$50 Death of a Salesman

Does not look like this:

“right-size” has become a verb. We right-size our productions used to be on Soho Rep’s website. They would choose the play, cast-size and design that seemed to match whatever the budget was for that season….I liked reading that at the time…but, now I wonder if choosing the exact right writing for your audience is a better place to start. Ultimately, a poorly produced show that has all of the right words is still a very valuable piece of art. And, even us professionals aim high and fail all the time. Why not choose the best play?

(There is a very important pre-condition being assumed here — that the audience can hear the words.…and see the performers….which is actually very hard to do in theater…I am not advocating for expensive sound systems, just that the acoustics of the venue matches the lungs of the performers. Right-size the venue?)

That play above, Saturday Church, was the wrong size for every theater last year. But, NYTW did it anyway. Most expensive production ever. All the performers, all the costumes, all the singing, all the dancing, all the lights. Big joyous splashy love fest. They just pushed forward and hustled hard to find the budget and the solutions and the donors until they opened…and then they made the tickets cheap! Because that show was what their audience needed.

Okay, so how do you make that your modus operandi when the budget is $50?

$50 Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman will feel very very relevant to current moment for a lot of theaters. There was only one school on the productions list a week ago. Now there are 3! and! Nathan Lane just started previews as Willy Loman on Broadway. It seems to be that Broadway reminds some of us which “classics” need a remount. I predict a few more Deaths next season.

$50 is not the ”right” amount of money for a Death of a Salesman...but I have heard that number thrown around at schools often for senior projects and one-act festivals. Do schools do whole full length shows for $50?

well…not if they are working on the up-and-up. The license to perform a play tends to be $65 to $150 per performance for non-professional theater. If Death of a Salesman is right for your audience right now, I personally really want you to do it. Save your $50 for paint, please; I will foot the bill for the rights to do at least one night performance of Death of a Salesman.

1 performance?

I occasionally cringe when I see all of the time and effort that goes into some shows and then only one weekend of shows. Oh my goodness. Imagine those pro shows where someone is paying for everything and they close after opening!

Who got a moose after they closed?!?!

That whole set for just one night! And all of that singing, dancing and acting up a storm in the rehearsal room for a month or more! All of that writing and penning a score at the piano. Yeesh.

But…you know….one night only is never actually one night only. This current Nathan Lane Death of a Salesman will have 25 performances before it “opens”. That does not include the dress rehearsals…if they have those.

The purpose of all of those previews is to maintain some malleability and learn from the audience…I think non-pro’s need this period, too. So….do we have to pay for that privilege? I think as soon as there is an audience, then perhaps we should pay for a “performance”.

Here is where I incriminate myself. Avert your eyes, arrest me or read on.

The current Broadway Death of a Salesman looks about like the production I have in mind, designwise. I can help folks do a production that is as beautiful and spot-on as a Broadway show for $50, $500, $5,000, $50,000 and $500,000. Really. It is possible on all of the budgets.…but, only because this publication is going to foot the bill for the licensing fee for that $50 - $500 budget block.

All performances with tickets $25 or less could be pay-what-Works. (I have prattled on and on about that in so many other essays…ask about it in the comments and I will prattle to you personally about why and how this works according to various fancy business schools. It needs tweaking for every institution, but it’s worth the effort!)

..and! another way to say pay-what-works is to say that performances are free and we love donations!

…and! another way to say performances are free is to say ‘open rehearsals’ and ’workshop showing’ and ’invited dress’ and ’pre-preview’. None of those would be charging and what is an ‘audience’ technically? Mom in the wings isn’t ‘audience’. Me at tech in the seats isn’t either. Aunt Sara at pre-preview plus production meeting afterwards? That is grey area. Board members at invited dress? Not really an audience. The student body at the during-school-hours workshop showing? Really only audience-ish. Peer reviewed rehearsal is more accurate.

At our local mini-high school that puts on free-shows of free-to-license plays at the free-to-rent local black box theater; I can imagine the following 1 production performance week:

Sunday: 12pm Open Rehearsal (with lights and sound … but maybe no costumes)
Monday: 5pm Workshop Showing (with costumes, lights and sound … )
Tuesday: 3pm Invited Dress Rehearsal (with costumes, lights and sound … )
Wednesday: 12pm Invited Dress Rehearsal (with costumes, lights and sound … )
Thursday: 5pm Free Pre-Preview (full-blown with concessions)
Friday: 7pm Opening Night and Only Performance (paid tickets and concessions)
Saturday: 3pm Free Post-View “relaxed” Performance
Saturday: 6pm Pay-What-Works Cast and Community Party

in my decade-long deep dive into school theaters I have seen three camps: 1. Follow the rules, fear the law; 2. Fudge the rules, be wary of the law; 3. Footloose and fancy-free! who would bother to prosecute me!

I respect your relationship to rules however you roll. If Death of a Salesman is what your audience needs, please let me help you give it to them. This offer does not expire. One performance on me!