Socially Awkward

I'm a new member of the Old Vic New Voices New York Network, which is comprised of aspiring/emerging actors, directors and writers. They have a branch in London made up of the same type of people but 25 years old and younger. It’s a network club started by the Old Vic Theater. When I was in London I was 25 years old but didn’t get involved, so when I came back to New York I saw they have a New York branch that goes up to 30 years old. So of course I was all over it. I’m thinking I may be too enthusiastic about it. Sometimes that can make for a bad first impression.

So far I’ve been to two events. One was at William Morris with agent Cara Stein talking about what it means to be a good client and how to work/deal with agents. The second one was last night at Theater Row where they assembled a panel of Artistic Director's; Robert Ross Parker of Vampire Cowboys, Maria Striar of Clubbed Thumb, Lucy Thurber - Playwright of 13P, Christian Parker of The Atlantic Theater and The Old Vic’s Artistic Director Mr. Kevin Spacey himself! At both these events I just made it in before they started and noted the packed rooms. I should get there earlier so I get to mingle a bit and perhaps talk to the speakers before hand, not to mention getting a seat right up front would be nice! But this hasn’t been the case.

On last nights event the talk ranged from how they started their companies and the difficulties in maintaining a smaller theater company. Well, for Christian Parker who was moderating the talk his theater is in the opposite end. They are pushing to make it over their normal budget. But then again the Atlantic Theater doesn’t accept unsolicited scripts so it was interesting to hear the differences between them and lets say Clubbed Thumb that does accept. Maria admitted she reads up to page 20 if the script isn’t very good. That’s actually very nice of her. I usually give to page ten when I work as a reader. But there wasn’t a lot of insight into how a theater selects their plays because that’s not what this talk was about.

This was a workshop billed as “FORGING CONNECTIONS, BUILDING COMPANIES”. Most of the conversation was around their personal experiences, I noticed Lucy Thurber had a lot to say, which I found interesting as a playwright. At 13p they plan to dispend after all 13 playwrights put up their shows. Her show is up this time, so she is acting as artistic director. They take turns. Which is an interesting way to work a production company. I was surprised they have a $35,000 budget because recently I saw a community theater production of the Producers, which had $45,000, which is huge for Community Theater, but I remember thinking besides the orchestra where did they spend it? Ah location, location, location. It’s where most of the money runs away to.

But any who when questions were opened up to us members they got to the topic of building a relationship with companies. One over eager actress asked Robert of Vampire Cowboys why he hadn’t responded to the headshot she sent in. Which gave us all an uncomfortable laugh. For the most part Robert and Kevin Spacey had been on the quiet side but this opened them up. Robert admitted he probably got it and filed it, but then when it comes time to holding auditions they never really look in the file. Kevin said he gets a lot of résumé’s and headshots but he hates when people scribble come see me in X show and it's obvious they sent it to hundreds of people. He responds to letters that are personal and directed to him or the Old Vic. Mari chimed in that she feels the same way but towards script submissions. Which I made a mental note of. Try and see a production at the theater you want to court first, then think of it as a first date, after the show send a short note with something positive to say, just as an introduction to yourself. Maybe don’t sell your wares just yet, as you don’t want to come on too strong. Then when you got something to show them drop a polite note like Kevin said. Ideally if you see the show and think ‘what the fuck was that’, don’t peruse the company. You wouldn’t if you were on a date with someone that you just didn’t click with. I’m starting to see the connection. Which is bad because I’m really not good with first impressions or dates. Luckily, I have a boyfriend GT I live with and I don’t have to worry about the dating end of this but for networking as a playwright / director it’s all about the peacocking! (For GT and I we met in a play playing romantic leads so all the normal dating stuff didn’t really apply as it was done for s on stage.)

After the talk they had free drinks in the lobby for us. This is the part I was talking about, the part I don’t do well with. I leave first and go to the lobby, a few people by the bar. Okay, off to the bathroom to waste time as it fills in. I come out and boy did it fill in. I don’t know anyone in this group yet - but they all know each other or a few people here and there. I spot one of the people who made an announcement about looking for a director and approached her to ask a question. Of course bad timing because she was clocking Kevin to get a hello in. So she brushed me off quickly. She gave me the email address but too fast. Having learning disabilities isn’t good in a professional setting because I can’t get it when you throw it out at me; I need you to say each letter slowly. Frustrated she gave me the email several times. Great, now I look like an ass, and who wants a director who can’t even get an email address down? Well off to the bar for a free drink. I look around trying to make eye contact. Not much luck. I hear someone talking about a play that’s similar to my thesis play, well same decade anyway, but I didn’t know how to join in, nor did I want to be that creepy girl who just lingers over a conversation and then chimes in now and then. Instead I was creepy girl with a drink standing alone to the side and when I saw Maria from Clubbed Thumb I nearly pounced on her. “Do you have more of those comps?” I ask. She looked at me sideways. “I don’t have comps, I have these flyers.” The word she used made it sound a like a comp in the talk. “Oh right, sorry, yea that’s it.” She gives it to me and I try horribly to strike up a conversation but actually ended up insulting her. She pointed to the new playwrights on the flyer and said they were from Brown University and NYU, which is like the story of my life! So, I made a face. She tells me she went to Brown so it’s not unusual to have playwrights who went there too at her company. I didn’t mean to insult her - it’s just everywhere I look young playwrights getting done are all from Brown, NYU, Julliard, Columbia or whatever and I’m not. My school is in London and no one from it is in New York so those connections I made last year aren’t doing me any good here. Of course by now she sees someone she knows and off she goes.

Here I am in a room full of people who all share my same passion and I can’t talk to them. I think what I need is a workshop in socializing. I’ve never been good at it. It’s why I write. Keep me behind the page while others can get looked at. Oh well, at least I got a free drink. But I didn’t talk to Kevin Spacey who was standing in front of me! Now maybe if this was a play and not a real social event I’d have made friends because we’d all have a task to do and some how that brings people together…. Well I chugged my plastic glass of red wine and bolted. I left a little drunk sitting on the train thinking you idiot!