Had the chance to meet a lot of our fellow Fringe compatriots this weekend at the Marketing Mixer. Great time. I always feel odd going to “networking events” and such. It’s not my forte. Generally, I’d prefer to remain anonymous in the corner. I’m a director. I’d prefer to be backstage.

However, it was easy to chat with everyone I got the chance to talk to. It’s always great to feel a part of a group of people who are all working towards more or less the same goals.

I’ll link to the people I exchanged info with here this week. Hopefully, we can connect with a community here … and actually get some traffic going on both sides. I feel we (IP) have a good engine here, but we have to start drawing people to it this week. All in advancement of the goal of getting butts in the seats.

Reached the end of the final draft tonight. Feeling really good about it, but tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of how much work is left to do.

So many ideas get thrown to the side when you’re working on a project. And I think this may end up being one of them, so I wanted to give it some life here on The Books blog before it faded into obscurity.

I thought we were going to have to create our own ad campaign for this production. Our promotional designer had an emergency, and it seemed possible we wouldn’t make our first ad deadline. So a Plan B was necessary … and quick.

Luckily, our lead actress is the wife of our playwright. While I imagine this may lead to some awkwardness at some point, here it was a major asset. I suggested to Michael “look, take some pictures … A boot, some books … ” and he sent me a about a dozen options … 18 hours later … an ad.

Corporations … major theater companies … can’t move that fast. So we must remember that our size is sometimes an asset, not always an obstacle.

In the end, I think our promotional designer will provide us something different to promote online and in the local rags … but for now, this is our honorary image.

Whenever I direct a show, I make myself mixes. I make them for characters … for the play as a whole … whatever. Just a way to keep thinking about the play.

This has always been the first song I would put on my mix for The Books. Who knows … maybe we’ll use it … but for right now, I just like to use it to get me in the right place to do work on the show …

This is just a sample of the song. I don’t want to ruffle any feathers or anything by posting the whole mp3 …

You should go to David Byrne’s website here.

Burnt By The Sun – David Byrne

We are pleased to inform you that Michael Edison Hayden’s play The Books has been selected for the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival. Many of you are familiar with the play, having either seen our staged reading at Cherry Lane last September, or having participated in one of the play’s various workshops over the past two years.  A final draft is nearing completion, and a staff of artists, collaborators, and designers are currently being assembled. Our performances will be held at The Cherry Pit, an exciting new venue belonging to The Cherry Lane Theater.

Our goal is to raise $8,000 for The Books by August 1st. The budget is extremely modest by today’s production standards.  $8,000 will help us mount a stylish and exciting production.  It will showcase what we believe to be an important new play, about characters that often go unrepresented on today’s stage.  Most significantly, it will offer us the chance to hopefully move the play forward after the festival has ended.

The Books, directed by Matt Urban, will star Aadya Bedi as Mistress Chimera (Betrayed, Culture Project, Scorched, The Wilma, Law & Order: CI), and Scott David Nogi as Mark O’Connor (Elizabeth Rex, Richard III, Nicu’s Spoon, Godot Has Left the Building, Culture Project).

Your donation will be TAX DEDUCTIBLE to the extent allowed by law, thanks to the 501 (c) (3) status offered to us through our fiscal sponsor company, THE FIELD. In this difficult economic time, emerging theatre artists need your support. A donation of only $15, roughly the price of a movie ticket, will make a tremendous difference.  There is no limit as to how much you can give, and those who can afford to make larger contributions are encouraged to do so.  Click the link below to make your donation.

Click here to make your donation to Imperfect People
Please carefully follow the instructions on the sidebar to avoid any confusion

Thank you very much for your contribution and we look forward to seeing you this August at the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival.

We’re going to have a blog here on the site where everyone who is contributing to The Books will be welcome to write about their thoughts, experiences or whatever.

As with most things on this site (and this production) … more to come!

We’re gearing up for the Fringe show this summer, so we’re trying to spruce the place up a bit.

We hope you enjoy. If you see any errors, or have a suggestion, please feel free to make a comment below.

More soon … stay tuned!