Putting Up THE JURY in Minneapolis
By Anna Fay WilliamsComposer/lyricist
This blog will share the experience in creating and putting up THE JURY, http://www.thejurymusical.com, a new musical. It’s not a how-to-do piece; we’re still learning ourselves. We’d like to hear from others who have had similar experiences and invite their comments.
THE JURY began as collaboration between Diana Howie and myself in the Fall 2003. We had worked together when I composed an electronic score for a video she had written. Then, we began working with her book for the jury--almost on a weekly basis. We presented our first scenes in the summer 2003 workshops sponsored by The Field in Houston, which encourages artist’s efforts in different fields.In September 2003 we had our first staged reading at the Country Playhouse and the comments were favorable. The audience stayed almost an hour afterwards to discuss the reading.
We had hoped to interest John Garrett, a talented director who worked with the Stuart Ostrow’s musical labs at the University of Houston, in directing the project. We were fortunate because he he liked the concepts and had some recommendations on the play's development. He came onboard as director and truly part of the creative team in the process of shaping what comes to the stage.
For several months we made revisions, revisited our characters and prepared for our first fully staged workshop—eight performances over three weekends (February-March 2004) at the Country Playhouse, Houston. The theater seats about 85 persons and we were almost sold out before it opened. When the Fox News channel broadcast songs and interviews from the show, we sold out completely.
The audience enthusiasm and comments at the performances were encouraging so we began entering the show into festivals and workshops. Through the luck of the draw, we were selected for the Minnesota Fringe Festival with five performances (Aug.4-14) at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. This represented a very speculative gamble for us but we decided it would provide a good showcase--even if it was in a bowling alley. We were assured by the locals that this was a very good and popular venue--something like the Minnesota version of Preservation Hall in New orleans. Hopefully, we’d get the attention of some producers. Several Fringe productions from the New York City festivals continued in off-Broadway runs.
We also hoped we'd be reviewed--an important part of getting recognition for the show, but also a somewhat frightening prospect for the creators of a show. There is so much belief that a critic can kill or make a show. But that was another part of our gamble.
THE JURY? What’s it about? It's all the officers can do to corral a group of unwilling jurors into the jury box. The raucous jurors are more interested in their jobs, their flirtations, and their appetites. Several immediately push for a Guilty vote without even talking about the defendant’s plea that it was an accidental shooting. After all, they reason there were no witnesses and the killer clearly fired the gun. They ask: “Why stay? “What else is there to talk about?" They are confronted by one persistent juror who wants to talk about the case.
Next, we'll discussing the out-of-town casting and what happened as we pulled the show together for the Fringe Festival.
Originally post on www.showgab.blogspot, August 2, 2005.
By Anna Fay WilliamsComposer/lyricist
This blog will share the experience in creating and putting up THE JURY, http://www.thejurymusical.com, a new musical. It’s not a how-to-do piece; we’re still learning ourselves. We’d like to hear from others who have had similar experiences and invite their comments.
THE JURY began as collaboration between Diana Howie and myself in the Fall 2003. We had worked together when I composed an electronic score for a video she had written. Then, we began working with her book for the jury--almost on a weekly basis. We presented our first scenes in the summer 2003 workshops sponsored by The Field in Houston, which encourages artist’s efforts in different fields.In September 2003 we had our first staged reading at the Country Playhouse and the comments were favorable. The audience stayed almost an hour afterwards to discuss the reading.
We had hoped to interest John Garrett, a talented director who worked with the Stuart Ostrow’s musical labs at the University of Houston, in directing the project. We were fortunate because he he liked the concepts and had some recommendations on the play's development. He came onboard as director and truly part of the creative team in the process of shaping what comes to the stage.
For several months we made revisions, revisited our characters and prepared for our first fully staged workshop—eight performances over three weekends (February-March 2004) at the Country Playhouse, Houston. The theater seats about 85 persons and we were almost sold out before it opened. When the Fox News channel broadcast songs and interviews from the show, we sold out completely.
The audience enthusiasm and comments at the performances were encouraging so we began entering the show into festivals and workshops. Through the luck of the draw, we were selected for the Minnesota Fringe Festival with five performances (Aug.4-14) at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. This represented a very speculative gamble for us but we decided it would provide a good showcase--even if it was in a bowling alley. We were assured by the locals that this was a very good and popular venue--something like the Minnesota version of Preservation Hall in New orleans. Hopefully, we’d get the attention of some producers. Several Fringe productions from the New York City festivals continued in off-Broadway runs.
We also hoped we'd be reviewed--an important part of getting recognition for the show, but also a somewhat frightening prospect for the creators of a show. There is so much belief that a critic can kill or make a show. But that was another part of our gamble.
THE JURY? What’s it about? It's all the officers can do to corral a group of unwilling jurors into the jury box. The raucous jurors are more interested in their jobs, their flirtations, and their appetites. Several immediately push for a Guilty vote without even talking about the defendant’s plea that it was an accidental shooting. After all, they reason there were no witnesses and the killer clearly fired the gun. They ask: “Why stay? “What else is there to talk about?" They are confronted by one persistent juror who wants to talk about the case.
Next, we'll discussing the out-of-town casting and what happened as we pulled the show together for the Fringe Festival.
Originally post on www.showgab.blogspot, August 2, 2005.
posted by Anna Williams at 5:08 AM
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