Did some thinking about invitations and publicity for the January 10 event, but otherwise I’m still sick.
Here’s my thinking: if we’re serious about getting William Blake staged in a fairly lavish manner, and expanding it into an international cast event, like Tale o’ Tam was, then shouldn’t we treat it as a fait accompli and have newspaper articles about the “kickoff” of this project on 1/10?
I’m very proud of myself for working through that involuntary sphincter clinch when I first read your proposal for some “fait accompli” PR. Having willed myself to relax, I can casually say, “Sure, why not…” A press release would let people know what we’re up to, and as I’ve cynically asserted before, in theatre it’s all about buzz and flattering the public with some “priviledged views” of our process and intent. My only reservation is that it be understood that we are not yet on a production calender locomotive with all creative decisions nailed down and ready to be realized. In fact, I think we are getting ready to undertake a very delicate and tenuous process which I wouldn’t want to be compromised by too much press and promo chat. My reservations, however, are wholly the result of an abiding creative uncertainty, a gnawing fear that I personally will not be able to put my money where my mouth is when push comes to shove (two cliches for the price of one). I still feel “unproven” and so everything feels very new and yet to be discovered or confirmed. In other words, I’m not the one to produce quotes for a press release or talk with a journalist…
That’s what I’m asking, should we try to do the PR thing at all? Yes, we’re still fumbling our way forward, but on the other hand, perception is reality and there are some gatekeepers to the reality we seek who will need to be persuaded. If we’re able to trumpet the “First Look” meeting as the start of something, then won’t that allow us to claim some kind of “seriousness” in what we’re doing?
You inspire me to try and get my mind around a provocative idea. What if we are shockingly public and shockingly private at the same time? Part of me has always loved the Romance of wondering what deep occult processes play out in a performance group’s rehearsal process, with the group asserting, of course, that those secrets are best kept secret. Another part of me believes the process itself can be as engaging and enlightening for an audience as the final result. It could be an instance of daring ourselves not to be embarrassed by such openness while daring our audiences to encounter more than they bargained for.
I realize that’s not really what you are talking about. If we want buzz to breed involvement, my only question is, what kind of creature will Press attract?
I think for PR purposes what we need is a mythos of our origin, some tale that conveys vividly the reason for the formation of the Group. We should craft an anecdote to fire the public’s imagination; after all, at present we only really exist on a mythic plane. Should we post on the site and get input? What if we came up with as a catalogue of several origin myths composed by different “members”?
“There are many stories out there about what the Group is and how it came to be…”
Clearly for me the need to advertise is one more troublesome creative variable…Let’s work with it.
We already have a mythos of origin, don’t we? In fact, we have two, at least: the desire of the Tam crowd to offer a similar experience here in Newnan, and the desire of the Mame crowd to continue exploring theatre together. A third is my desire to prove myself as some kind of legitimate composer in some way, but we don’t have to mention that.
“What prompted the Lacuna Group to undertake this challenge? Isn’t this a bit outside your usual sphere of theatrical work? You guys usually spend your time irreparably split between calling yourself an acting ensemble akin to the Moscow Art Theatre and a strange navel-gazing hermetically sealed performance collective. Wm. Blake is a song cycle for children. Can you juggle a third un-realized identity like that?”
“Well, Angela, bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit very exciting opportunity bullshit bullshit bullshit internaltional scope bullshit bullshit thanks to Don Nixon bullshit bullshit bullshit a joy to work with bullshit bullshit…”