Short Summary
Boston Play café is a TV show that workshops plays, just like a real table reading in a real live theater. A working playwright and actors table read a scene (or an entire short play) and chat about what works and what doesn’t. How to tweak it. Where it can go from here.
This is the intriguing part of the process of play writing that audiences never get to see or hear. It's a blend of spontaneity and rehearsal. It explores questions about how plays can become most effective. This show puts viewers at a table with the creative team and lets them see how a script evolves.
Patti Cassidy was in a play development group in Tucson called “Old Pueblo Playwrights” for several years and then moved back to New England, where she belonged. Because she couldn’t find any similar groups in Rhode Island or western MA, she stopped writing. She needed input. When she moved back to Williamstown, MA (a theater center if ever there was one!) she decided to start her own group- with a twist, by forming a group on WilliNet Community Access TV.
The show was a real success (and is continuing with another producer). You can see an episode above of the original version. She's now brought the program to the greater Boston area with Watertown Community Access TV. Already she's got a volunteer crew and playwrights from as far away as Bangalore, India, have submitted their plays for consideration.
Access TV is now available on the web as well as being broadcast, so these experiments can be viewed worldwide. Cassidy has received a number of requests to learn how to carry the experiment on elsewhere, from NYC to London, England.
What We Need & What You Get
Although Access is free to producers and accessible, there’s a lot of work to putting a show like this together.
- It takes time and effort to promote it, schedule it, edit the programs, and, of course, to film it.
- We need DVDs for the actors, playwrights and other access stations which have committed to airing it.
- Because at least one teacher has used it for his playwriting class, we see a future for more of the same. So we'd also like to provide discs for high schools and colleges to use for their students.
- We want to pay playwrights and actors a stipend for contributing their time, effort, and talent to bring theater to the world.
So we're asking for $3000 to produce the first six episodes of the show. That's nowhere near what it costs to produce it, but we'd like to give each playwright's team $150 stipend for appearing, the crew $100 per episode, and the producer (who is also the editor, director, etc) $150 per. The DVDs, promotional material, and travel funds will come to another $100 each time.
Obviously, if we don't raise all the money, we'll spread what we do get out as equitably as possible. And, of course, we're hoping to have grants and sponsors in place at the end of the first six months.
The Impact
Writing good plays is demanding work. It's critical that playwrights get feedback from both peers and performers. Workshopping a piece with a guaranteed audience is a real incentive to keep the process going!
Your contribution may spark an isolated playwright to try his/her wings or rethink a stalled script. It could spur theater-goers to think more about how the plays they watch work (or don't). And it can encourge those who've been afraid to see theater to go out of curiosity about "what comes next" in the writing/staging process.
In short- you could be helping to save theater!
Other Ways You Can Help
Part of the fun of this project is having people watch the show and comment on our Facebook page. And you can help us reach the critical mass!
Promote our page of Facebook by "liking" us and spreading the word to your friends. https://www.facebook.com/bostonplaycafe
Tweet your beaks off to let your twitter pals know what's up. Link to our episodes on vimeo where ever you can.
If you live in eastern New England, especially in the greater Boston area, let us know about actors who might be interested in joining us. Comment on the project itself and the plays you've seen on vimeo and Facebook.
If you would be interested in sponsoring any episodes of the program, let us know and we can talk about sponsorship.
