Get amped for March 31st

So the lineup for our March reading is finally set. We've chosen two plays by writers we've worked with before, Something About Smoke by DJ Sylvis and Stalemates by Philip Kaplan. We've also chosen to read an excerpt from a screenplay I'm working on (which I'm a bit nervous about, btw) and have a second reading of Saint Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent, by our Assistant Artistic Director, Karl Custer (known in some circles as Uncle Yo).

Even though it's a going to be two weeks past St Patrick's day, with the fun nature of that play and the fact that audiences seem to love themes, we are including some St Patrick's day themed refreshments and decorations. We're even calling it the Notes Between Us St Patricks Day Bash. So, hey, if you missed out on partying on the 17th, come have fun with us on the 31st!

We're also out trying venue and time. I'm hopeful about it, but only time will tell. The show will be at 7pm at Space on White. That's right, Between Us Productions is officially downtown and cool.

At least for this month.

Meanwhile, we're in the process of amping up our improv battles, which will  be at another new venue on April 14th (we're trying to find what works best for our monetary and artistic needs at this point), but more on that later.

Too many irons in the fire?

Last night, over tea, salad and a raspberry macaron at Argo Tea by Columbus Circle, I met with Alexis Hadsall, former artistic director of TheatreRats. As a start up theatre producer, we often have to figure out how to do everything ourselves so it was great to get advice from someone who has been there. Whether or not we take Alexis' advice right now is in question. With our improv, one acts and possible educational inititives, do we have the time and more importantly, the money, to take on other projects? Well, hopefully, we're picking projects that will bring in money, but still. These are the questions we have to ponder.

Meanwhile, we are still trying to nail down the plays we're having read on March 31st. We have three already (one of which is a Family Guy style comedy about Saint Patrick by our Assistant Artistic Director, Karl Custer aka Uncle Yo), but we're still deciding on the forth. We have two options, one of which is an excerpt from a screenplay by me. I'm waiting for Business Partner!Sam to let me know what she thinks about it. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a night of one acts. See, a producer's work doesn't get automatic preference. At least, this one's doesn't. 

We also have a meeting with Improv Director!Sam about the direction our improv battles are going to be taking in the near future. We'll see how that goes once we hammer out a time. 

That's about all for now. I'll keep you all posted as soon as there is anything else going on. And if you like, don't be afraid to comment!

Producers Meeting

Friday afternoon, Sam (the business partner one) and I had a meeting. As is the way with us, it was very casual but also very productive. We held it at one of favorite spots for a meeting...the Cosi by Union Square! Hey, I told you, Sam and I are very casual and a girl's gotta eat.

Over raspberry tea and salads, Sam and I brainstormed, hammered out details and made action plans for several of our up coming projects. On the horizon, we have a reading of one acts coming up at the end of march and another improv battle night in April. What we still need to do is to finalize the plays we're using, cast them and get a visiting team for the improv night. Daunting tasks, but Sam and I have a pretty good system and excellent resources to get quality work and actors. The bigger deal is that we're trying out two new spaces for these events. Sam and I are pretty great at working on a low budget but we want to see if we can accommodate different types of spaces. And by accommodate I mean, pack the house and turn a profit, of course. That's what you have to worry about as a producer. Money, money, money.

Next, we talked about what projects we have planned for the more distant future. Right now we're looking at doing a weekend next winter with full productions of four of the one acts we've had in our reading series. We're really proud of the work we've had shown and want to do more with it. We're also looking at a much larger improv battle festival next summer. It's going to be wild! Finally, Sam and I are looking at possible future educational programs for theatre artists and children.

Sure, it sounds like a lot but with taking things one step at a time and having the occasional three hour meeting, we believe we can do all this and more.

Our Mardis Gras Improv Battle was a huge success!

One of things we've been doing has been hosting improv nights. This month we decided to go all out with a theme and really work the party atmosphere. We had refreshments (Samantha Manas made a King Cake!), beads, prizes and of course, incredible improv.

Samantha Jones, our Improv Director, really helped us organize, strategize and did the hosting so much of the credit goes to her. We seen that the battle format is really fun for the audience, as is our other efforts to increase audience participation. I must say that the theme seemed to really attract more of an audience than usual and added and added an air of excitement to the night. We'll definitely be doing more things like this in the near future, that's clear!

Here are a few pictures showing off some of the members of the Between Us House Team, the visiting team, Improv Addiction and the wonderful Samantha Jones (I know, we have too many Samanthas! Whatcha gonna do?). Check out the fun we were having!

Adventures in producing!

Just an introduction. My name is Jasmine Brown and I'm one half of the team behind Between Us Productions, a start up theatre company. My partner, Samantha Manas, and I have been producing theatre (readings of new work, full productions, improv and stand up) for four years. We have tons of amazing artists working with us and it's a very exciting time. I'll be writing about our successes, challenges and hopefully giving you a little peak into what producers actually do.