but I’ll start with the blurb I wrote to intro myself and the audience. It got me thinking a bit about the origins of the play I had written. And this little musing session reminded me of BarPlays, a theater festival I produced years ago in Providence, RI. Basically, we put a bunch of short plays and a bit of other performance in bars around town. No cover charge. No stage. No mics. No expectation that people would stop ordering drinks during a show. It was a great success. It was a heluva lot of fun. I was also reminded of the general scene in Providence. A major landmark for me, from my high school bands to the time I moved to DC was AS220. Open mics, variety shows, local bands, cabarets on the AS220 stage. One door down on Empire St., at Perishable Theater next door: A theater season to be sure, but also booked-in DIY theater shows, readings, more cabarets, the occasional variety show, late night puppetry, storytelling, stand-up, and improv. So yeah, there was access. It was quite a buffet of things to go see. And there was more than a couple of ways to get involved and make stuff, no matter how you saw fit to tell your story. I came to think of that kind of access as normal. What I also came to think of as normal was a space that was cheap enough and diverse enough to gather enough artists that connections could be made, support could be found and provided, and collaborations could be started.
Shortly after getting to DC, I hooked up with District Dramatists, a newly forming group of writers, directors, (and if I recall correctly, designers and other production folk). It was in the process of sorting out what exactly it was going to focus on and how it was going to achieve those goals once they were set. But, in the broadest sense, those goals included:
mutual aid and support
mechanisms for making personal connections
access to other artists in one’s own discipline or practice as well as those in other areas of expertise
access to producing entities and other resources
Skill sharing,
Artistic and professional development
While it was still in the process of setting roots down, fucking COVID hit.
That was drag, because not only because I was pretty new in town and hadn’t met many folks, but also because I was otherwise not affiliated with any other institution in town. I do not have an MFA, partially because I came to theater later in life. So that MFA to intern to fellow to associate path was not an option. I am grateful to the supportive DIY scene in Providence that allowed some circumvention of this this paradigm in that allowed artists to get work “out there”, which increases the chances of securing grants and other resources. again… fucking COVID.
So, these two waypoints along my entry’s journey from idea to the music stands set out this past Friday were buzzing around in my head a bit during the little mixer/ social gathering that was held between a couple of the readings on Saturday. Because here I was, feeling for the first time in quite a little while, a few things I missed from the Empire Street scene in Providence, and the classroom at the Reach, where District Dramatists met:
Possiblitites / Potential
Connections
Access
Support
This is thanks to a lot of people: from Nina in the front of the house to Regina in the booth and everyone else that works between the front door and the stage of Alliance. And readings don;t happen without readers, so thanks to the talent that showed up and helped voice the words of the writers who were represented. But two people that I feel compelled to thank with a bit of specificity are Aria Velz and Shanara Gabrielle.
Aria - of course, thanks for taking a scene from one of my plays out for a little spin. But also, thanks for devising a format that allowed for such a wide range of voices in such a compressed time frame. I did not see everything that was on offer in those two days, but I did get a peek at a wide range of writing and writers. And thanks for making sure there was that mixer, where there was a chance to meet some of the other writers, directors, and actors. Always nice to be able to ask answer the “what are you into?” intros.
Shanara - thanks for your role in making Theater Alliance a place where this could happen. Thanks for your energy. Thanks for getting up and demanding that people do some mixing at the damn mixer.
And to the both of them I am grateful for making a space where bubbles of potential could form: a space where a connection could be made, a space where not only access was granted, but where a welcome was extended, and a space where support was felt.
Cedric Lilly walked with me on those first wobbly steps I took as a playwright. Here he is at the Think Tank Festival that he developed with actor friends Jo-an, Kira, and Katie, and which I was invited to write for. He met my quirky little offering with curiosity and enthusiasm. He brought joy to the project. He was a damn good actor on stage and a damn good human everywhere. He died unexpectedly yesterday. Good night, Cedric.
*Please understand that I am not representing Theater Alliance in any way. All statements made are with the best intentions and with my limited knowledge. If I got any details wrong about the Block Party or the work presented, then it is my own damn fault for misunderstanding something I read or heard. Same thing with District Dramtists, even though I don’t think there is anyone left to get upset about a mistake.