Calling all directors! The Little Theatre is looking for play proposals for its upcoming season. Given that LALT will likely be out of the Performing Arts Center for a large part of next season, due to county renovation, pitching a show includes a few extra considerations and may look a little different to any returning directors.
The LALT board recognizes that potentially pitching a show outside of the Little Theatre venue may be a concern. The board’s artistic committee is working on finding alternative venues and trying to get them at reduced cost.
The committee calculated that doing a show at the Sheriff’s Posse Lodge, as a sample cost for renting a venue, would be about $1,500 to rent the venue for two Friday through Sunday weekends, plus one weekday for tech day and one weekday for dress rehearsal.
“We need proposing directors to plan for everything to be done outside of the PAC,” said Board President Seona Zimmermann. “We will of course have shows in the PAC if possible but with the renovations, we have no guaranteed timeline to have possession returned to us and to unpack and rebuild infrastructure dismantled during the renovation.”
She asked potential directors to “assume you won’t have access to any of the props or costumes that will be packed away. If you have a good idea of costumes you may need, there may be the potential to pull them before they get packed up and store them elsewhere during the renovation by special arrangement.”
For next season, the board would like pitches for the following types of shows:
In late summer/early fall — Shakespeare in the Park. LALT has received feedback from the community that this would be well received, especially a comedy. The artistic committee has scouted out some potential venues for this and is in the processing of discovering the possibility of using them at reduced cost. This show will have a suggested donation/pay at will fee.
In late fall/early winter — Small- sized (5-7 actors) show to be put on in a rented venue. With current options found by the artistic committee, this show will need to be done on a smaller footprint stage than the PAC with a portable set.
In March — Either a children’s show or one with a mixed cast of children and adults. There is a risk of having to transition this show to an alternative venue if the PAC renovation goes past the current planned completion date. The LALT board will advise by Dec. 1 if this is the case and the artistic committee will help coordinate an alternative venue. For this one, options will be found that support a larger cast size because this show is extremely popular and important to Los Alamos’ younger actors.
Small to low-budget innovative theater productions — This could be things like: guerrilla theatre, an open mic, a short parody sketch … The board is looking for new, creative ideas. The artistic committee can help coordinate venues. These will be accepted on a rolling basis.
To propose a show, please fill out the blank proposal form (see below). Each proposal must have a stage manager, producer and tech director to be accepted by the board.
“We understand that sometimes a newer director may need help finding people,” Zimmermann said. “If you would like to propose a show and are having trouble finding one or more key people, we still ask that you submit your proposal and make a pitch to the Board. We will help you via our contact list to help find people for any missing roles. However, your proposal cannot be accepted until you have key people in place.”
The priority deadline for proposals for plays is Monday, March 31. The filled out proposal sheet should be emailed to contact@lalt.org. The board will hear pitches from directors at the Board meeting on Tuesday, April 14, at 6 p.m. (or another time by special arrangement). If three proposals have not been approved by April 20, the board will send out another call for late proposals.
For the more innovative theatre ideas (item 4), the artistic committee will review them on a case by case basis as they are submitted. There is no deadline for these proposals.
Interested directors, please feel free to contact the artistic committee chair via president@lalt.org.
Here’s the proposal template (please make a digital or paper copy to submit to the board):
