Plays don’t always—or often—make it straight to the stage or a theater’s season line-up.
Artistic directors have to consider who’s likely to come to a show, what they might want to see, and how the theater can convince others to come.
And the Iowa Stage Theatre Company has an interesting way of trying out new plays without the time and expense of putting on a full production.
Scriptease is a free, monthly night of theater, where audiences can enjoy a stripped-down look at plays that have caught directors’ eyes, and then help workshop them afterward.
September’s Scriptease is 7 p.m. Sept. 25, and will showcase “Constellations” by Nick Payne at TeeHee’s Comedy Club in downtown Des Moines.
“We really like that to be our sounding board, along with just getting people to come out and see some theater as often as possible,” said Alex Wendel, the play’s director and one of the two artistic producers for Iowa Stage Theatre Company.
“It’s more accessible to people because you don’t have to pay for the ticket,” he continued. “It’s a nice environment. It’s just a nice, fun night of theater.”
Theater on slow comeback worldwide
The goal is to get a sense of what the show could be like, and whether audiences would respond to it.
Theater around the world hasn’t fully recovered from closures during the pandemic, Wendel and Davida Williams, Iowa Stage Theatre Company’s other artistic producer, said.
That’s partly why there are two of them in a position normally meant for one person. Williams said to expect one person to carry the weight of a comeback—especially when theater is struggling to do that around the world—would be “mean.”
And it’s a strategy more theater companies are adopting.
“My goal is to be the example of how you do it,” she said. “And that’s exactly what we’re working towards.”
One of the best parts, Wendel and Williams said, is how they can bring together their different experiences to figure out how to get people to come back out and enjoy theater.
“It’s just going to be better to have two sets of eyes,” Williams said. “We are coming from two different places, so we’re always going to see things differently. But we respect that and we listen to that and it’s just going to make for a more well-rounded experience.”
And they’re trying to make running Iowa Stage Theatre Company a really community-focused project—one of the best parts of Scriptease, they said.
Differences between a play and Scriptease
Because Scriptease is free and held in a small venue, Wendel said it’s perfect for getting audience feedback—both by watching them during the show, and by talking to them afterwards.
For Scriptease, Wendel and Williams (or a resident artist) find a play they’re interested in putting on, and a director. The director then seeks out people to read the parts.
After only one or two rehearsals to get a feel for the piece, it goes up on stage with very minimal costumes—if any—and the actors holding the scripts in hand.
“Scriptease can be a challenge for an actor. There are no costumes to make sense of who you are, and there isn’t all the flashy [production]. You have to hold the attention,” Williams said. “It’s like working out your acting muscles.”
With the casual atmosphere, intimate space and open bar, the directors said the atmosphere for Scriptease is perfect for experimental workshops.
“[TeeHees] have a bar with great bartenders, so you can go over and get a drink and stand there at the bar as you listen to this play. And then it’s a place where it kind of becomes a forum after,” Wendel said. “Everyone in there is going to tell us what they thought of that script, because they know we’re coming in to workshop.”
He said he loves the intimate setting and the casual atmosphere. People can dress more informally, sit back and enjoy the night—and get involved after.
“Some people love to just go be in that community space and experience art together, and then have a have complete freedom to talk about it,” Wendel said.
Nikoel Hytrek
9/22/23
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