Posts Tagged ‘44 Plays for 44 Presidents’

The Final Phase

As many of you likely already know, today we officially reached the final phase of the Plays for Presidents Festival 2012: 44 Films for 44 Presidents!

The film was completed by co-author Karen Weinberg and her company, Ten Trees Productions, and is a testament to the incredible creativity, work, and commitment put forth by the many 2012 Festival participants. You can view the video directly through vimeo: http://vimeo.com/52575100 or you can access it through our website at http://playsforpresidents.com/for-fans/#thevideoproject.

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Shop Talk: The Play Never Stops Evolving

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Sean Benjamin and Andy Bayiates back during “43″

As you might guess, the writers of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents did A LOT of research in the process of drafting the original script. Every play was based on a slew of facts we collected about the man, the time period, etc. – and the play has undergone a series of revisions in the past ten years.

Each writer had their own process for data collection – and with hindsight, I wish I’d kept better records of why I made certain choices in plays, the links I was using, books I had referenced, etc. If you asked me about a particular play, I could absolutely tell you what nuggets of information inspired the eventual draft in the script, what form the revision process took, what each element in the scene means or represents, and why I chose the facts I did. But I don’t necessarily have careful lists of all the sources I used, nor can I always trace the direct path that lead to the decisions I made.

What is funny – and sort of amazing – to me is that even after ten years, we’re still finding things we need to tweak. Not only do certain Presidents and presidencies look different over time, but also certain facts or common knowledge become refuted, challenged, debunked. Or in some cases, we just got it wrong and all the fact-checkers up to that point happened to miss the same thing we missed.

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Jeff Mosser Highlights the Impact of Social Media for the Plays for Presidents Festival

Jeff Mosser is a man who wears many hats. Not only is he a Plays for Presidents staff member (Senior Strategist/Social Media & Community Outreach Director), he is also directing 44 Plays for 44 Presidents in Boston, MA for the 2012 Festival. For the Plays for Presidents Festival, Jeff has elevated our social media outreach and increased cross-production conversation so effectively, I asked him for his thoughts on how important platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr have been for our inaugural year – as well as how he plans to use those tools for 44 Plays.. at Bad Habit Productions.

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Kelly Bremner Talks About What Matters Most at Emory & Henry College

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This week I had a chance to talk to Dr. Kelly Bremner from Emory & Henry College about their involvement in the 2012 Plays for Presidents Festival. I was immediately struck by two things: 1) She is incredibly dedicated to her students and has definitely woven this production of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents into her educational vision; and 2) she’s got a very clear sense of purpose and focus when it comes to art, voting, and college-aged citizens.

GGB: You said that the concept of a Presidential debate had inspired the set design. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

Emory & Henry cast at Dress Rehearsal

KB: It happened almost out of necessity. We have a charming black box theatre here was is being renovated, so we unexpectedly got the news this summer that our first production of the year would need to be in College’s auditorium. Normally the word “auditorium” evokes images of bad high school assemblies, but we decided to use that vibe to our advantage.

Our designer, Professor Daniel Wheeler, used theatrical flats to build artificial wings onto the performance space, and went with two projection screens one on each side. The back of the theatre is lined with pillars that simultaneously seem to evoke the front of the White House, and the row of podiums that get set up for a presidential debate. The presidential seal is hung up center. We couldn’t put it on the floor because the stage is too high for anyone to see it. This makes for some beautiful moments where the actor playing the president is framed by the seal when they stand in front of it. To fight the aesthetic distance of the proscenium stage, we built a 6 ft. apron off of the stage, which keeps my actors nice and close to the audience. My one regret, I will miss the actual presidential debate because I will be in my final dress rehearsal.

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Festival Participation in the Digital Age

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One of the most amazing aspects of this Festival has been feeling so connected to all the amazing artists, educators, and politicos participating from across the country. Whether it’s the behind the scenes footage shared by Drive Theatre Company in L.A. and Dad’s Garage in Atlanta, TV coverage of Little Rock Central High School we could all view from Facebook, or the “I” in Election video recorded by Forward Theatre Company… producers, directors, actors, and staff have been able to spotlight the work of their organizations in ways that enable us all to feel like we’re locally connected to their efforts.

I’ll be diving more into the tools we’ve used to help coordiate the Festival and share the digitalized efforts of others next week, but today I’ll focus on how one director in particular has utilized various platforms to collaborate cross-country with her alma mater.

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Bricolage’s next adventure: 44 Plays for 44 Presidents!

The word Bricolage means, “making artful use of what is at hand,” but since it’s founding, Bricolage Production Company has done more than that. They’ve made successful, original theatre with what is at hand. And that’s no small feat.

A prolific participant in the downtown Pittsburgh cultural scene, Bricolage has been providing audiences with a broad spectrum of original works, adaptations, collaborations and interactive experiences for the past decade.

Bricolage has a mission to immerse artists and audiences in adventurous theatrical experiences that foster connections and alter perceptions. And now they’ve joined the ranks as part of our Festival.

This is what your boss would call “a big win” for us.

Welcome, Bricolage! We can’t wait to hear about your work!

The Neo-Futurists prep to unveil the Electoral College Prep Academy

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The cast of the upcoming 44 Plays @ The Neo-Futurists

As election-season tension mounts and we march ever-closer to November 6, 2012… 44 Plays for 44 Presidents productions across the country are coming up with increasingly creative ways to contribute to the Festival. This week, I spoke with Bilal Dardai, Tif Harrison, and Dan Broberg of The Neo-Futurists to discuss their intentions to create an audience-interactive installation: The Electoral College Prep Academy.

I think you’re the first company we’ve been able to highlight for an interactive installation! Give me a rundown of the Electoral College Prep Academy.

Bilal: The ECPA was the invention of [Managing Director] Dan McArdle, after the initial idea of a basketball court in honor of Barack. At our initial brainstorming session, this idea led us to the idea of a court in a school gymnasium (as opposed to a street court or YMCA court), and that led us to the idea of other fun elements such as the trophy case and images of Obama and other presidents as “illustrious athletes” who had passed through the “Academy.”

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270 to Win Dot Com

It’s hard to believe, but speculation started even before the national conventions. The staff at the Plays for Presidents Festival likes speculation — especially when it comes to the Electoral College. With 270towin.com you can play out any and all of those if-this-then-that-Electoral-College questions for yourself.

Its super simple interface lets you change the outcome with as much as a click. Not to mention they provide the history of each state’s previously allocated votes, insightful blog posts, and up-to-date presidential election polls.  (more…)

Presidents Versus Aliens

Posted on: by Jeff 1 Comment

If you’re reading this on an iPhone or iPad you’re very close to downloading your next favorite app.

Presidents vs. Aliens by Dan Russel-Pinson is our latest endorsement. With hundreds of questions about our commander-in-chief, of varying difficulty, it makes learning about the presidents interesting and exciting! Pick it up and test your knowledge — or find one of the fact sheets to refresh your memory about your favorite Head of State. (more…)

Ithaca College… READY to join the Festival

When you go to their website, Ithaca College’s branding suggests that being “ready” is a big deal. This year, a band of theatre students is ready to mount 44 Plays for 44 Presidents on their second stage.

We’ve decided nothing will stop them, so they’re in.

I’ve always wanted to visit Ithaca, ever since an old friend of mine (who had been banished to my college for reasons I can’t remember) that it was amazing. Also…if the bumper stickers are correct, Ithaca is apparently gorges.

They’ve chosen Calvin Coolidge , a.k.a. Silent Call, as their contribution to the video project. While full disclosure forces me to admit that they picked him because he was their only choice, he does have some New York ties, however thin. He campaigned once for President Harding in New York during the first election in which women could vote. And he was also once the director of the New York Life Insurance Company.

We’re glad you’re ready to join us, Ithaca. We can’t wait to see you sing and play guitar!