Spring 2015 Grant Recipient

Circle X Theatre Co. (Los Angeles, CA) commissioned playwright Octavio Solis to reimagine The Cherry Orchard with a focus on rural Northern California communities, through an ensemble-based community engagement project. Two Circle X ensemble members traveled to Siskiyou County to conduct interviews and teach classes in partnership with Siskiyou County Land Trust and Siskiyou County Cattlewoman.

SHAREBACK:

The majority of my work is created collaboratively. However, each of my projects has had a slightly different collaborative model: community-centered collaboration, playwright-centered, physically devised, design-centered collaboration etc… It can be difficult to ensure that all artists and community stake-holders are on the same page financially, artistically, and understand their responsibilities in these diverse models. I decided to create a template that matched the fluidity of the collaborations. Because there is no one way to collaborate, there is no way to create a “How to” guide book, rather I made a series of questions and reminders to use when approaching different situations. It is not all-inclusive, but it is based off of situations I have encountered thus-far in my work.

- Kate Jopson, Circle X Theatre, Assocaite Artistic Director

Managing Artistic and Community Expectations

Click HERE to download the full document. Photo by Octavio Solis

OUTLINE OF QUESTIONS / TOPICS:

Artist-to-Artist Contracts

1. What is the artistic break down?
2. If a playwright is brought in, does the playwright retain all the rights to a project once it has been created?
3. What rights do the collaborators retain?
4. What rights does the company retain? (if different entity than collaborators)
5. Compensation

Community Relationship

1. How do you maintain a transparent process?
2. What should they expect from the final artistic product?

Want to read more? Click HERE to download the full document.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Kate Jopson
Circle X Theatre
Associate Artistic Director
kate@circlextheatre.org