An Informative, Bulleted List

CONGRESS IN SESSION

We’ve learned a lot in the past year and a half here at No.11 Productions. Here is my short list of things we’ve learned from experience, both good and bad. I hope it can be helpful to people in the industry (particularly those just starting out) as well as informative for those not in the world of theatre.

• Keep setting your goals higher and higher. In theatre, and in life.
• Festivals are your best friend when you are starting out! Some of our best (and most lucrative) experiences have been doing the FringeNYC, FRIGID New York, Capital Fringe Festival, and SaratogaArtsFest. A festival comes with a built in audience, and does some of the hardest advertising for you. It’s also WAY cheaper than renting out a space.
• Always get a recommendation! Whenever you are renting a new space, working with a new actor, etc.
• Even though you may not be paying your actors, don’t feel like you are inconveniencing them. Your cast and crew may be pro bono, but you are still giving them a gift – the chance to do what they love.
• Going hand in hand with that, be prepared for heartbreak. A close friend and brilliant actor in your show may get a paying gig and leave you to do it, even though he/she knows it’s an inferior production. It happens. You have to get over it and move on and hope that one day soon you’ll be big and important and able to pay them what they deserve.
• The internet is your friend. We’re still learning and working on that. Find us now on Twitter!
• Personally, I would much rather work with someone who was good to work with and I enjoyed collaborating with than someone who was more talented but harder to deal with. Especially when you’re rehearsing in someone’s apartment, after an eight hour work day.
• Read a play before you agree to produce it.
• Do both big and small projects. Follow your interests, see where it leads you.
• Don’t rush! This was the hardest lesson for us to learn. We were VERY prolific our first 15 months. But now we’re working on what is undoubtedly our most ambitious, best production to date and it’s because we have TIME.
• Be super careful when it comes to contracts. Don’t let yourself be rushed or bullied into signing something until you are sure it’s right for you.
• Befriend other companies of your size. It’s not a competition.
• SEE THEATRE (and art and dance and read and be an open-minded citizen of the world).

Written by Julie Congress