Raconteur Theatre Company

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

We’ve been working for months on this new Theatre Company but haven’t even held a single production meeting for our first show.  Some Board Members have expressed concerns that we’ll end up being all talk and no action, that maybe we’re obsessing too much over administrative busywork when we should be doing theatre.  Sometimes administrative accomplishments are exciting (such as filing our Initial Articles of Incorporation as a Nonprofit with the State of Ohio) but other times I feel like we’re crawling along at a snail’s pace and I feel myself utterly uninterested in mundane things like bylaws, bank accounts, business plans and rental contracts. 

So now is a good time to remember why we’re bothering with all this “boring” business before we get to the good stuff: because we want to be a theatre that lasts.  We don’t want to be a flash-in-the-pan company that produces two plays and disappears before the public has a chance to learn that we exist.  We’ve seen other companies start by doing theatre and then eventually they deal with the business end.  But it seems like all too often, those companies fizzle out.  We want to try a different approach to see if we can get different results.  That’s why we’re laying this foundation of structure, accountability, transparency and foresight.

 I do believe all this work will be worth it in the long run.  I just need to keep my eyes on the prize: really good theatre for really good audiences.

 Treading Water,

Tricia