What’s Next for Rhymes Over Beats?

This week I want to start talking about the projects we have in the pipeline. Not all of them, just the ones we have in active development.

This may take a while!

But First, a Little Background…

Shows get done in NYC – especially on Broadway – following a limited number of different models.

• The first model is the star actor model. The producers get an “A” list star or two and put them in a show. A recent example would be All The Way, a play about LBJ starring Brian Cranston.
• The next model is a revival of a previously successful show. An example would be the current production of My Fair Lady.
• The third model is a play or a musical written by a famous playwright or a famous person. Examples of these are Picasso at the Lapin Agile written by Steve Martin, or anything by Neil Simon.
• Finally there is the slow growth model. A show is developed in a regional theater or off-Broadway. If it does well, and if a lot of buzz surrounds the show, it is brought to NYC (either off-Broadway or on Broadway, depending on the size of the buzz and where it originated). This model is the one the Public Theater uses.

We are using a different model for each of the shows we are developing.

What’s in the ROB Pipeline?

We are currently in active development for three plays.

The first is a revival of a play I produced fifteen years ago called The Exonerated. It is constructed from the actual stories of six people who were convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death for something they didn’t do. It is really a hip hop play and should be revived with and by hip hop artists, and produced by a hip hop theater collective. This is what gave me the idea of starting Rhymes Over Beats Hip Hop Theater Collective, to produce more work like this.

We are developing a musical written by hip hop artist Masta Ace. This will be an original story with original music by a legend in the hip hop community.

The third play we are developing is Sonny’s Song, a play with music, written by Germono Toussaint. Our model for this production is the star model.

• Because it is a play about the music business and the toll it takes on artists, and it has only three characters, we thought this would work the best. The characters are an older married couple and their young nephew. We want to use name hip hop artists who also act. (Let us know if you have any suggestions!)

In the next few weeks we will talk about each show in detail. Stay tuned for the next series of blog posts!

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The Purpose of This Blog Post

The entire purpose of this blog post is to ask for donations, and to explain to you why you should give us money.

There are two reasons why theater in NYC gets done.

The first is to make money. A producer thinks that a particular play can sell enough tickets to make a profit. It is a two part decision.

• First, a producer asks themselves, “Do I like this play?”
• Second, they ask, “Is this play going to make money?”
• If the answer to either of those questions is no, then the play doesn’t get done.

Unless…

The play fits the mission of a not-for-profit theater company, like Rhymes Over Beats.

Not-for-profit theater companies don’t have investors whose investment has to be paid back. Instead, they have fans and supporters who donate because they support the not-for-profit’s mission and the kind of work they do. What they get back is the satisfaction of seeing work get done that they think ought to be done.

Most not for profit theater companies that are successful have been around a while, and are not in New York. It takes a while for a company to connect with donors and convince them to give financially. This is so much easier to do in a area that is smaller and less diverse than New York.

 But we are a new company doing new work by new writers. We are also focused on a culture that most people who care about theater are not interested in. We do hip Hop theater.

We Are a Hip Hop Theater Company 

Many playwrights have said to me, “My friends support me, and if you produce my play all my friends will show up and buy tickets.”

This works if the producer is a commercial producer, but will not work for a not-for-profit. Why not? Because in a commercial production all the costs of a production are in theory covered by ticket sales. In a not-for-profit only sixty percent is covered.

The bottom line is that if you support hip hop theater you have to do more than just buy a ticket. You have to donate as well.

If you can spend ten dollars a month for Apple Music or Spotify, can you not spend half that to support hip hop theater? Sixty dollars a year from each of our Instagram followers would allow us to do two shows a year.

Do You Believe in Hip Hop Theater?

I understand that you may not have anything to give now, but what about your friends? Can you get at least one friend that you can get to do this?

Just know whatever you can do will be greatly appreciated, and each dollar goes to the show we’re currently working on.

What shows are we currently working on? Read next week’s blog to find out!

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Writing is Only the Beginning

Q: What should a playwright do if a producer has committed to producing their play?

A: Everything, and then some.

However, I’ve found that it is common for a playwright to think (and say) that once the play is written, their work is done.

That’s not true at all. Not in today’s economy.

What Playwrights Want

I’ve found that playwrights:

• want to have a say in casting.
• want approval of the director.
• have an idea who should be the designers
• want to have a say on how to market the production and who to hire to do the marketing
• I once had a playwright say they had to agree with the person who ran the business side of the production, the general manager, in order to allow me to mount the show.

But ask them to maybe mention on their social media that there will be a production of their play?

Well they did their part. They wrote the play.

What Producers Need

Having a playwright get involved in promotion is especially important when the show is being done by a not for profit theater company.

A not for profit company like Rhymes Over Beats is only able to produce work because a potential audience knows the company exists AND knows that they are doing work, specifically what plays are being developed.

Who better to tell them than someone who already knows them?

It should not be so hard for the playwright to make regular posts on their social media platforms about the wonderful company that agrees their play is great and wants to produce their work. It’s a necessary part of doing business in the 21st century, and everybody knows that.

If the producer is going all out promoting the play on social media and the playwright is doing nothing, I have to wonder why.

• Does the producer believe in the play more than the author?
• Who could be a more forceful advocate for the play and for the company that believes in the play than the playwright?

The reality is that because we rely on donations, we can only present work that everyone is doing their best to support, especially the playwright.

Because we need the playwright to support us too, by spreading the word about their play to as many people as possible.

Writing the play is only the beginning.

Share Now! Help Us Develop New Work!