For anyone who doesn't know Brian, he's an "ideas man." As in, has multiple composition notebooks full of story plots, commercial ideas, jokes, inventions, etc. I'm more of an execution kind of person, so the only thing I ever "jot down" is a grocery list. The whole thing totally baffles me, but it's awesome to witness.
So anyway, over a year ago, he came up with the idea of doing a live performance in the style of a late-night talk show. Think Conan O'Brien for a live audience (no TV). He had a certain person in mind to host, a guy named Kevin who is an amazing musician (drummed on all of Andrew Bird's albums) but is also a really witty, endearing, interesting person in general. They decided the guests would be really fascinating—not necessarily well-known—people who can teach the audience something new or just straight up entertain them.
Brian and Kevin worked out the vision, format, content ideas, and were both super enthusiastic but after a while, life sort of got in the way and the project lost momentum. (This is the only problem with being an ideas person). Fast forward to a few months ago when a girl in the theater circle caught wind of the concept. She loved it and sensed that they needed a project manager to get on board and make it happen, so she did. She started spreading the word, booked a space, started talking to potential guests, and assembled an arsenal of writers to work on Kevin's monologues. This girl is my hero!!!!
So with an official team in place, we officially have the show up and running! (I deleted the name because it was showing up in Google searches and I didn't want people to land on my blog accidentally). The first show was 3 weeks ago, and it will be performed once a month until "people stop having fun" (solid long-term vision, ha). I didn't like the title at first but it's really grown on me...mostly since Brian told me they wouldn't be making any overt references to periods. They've also secured a great loft space for performances that happens to be sponsored by Hendrick's Gin, so admission and drinks are both free. You heard me!
There are so many talented people on the roster, it's incredible. We have professionals all pitching in pro bono to handle their area of expertise, including everything from lighting to video to design to a band to writers who all graduated from Second City, whaaaaat. I feel un-funny just standing near them. The only reason I get to play in the sandbox with them is because I'm handling the social media side of things...but I'll take it!
It's hard to believe that we're already gearing up for our second show (March 19). The first one was a huge success! There were definitely kinks in the armor, but we walked away with some great learnings to help make changes next time. The guests were really fun too - I just edited together some footage for our Facebook page (which you can find through mine), so check it out, and "like" the page if you want to follow along as the show evolves!
prepping the audio
the house band
guest / comedian
more guests, who host their own game show. cool, right?
It's been super exciting to be involved with a production like this, but even more so, it's so gratifying to see one of Brian's ideas come to fruition. He's put in so much work, not only on the ideas side, but on the production side too. I'm like a proud mama bear! I also love that the intention isn't to necessarily grow the show into something specific, which will allow it to develop out of the talent and inspiration that all the different people involved will bring to the table. Now I just need to update my artsy-hipster wardrobe looks like so I won't stand out like a sore thumb around all these cool people :)
