me and some of the gang

Eclectic Projects for the Future!
We are always seeking new works and new ways of attracting and challenging our local audiences.

I don't know if it's too early to talk about "Got A Minute?" for 2008? But we're already working on it. We'll be at The Players Theatre September 9th and 10th. and we are ALWAYS looking for ONE Minute Plays. ALWAYS!

So, keep to the theme ya'll...

"Overcoming adversity"

and email them to:

eclectic_tc@ comcast.net

Always on the "Look Out!"
We are here for the community! We are here to support local actors, playwrights, directors. We are here to make a difference in the world through theatre!!

What are you here to do???

Projects "in the works"
We did a GREAT table top reading of a brand new play by Dean Glasel called "A Theatrical Buffet". It was great night with some very talented folks reading parts. Thanks to: Cece Dwyer, Cinda Goeken, Michael Morris, Pam and Lyn Wiley, Dan Higgs and Donna Gerdes.

We sent Dean off to do some work, and we hope to read this one again in the spring!

We'll also be looking at a new-ish play by Alan Roberts in the near future!

Congrats to our very own Sue Dickie, who's play "Of Tortoise Shells" (aka Darwins Bulldog) WON a new play competition out on the other coast! We love that we've been able to help! Break A Leg Sue!!!

The following nice article by Jay Handelman

Article in Sarasota Herald Tribune 5-7-2006

Jay Handelman

New companies give birth to alternative stage options

There's more than one way to produce theater, as Sarasota-area theatergoers are beginning to learn.

There's the traditional way, as practiced by such long-standing operations as the Asolo Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre and Golden Apple Dinner Theatre, which announce seasons months before they begin.

Then there are the newer types of theater groups, sometimes loosely connected, that seem to pop up now and then for a few performances.

In the 20 years that I've been reviewing, there have frequently been new theater troupes opening doors or operations. Some survived, such as the Banyan Theatre Company and the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, while others disappeared almost as quietly as they arrived.

But the numbers are growing more quickly lately. In the last two months, two new theater troupes have announced their arrival.

One is called Theatre Odyssey, which is being started by Tom Aposporos and Larry Hamm (both of whom were featured in the Manatee Players' award-winning "Metamorphoses.") The other is called Eclectic Theatre Company, or ETC, which has been started by actor, playwright and director Jeffery Kin.

Theatre Odyssey has already filed the paperwork to receive federal tax-exempt status, while Kin is taking the unusual step in planning to be a for-profit operation.

Both groups are trying to create new opportunities for themselves and other writers, actors and directors, initially by encouraging the development of area playwrights. And they're planning to pay their performers, unlike traditional community theaters.

Kin said he decided to create ETC because there's not enough support for local playwrights.

"There are some wonderfully talented people around, but they don't have a net to get them where they need to go," he said.

Kin, who supervises "The Play's the Thing" new play festival at The Players Theatre, also teaches playwriting for the Asolo's education program.

His plan is to give playwrights a chance to hear their plays read by actors, get feedback and let them rewrite before fuller productions.

Kin's first effort is a 60-second play festival in September at The Backlot, a warehouse space designed to be a home for a variety of arts companies. Groups we never knew existed have been scheduling all sorts of new works and original plays there.

Theatre Odyssey used The Backlot for auditions for the 10-minute play festival it will produce May 22 at
Aposporos said he wanted more opportunities to work on new and unconventional plays, such as "Alligators," a play I directed and in which he appeared at the Manatee Players two years ago.

Theatre Odyssey's first event was a play reading on April 8. They expected 40, and drew about 70 people. More than two dozen scripts were submitted for the play festival, which offers a $100 prize. About a half-dozen plays will be selected for the performance, Aposporos said.

Eventually, a season of plays could be planned, Hamm said.

These groups, like many other smaller troupes in the area, are relying on e-mail blasts and word-of-mouth to attract audiences, many of whom have been craving something different from the area's more "traditional" theaters.

Mark Marvell, executive director of The Backlot, said these new groups are reinventing the art of presentation by scheduling plays on a project-by-project basis.

A long list of companies are operating out of The Backlot, from Almost Broadway to Sarasota Actors' Workshop and the Women's Theatre Collective. Some will do one or two shows a year. Others are using The Backlot for rehearsals.

"We're getting a steady crowd of people, mostly younger people, that seem to want something different," Marvell said.

The relatively inexpensive tickets don't hurt, either.

"That way, if it doesn't suit their needs, they figure they only spent $15 for it," he said. His goal is to have something to offer seven days a week so that people can come back for different experiences.

No one may get rich through these ventures, but money can be made, Marvell said. "We're at the point now that we're breaking even every month. We're paying our bills."

And he thinks there's no reason Theatre Odyssey and ETC can't do the same. We'll wish them well as we watch them develop.



E-mail: jay.handelman@