Raconteur Theatre Company

I have a hard time talking about our last show without talking about the Board who brought everyone together. I came into this experience not really knowing what to expect. I only knew half the group of the founding members when we first got together. It was a strange place to be, this past November, when the eight of us met at Cup O’ Joe’s to discuss what was to become Raconteur Theatre – just as another theatre company many of us were a part of was closing its doors. I was incredibly sad to lose Bison and yet incredibly hopeful with what this new company would bring, not only to me but to the rest of the Board and Columbus Theatre. We wanted a company that would last – we didn’t want to go through the incredible sadness that comes with seeing yet another Columbus Theatre have to fold for any of the number of reasons that many Columbus Theatres do. And yet goodbyes are inevitable regardless. Whether they are the closing of a theatre or the closing of a show, the goodbyes give a little tug at your heartstrings. And yet at the same time, that is the nature of the business.

But our debut show was about hello’s. Our company was incredibly lucky to have 8 very different artists, whose talents run the gamut of the sphere of talents it takes to make a production possible - directors, actors, writers, techies, stage managers and businessmen. We spent several months working up to our first show and it was an incredible feeling seeing everyone’s hard work brought together. We were blessed with a fantastic cast and crew who came on board knowing that things were going to be a little bumpy on our first show, and they embraced it.

In terms of my own personal experience on the production, I would say stage managing this show was probably more demanding than most shows I’ve worked on in the past. The Flex Series was set up as 2 one-act plays that offered flexibility to the audience who could see one or both of the one-acts. The plays worked together as a whole and yet also demanded the attention as if they were independent beings. I was always trying to find a balance between the two shows, figuring what I should approach independently and what I should look at as a whole. I had worked with one-acts before, but not in the same way that these two came together. Both shows had very similar themes and yet were very different technically – Roulette had 7 scene changes where Aster had none. Roulette was about an hour and fifteen minutes while Aster was almost half that. Roulette had a film feel to it while Aster was very black box theatre. The theme united them and yet these two pieces came together in the end to offer two very different theatre experiences. Another challenge was working in a non-theatre space. Kafe Kerouac is an awesome coffee shop on High Street near OSU campus with a side room stage where poetry readings often take place on Wednesday nights. It’s not typically a theatre space and yet with the guidance of our Set Designer and Tech crew, we managed to convert that room into a theatre space and make it work. It took a little bit of time and patience, but the final transformation was a pretty cool to see. It goes to show that you don’t need an actual theatre space to do theatre.

Despite these challenges it was probably one of the coolest shows I have ever put on. We didn’t have the comforts of home that established companies have and yet we made it work. I learned so much about what it takes to make theatre possible, how to accept the challenges that arise and how do the best we can with what we have to work with. And even after our afterglow ends, there’s still another show on the other side waiting for us to embrace it. And I look forward to it.

-Suellen

Here we are at Raconteur, no longer basking in the afterglow of After the Afterglow, looking forward to our production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts. And now that we’re looking forward, we’ve decided that it’s time to look back on our last production. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be putting up various reflections on people’s experiences with After the Afterglow, starting here with mine:

I was stunned by the entire experience. Starting a theatre company was both more exciting and difficult, and yet at the same time easier and more natural feeling, than I ever expected it to be. There was a lot of work that went into our front end, much of it stuff I never would have considered being a part of starting a company, but man did it pay off. We played to close to sold out crowds every night, and the responses we got from the audiences was better than I dared to hope.

The list of people to thank is longer than I could ever compile, since it includes not only Bread and Circus theatre and Madlab for giving us items to help put the show together, or Tricia’s church for giving us chairs to sit people in, or the different members of the board - all of whom did way more than anyone could ask them to do for the show, or the actors who performed brilliantly and never once complained about strange rehearsal schedules and locations. But it also includes every person who came to see the show, and every person who told their friend to come check us out.

It’s hard to remember the excitement that came with opening night now that we find ourselves starting fresh with Ghosts. But I know that come October I’ll look back at where we’re at now and say “Oh yeah, this is why we do it.”

So, today I got an update from another one of the board members about the state of our donation drive. Our little fledgling theatre company has managed to, so far, raise over a thousand dollars in personal donations. That’s not businesses who throw around tons of money for the tax write-off, that’s just people we know who support what we’re doing.

And we haven’t even opened our first show yet!

I hear a lot about “Columbus doesn’t support theatre”, and I’ve been guilty of saying it myself. But I now think that I was mistaken. Maybe people are willing to give, and maybe people are willing to come and see shows, but maybe we haven’t been asking the right way?

I’ve been involved in theatre companies who think that if they get their listings into the papers, and throw a few posters up around town, and pass out a few flyers/postcards, that they’re doing everything right. And maybe they aren’t doing anything wrong, but it sure seems like there’s more we can be doing.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend who is the Artistic Director for another local company and she was talking about how exciting it is to see what Raconteur is doing to get our name out there, and get the show information out, and how we’re talking to other businesses about how we can cross-promote, or if they’re willing to donate or purchase an ad, and it occurred to me - why isn’t every theatre in town doing this?

We firmly believe that a rising tide raises all ships when it comes to theatre, so let me now publicly invite the other theatres in Columbus to step up their own advertising and promotional efforts. Talk to local businesses, ask them to support you, call mom and dad and gramma and the kids and say “Hey, can you support our theatre? Not just in coming to see the shows, but would you be willing to make a donation?” (Bonus if you can make it tax-deductible. And if your theatre is not yet a tax-exempt not-for profit, look into aligning with Fractured Atlas).

The support is out there if you’re willing to look. With support comes more money to advertise and put on better shows. With better shows and larger audiences, we grow the theatre-going community of Columbus. And that benefits us all.

No, not a command. A statement. Raconteur Theatre seems to be having an odd relationship with ducks lately. What do I mean? Well, we have a character named Duck in Aster, Holger Gunn. And he’s an odd little guy. (Well, not that little, really. He’s well over six feet) Central to the plot, and fascinating, but odd.

But then this past weekend, members of the board and affiliated folks all went out to Gallery Hop in the Short North to pass out ducks. Ducks with our website on them. While wearing inflatable ducks.

It was a tremendous amount of fun, and it helped us to spread the word about the theatre. The main things we learned?

1) If you’re a part of a group of people wearing inflatable duck floatation devices, people will talk to you.
2) If you’re passing out ducks to people on High Street, 100 ducks won’t last very long.
3) It gets cold really quickly in the evenings in May.

The duck experiment was enough of a success that we’ll be out passing ducks once again in the near future. Stay tuned!

-Aaron

Auditions are complete and the auditionees will be contacted today with the results.  It was exciting to have the milestone of our first auditions, but for me it was a strange experience. 
Along with the others who came, I auditioned for the show.  It put me in a strange spot of being on the board for the company but desiring equal footing with the others auditioning.  I would have been disappointed not to get a part, but I certainly didn’t want a part just because I’m an integral part of the company.  I wanted a part because I deserved one as an actor. 

And what a difficult place for the directors who are both my friends and fellow board members!  Would I be mad at them if they didn’t cast me? No. But would they feel as though I was? Perhaps.  And I will likely be in their shoes for another show where I am directing and a board member is auditioning. 

We didn’t create this company so that the board members could take whatever parts or direct whatever shows they personally wanted to have.  In fact, we have a board rule to the contrary.  No board member can act in more than 2 of our 4 shows every season- or direct, or write, et cetera.  In theory, this allows for many people to participate in a variety of ways without the theatre company becoming incestuous.  It is in our mission to be inclusive to the Columbus arts community, and this rule helps us stay true to that.

So all that said, I’m excited to be performing in our premiere show and excited to know that it wasn’t just given to me for being Jill (right guys?)… Okay, right.
 
Looking forward to performing for you,

Jill