Whether or not we’ve said it out loud, the number forty-four has become a mile marker for us. Not to mention, it tends to crop up surprisingly, serendipitously, and meaningfully. For example, from the first Tuesday in January 2012 it was forty-four weeks until election Tuesday, November 6. Kinda creepy, right?

Though we’re “midway” to November 6 it feels like we’re at the beginning and in the middle at the same time. We’ve opened and closed one performance, which leaves roughly 97% of the rest of our productions. Which means it’s about to get nuts — in the best of all possible ways! We’ve retold ourselves, if only between the staff, that there will be a cacophony of work in the next few weeks, and we want to make sure that we’re sharing it with you! In order to best serve you — audience, marketers, dramaturgs, actors and inquiring minds — we’ve set ourselves up with several initiatives including:

Staff ready to answer your questions at our G+ Hangout.

Oval Office Hours on Google+: to answer questions about the show a staff-to-interested parties one-on-one-on-one-on-all. Tumblr: to post behind the scenes images from productions across the country. And, of course, Facebook and Twitter: where we invite you to engage us!

All of this is hand in hand with our video project which is taking shape — where we will display 44 videos from productions across the country.

For more info on any of our initiatives, please enquire to playsforpresidents[at]gmail.com. We’re here to help! And we’re glad you’re here on our way to week forty-four and beyond!

Jeff Mosser, Senior Strategist and Community & Social Media Outreach Director (looking wildly patriotic and somewhat like a fighter pilot)

This week, you get to hear from the Plays for Presidents Social Media Guru, Jeff Mosser. And yes… that is what we call him internally. He’s the driving force behind much of our efforts to get producers connected; to generate, celebrate, and participate in a national conversation; and to ensure everyone has a good time being involved in this gargantuan effort.

If I’m remembering correctly, you and Andy first met at ATL’s Humana Festival. What happened between that meeting and officially becoming part of the Plays for Presidents Festival staff?

I met Andy Bayiates at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in 2009, and I remember steeling my nerve to talk to him. Being an intern at the Humana Festival is a lot like asking someone out. You have to have some decorum, but you really just want to say what you’re feeling like, “Hi. I love ensemble-created theatre. Be my friend.”

My talking point was that the year prior I had taught curriculum based on 43 Plays for 43 Presidents to high school classrooms. We gave teams of students a fact (sometimes obscure) about each president, and asked them to create their own play. Essentially, we created our own five-president production in a classroom period. After professing my joy over teaching this curriculum, we exchanged cards and went our separate ways. In the next year and a half, we wrote back and forth about writing a totally different play (that I hope we still get to work on another time). Not long after I moved to Boston he wrote asking, “Hey, what are you doing between now and November 2012?”

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Jeff Mosser  interviews Jennifer Uphoff Gray of Forward Theater Company the morning after Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election.

Jeff Mosser: Good morning! How is Wisconsin this morning?

Jennifer Uphoff Gray: It’s not a happy morning here in Madison. What does make me happy is that the turnout was high regardless of the outcome… it would have been harder with a low turn out. This was a stand and be counted moment.

JM: How does Forward Theater Company fit into Wisconsin politics? The theatre scene?

JUG: We are very focused on serving our community and choosing productions based on what we think would be relevant and interesting and thought-provoking. We’re the only Equity theatre in Madison so we feel the responsibility to do not just one type of theatre. Doing relevant and timely shows in a swing state like Wisconsin is great. One of the things that I can appreciate is about it (44 Plays for 44 Presidents) is the non-partisan take on politics. It gets everyone talking together about our civic responsibilities. That’s what excites me about it in an election season. It sends people out the door saying, “Vote. VOTE! Tell your family colleagues etc, to vote!” And that’s the message not “these guys are bad” or “go team”.

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Tarleton State University loves history…well…OK…Let me explain. One of their theatre department’s objectives is to “expose theatre students to a wide variety of performance styles and historical periods.” How perfect is 44 Plays for that objective? We’ve got both!

No wonder they jumped on board without warning. Usually, there’s a lot of courtship involved in getting a production of 44 Plays into our Festival. Tarleton knew what they wanted, who they wanted, and when they wanted to produce before they even introduced themselves. They’re one of only a few dark horse producers on our list. And we LOVE them for it!

Guess who else was a dark horse? Tarleton State’s pick for the video project: James A. Garfield. In 1880 he failed to get his friend John Sherman nominated at the Republican convention, only to be nominated himself. He then won the general election by a mere 10,000 votes. One year later, President Garfield was assassinated by a crazy dude and the country was devastated.

TSU is in Stephenville, Texas, about two hours out of Dallas, where another president lost his life–1,300 miles and 82 years from the attack on Garfield.

We love varied styles. We love dark horses. We love history (duh.) And I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say we love Texas. Why not? Welcome aboard, TSU!

We can’t wait to see you dance.

It’s important to all of us here at Plays for Presidents to celebrate and trumpet the mission of this Festival (as evidenced in our latest awesome-sauce web ad), and, on a more personal level, to share a bit of insight as to why it matters so much to each of us (see Andy’s, Evan’s, Sarah’s, Sean’s or my take – with more to come!).

BUT… in the spirit of fun, silliness, and historical geekery, my post this week provides an entirely new lens through which to view our subject matter: heavy metal band names.

That’s right. This week, we will take a look at the history of our 44 presidencies using the heavy metal band name generator.

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OK folks. I’m going to make the same promise to you that I made to Halena Kays, director of the upcoming production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents at the Neo-Futurists: I want my experience with this show to be helpful, and I don’t want to get in your head. I want to give advice that anyone directing this show would be grateful to have, but not opinions that give you the yips and mess with your mojo.

So…disclaimer out of the way…I want to talk about transitions. Two things are very important: brevity and music. The first is kind of obvious, the latter is not.

Brevity

Rehearse the transitions. Have whole rehearsals dedicated to transitions.  Make them fast; make them efficient; systematically remove every millisecond of doubt in your performers so they don’t waste time looking up at the projector to see which president comes next.

That stuff adds up. In a big way.

Do this and you will shave 10 minutes from the show. Not to mention, watching performers move like a well-oiled machine between short plays that represent 223 years…is awesome.

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We’re a reflective bunch, the Plays for Presidents crew, that is. Even though we’ve not coordinated our efforts, each blog contributor seems to have composed one or more posts to answer the question, “Just why am I doing this?” Andy recently discussed his affinity for history and Genevra looked at the Festival through the lens of her daughter. While I gave a nod last week to looking at election coverage through the lens of my dog, it’s really not the same, even for a childless 30-something. I think it’s time for something a little more personal…and less canine.

Talk points and the point of talking

At the risk of violating a Plays for Presidents taboo, I am going to declare my political affiliation. It’s not because I am pushing an agenda, but because it’s important to this story.Re: the political spectrum, I am to the left of center.

Growing up, my views on the world were greatly shaped by music and comedy. Two of the single biggest influences were folk singer Phil Ochs and stand-up linguist George Carlin. One attribute that their work had in common which attracted me was that, while they were both part of the left counterculture, one target for some of their most pointed satire were the very people whose identified with their ideas. (more…)

A video that gets to the heart of our festival. A huge “thank you” to the volunteers who made it come together!

The NOLA Project is using 44 Plays for 44 Presidents as the focus of their new educational programming. Jeff Mosser caught up with Kate Kuen to talk about the shows impact on New Orleans and why it is particularly vibrant for the NOLA Project. 

Jeff Mosser: So tell me about the NOLA Project’s programming?

Kate Kuen: This show is really exciting for us. So the NOLA Project started in 2005, and we’ve finally got our 501(c)3. Because of that, something we really wanted to do is start an education sector. This summer we launch our first education program with the NOLA Project HS summer intensive.

JM: How does this programming fit into New Orleans as a whole? 

KK: I think New Orleans was right for this artistic renaissance. Young people are very important to rebuilding. Performances will be a a professional theatre so that we can create the artists we want to be working with on stage. It’s the sacred art of storytelling, and we have to have a reason for telling the story right here, right now. We want to use this as a showcase so we can show New Orleans that we are serious. “Your kids should be involved. Theatre is a healing part of the community.”

This city is in dire need of any form of extra curricular, and we want to show that we can run a well oiled theatre showcase. Especially because these opportunities are so lacking for low-income families. This is why we’re doing what we’re doing. We’re going to have to work through a show together with a various educational and pay scales.

JM: What do you think is the biggest challenge with students?

KK: The thing you need to instill is that theatre is sacred and it is an art to be an entertainer. You do that so that you can have an environment where a 12 year old girl isn’t thinking about being judged.

JM: What would you say to a theatre that was on the fence about doing this show?

KK: I think the only reason to shy away from this show is because it’s challenging and I have no respect people who are afraid of it. I would challenge them to do this show and make it happen. It is not of the tradition of theater to back away from a challenge.

Chicago native Kate Kuen is alum of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she studied at Stella Adler Studio, in Dublin and at Stonestreet Studios and double majored in Psychology.  She is a proud company member of the NOLA Project and soon to be director of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents for the inaugural year of the Nola Project’s High School Summer Intensive. Recent acting credits include Celia in As You Like It (Nola Project/NOMA) Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Nola Project/NOMA), Clint Eastwood’s J Edgar, Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire, CBS Bold and the Beautiful, as well as a host of tomboys and moms for global and national commercial campaigns.   www.katekuen.com