Stp-spring-2019-supplemental-submission-form (mj Smith)[1623].docx

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

To Whom It May Concern, Thank you for your interest in submitting to Student Theatre Productions! The spring quarter supplemental show will take place in Old Main Theatre on May 10th and 11th It will be produced in addition to our Mainstage show, Ah! Wilderness by Eugen O’Neil. After your application is turned in you will be contacted by the Artistic Director (Grace Heller) so the two of you can find a time to discuss your submission. These meetings will take place between March 7th and 13th and are a required part of the application process. A few general policies you should be aware of: STP does not allow pre-casting. STP pays for royalties, publicity, and house manager fees (when applicable) separately from the allotted design budget. Should your submission be selected STP will assist you in finding a design team by conducting tech interviews, reserve both rehearsal and performances spaces, and advertise your show. The Director and Stage Manager are required to meet with the Production Manager (Robert Frederiksen) by or around the beginning of Spring Quarter. This meeting will be to clarify your rehearsal schedule in regards to reserving and use of space, as well as equipment. The Production Manager will be your primary contact with the board throughout your rehearsal process, and they should be kept up to date on the subject of your production. The Director and Stage Manager, along with each designer, are required to meet with the Technical Director (Teylor Lowe) before they begin the design process so as to clarify the limitations in designs and to discuss materials available in stock for use by STP. The Technical Director will be present at tech weekend for the show to assist with light hang and focus, as well as answer any questions that may arise. Resources for further help will also be available through STP’s Technical Director. The guidelines laid out in the submission forms are just that – guidelines. So if there’s something you’re interested in or wondering about, please include it in your submission. Thank you again for your interest, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns! Grace Heller Artistic Director 2018-2019

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

SUBMISSION FORM Final drafts of forms are to be electronically submitted to [email protected] Submission Deadline: March 6th, 2019 This is a submission form for the Supplemental production slot for Spring Quarter 2019 Dates for STP’s Spring Supplemental show will be May 10th and 11th in Old Main Theatre. Name of Applicant(s): MJ Smith Email address(es): [email protected] Telephone number(s): 509-294-3134 For the STP Supplemental Season shows, we will provide: ● Up to three performances ● Up to $150 design budget (pending board review) ● Royalties and publicity paid by STP separate from allotted Design budget ● Up to 40 posters ● Publicity ● Access to space week of production ● Minimal access to light plot and set construction negotiable ● Up to 40 hours max rehearsal time* ● Assistance in choosing the design team for your production Please fill out the following: 1. Title of Show & Playwright:

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

2. Type of Show: Full Length Play in 3 Acts 3. Preferred production dates:

May 10th and 11th

4. Preferred space:

Old Main Theatre

5. Date of Application:

2/25/2019

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

*This refers to the amount of rehearsal time, outside of tech, that STP will be responsible for reserving in buildings such as the PAC, Old Main, or Bond Hall. Additional rehearsal time is up to the discretion of the director and STP is not responsible for finding/reserving space.

Note: your production design team will be picked through an interview process held by the director of the production as well as the STP board’s technical director and artistic director. The goal of this process to find you a production team that fits both your needs and the needs of the show, while also furthering STP’s goal of providing learning experiences for student technicians. 1. Proposed Budget/Number of Performances: $150 w/ 2 showings 2. Name of company who holds the performance rights & estimated royalty quote.

(Dramatists, MTI, etc.) Samuel French; Minimum Fee per/performance $125 NOTE: DO NOT fill out or submit any online forms whatsoever. This can result in a false order, and WWU or STP can get billed for this mistake. 3. Director: MJ Smith 4. Synopsis of play/event: 1901 to 1913. Grover's Corners, New Hampshire near

Massachusetts. Our Town is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens.

5. Technical and Design Requirements- Please list wants vs. needs for the following:

a. Set: The set for this show is very minimal, an idea I am playing with I maybe the outline of the city or just a large map of Grover’s Corner that the action could play out against. b. Lights: Moon effect; general lighting c. Costumes/Makeup: I want to uproot this story from the early 1900’s in which it is placed so very generic clothing, almost as if it belongs to no time period with accents of the time period just to ground it. Also need a wedding dress. It would be nice for

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

the characters dead in Act 3 to have a duplicate costume but in black but this is very much a want and not a need. d. Properties: The only properties needed for this production are two tables, and six chairs and a bench e. Sound: Various sound cues to suggest the activities that the characters are miming, as well as soundscapes for a few locations. f. Casting Specifications: CASTING 17m, 7f Stage manager Dr. Gibbs Joe Crowell Howie Newsome Mrs. Gibbs Mrs. Webb George Gibbs Rebecca Gibbs Wally Webb Emily Webb Professor Willard Mr. Webb Woman in the balcony Man in the auditorium Lady in the box Simon Stimson Mrs. Soames Constable warren Si Crowell Three baseball players Sam Craig Joe Stoddard People of the town g. Run Crew (# of): A run crew three would suffice for this production. A light board op, Sound Op and one run crew. 6. Most current draft of script (if applying with an original work.)

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

*If your submission is not a typical play or musical and your leadership/collaboration does not fit into this hierarchy, list your role and the role of any collaborators who will be working with you. Please answer the following questions. 1. Statement of Goal: Production Concept – What do you wish to accomplish with this production? If a scripted play, what drew you to this particular script? How did you discover it? If this production is not a scripted play, what inspires you about this project? How did you come upon the idea? I have always loved Our Town. It was the first play that I was a part of and something about its commentary on humanity has stuck with me ever since that production. Our Town is about the cycle of life. With this production I really want to take a script that seems mundane and straightforward and give the cast and audience a chance to really reflect on life and all the ordinary that we take for granted. Our Town was first produced January 22,1938. I want to direct this show like it was written yesterday, using the Gibbs and Webb families to reflect America today and create a fish bowl of life for the audience to look into. I love this show so much because it asks everyone who comes into contact with it to challenge what they believe it means to live their life fully. A lot of the productions of this play that I have seen are very romanticized and watered down, which is something that I want to stray away from. I want to paint the picture of a small, unbearable town that could be almost any town, and explore how do you survive and flourish in it? How do you make life worth living when the place in which you live does nothing but constrain and hinder you? With our production of Our Town I want to present an analysis of human life. I want to lay these characters out under a microscope and pick apart what is beautiful and ugly about each one of them, a beautiful opportunity for an actor. I hope that after this production people have a drastically different opinion not only of this show and just how “complex” it actually is but I also hope it leaves them questioning the scope of their own life and just what it is that gets them out of bed every morning. Looking at the Big Picture - How does this project complement the Mainstage production(s) and the in-class work in the Department of Theatre and Dance AND the Bellingham/WWU community? How does it add to your growth as a theatre artist? Our Town compliments the Mainstage productions this year in numerous ways. First of all it is an older work, which I believe will add diversity to the lineup of shows this year as well as offer a lens into another part of our history. Our Town also compliments the mainstage show Ah! the Wilderness because it tells the story of family as well, while approaching it in a different, equally compelling way; giving a different take on the same themes. Our Town, to my knowledge has not been done in the Bellingham theatre community in recent seasons and done right I believe can draw FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

in a very interested audience mixed with those who have seen it before and those who never have. More than ever, with our current political climate, people want to escape back to simpler times, when it was either agricultural school or baseball, and the biggest decision was what kind of ice cream soda to buy. Our Town offers that much needed escape at a time when I believe people could really benefit from it. It is refreshing to look back on simpler times, and also reassuring to see people like you facing similar problems. As a young director a show like this would challenge me to grow in so many ways, especially tapping into such raw humanity that is needed to make this show captivating. I have mainly worked in the directing role in musical theatre productions so I am very ready to take that step and move into the realm of straight plays. 2. Educational Merit – What skills and education can you bring to the table to help this production? Make sure to include previous experience, and related class-work. I am currently in the acting and directing concentration here at WWU which has given me a lot of insight into the training that the actors are going through here which is a valuable skill when it comes to working with them as their director. Along with my continued theatre training, I am also double majoring in history. I find this a very valuable skill because I am fascinated not only with how people behave but how our histories shape our stories. Compiling all my history courses over my time here I feel as though I am very sensitive when it comes to storytelling and honoring the past and presenting it in a way that is fresh and new, something that Our Town can definitely benefit from. As far as directing experience that I feel has especially prepared me for this; over this past summer I co-directed Mary Poppins for the Spokane Civic Theatre, a nationally recognized nonprofit theatre established in 1947; making it one of the oldest in the country. Working on such a large-scale musical has beyond prepared me to take on a directorial role for a show like this; giving me the experience of leading a large number of artists and having to juggle and coordinate many moving parts at once to put up a quality show. Prior to that show I had directed and choreographed numerous productions at my high school as well as Assistant Directing at local community theatres, but it wasn’t until Mary Poppins that my work ethic reached a point where I not only felt proud of it but also confident in it. 3. Commitment - Please include a list of detailed commitments (other productions, class and work schedules, etc.) from Director(s) I am not currently committed to anything for spring quarter besides an intercollegiate choir festival that is taking place during the day in early spring quarter so it would not conflict with rehearsals or tech in any way. I also work at the Student Business Office but all my hours end before 4pm and I do not work on the weekends.

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]

WWU STUDENT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS SPRING SUPPLEMENTAL SEASON SUBMISSION PACKET

4. REHEARSAL CALENDAR – You are required to attach a rehearsal calendar, even if it is subject to change based on availability (including audition dates). Attached to the email.

FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STP ARTISTIC DIRECTOR GRACE HELLER WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS SUBMIT THIS FORM TO [email protected]