HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Happy Hanukkah! and Merry Christmas!
In this season of giving, we are so thankful for the gift you give us all season long.
Happy Holidays OOB!
Help support the IT Awards with letters from Santa (see more below) and 2009 Awards Ceremony memorabilia - they make great holiday gifts!
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CATCHING UP WITH JEFF RIEBE
by Bill McMahon
 For those of you who missed it, our good friend Jeff Riebe was a presenter at the 2009 awards ceremony in September.
When
the IT Awards were still just a concept, Jeff was one of the first
people we discussed it with. He was a big supporter right from the
beginning and provided months of council and feedback though out the
formation of this organization. Eventually Jeff served as one of the
original Co-Chairs of the Honorary Awards Committee and an At-Large
Judge. In April 2006, he was the victim of a near fatal drunk driving
incident when he was struck while on the sidewalk outside his Manhattan
apartment. Bill McMahon recently caught up with Jeff and discussed his
rehabilitation, life in Minneapolis and all of his recent activities.
Read the full story.....
| | Letters from Santa 
Do you have nieces, nephews, children of your own or friends with kids? If so.... The IT Awards needs you. We
know it is a tough year and most folks don't have $100 or even $20 to
donate. That's why this year we decided on a fundraiser that is fun, in
the holiday spirit and creates so much joy for such a small price.
PERSONALIZED LETTERS FROM SANTA TO YOUR CHILD Personalized, Addressed to your Child and Postmarked from the North Pole $5 Personalized typeset letter to your child $10 Personalized handwritten letter to your child www.NorthPoleDispatch.com During
this magical and exciting time of year, children are anticipating their
visit from Santa and the joys and surprises of Christmas morning.
Enhance their Christmas experience with a handwritten, personalized
letter from Santa, addressed to your child and postmarked from the
North Pole. Even the most skeptical child will believe the authenticity
of this special keepsake. And if you are really in the holiday spirit, you can really help out by helping us spread the word about this service. | Theatre World, Volume 65, 2008-2009
 Theatre
World, Volume 65, 2008-2009 is one of the most distinguished and
respected annual theatrical volumes that each year provies a
retrospective look back at the previous season in American Theatre.
Edited by Honorary Committee Member Ben Hodges, this year the book
includes an extensive list of Off-Off-Broadway productions and an
overview chapter of the Off-Off-Broadway season by our very own Shay
Gines. Read more about it.
Theatre
World, Volume 65, 2008-2009 is currently on sale at the Drama Book Shop
- recieve a 15% discount when purchased in person.
Or, you can order it from Amazon - start your purchase from the IT Awards Shop and the IT Awards gets upto 10% of your purchase donated back to us with no additional cost to you. |
Community Corner
HAPPENINGS, EVENTS & ISSUES
AFFECTING OFF-OFF-BROADWAY
Open Source Ticketing for OOB
Fractured
Atlas is creating an open source ticketing service that will allow OOB
theatre companies to sell tickets on their own terms and for free. The
system and the infrastructure to support the system are currently in
development. Fractured Atlas is encouraging people to follow their
progress and provide feedback at athena.fracturedatlas.org.
Tax Deductions for Artistic Services
Americans
for the Arts is working on several tax issues. The one that applies
most directly and exclusively to the arts is a proposal to allow
artists to claim a deduction for the full value of certain donated
works. Under current law, they may deduct only the cost of materials.This
does not specifically apply to performing artists yet, but it is the
groundwork for the donation of artistic services as well. You can let your representatives know your thoughts.
For
details about these and other important activities affecting OOB and to
see how you can help and get involved, check out the Community Corner.
| It's Blog Time
Do
you know about the Actors Fund? Where do you think the new young
audiences are for OOB? Did you attend the diversity in theatre
conference?
We're talking about it on our Staff Blog!
We
regularly post personal entries and updates on both Blogspot and
Twitter. You can also keep up with us on Facebook and MySpace. Those of
you who are already familiar and comfortable with RSS feeds are welcome
to subscribe or follow us on any of these formats. | Get your IT Awards Merchandise
They make great holiday gifts
Show
your community spirit and support the IT Awards with the new 2009 wall
calendar, T-Shirts, hats, photos & DVDs from the 2009 IT Awards
ceremony, and books about OOB and NYC Theatre.
You can get yours now at our shop.
BUY AMAZON
And
don't forget, any time you buy something from Amazon and start by going
through our website, we get a percentage of your sale with no
additional cost to you.
Just start by going to Amazon through our shop.
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SPOTLIGHT ON
NAT CASSIDY & WATSON ARTS
by Christopher Borg
Nat Cassidy in The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots
Nat Cassidy We recently heard from the mustachioed and multi-talented author of The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots
the Outstanding Full-Length Script of the 2009 IT Awards Ceremony. Born
in North Carolina and raised in Arizona, Nat Cassidy is an actor,
musician, playwright, and director living in Brooklyn. As frontman to
Nat Cassidy & the Nines (who have performed in venues across the
City) he has written and recorded two albums - "Pet Symmetry" and
"Everybody Here Says Hi!" and is currently working on a third. The ceremony was a boon for Nat. Besides receiving the award for full-length script, Reckoning,
was nominated for both Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role (David Ian Lee)
and Outstanding Production. In addition, Nat wrote and directed Any Day Now,
for which Elyse Mirto received the Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role
award and earned Nat a nomination for Outstanding Director. And since
the ceremony, Any Day Now was
published as part of NYTE's "Plays & Playwrights 2010" anthology
coming out early next year. So, how does an award-winning writer
follow-up a year of tremendous achievement? He writes, of course: "I
recently finished (and had a fantastic first table reading of) my
newest script, a four-act ghost story set in the White House in the
1850s entitled, Pierce. We have no specific plans for production as yet, but I'm hoping to see it up sometime in 2010." Nat confesses that he is, at the same time, also working on a one-man show about HP Lovecraft and planning a "sorta sequel" to The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots. Keep writing, Nat!  Watson Arts' production of
Coming Aphrodite!Watson Arts
a resident company of La MaMa ETC, Watson Arts (in association with
LaMaMa ETC) received multiple nominations for their musical adaptation
of Willa Cather's novella, Coming, Aphrodite!:
Outstanding Original Music (Mark Ettinger & Paul Foglino),
Outstanding Set Design (Jim Boutin) and Outstanding Production of a
Musical.
Watson Arts, headed by artistic
director, Mary Fulham, is dedicated to presenting new work with a
particular emphasis on women and in February will inaugurate an annual
play series dedicated to female playwrights, "The Write Women Project."
Their first offering will be Dog And Wolf,
a new political play by playwright and human-rights activist, Catherine
Filloux. In this story of "intrigue, identity and pursuit," a
wheelchair-bound lawyer must track down an asylum-seeking political
refugee who has suddenly disappeared. The play, directed by Jean
Randich, explores how human indifference can accommodate genocide. It
will run at the 59E59 Theater from February 5 through 21, 2010. For
more information please visit their ebsite: www.watsonarts.org. ____________________
| How does OOB use Technology?
How do you use new technology to produce and promote your productions? What technology do you want to learn about?
The
New York Innovative Theatre Foundation will be hosting 3-4 technology
events over the course of 2010. We'd like to hear your ideas on
potential topics of conversation. Examples include: using technology to
market your show, greening your theatrical production, tools for
internal company communication and production planning, using
technology in your theatrical design ...
We have posted a questionnaire to collect your ideas and suggestions.
The deadline to complete this very brief form is December 4, 2009.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
The first event will be January 31st 2010 at 6pm at The Players Theater Loft (115 MacDougal Street) and live-streamed at nyitawards.com.
| | ____________________ THE IT AWARDS ARE SPONSORED BY NYC's professional Playbill & Audience building resource 
Providing Marketing and Public Relations 
The Actor's Resource | |
