{The assembled JAW Company of 2009}

From Festival Director Rose Riordan:

Some cool stuff that happened during JAW – not the least of which is that total attendance was just shy of 3000 um… and that was for just the readings… not including the other events. That was a 73% increase from last year.

A couple more statistics:

16 playwrights
103 paid artists
30 Theatres in Theatre Fair (200-300 audience members attended)
Lab / Panel attendance = 70 (they were sold out and we had a waiting list for the labs)

We had a line reaching Couch and Davis and the lobby was full for a Friday afternoon reading at 4:00 PM.

We had the following theaters hanging out either all week or for the weekend:
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Lincoln Center
Yale Rep
Vineyard Theatre

Every show got at least one vote from an audience member and at one point an audience member asked that we program them all into our season.

The woman that Marty mentioned in the article (Donna Tallman) was very sweet and I told her that next year we would have a chair put out for her. She was there an hour early for every reading and stood in line waiting for the best seat.

Some Kudos to Our Staff:
Production/Facilities Assistant Jessica Nikkel produced Made In Oregon did a great job and directed In School Suspension. (Company Manager)Dawn and (Education Director) Kelsey – what can I say? And Susie The Intern aka Kim Morris who some may remember was a short-lived employee in education not only has been volunteering for free since we let her go – she was absolutely instrumental in getting us through the logistics of JAW and doing everything else that had to happen at the same time like casting Ragtime, general auditions and day to day – she really deserves a big big thanks.

Thanks to Graphic Designer Michael Buchino for keeping his area the “Rose Free Zone” but getting it all done anyway. I love that he gets how hyper-focused I get about all the details and “manages me” in the best way possible. And Multimedia Designer Patrick Weishampel’s excellent, dramatic “Carmina Burana/Clockwork Orange” inspired JAW video teaser got over 800 views and did a wonderful job of building excitement for the festival.

And a big thanks to Stage Manager Mark Tynan and the Crazy Enough crew for being accommodating and we all made it work.

But most of all was just all the great work, good will, and fun we had. There are so many people to thank and it’s impossible to note them all – it all begins with the reading committee that reads all year long and meets each and every Wednesday to talk about the plays without the brains and good taste of: Kelsey Tyler, Cynthia Fuhrman, Mead Hunter, Megan Ward, Jessica Nikkel, Brian Kettler, Dawn Young and myself it wouldn’t be possible.

On a final note. I just read something that said a study of the brain revealed that artistic tendencies come from random schizophrenic genes. I think that says it all. And if you actually read this entire email you’ll either be happy or worried about just how artistic you are. I’m doomed me thinks. Who said that? You did! What?

More About JAW || Follow the JAW Blog || 2009 Big Weekend Events