tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6731242543254491491.post3207691240949285160..comments2023-12-20T17:20:22.032-05:00Comments on 99 Seats: Next Steps99http://www.blogger.com/profile/11955916620902994495noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6731242543254491491.post-36031170297389615482010-02-02T12:39:07.434-05:002010-02-02T12:39:07.434-05:00Good points and good counsel, Gus. The key thing f...Good points and good counsel, Gus. The key thing for me is figuring out what this means and what my level of comfort is. Since I've done a lot of that admin work, but for others, I'm not sure how much I want to do it for myself, or how I balance it with doing the best work I can do.<br /><br />Personally, I think of a producing strategy and a producing tactic as the same thing. Or at least as connected.99https://www.blogger.com/profile/11955916620902994495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6731242543254491491.post-63829909190673699492010-02-02T12:29:26.373-05:002010-02-02T12:29:26.373-05:00J, I think they're not mutually exclusive. You...J, I think they're not mutually exclusive. Your company can produce your work and other companies can produce your work. Flux is my artistic home, but my work is done elsewhere, and I know that's true for James, Qui, and other DIY playwrights. <br /><br />Also, the question of partnering with larger institutions the way Young Jean does is a question of tactics more than strategy, based on the needs of each individual project. Banana, Bag, and Bodice is another good example of a company that finds many different partners depending on changing circumstance and intention.<br /><br />For me, the real question of becoming a producer is this: do you value creating the space in which the work is made as much as creating the work itself? If so, you're probably a producing artist. <br /><br />I get so much pleasure out of helping create the space in which Flux makes our theatre; it sustains me far more than the typical journeyman existence of a freelance artist ever could. I love creating opportunities for artists I believe in, creating connections between artists and audience, exploring new models and strategies for making better theatre (and theatre better), hanging lights, painting sets, figuring out marketing schemes, all of it growing out that single impulse to make something beautiful and necessary with and for these particular people right here and right now. I need to have the buck stop here.<br /><br />In other words, producing is both the end and the means to the end. And while I don't think self-producing merely as a means to an end isn't valuable, for me, helping lead a company has been way, way, way too much work to justify itself as solely a means and not an end.<br /><br />But that's just me. And whatever way you end up taking, I look forward to being in the audience.August Schulenburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16707611220473062833noreply@blogger.com