Monday, March 05, 2007

A GreyZelda Update

Where are we these days ... 2005-2006 were crazy, ambitious years for us as a theatre company ... we tried to move into a couple different directions and tried to have a few chaps join us. I think that was the main goal ... increase in people, which would help us increase in size and support.

And now, to be quite honest, it's back to us ... Lady Crow and Sir Mulch with the GreyZelda seed hovering over our heads waiting for what's next in her fate. Kristen and Robert, over a dinner at El Tapico and a very real, very precious conversation, once said, "It's always going to be just you." And we, vehement in our hope, said that we were wanting more ... more people, more ideas, more, more, more. More didn't work out. And it's back to us. And "us" is real.

Some of you may or may not know that Sir Mulch and I are the main producers of all the shows you've seen with GreyZelda. GreyZelda owes us thousands of dollars at this point. We don't come from rich backgrounds. We don't have donors. I think the biggest donation we've received, up to this point, was $200.00 from my family and that included the cost of their tickets. We're incredibly appreciative of everything people have done monetarily to help us. But, Sir Mulch and I are the executive producers, at this point. Which may explain to some of you out there why we get so damn irritable about bad reviews, bad professionalism and bad business in general. We're the producers, what the hell do you expect?

So, as the executive producers of GreyZelda ... our funds are tapped. Most of our paychecks have gone to GreyZelda and our rehearsal space. We work hard for our money, honeys. Sir Mulch and I made a concerted decision to be selfish for once and we've been doing things for ourselves since we closed The Scarlet Letter in September. We'll be back to producing within this 2007 year, I hope, but we're taking a long needed break.

We're going to move to a new apartment soon ... this new apartment will have plenty of space and plenty of comfort. We've outgrown our apartment that we've lived in since we initially moved to Chicago. It's packed to its gills. We've stayed in this little place so we could afford to produce theatre, y'see. Each year when it's come time to renew the lease, we've looked at each other, considered moving, but decided that it wasn't quite time because we had a season to produce. But, finally ... we're ready for this next step and we're really excited about it.

There are plenty of ideas brewing around in our brains, but we need to take care of ourselves first. When we're ready to give everything a go again, we'll collect our trusted collaborators around us and will open our doors to new collaborators. We're going to be stricter in our selection process however. If you're an actor, designer, etc., be prepared. If you're the type that can't get hired for a basic general office clerk job and exit that job with a good reference ... you probably won't get cast or asked aboard ...and if you don't know what I mean when I say this ... well, we don't want you.

So, that's where we are. I hope you're all doing well. I miss you. Sir Mulch misses you. We'll be back when we're ready.

Yours,
Lady Crow