THE ART OF EVANGELISM

/by

I am reading REALITY CHECK by Guy Kawasaki. He also wrote the terrific business book THE ART OF THE START. In REALITY CHECK, Kawasaki writes about the importance of creating customer evangelists. How do you get people to evangelize your product? How do you attract believers who will help you spread the “good news” about The Contemporary American Theater Festival?

“The key to great evangelism is great innovation. It is easy-almost unavoidable- to catalyze evangelism for a great product…Evangelism, after all, comes from the Greek word for ‘bringing the good news.’

I believe that we produce bold, daring, innovative new works. We are the Contemporary American Theater Festival. We are the theater of today…the theater of the NOW. We are producing FIVE new American plays in rotating repertory that are present, and in the NOW! This is who we are and how we will be remembered by future generations. We are responsible for helping to create the destiny of the American theater. We are paying attention to our world. We are listening to contemporary writers who are attuned to our world and whose stories help to define these tumultuous times.

So…I am posting this blog…hoping that some of you will help me “spread the good news.”  If you have experienced our Theater Festival and you liked the experience…then will you get on your social network and be an evangelist for CATF?

We have an innovative product: A Repertory of FIVE new American Plays:

FARRAGUT NORTH
YANKEE TAVERN
THE HISTORY OF LIGHT
FIFTY WORDS
DEAR SARA JANE

If you believe in our mission…will you help me?

We have a burning need to express dramatic truths. We love ideas. We love language. We love provocative stories. And we love our geography: Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The oldest town in West Virginia doing the newest plays in America.

Please invite your friends to join me at the 2009 Theater Festival.

—Ed Herendeen

More from Humana

/by

The HUMANA FESTIVAL is an amazing theatrical event. I saw eight new American plays over three days. It has been a wild ride…I am energized and inspired by this annual premiere theater experience. In addition to witnessing new work I had the opportunity to visit and network with other Artistic Directors, Producers, Theatrical Agents and Literary Managers. The entire weekend was all about seeing new work and talking about new work. It was a weekend jammed packed with passionate conversation about contemporary theater.

On Friday and Saturday mornings I participated in a Forum on New PLAY Development. We discussed a variety of topics including playwright royalties, marketing new plays, funding new works, world premieres and commissions. We also talk about the importance of second and third productions of new work. It was an important and at times intense discussion.

One of the highlights of HUMANA is the opportunity to talk with colleagues from other theaters. I hung out with Lydia Diamond (STICK FLY), Greg Kotis (PIG FARM) and Deb Laufer (THE LAST SCHWARTZ). Ilana Brownstein, former Lit Manager from The Huntington pitched two new plays for me to consider in 2010. She introduced me to Melinda Lopez (SONIA FLEW) in 2005 and Lydia Diamond in 2007. Ilana has great taste in plays.

It was a three day weekend of non-stop theater:
On Saturday I saw: UNDER CONSTRUCTION by Charles L. Mee directed by Anne Bogart, created and performed by SITI Company. This was a collage of America today, inspired by Norman Rockwell. It was a wild ride…
WILD BLESSINGS: adapted and directed by Marc Masterson was an exploration of the Kentucky poet, Wendell Berry.
THE HARD WEATHER BOATING PARTY by Naomi Wallace, directed by Jo Bonney, explored the struggle between industrial greed and growth, and the health of the community.
And on Sunday I saw Zoe Kazan’s new play ABSALOM, about a father and his tell all autobiography…a play about a family… their stories and their secrets.

It was an intense weekend…but so worth the trip to Louisville.

—Ed Herendeen

Hello from Humana

/by

Hello from Louisville, KY. I am attending the 2009 HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS.

Today’s schedule:
I am meeting with Sarah Steele, Literary Manager with SECOND STAGE THEATRE, NY at 9AM. We will be talking about new scripts and sharing ideas RE: doing new work.

At 10AM-1:30PM: I am participating in A Forum on New Play Development and Production/sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

At 3PM I will see AMERIVILLE by UNIVERSES (Gamal Abdel Chasten, William Ruiz a.k.a. Ninja, Mildred Ruiz and Steven Sapp) directed by Chay Yew.
“UNIVERSES puts the state of the union under a microscope-race, poverty, politics, history and government…examining our country through the lens of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. AMERIVILLE combines an innovative mix of poetry, music, movement and drama to get to the heart of this American Tragedy.”

At 7:30PM I will see SLASER by Allison Moore directed by Josh Hecht
“When she’s cast as the ‘last girl’ in a low-budget slasher flick, Sheena thinks it’s the break she’s been waiting for. But the news of the movie unleashes her malingering mother’s thwarted feminist rage, and Mom is prepared to do anything to stop filming…even if it kills her.”

At 10:30PM I will see BRINK! By Lydia Diamond (CATF STICK FLY 2008), Greg Kotis (CATF PIG FARM 2008), Deborah Zoe Laufer (CATF THE LAST SCHWARTZ), Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and Deborah Stein directed by Sean Daniels.
“ From first date to marriage, birth to death and hiring to firing, six fabulous and funny playwrights join forces to explore rites of passage.”

So…I have a full day of theater. I will give you updates throughout the weekend.

—Ed Herendeen

THE RICHARD DRESSER TRILOGY

/by

Richard Dresser’s agent, Joyce Ketay at The Gersh Agency and my agent Bruce Ostler at the Bret Adams Agency are “pitching” THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS TRILOGY to regional theaters for a future production. Our dream is to find a theater that will produce the entire Trilogy as a major theatrical event.

CATF produced all three plays over three consecutive seasons: In 2006 we produced AUGUSTA; and in 2007 we produced THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS; and last season we produced the third play A VIEW OF THE HARBOR. Now our dream is to find a home where we can do all three plays together with a cast of six actors and a single spare, fluid set which is constantly transforming itself into the shifting worlds of the colliding social classes.

Our “pitch”:
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS is a trilogy of plays about American life during this dizzying period of transition. With a battered economy, seemingly endless wars, relentless job losses, dwindling resources, and seriously diminished hopes for the future, where does happiness lie? Is there more to this struggle than survival? While each of these comedies stands alone, together they present a hilarious and deeply unsettling snapshot of an entire culture in a mid-life crisis.

Each of the three plays is set in a different social class, and they are thematically linked by the desperate need of the characters to escape their class. In each play there’s a haunting sense that happiness is there, waiting to be savored, but just out of reach.

The trilogy explores our twin obsessions with money and happiness in a chaotic time when both are in perilously short supply.

So we are in the process of shopping around for a theater…I will keep you informed…

—Ed Herendeen