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Paddy
Moderator
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Posted: Mon Apr 7th, 2008 01:36 pm |
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[size=Interview with Sirc Michaels
(Sunday][size=April 6, 2008][size=)][size=]
EVENT: Green Room Salon
TOPIC: Producing and directing your own work and what artistic directors and stage directors expect from submissions and from playwrights with whom they work.
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Sirc Michaels got his start in theatre when he was commissioned by Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, PA to write a piece exploring themes around the four elements (It's Elemental). After that he was again commissioned to write a parody of Shakespeare by Touchstone Theatre for a Shakespeare Festival (Tragedy of a Comic's Errors). Since then he has gone on to produce and direct dozens of shows (including the 1996 Northeast Tour and 2003 Tour of The Rocky Horror Show) independently and with groups across the United States. Michaels has written a dozen shows which have also been produced around the country. His focus as an artist is on persons of college age, presenting edgy material often filled with comedy and violence in order to explore social and political themes. Presently he is working as the Artistic Director of the Amarillo Repertory Theatre and is staging his comedy about Jesus titled CHRIST ALIVE.
Thain: Hi - I seem to be the first
Sirc Michaels: Indeed. In fact, we are waiting for the moderator to get here. But hello - how are you today?
Thain: I'm the uk where it's been snowing
Sirc Michaels: Hahahahahahaha! Um - I mean, oh that's too bad. I am not a fan of cold weather. At all.
Thain: It conditions our national temperament - where are you?
Sirc Michaels: Heh. Amarillo, TX.
Thain: Where it's warmer, I presume.
Sirc Michaels: Indeed. Nice springtime weather. I guess it's about 70 outside.
Thain: Oh , the envy, the envy.
Sirc Michaels: Hmm...well, I'm not sure where Paddy is, and I hate to get started and then have a bunch of people come in, so do you mind if I get a drink and so forth and if no one is back in, say, 5 minutes, we'll get started?
Thain: Excellent idea - mine's a scotch, please/
Sirc Michaels: Heh. Yeah - I'll email that right over to ya.
Thain: Too kind
Sirc Michaels: Okay, well, I guess it is just you and me, Thain. The Green Room: I hope you find the next hour helpful (or fifteen minutes, depending on how long it takes to glean whatever useful knowledge is fluttering about my skull).
Thain: So it'll be intimate - let me first apologise for the non-appearance of Paddy (and others) - maybe it's a time-zone problem
Sirc Michaels: Oh, no worries.
Thain: I wondering how best to use this opportunity - maybe it'll help if I tell u a little about myself - I run stageplays.com and I've been a professional playwright in the UK for about 25 years.
Sirc Michaels:
Ah! Okay. Well, nice to meet you - be it electronically. I have had ten or so plays produced (two self-produced) and have produced and directed prolly a total of fifty or so shows over the past decade, across the US. I am the artistic director of the Amarillo Repertory Theatre and am in the process of creating 'Avenue 10' a new venue that will focus on promoting provocative performing art.
Thain: See my blurb at - http://www.stageplays.com/today.htm
Sirc Michaels: I see. So you have been around the block - or the world, as the case may be.
Thain: Tell me about Avenue 10.
Sirc Michaels: speaks directly to persons of college age and younger. In the cities (I am speaking of the US now), there is little shortage of cutting-edge theatre, but as you move further away from major metropolitan areas eventually there are a multitude of theatres performing ANNIE and MAME and little, if any, performing anything new or risqué.
It is apparent that without catering to a younger audience, there will be no audience at all for theatres as time goes on. Of course, that is a bit extreme, but you see my point. Avenue 10 is a response to the need that myself and others have seen for theatre that.
Thain: Yes, do you get government funding?
Sirc Michaels: No. We are not non-profit. Our first show goes up April 18th, and after its opening we also will be inviting performing artists and musicians to play, which will help generate interest. It is a venue that focuses on a certain audience. Sort of our answer to 'The Civic Theatre' or 'Symphony Hall' or whatever the concert hall might be in your area. Our overhead is low, and we feel that in order to be viable - and for our argument to have merit - we must be able to sustain the theatre without grant monies. And, of course, in the present economy, it is going to get harder to secure grant funding for a while.
Thain: Do you go out to the schools/colleges or do you bus them in?
Sirc Michaels: We do not cater directly to the schools. We market to the students - and to the general public - and they come to us. When I say 'college-age and younger', I do not mean to imply children's theatre. We are doing shows such as Sarah Kane's BLASTED and Anthony Nielson's NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. I can only imagine what a school administrator would think of promoting BLASTED!
Thain: Yes, I can see blasted as a problem - i've read it but not seen it. i'm surprised that there's an audience for it in the US
Sirc Michaels: Well, that's the problem. There is of course an audience. It is an audience primarily ignored by most theatres due to their efforts to appeal to as broad a segment of society as they can - and that audience is younger, well-read, a bit desensitized, and wanting to see more than can-can lines and men in tights. You could say that our audience are young rowdies.
Thain: Over here and mainland Europe it's almost exclusively done in subsidised theatres (I share the same agent as Kane)
Sirc Michaels: Well, in the good old Us of A we don't think the arts are worth subsidizing with public funds, so they are forced to scrounge what they can on their own. We have grants and the like, but it really leaves theatres in a weak state as far as being able to do anything even remotely edgy, for the fear of alienating their older or more conservative audience members, who also tend to be their most loyal audience members.
Thain: I admire your courage/foolhardiness - have you performed Edward Bond?
Sirc Michaels: I've been working to retool the way people I have worked with approach theatre in general, to forget the safety of now and consider the art itself. Without theatres willing to take risks outside of major cities, new works and more provocative works won't be seen by those who might enjoy it the most. Yes - I know of him. We are talking of using him after the new year, though we haven't made any decision as to which play in particular. I think SAVED gets the most votes, but that might be because it is the best-known.
Thain: I prefer Lear - Narrow Road to the Deep North is also worth considering.
Sirc Michaels: We are also doing other things, such as BAAL and ROCKY HORROR. Not all of it is extreme or In-Your-Face.
Thain: I suspect you're a rarity, especially in Texas
Sirc Michaels: Funny thing is, since I have been doing shows of this nature to a very particular audience, for some years, I actually have a pretty devoted following in the area. So while we are doing shows that one would think there'd be no audience for, we actually have a large following already before even opening our doors. The Green Room: And this is in what people refer to as the 'belt buckle' of the Bible belt. Oh - we are also producing the world premiere of Edd's play 'DESERT DEVILS'.
Thain: That's very encouraging to hear, particularly given the demographics - do the "born-agains" give you problems.
Sirc Michaels: Heh. Nah. I imagine the older ones would have heart attacks if they knew exactly what we do, but I suspect their kids don't tell them. Actually, we are opening the space with a comedy about Jesus called CHRIST ALIVE. I wrote it as a response to the passion plays in the area, and it looks like we'll be selling out before we even open the show.
Thain: Brilliant! Your file is probably getting fatter by the minute
Sirc Michaels: 'Selling out' the run before we open might be a bit much to hope for, but we've definitely been doing well. Actually, as a playwright I find all of this other work is a great distraction from my primary job - which is shopping my plays. There's a definite balancing act between staging and submitting.
Thain: Always a problem - have you been published?
Sirc Michaels: No. Unfortunately, my work is a bit...hard...to find the right publisher for. Most of them are interested in children's work or work they can sell to mainstream audiences. And the agents I've contacted to help bolster my chances in that department are of the same opinion - that I am not mainstream enough.Unfortunately I cannot change the content or style of what I write, so I just keep plugging away at it until someone notices.
Thain: Yes, I've been thinking who might be interested, but you seem much too edgy for the mainstream - you could try Jason at originalworksonline.com
Sirc Michaels: Yes - I'm going to send CHRIST ALIVE over there after we open and I've ahd a chance to clean the script up. We are also the only theatre in the Panhandle to present new and original shows. In fact, we might be the only theatre in a 1000 mile radius. Which means I am always on the lookout for stuff that might fit our needs, so if you ever have the urge to send something off that others feel is too 'out there', keep us in mind.
Thain: Will do. I wish you all the luck in the world. And many thanks for giving your time - I'm only sorry there weren't more to share it
Sirc Michaels: Oh, no worries. I had a great time chatting. Was there anything else you might have a question about?
Thain: Not off the top of my head, but it's always good to get a glimpse of what's happening the other side of the pond. Is there anything you like to ask me?
Sirc Michaels: Hah! Prolly a thousand things, seeing as how you've actually been at the playwriting game longer than I. One thing - are theatres on your side of the pond receptive to shows from the states, or is there a different way of working things than simply submitting as we do over here?
Thain: Our theatres aren't that receptive to much new work for the usual reasons, but the major US playwrights re regularly produced. But - as you probably already know - my guess would be the The Royal Court is probably the most likely to be interested in your work
Sirc Michaels: *nod* Yes, I was just curious in general. Being a bit Ameri-centric, I don't get a chance to even look over at that side of things very often., I guess that about does it. I'm sorry there wasn't a bit more of a turnout, but it really was great getting a chance to speak with you. And by the by - nice work on the site.
Thain: Use google to check out the current London scene - the other major focus is the Edinburgh Festival.
Sirc Michaels: Will do. Unfortunately the Dramatists Guild is very focused on the states, so working anything internationally requires a bit more proaction and research than one might otherwise think.
Thain: It always was a tough business - take care and stay brave.
Sirc Michaels: Heh. You too. See ya.
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