How a Season Falls Apart — Eric Pfeffinger

At Howlround, David Dower posted a compelling insight into a theater's season planning called How a Season Comes Together. Of course, not every theater has the same priorities. Accordingly, my colleagues at the Rust Belt Repertory Theater have similarly shared a glimpse into their season planning process.

	CULTURE	FEAR FACTOR	LOGISTICS	STRATEGY	PROGRAM?
Play that everyone's heard of but nobody's seen	White	OMG nobody's seen it this could be a disaster	Google reviews from big cities for press release. If not stellar, abort mission. Or use ellipses.	Timid	Yes
Play that everyone's heard of and everyone's seen fifty times	So white	What if those other productions were better?	Do we still have that kitchen sink? Check storage	Craven	O yes
Play from New York that every regional theater is producing this season	Affluent/ Brooklyn	Fear factor low	Now that we've programmed it I should probably get around to reading it	Desperate	God yes
Play that can use pretty much the same set as the last play	So very white	Kevin's couch may start to disintegrate	Marketing angle: The Living-Room Series! Come to the theater, feel like you're still at home…? Rethink.	Penniless	Yes
Jokey musical that trades on familiar ethnic, cultural or gender truisms without offending anybody I hope	White-ish	Afraid that I'm not equipped to assess whether jokes about Jewishness or menopause are funny or offensive	Find a woman and/or ethnic person, ask them questions	Pandering	Yes b/c we're edgy
Shakespeare thing	Ecru	Fear factor medium if we can get it down to under two hours	Check on supplies; swords and codpieces have a habit of walking away	Elitist but, like, safe-elitist	Verily
Neil Simon-y thing and/or something that plays like it could be on TV	Like a sugar cube in a snowstorm	Relaxed	Already sold out	Surrender	YES YES PLEASE YES
New play that's only been produced once before	Exotic	Off the charts	Check anxiety meds for refills	Certain destruction	You're kidding, right?

For a more intimate window into their programming process, take a look at this.