Squeezing Life Out of Organic Boxed Chicken Stock
On Saturday night, I realized how rarely I go to the theater. And I don’t mean Theater, with a capital T. I mean low-key, do-it-yourself, break-down-the-set-afterwards-and-be-outta-here-in-15-minutes theater.
Aside from a community-theater version of Same Time Next Year and a birthday trip to Avenue Q (South Park meets Sesame Street Live!, essentially), I haven’t seen a real play in years. So, when I saw Amy Tobin’s show, Organic Boxed Chicken Stock at the San Francisco Fringe Festival Saturday night, it made me realize that independent actor/writers have every bit of as much of a challenge as many of LaunchSquad’s clients do.
Indie actors and directors have to write, direct and act (and in Tobin’s case, play and sing) the entire production. Our clients have to conceive, execute and sell their entire product or service to a marketplace that, while familiar with new ideas, is immensely skeptical about adopting any one of them unless they’re seen as a whole product. But, that too, is something that actor/directors also have to face: if the audience can’t contextualize the show in terms of their own experience, they can only appreciate it on a limited level. Both situations leave “the artist” exhausted, at the end of the day, when it comes time to do the media relations, and attract attention to your art (or product, as the case may be).
Tobin’s spoken-word-meets-cabaret performance (which crammed four songs and eight monologues into fifty minutes) is a really coherent piece about consumerism, identity and, in her words, “being stuck in between two worlds.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the part where she admits a secret joy at occasionally throwing away plastic bottles. I could only imagine how it would have gone over in a completely packed room, rather than the half-full one that it played in.
Post-show, chowing on Indian food with Tobin and her partner and A Little Friction bandmate (ex-Beatnig) Kevin Carnes, it became all too clear to me that the only way to for an independent artist to dedicate the requisite amount of time to “the art” and “selling the story” requires a trying 50/50 time investment - which few artists believe they have, with day jobs, tech rehearsals and, well, sleeping getting in the way. Moments like these make me realize why so many innovative brands are out there looking for someone to tell their story: they simply lack the human capital to do so, because they’re so busy working on their “production.”
A painter friend of mine, Aliza Cohen, is about to debut her first full-scale San Francisco art show in mid-October, and she’s grappling with the same problem as Tobin; so much art “work” to do, and not nearly enough time to talk to bloggers and local media to tell the story. While I think she’s becoming much more media-savvy, I can tell that it’s a slow, blocky transition for someone who’s obviously much more comfortable behind her easel. When I told that I thought she should spend 50% of the time between now and her mid-October show publicizing the event, she looked at me like she thought I was a little nuts. But, like Tobin’s work, Cohen’s paintings are too good not to talk about. They just don’t tell you in art school that part of the “art” includes being willing to spend three or four hours a day doing email and making phone calls.
After my recent experiences with Tobin’s show and Cohen’s connundrum, the next time I meet with a perspective client who has awesome story to tell (but looks a little exhausted), I think I’ll have a bit more insight as to where they’re coming from.
Organic Boxed Chicken Stock plays on Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16 at the Exit Theater, at 156 Eddy in San Francisco. Cohen’s show opens at 1890 Bryant Studios in San Francisco on Friday, October 19.
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