Politics and friends

 

Today was a Difficult Day," said Pooh.

There was a pause.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Piglet.

"No," said Pooh after a bit. "No, I don't think I do."

"That's okay," said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his friend.

"What are you doing?" asked Pooh.

"Nothing, really," said Piglet. "Only, I know what Difficult Days are like. I quite often don't feel like talking about it on my Difficult Days either.

"But goodness," continued Piglet, "Difficult Days are so much easier when you know you've got someone there for you. And I'll always be here for you, Pooh."

And as Pooh sat there, working through in his head his Difficult Day, while the solid, reliable Piglet sat next to him quietly, swinging his little legs...he thought that his best friend had never been more right."

A.A. Milne

What is it like to spend intense time with friends you have known for 58 years. It’s pretty great for so many reasons.  First of all they see you with the same eyes they had 58 years ago. Mostly, they see you without the all the lines that come with age. They remember who you were and forgive all those youthful struggles that may have made you less than pleasant.  At least that is what you hope.  Of course, it all depends on the kind of life you lived and the experiences which may have had an impact on the kind of person you have become.

A few months ago a cherished friend went to the other more peaceful side. There were people in attendance with whom I had a less than cordial relationship. To be honest, I never understood why she liked them. She was funny and smart. They were mean and sometimes vicious. My contact with these vipers  ended about 40 years  ago. Surprisingly they were still mean and controlling. One of them was door keeper for those of us who wanted to say our goodbyes. Even in their sadness they couldn’t get beyond who they were forty years ago.  They were and remained the miserable humans I remembered.   

So what’s the difference between those people and the girlfriends with whom I spent the last few years meditating. Consistency. There is a big difference between ongoing even peripheral contact and no contact. The people who still hated me, for whatever the reasons were not people who I ever even thought about. But those genuinely nice people, with whom I spent the last few days I was always curious about, even if I didn’t see them and they had evolved with each marriage, child, and death. They adapted gracefully to each change in their lives without changing their innate goodness or strong character.  

What was among the most important things we did was to share facts about our families and the lives we lived.  We are all unique there Are common denominators. One is our “humaness”. What does that mean?  We all care deeply about our families, our freedoms, and our health.  We trust one another to help each other through any difficulties and celebrate the good news.  The other is desire to make our lives richer through meditation. We have all grown with the ability to look at our lives and ourselves through reading, thinking, discussion, and a sense of humor.  You cannot have a full rich life without being able to laugh at yourself and the things which life throws at you. Last night I saw this from Milne and it best explains who and what kind of friends they are.

 

First things First

Priorities are just that.  What you do not learn in a weekend seminar, which is about all people who have jobs can afford-- time wise or financially.  If you can't do an internship, it probably makes sense to find a producer who will allow you just to sit in their office, so you can see what it's all about.  In other words, if this producer doesn't do anything you will know that it's possible that this will happen to you and you will be bored beyond your wildest expectations.  If, however, you like the tasks to be performed and additionally you find the work something you want to do, you will not have wasted your time thinking of theater production as your career of choice.

What do you do once you make that decision.  My suggestion would be to hire a lawyer.  To keep you out of jail and to guide you along the way.  However, find a lawyer that doesn't ever say "we can't do that". Find someone who says, "I'll find a way".  I'm not kidding.  You do not ever want to pay someone the "big bucks" to tell you what you cannot do.  You will also need to find a General Manager (GM), who can help you identify sources of funding as well as handle the budget and all the finances.

The next thing I would suggest is to assess what you have financially, energy wise, and knowledge. 
Never be afraid to ask a question. Even if you have studied how to be a producer, you will not understand until you have produced. In order to do this you will also need to be part of the "theater conversation".  Learn the terms and the tasks... Now take a breath

As has been said by many smarter and more experienced producers, ( hard as that is for me to admit), first things first. Or maybe that's what my mother said. Anyway. The first step is to decide priorites and needs. Then you need to translate those into a team.  For a musical you need a composer, lyricist, orchestrator and musical  director and of course a director who has a vision similar to the writers. Often more than one person can do more than one task. And often reality smacks you in the face.  When you begin everyone loves everyone. But it is important to remember that behind all the hugs and kisses everyone has their own agenda.  There is no such thing as a handshake to solidify a deal.

For one production I worked on the writer was also the composer lyricist and orchestratos. This gave the production a single vision but in this case it worked. It usually doesn't.  Take for example the  latest musical I am working on. I hired an orchestrator who, as it turned out was only ok.  he was paid for his work, although we didn't have a contract, I paid him what I thought was fair.  As it ruined out he cost me more than he was worth.  He was anal about the music and when we recorded it cost twice what it should have. It was only a demo. Worse than anything, he was rude to the actors.... Almost all of them. And these equity actors were working for practilly nothing.  It was horrible. Since he was paid, we found a brilliant orchestrator/musical director, who as instructed, did not use any aspect of what, let's call him Al, had done.

We moved on.  He did not. And months, maybe years later, he did not.  He sued us. I guess his agenda was to make trouble and money one way or the other. The lesson you learn from this is always have a contract and never hire anyone who among other unattractive qualities, is absent a moral core.  More next time.

Do Your Toes Twinkle

Throughout my eclectic kinds of careers-- or how I sent the best years of my life, everytime I went to the theater my toes twinkled.  It was almost impossible to sit through a show I liked without moving my legs.  If you love the theater you will know what I mean.

There was a pattern in my professional life.  I did something for about 4 years and then moved to something else. Mostly, every 4 years I took time to work on some aspect of Presidential Politics, but inbetween campaigns or government I did other things. I kept abreast of what was happening in the theater but I was not an active participant.  The, since it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, I decided to be a producer.  Yes, as I have said, everyone wants to be a producer, but I was serious and an actual producer helped me to find my way. Actually, I met a producer and begged him to just sit in his office so I could learn what I needed to know.  In addition, my husband and I produced a documentary, "The Gefilte Fish Chronicles" and a talented composer wanted to make it into a musical. 

When I went to my first theatre  "class" it was really enlightening.  There were people in the class far more advanced than I (an ant was far more advanced than I), but you learn an important lesson.  There are a million people as talented and more talented than you are.  Sooo if you are going to succeed you need to find a way to distinguish yourself.  More soon....

First steps

If you want to change professions what's the best way to start. First you have to assess your desire. Next you have to be realistic about your ability. Then, and probably most importantly, you have to find a way to be part of the conversation. This means you need to know who the players are. Yes, there are always players. Those are the people who everyone else wants to be.... It doesn't matter if they are producers, directors, actors, choreographers, theater managers, general managers or ticket takers. You need to be familiar with who is doing what, how are they doing it and are they successful.  With this in mind, you need to read all the theater related  publications, on and off line.  And then you need to be political..... More in the next blog.

All Aboard!

Everyone wants to own a restaurant or be a producer.  It's easier to dreaming about these as career possibilities than it is to actually make the a reality.  Both are costly, stressful, and challenging. They are also rewarding, interesting and creative. Having been involved with Presidential Politics for over 30 years, and having decided to change careers once again, my latest endeavor is producing musical theater.  There are no answers to why I decided to do this other than it's something I have always wanted to do.  This blog will introduce you to the how's and why's and hopefully make you laugh out loud.  Welcome to BroadwayRealities.