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Archive for December, 2008

The Theater Owners Guide Ep.2

Friday, December 19th, 2008

The Theater Owners Guide Ep.2

Friday, December 19th, 2008

This post will not talk about improv or how to run a theater, but will talk about what you have to be good at to own a theater, getting stuff CHEAP!  Theater owners have to be frugal.  So you learn some cheap ways of getting things done.

Our Subject Today: Christmas

There are great ways to enjoy Christmas on the cheap.  As a theater owner (with kids) here are some of my favorites.

Take advantage of the commercialization of Christmas

1) Retailers are trying to get you in their doors to buy stuff.  They are not only offering great prices, but sometimes they offer things like a pancake breakfast with Santa, or a sleigh ride, or pet a real, live reindeer.  Go to the event.  Don’t buy anything, but enjoy the holidays doing the cheesy things, things that you would never pay for, but are still chocked full of Christmas Spirit.  Remember! Don’t buy anything, that’s what they want you to do!

2) Big office buildings have all sorts of crap going on during the holidays; carolers, free cookies and hot chocolate, harp players, whatever.  Concierges get paid to tell you all about this, so next time you are in a big building look for the upcoming events and if something looks interesting, come back and do it!

Santa

1) Mall Santas are strictly for suckers (and people with money).  Paying $40-75 to have your kids pose on Santa’s lap is out of the question for a theater owner.  Take your kids to your local bank when Santa is there.  They will have the cheesy back drop and a chair and nine times out of ten there is no logo you will need to photoshop out.  You will probably be the only ones there so when your 2 year old starts to cry, you don’t have to push her on Santa’s lap and yell at someone “Take the damn picture!”.  My bank has popcorn, candy canes and hot cider too.  Total price FREE.

2) If you are out and about this season always have the kids carry their Christmas list and have your camera on hand.  This way any Santa you see at Starbucks, Salvation Army, even some wino in a Santa hat, your kid can just give them their list and you have a photo that lasts forever.

Gifts

1) On Black Friday and many other days many stores have crazy give aways and 75% off Christmas ornaments.  These are great cheap gifts!

2) Go to Big Lots!  Buy a frame for $2.00 and put pictures of your kids in it.  Let’s face it.  That’s pretty much the only thing that most people want that they don’t have (unless they own a theater, then grocery gift cards are nice).  The other thing is frame some of the refrigerator art your kids made, frame it and give to family members.  They’ll love it, and if they don’t they will act like they do to avoid looking like a child hater.

3) An original hand written poem is nice for girlfriends and wives, just don’t make it that phoney “Roses are red…” crap.  If you have trouble writing this sort of thing try the easy way.  Go to http://www.ihsan.biz/#poemmaker, Go to the ‘Word’ tab, and then scroll down to PoemMaker.  It is an interactive poetry program that can help you”write” a poem.  The download is FREE!

4) Handmade is king.  If you make anything crafty, you win.  Someone gets you a $50.00 gift certificate for Red Lobster, and you give them a sweater you knitted or anything that it looks like you took a lot of time on, you win.  And Christmas is all about winning!

Holiday Parties

1) Why have your own Holiday Party when you can go to other people’s.  If some company you work in conjunction with is having a Holiday Party, tell all your co-workers and have your Holiday Party on their tab.  If you are going to do this, make sure they have an open bar!

2) You may find yourself in a very big bar and some huge company is having it’s Christmas party in a private room.  Just walk in like you own the place.  Say “hi’ to people.  Talk to some strangers.  If they ask what you do just lie to them.  Tell them you work in the basement, or that you are here to pick up your wife and got here early, or if they are of the opposite sex tell them you saw them and “just had to meet them”, or just tell them the truth and to keep it on the down low.  Remember, don’t stay long, just long enough to get a plate of food and a cocktail or two.  I have stayed for hours at parties like this, especially if they had dancing.  I can tell you first hand, it can be a little awkward when they ask you to leave (unless you have really taken advantage of the open bar).  However, if there are over 200 people in attendance and you should be golden for at least 45 minutes.

3) Have a B.Y.O.B. pot luck at your theater, work or home.  Everyone brings a dish.  Go buy cookie dough for $5.00 and then make ‘homemade’ cookies for everyone!  They will think you are really Christmasy!  By the way, sprinkles really sell the “from scratch” idea.

Parade of Lights

1) Fist of all, it’s free! Bring your own coffee, food and chairs.

2) Park inside the parade route.  You are closer to your car and the cops don’t give out tickets if you are trapped inside of the parade route.

3) Keep warm!  If your office is on the parade route, bring the kids and watch it from the office.  Make sure you are not above the third floor.  If not, go to Tarantula Billiards (15th and Champa) and get a table on the 15th St. side.  Enjoy the waitress service, great view and DiGiorno pizza while watching the parade in warmth.

4) Get down early and kill an hour or two before the parade.  Traffic gets bad in the last hour before the parade.

Come to the Bovine Metropolis Theater

The Bovine is “More Laughs, Less Cash”.  With shows going 5 nights a week this is something you can do almost any night of the week.  Tickets range from $5.oo to $16.00.  At $5.00 a ticket, shows at the Bovine are cheaper than a movie or a baby sitter.  We also have a Christmas tree you can take your picture in front of and put on your Christmas cards to send out to friends for FREE.  The Bovine is always “More Funny, Less Money” anytime of year.

I hope this helps you enjoy the season on a Theater Owners budget.  The big thing is put your cynicism away and exploit the companies and the retailers that are trying to exploit you.  There are more free events and cool things to do in an effort of trying to get your money.  Go, enjoy the events and don’t spend a dollar (except at The Bovine).  This creates a great inexpensive Christmas experience that makes everyone know not only how much you love the Holidays, but how much you love saving money!

Posted in By Author, Eric Farone | 2 Comments »

Make the world a better place.

Friday, December 12th, 2008

When I was in Chicago studying and performing improv in the early 90’s, I knew I wanted to come back to Denver and open a sketch comedy/long form improv club.  I interviewed people like Joyce Sloane to get advice and input to how to go about such a juncture.  I was speaking to Jo Forsberg about creating a directing class for me, so that I could learn how to direct sketch comedy.  Jo asked me why and I told her of my goals.  She asked “Why do you want to open a comedy theater?”

I told her, half sarcastically, “to make the world a better place.”

“Good, that’s the only reason to do anything.” was her response back.  She created a situation where I could learn to direct and helped in many other ways.

So, I got to AD with David Murphy, and as part of it he would also take me under his wing and let me know what his thinking was about the scene, the cast, etc. The cast is working on a scene where a husband manipulates his wife into leaving so that, as we find out at the end, he can be with a mistress he has been seeing.  When they get done with the scene, Dave looks at them and says, “No, I don’t like the ending.  You can’t let this guy win.  He has to get his comeuppance.”

He then pulled me aside and told me that to let this scene stand is to condone the behavior of the character.  To say that it’s okay that people act in this fashion, without ethics, morals or consequences.  I thought we were just doing comedy.

Years later I am taking a week long workshop with Paul Sills.  During one of the exercises he tells us to examine big, positive ideas “Art, Love, Music, God…”  He goes on to tell us that too much improv he sees is about the ordinary, benign or the negative.  His concept was that improvisers need to get to big ideas and positive ideas and explore them through characters and relationships on stage.

The big message behind “The Secret” and “What the Bleep do We Know” seems to be if you can imagine it and see it, you will make it real.  You can achieve anything if you believe it and have an emotional attachment to it.  ANYTHING!  (I use it for a better short game when playing golf.)

What makes improv so amazing is that we are creating worlds on stage.  Worlds built from emotions and relationships.  Worlds that were never there before.  We are adding emotions and characters and memories to the world.  I will have people come up to me 10 years after a show and tell me that their spouse and they still will say a punch line to each other from a show they saw a decade ago.

What we create on stage matters.  Even though there is no written record.  Everyone in attendance on any given night is part of that creation.  Those 100 people take that energy that we create on stage and take it into their lives.  We are connecting with them on a subconscious level.  We are adding energy into the Universe.  We are adding to the world with every scene.

With all this in mind, shouldn’t we add things that matter.  Yes, relationships suck sometimes.  Yes, bad things happen in real life.  Yes, the world seems to be crumbling around us.  But shouldn’t we try to make a difference?  Shouldn’t we try to stem the tide?  Shouldn’t we try to make the world better?

Improv is always new and always lost.  But it adds energy to the world.  The energy you put on stage effects the audience.  You create it on stage, if you do it well, you and others have an emotional attachment to it.  It is real!

When we create these worlds on stage let’s try to make them be moral and just worlds.  Let the stage be a place where we explore hope and possibilities and the big ideas through relationships.  Let’s make the world a better place, one scene at a time.

Posted in By Author, Eric Farone, Performing | 5 Comments »