Who Are You?

Photo from thegraphicmac.com

So I've been lucky enough to be working with a great theater company based in Brooklyn that's embarking on a huge challenge: becoming an organization.

For those of you who have started companies or businesses you know that involves a lot of paperwork, a lot of record-keeping, too much time, and some serious energy.  However, it's also a pretty exciting process that enables you to establish something that can stand the test of time and have an impact larger than your own.  One of the toughest elements of "going official" is establishing organizational culture.

We've all heard about the Google offices with their kegeraters, slides, and multicolored cubicles (all heresay, I have no credibility here), but what is organizational culture really, and why does it matter?

Organizational culture is a set of values and norms that establish how you carry out business on a day to day basis.  For nonprofits, it's often influenced by the mission and vision.  For theater companies, this means the kind of work you do should be reflected in the way you run your organization. 

For example, if your company is producing classical opera on a grand scale with a mission of fulfilling the original visions of the composer, you will probably adopt more formal and traditional business practices.  In an effective organization events must appeal to the audience that your art appeals to, in order to create a sense of continuity and cohesion.

So where do you start in building your organizational culture?  Look at the art you are making and the artists you work with.  Sit down and establish your core values, things that are most important to your company, and from them build a mission statement: a statement of purpose.  Why do you exist and what are you trying to accomplish with your work?  Integrate best business practices into the "feel" of your organization by adjusting them to work for you.  Don't jump on every trend that runs by marketing and fundraising, but be choosy.  Take the things that fit into your culture and leave the things that don't. 

Tweeting in Rhyme

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is presenting Seussical this month, so what are they doing to promote the show?  Rhyming of course!  Here's a few:

@BrklynCtr If you rhyme when you tweet, if you're tweeting in rhyme, Then you're certain to have a most Seussical time! http://tinyurl.com/29bq6ns


@BrklynCtr To rhymingly waste the rest of your day, head to this site without delay! http://www.seussville.com/  Seussical on Jan 30 at Brooklyn Center.


@BrklynCtr On Jan 30, have a Dr. Seuss day. Green Eggs & Ham for b'fast (http://dld.bz/B9SV)  and then Seussical the play! http://tinyurl.com/29bq6ns

You can get more rhyming goodness @BrklynCtr on twitter :)

Is it cheesy? Absolutely.  Does it work? Totally.

One thing that I regret about a number of theater companies twitter accounts is that they don't take advantage of the voice of the organization, nor the feel of each show they present or produce.  There are ample opportunities for theaters to juice up their twitter presence with show appropriate material.  Another great example of this, Bridgeport Theatre Company's cast of RENT took turns tweeting in character:

From

@BportTheatreCo Anyone know a good place from which to buy a digital delay line? Maureen's is pretty unreliable.

@BportTheatreCo can't wait for the next Life Support meeting, then I Gotta sell some more T-shirts on the LES so i can pay my RENT

Granted, this doesn't work for EVERY show, and it's not appropriate for EVERY company, but it's important to get creative with your social media, and these guys sure are keeping me entertained!





 

Opera in the Better Borough

So I'm a little Brooklyn biased, and when good things are happening here, I think everyone should know about them.  When this nugget came across my radar, I couldn't help but share it.  I mean, they made a docu-trailer for an opera!  Who doesn't love a good trailer?  Any how, this isn't your typical opera, and I have a feeling the crowd won't feel quite the same as the one at the Met, but I think its pretty cool, and definitely worth checking out.

Tydrus the Twit
A new opera by Zeke Virant and the Brain Rain Players

December 8, 10, 11 at 8pm

December 9 at 9pm * $5
Presented by The Bushwick Project for the Arts



The Brain Rain Players and Bushwick Project for the Arts are proud to present the premiere of “Tydrus the Twit,” a new opera. "Tydrus the Twit" is about a middle-Georgia punk's inability to get a job and his bad trip through a dream world filled with witches and hopeless love. The opera is an immersive musical world spanning the intense reality of a small, southern town and the dreams of its occupants.

The Brain Rain Players are an operatic group of free jazz improvisors, untrained singers, performance artists,
and other widely talented persons. With a multi-disciplinary approach that combines spoken dialogue with
environmental and procedural music, the Brain Rain Players bring opera's irrational forms to the forefront of the theater.

ABOUT THE MUSIC



The music for “Tydrus the Twit” combines instrumental music and unmusical sounds made by the mouth. The
score specifically avoids the carefully notated practices of traditional opera, relying instead on procedural
notation and musical games employing the entire ensemble. These practices, designed with an eye to creating
an immersive theatrical environment, includes singing, blowing on bottles, laughing, clicking tongues, whistling,
buzzing, grunting, yawning, and spitting.  “Tydrus the Twit” expresses a world of sound that is not dependent on technical ability and draws out unique responses from each musician.

LOCATION
Bushwick Project fot the Arts
304 Meserole St. 

Brooklyn, NY 11206
Off the Montrose Ave. L stop