October 2021
*..I consider steps ahead as.. a kind of series of purposeful rungs of a ladder, upon which to engage theater funding- as well as establishing a map, not just into November, but also into an anticipated platform for presentation at Cross Currents Festival 2022- and then further, in ambition of a full production of the complete play in 2022/23.. Huge ladder, along expectations and aims..
In giving this weight, and knowing that my sense of timing for this concept is correct, I feel it time the project had a proper Executive Producer who knows how to fashions such rungs, and manage each step of such an ahead..
*Bob Jaffe was my intuition for this ask; not only has he been in the room at each presentation, he has been a consistent sounding board for me, as I’ve known Bob since 2008 when he was Assoc Artistic Dir at The Berkshire Playwrights Lab. In that time he’d not only appeared in my work, but had both commissioned and directed my work in Great Barrington, as well as presented my work in NY at Ensemble Studio Theater.
In speaking with Bob about my thought of his producing 3 Frames, I also came to find out that he had been Managing Director of Maurice Sendak’s Broadway production of Where The Wild Things Are. Bob would certainly know the forest then!
*.. in asking him, Bob agreed, whole heartedly. We formulated a promo/solicitation sheet to distribute.
We agreed to the specific November timeline for last workshop & presentation.
*..Bob and I have identified that we'll host our team across the Zoom workshop; but now, to identifying an entity who will host the portal for this work, and November Zoom presentations.
*Michael Feldman, Founder/Director of Theater and Policy Salon, has been working with the production, in effort to extend an education program from use of quotes by W.E.B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, Booker T. Washington, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, which are placed as bookends to scenes of the play, and intended as a point for historical refraction.
This would also allow for engaging with local libraries, wherever the production is given, to participate with a curated 'book shelf' of the writings by these thinkers & authors. The 'curated bookshelf' can be digital, or part of a live program of effort in threading the experience of the play, but in every aspectt, as integral part of an opportunity for education.
*Through conversations, serendipity, and network - we arrive upon the threshold of Alliance for New Music Theater; in close call to deadline, they welcome and agree to host the portal, and presentations of the result of the culminating workshop of 3 Frames / By Me!
*Jasmine, our production team, and cast, are excited, energized, and ready for the November landing in workshop/presentation!