Partner (n) 1. one that shares. As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary

A good partner is hard to come by. Sometimes it is impossible. I've had my professional and personal heart broken by creative partners, partners in love, partners in crime and even had my eye blacked by the elbow of a dance partner once (you know who you are). It is in our nature to yearn for the camaraderie a partnership offers in most aspects of our lives. Why else does match.com exist?

I have been extremely fortunate in the past year to find a writing partner, Mark, with whom I have an amazing relationship and I'll try to outline a few things that make us work:

1. Choose wisely. Make a checklist of what is important to you in a partner. Mark didn't fall out of thin air, I sought him out. We had already worked on one project together as director and musical director and I was so pleased and inspired by that working relationship that when I wanted to turn my play into a musical, he was who I wanted to work with. I knew that Mark respected me as a director and that his insights were not only excellent but helped support my vision for the play we worked on. He worked with me instead of trying to impress his own vision upon the project. Plus, he never hesitated to tell me (tactfully) when I was wrong.

2. Know your strengths and your weaknesses. I am good with words. I'm not sure that I have the art of blogging down just yet but I have a great understanding of the way a conversation flows and a flair for imagery. I also have a profound understanding of each of my characters. Once I know who they are and what drives them, I know exactly how they are going to act in a situation or when faced with a problem. However, I have been through three musical instruments (piano, guitar and flute... four if you count the recorder) and nothing ever stuck. I love music but I just don't have the patience to learn an instrument and am hopeless with music theory. Mark kicks music's ass and music loves every second of it. When we work together we know when to yield to one another. When Mark tells me something isn't working musically, I may fuss a little but I'll submit to his expertise in the end. Similarly, I've told him before that no, that character wouldn't do that here and he graciously agrees (right, Mark?).

3. Make adjustments. I can be a little bit of a control freak. My projects are my babies and it is hard to let anyone take them to the park while I wait at home. However, there is no point to me sitting in Mark's room while he works something out in the composition of a song... even if I may want to. He needs space to do his thing and I need to be understanding of that. I'll admit, it's something I'm working on but he's patient with me. Likewise, he indulges me more often than not and lets me be in on most of the initial composing, which I absolutely love doing.

4. Have a personal relationship. Now, this is debatable but I personally never want to work with someone I can't have a conversation with. There may be partners that only get together to work and that's it but I find that my work is so much better with someone I'm friends with. I think it frees you up because you trust that person and you are used to conversing with them on a personal level. For us, it also makes it bearable when we are working through a rough patch. Thank god we can laugh together or we might have jumped out a window while working on our last song!

5. It's all for the show. This is actually my philosophy for all of theatre. Here's the deal: As soon as it isn't about just making the best piece of work you can, different agendas pop up. When it's all for the show, you are comrades working together towards something bigger than yourselves, then you can do what's good for the project instead of what's good for yourself. That is what partners do.

And now, as a reward for reading my rambles, pictures from the first rehearsal of our new show!

The cast of Tangled

Mark and our amazing pianist, Kevin.

Mark was not happy that I was taking pictures.

I believe his words when I took out the camera were, "Ah, Mom!"

That's all for now, kids! Be brilliant, be happy!

Just for fun...

A small departure from our usual programming...

THINGS I SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT DOING BUT AM NOT...

1. Checking the Tangled facebook page 8 times a day to see if new people have joined. (fyi: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=343869369862&ref=ts)
2. Obsessively marking the pages with scene and act changes in scripts with little sticky note flags.
3. Finding new and creative ways to steal as much free paper as I can from Kinkos. At $1 per printed page I am entitled to some hot pink and robins egg blue paper.
4. Buying one water bottle on Monday and filling it up at the office for the rest of the week.
5. Trying to force words to rhyme in a song. Mark never actually lets me do this though so I guess number 5 is really: trying to get Mark to let me force words to rhyme in a song.

That has been the first installment of THINGS I SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT DOING BUT AM NOT.

Trust not thy feeling, for whatever it be now, it will quickly be changed. -Thomas à Kempis

There is a fine line between patience and spinelessness. Too often people drop what could be a good thing because they don't have the patience to let it develop. Also too often people stay in a bad situation too long and only create misery for themselves and, at times, others. You can only use your own judgement and the advice of those who are knowledgeable (this may not include your favorite Aunt Suzy).

I recently encountered this dilemma in my internship. Last week sucked. I spent almost the entire week sitting at my desk nearly going crazy over clippings (articles in newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. about the shows we represent. A big part of my job is archiving these). When my dad asked me how the internship was going, which he does often and I love him for, I told him that I was feeling disappointed that I wasn't really seeing anything besides my computer screen. However, I told him that I wouldn't let myself get down on the internship, that it might just be a bad week. (I digress for a moment to tell you that I did have one internship in the past that I withdrew from a month early. I felt that I was being used for free labor rather than actually being taught anything or given any responsibility. That was definitely the right choice then and for that situation.)

Anyway, I am so glad that I didn't allow myself to get sour over one bad week because the past two days, and especially today (!), have been fantastic. In the past 48 hours I have taken pictures that may appear on Playbill.com giving me a photo credit on the epic website that brought me this internship, been to the Jonathan Larson Grant Award Ceremony and seen Kerry Butler (of the original cast of Hairspray which I decided to see instead of going to my Jr. prom) perform among other Broadway titans, been backstage at Hair, had a lovely dinner with several people from my office filled with the lesser known stories of Broadway's legends, and shared a champagne toast with the new cast of Hair. Moreover, I got to know several people in my office better, improving our relationships and opening lines our lines of communication further.

I suppose what I'm trying to tell you is not to let a bad day or week taint what you're doing. Remember why you are doing it and consider whether you are getting near you goal, even if the climb is slow. If you are definitely not and a respectable amount of time has passed and proved that you will not find what you need in the project, don't be afraid to walk away. In that earlier internship, I wasn't getting anything out of it for a month before I left and it was because I was literally getting nothing out of it while they got tons of work out of me. At my current one, I am learning so much, even if there are some lulls! Respect yourself, respect your creativity, respect your time.

Be happy, be brilliant!

“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” -Thomas Berger

If the past couple months have taught me anything, it's that I have been an idiot fairly frequently. Here is why:

I am not, by nature, one to ask questions. I prefer to figure things out for myself. This is a very good quality to have at times. However, it can be detrimental, especially when you are a young professional and don't know anything.

Since I've started interning at O&M Co., I've had a crash course in who's who in the theatre biz. Who knew that Andy Cohen was so damn important? I thought he just interviewed people on Bravo. Wrong. I'm looking back in time and seeing my missteps. The best examples are the internships I turned down for my summers between college school years. One was with Signature Theatre Company (http://signaturetheatre.org/). You may know them as the hosts of the currently much acclaimed The Orphans' Home Cycle. I turned that one down for a job teaching 11 year olds how to put together their own show for several weeks one summer. The other was with producer Ken Davenport (http://www.davenporttheatrical.com/). Don't know him? You should. He's important. Turned that one down for a summer hauling lights around HERE Arts Center.

Both of these internships would have been several times more advantageous to me than what I choose to do instead. However, I didn't ask anyone who actually knew the lay of the New York theatre land to help me with my decision. In the first instance, I took the paying job in my hometown. In the second instance, I picked the theatre that a friend of mine had SM/AD-ed for. Sure, I did my internet research but that couldn't tell me just how highly situated in the hierarchy of theatre these companies were.

You can't know everything, you never will. The best you can do is ask questions when you don't know and when you are young and starting out YOU MUST ASK QUESTIONS! Just today I asked the agents in my office to recommend a space for Mark Sanderlin (marksanderlin.com) and me to present the first reading of our new musical (April 7, 2010 get psyched!). One of the agents gave me three great recommendations, one of them being Manhattan Theatre Club. Okay, I didn't know they offered spaces for readings and when I looked at the prices, glory be, it was within our budget! I haven't booked the space yet (note to self, get on that) but how much more amazing would it be to premier our work at MTC instead of Simple Studios??? No offense to Simple Studios. I love Simple Studios. $10/hour space rentals on Fridays saves my life frequently.

So, I don't really have links for you today because you better know the people you need to ask to have your questions answered. Go to it then!

Be happy, be brilliant!

Website launched!

Inspired by the fact that my writing partner, Mark Sanderlin (marksanderlin.com) beat me to it, I went home tonight after some Tisch school theatre and finally finished and launched my website! Exciting! Check it out: www.AlexandraHRubin.com

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” -Carl Gustav Jung

Networking can be an ugly word. It conjures images of men in ratty brown suits with maroon ties guffawing at jokes made at the expense of their wives while holding paper coffee cups in a cheap lounge. I also think of a man in a shiny jumpsuit with glowsticks getting down to some techno track called “Networking” but I think that’s just me.

Anyway, networking is a necessity if you want to really make it in any business. In the theatre world, it’s imperative. We depend of the support of patrons, investors and each other to stay afloat. Some truly amazing productions and companies have fallen apart without that support and, let’s face it, some truly horrendous pieces of sidewalk bubble gum have achieved greatness with such support (I’m not naming names but my mom might… get it?).

I’m still building up my networking skills but here are some ways that I’ve learned to get started.

1. Business cards! I mentioned this in my first post but these are an absolute MUST! The power of a great business card would surprise you. I gave a card to a wonderful gay rights advocate I met last night and he stopped mid-conversation when he read my card to say “Oh wow!” He’ll remember me.

2. Be calm: No one wants to interact with someone falling apart at the seams and there is NO REASON TO! No matter who you speak to, remember, they’re just people. Steven Spielberg is just a guy that knows how to make good movies, Lady Gaga is just a girl who has a different point of view and Steven Sondheim is a god, so he’s the exception… just kidding… kind of… Similarly, never treat anyone like they aren’t important enough for you to speak to. That wimpy guy could be the next Woody Allen or, more importantly, a producer. Plus, it’s just rude.

3. Personal pitch: Have a reason to talk to everyone you approach. Now you don’t need to say, “Hello, my name is Alex and I want you to come see my show and invest money in it,” in fact, I strongly advise you not to say that. Go up and strike up a conversation appropriate to the event. When I went to the NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival) Mixer, it was appropriate to say, “Hi, I’m Alexandra, I’m writing a musical.” However, at an event for gay rights, it was more appropriate for me to thank the speaker for what they said and perhaps ask a follow up question first. Then, I mentioned that I was writing a new musical which included transgender issues.
Now, your reason to talk to each person will vary: information, support, talent, representation. You don’t need to immediately steer the conversation in that direction but let them know who you are and what you do and then LISTEN TO THEM. This is a problem that most young people have. They don’t listen to the person they are talking to. Here is an example of a well navigated encounter:

You: Hi, my name is Kate Winslet, I noticed you saying you’re a director.
Them: Yes, I work over at the York actually.
You: Oh, I’ve heard wonderful things about the York. Yank! is getting great reviews. (or if you haven’t) Oh? Where is that? (Don’t pretend to know things you don’t until you are a pro, you’ll just get into trouble!)
Them: Yes, I’ve been working there for some time now.
You: I’m new to the city actually. I’m an actress so I’m trying to get on my feet.
Them: Well, best of luck, it’s a tough business.
You: Thanks, I’ve heard! Could I give you my card? I’d really appreciate any advice you could give or any direction you could point me in.
Them: Yes, sure, here’s mine, too. Oh, good, you have a website. Are you musical or straight theatre?
You: Both, really. I have a lot of dance and voice training.
Them: Great, it was nice you meet you.
You: You, too! Enjoy your night.

What’s great about this conversation is it is short, which most will be, and has a natural ebb and flow. You talk, you listen, you respond, you listen, you find your opening, you don’t force them to stay with you until they offer you Thoroughly Modern Milly.

4. Follow up: Always always always send a follow up email within a week after meeting someone. You need to be fresh in their minds. Ask them if it’s alright to keep them up to date on your projects, you’ll annoy them if they don’t want to get your emails about doing five different one act festivals. Here’s an example:

Hi Mr. Deville,
It was such a pleasure meeting you last night. Thank you for recommending The Art of Directing. I picked it up at The Drama Book Shop today and am looking forward to reading it on my daily subway commute! I would love to keep you up to date on my projects via email and, of course, invite you to opening night of my directing debut in June. You can also check out my website or email me anytime if you have questions or are interested in my future productions. Best of luck to you with your new show on Theatre Row. How exciting!
Best,
Julie Taymour
www.yourwebsitehere.com
youremail@goeshere.com
555-555-5555

This works because it reminds them of who you are in the first two sentences, lets them know you were listening to them and were affected by what they said, reminds them of what you are doing, makes the effort to sustain the connection and gives them all the info they could need or want about you!

That’s all for now!
Be happy, be brilliant!