Ideas for a Musical

by Patrick Blake | Aug 12, 2020 | Blog

Nicodemus, Kansas

Occasionally I’ll see a story in the news paper or on television that to me needs to be told in dramatic form – a seldom-told story that says something important about our society. When I do, I’m going to mention it in the blog.

We cannot tell all the stories that deserve to be told without your help. If you are a playwright or a hip hop artist and are looking for a story, the founding of Nicodemus, Kansas is one of them.

In 1877, some three hundred newly-emancipated slaves from Kentucky took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862. They determined to create the first all black settlement in the Great Plain. These people walked almost seven hundred miles across five states and created the town of Nicodemus, Kansas.

The reason for the choice of this name is not known. One speculation is that it was named after a character in the Bible. Another is that it refers to an African Prince who was taken into slavery and later purchased his freedom. But what is remarkable is that this is a town that remembers its roots.

Every year the town holds an Emancipation Homecoming Celebration the last Sunday in July.

Do You Have a Story That Needs to Be Told?

The story of the founding of Nicodemus, Kansas is one that needs to be told. People only need to be given a chance to succeed. If you give them that chance, they will. What a great theme for a musical!

We want to tell these stories – we want to tell your stories.

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Keep us busy during the theater shutdown!

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Giving Back

by Patrick Blake | Aug 3, 2020 | Blog

Giving Back

What we can do these days is limited in some ways but unlimited in others. We should consider what we can do to give back.

Many of us have more time right now for things we didn’t before. As a producer, most of my time was taken up planning the next production. But when you don’t know when and where the next production can take place, very little planning can happen. So I do other things.

I Give to Nonprofits

One way that I give back is by helping not-for-profits to accomplish their mission.

When I was living full time on the East Coast I would regularly participate in the Producer/Playwright Speed Date sponsored by Theatre Resources Unlimited. This “speed date” is just like it sounds. There are twenty-two writers who have the opportunity to pitch their play to eleven producers – a two-minute pitch and two-minute producer response.

Usually this has been done in a rehearsal space in NYC. All that has changed now.

I’m now mostly on the West Coast, and getting thirty-three people together physically is impossible. It is still being done, but online. Thanks to Zoom technology I can again participate. A serendipitous benefit is that now, so can playwrights who don’t live in NYC. If you are a playwright based in Oklahoma, for example, you are now able to pitch to me in California.

How Are You Giving Back?

I’m happy that even in this time of uncertainty I can still be productive. You should think about doing the same thing.

At a minimum, you can show your support for your favorite not-for-profit (we hope it’s Rhymes Over Beats) by liking and reposting their social media.

It really helps us, so like and repost this blog below!

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Americans and the Arts

by Patrick Blake | Jul 20, 2020 | Blog

The State of the Arts in America

A couple of weeks ago Jesse Green wrote a piece in the New York Times about funding for the arts, not just in the time of crisis when we are not able to work, but generally.

He compared America unfavorably with Britain.

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, had just announced an arts bailout amounting to about two billion dollars. In contrast, in this country the current administration has tried to defund the National Endowment for the Arts program every chance it gets.

The Arts are Central to Democracy

Mr. Green’s point is that the arts are central to modern democracy. Our democracy is clearly failing in giving the arts its proper place.

My belief is that individual citizens should act to change this, not only electing politicians who share this belief, but also by acting individually to support arts organizations with whose vision we connect.

Buy tickets to their performances and go to them, even on Zoom. Attend and donate to their fundraisers. Follow, like, and comment on their social media.

The arts in this country are in trouble. If you value artistic expression, now’s the time to donate and to keep the arts alive. No donation is too small.

Our Mission at Rhymes Over Beats

Rhymes Over Beats believes that the stories of specific groups in our society are seldom if ever told, and that members of these groups are underrepresented in positions of authority in our industry.

Our mission is to change this.

If you agree, buy, donate, and support us.

If another company’s mission resonates with you more than ours, it is equally important that you support them.

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Determining the Next Step

by Patrick Blake | Jul 15, 2020 | Blog

Determining the Developmental Path

One of the producing issues that I’m thinking about is, what do we do when things are more or less back to normal?

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about where to have the world premiere of the shows that Rhymes Over Beats will be producing.

Two questions go into making this decision:

How much does it cost to mount a production?
Where is the audience for the production?

The most expensive location for producing theater is of course Broadway, followed by off-Broadway, major regional theaters and foreign productions. So unless we have developed a show with a regional theater, this means our world premiere will be off-Broadway.

Our Next Production

Our next musical in the pipeline is being created by the legendary rapper Masta Ace. He discussed the process in an interview you can watch on YouTube. Right now he’s finishing up the book and the lyrics.

Even though he is originally from Brooklyn, his fan base is primarily in Europe where he regularly tours (when not shut down by a pandemic). Our plan at present is to have the world premiere in London, hopefully on the West End, the British equivalent of Broadway. A production that opens in the West End takes about half the cost as one that opens on Broadway.

Our West End opening would be followed by a European tour, where his fans can experience the next stage in his development as a hip hop artist: as a hip hop playwright. After the tour we would then come back to the United States.

Until Then…

We are all frustrated by the situation we are in. We want to put on shows as much as you want to see them.

We hope and pray this will happen soon.

Be safe!

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Spinning a Story

by Patrick Blake | Jul 7, 2020 | Blog

What’s Your Spin on It?

One of the perks of writing nonfiction plays, screenplays, and novels is the writer’s ability to make things up. This is my “I get to make things up” blog.

Because some people just celebrated Independence Day, I’ve been thinking about Benedict Arnold.

The Loyalist side of the conflict, those against the Colonial rebels, is estimated as being as high as twenty percent of the population of the time. Imagine what would have happened if they did not leave at the end of the war.

Most of them went to either Canada or England. The rest accepted that their side lost and became American.

The Loyalist Perspective

For all these Loyalists, Benedict Arnold was a hero. They saw him as a great general who won battles for both sides.

As a writer, I can make up a story where the unrepentant Loyalists stayed and maintained the “justice and right” from their side of the story. What could be more natural for these folks than to erect a statue to Benedict Arnold, and then to resist taking it down on the grounds of “heritage.”

This is exactly what happened after the Civil War.

Instead of leaving U.S. territory or accepting defeat, those who opposed the Union (also a nudge more than twenty percent of the population) put up statues to defeated generals who acted in the same manner as General Benedit Arnold did in the previous century.

In my story I can write these same Loyalists wanting to celebrate the English monarch’s birthday as a state holiday- as Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas now celebrate “Confederate Memorial Day.”

It’s entirely plausible as a story line, right? Would you like to see that story on stage and watch the events unfold?

The Point of the Play is What the Audience Takes Away

I could imagine writing a modern day Loyalist play where the main character is objecting to the majority of the former colonists’ plan to rewrite history.

But what’s the point? My play would not be about heritage, or about honoring a particular historical figure.

Instead, it would be about not honoring treason.

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Watching Hamilton?

by Patrick Blake | Jun 30, 2020 | Blog

Virtual Theater?

Last week the Slate Culture Newsletter published a short piece on the upcoming Disney+ showing of a film of a performance of Hamilton.

Their argument is that there is no need to watch it. Because it is a sung-through musical, everything revolutionary about the work is already available – you can just listen to the recording (which has been available for years).

According to the article, if you don’t watch it, all you are missing are the sets, the costumes, the choreography, and the staging – none of which is revolutionary. If you don’t don’t watch it, in short, you don’t miss much.

I disagree.

I wonder, if the author were talking to someone who could read music, if he would tell him to only read the score instead of listening to the recording? There is nothing revolutionary about the acting and singing.

Really?

All the Elements Work Together

To me, the production of a work of theater is a unity of elements.

To experience it as it was meant to be experienced, you must see it as the creators intended. Ideally, that means LIVE and in person in a packed theater.

Sadly, that is not possible for everyone. Initially it was because of the cost (I was lucky enough to have seen it at the Public Theatre when the price was more in line with an average person’s budget). Now it is because of the pandemic.

While viewing a video performance is not ideal, the Disney+ presentation is as close as we are going to get to a live performance for a while. AND the price of admission is much less than I paid five years ago.

Watch it if you have not seen it in person. Watch it again if you have.

I’m going to. I’m not throwing away my shot at seeing, again, the best musical of this century.

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