Rough Theatre

My last summer in Cedar Rapid is fast approaching and hopefully it will be full of theatrical oppurtunity. Kourtney and I did discuss trying to find a small performance area and the possibility of trying to produce some small show, that we find or write ourselves, preferring the latter of course. It'll be difficult and there are many things to consider. Listed below are some of these concerns, or, in a more optimistic tone, obstacles to be overcome.
 - The fact we have a very small, practically, nonexistent budget.
- We aren't well known in the community.
- If we do decide to do a previously written piece, on average, the cost of royalties are $75 dollars a piece per performance (see first obstacle).
- This is rather short notice. Can we find actors, besides ourselves who are willing?
- We'll both be working, essentially full time over the summer.

As long as there is someone watching, we aren't really concerned with audience size. More than anything this would give us experience in every aspect of theatre and production design. As far as what we are looking for in a space. It really doesn't matter. In fact, I think it would be vastly more interesting and challenging to put on a show in a less conventional setting. I've read a book as of late called The Empty Space. It gave me an incredible amount to think about. Like, why do we do theatre? Why do we put so much emphasis on a big auditorium setting? It talked about rough theatre - performances done in a small setting, or, for a very small audience and the difference from commercial theatre.

I've been to one performance like this. It was a production of Rabbit Hole by the Urban Theatre Project of Iowa. It took place not in an enormous auditorium on a large stage, but in a decent sized living room in an old Victorian house in downtown Cedar Rapids. There were no more than about twenty people watching, and we were all crammed around the perimeter of the room in folding chairs. It was absolutely phenomenal. Visceral, doesn't come close to describing it. You lived every second of that play as if you were a fly on the wall. The tension was uncomfortable and it resonated. You didn't have the distance, like you would in even the smallest theatre to keep you safe. In a sense you were as vunerable as they were. At the end of the show, it took a minute for every one to start clapping, and even when it came, it was much to soon. For some reason the applause didn't settle right with me. It wasn't that the performance wasn't great. I think it was because we were so intertwined into the story, and living it with the characters, that for a second, all twenty of us forgot we were watching a show. For just a minute, we were all taking it personally. This to me, is the appeal of using an unconventional setting for theatre.

It seems like quite a stretch right now, but I feel as if we really can pull it off. We have good intentions of bettering ourselves and making really powerful theatre.
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