I finally got to talk to the artistic director of Mississippi Repertory Theatre, the group that is going to put on Hurricane Baby this spring. We had been missing connecting for a while–we talked once over Facebook, and I had made a few calls trying to catch him at the theater but always missed him. So we finally had a chat.
He had a lot of good ideas about putting the play together–he talked about using news footage of Hurricane Katrina on the projection screen the theater has during scene changes (which there are several). We had a very productive discussion about fees, which is the main reason I wanted to talk to him–some theater companies I won’t name like to nickel-and-dime their playwrights, but he didn’t sound like that type at all.
He told me I would get a royalty for the rights to use the play and I would get a percentage of the tickets as well, which is what I had been told to look for by another theater-friend of mine. He said he would invite me to a rehearsal to see a run-through and get my ideas about costuming, the scenery, the tech rehearsals, etc.
And we closed the discussion with me sending him another play of mine that he said he would be interested in for the next season–it’s set at a suicide hotline, a very simple two-person show that could be used for touring. So we will see what comes of this collaboration with them.
I was very pleased talking to him and hearing about his vision for how to produce it. I look forward to working with them. He talked about doing it in early April, which would be great. I will keep you all updated as to its progress in the next few months. Thanks for reading!
Julie Liddell Whitehead 