Pint Sized, Props and Good Vibes

Theater Pub Artistic Director, Julia Heitner, talks about what it’s been like for her to put together this year’s Pint-Sized play festival. 

It’s not everyday that I get to carry around a large box of vibrators and a bag full of dildos on BART, but it’s all part of the fun of directing for San Francisco Theater Pub.

Last week I had the honor of picking up a package of toys from the Good Vibrations warehouse in San Francisco’s SoMA district. Good Vibes has graciously donated for a new play I’m directing for Pint Sized Plays III, Put it on Vibrate, by Tom Bruett, featuring the acting talents of Kirsten Broadbear and Maggie Ziomek.

After riding home to Oakland with my shopping bag of sex positive swag open for any passerby to see, including the group of BART police next to me (I wonder if they got a peek?), I unpacked everything and snapped some photos of each prop to send off to the playwright, concluding that this was “pretty much the weirdest email I have ever sent someone.”

These may be the first props for a show that have genuinely made me blush, but it is not unusual as an indie theatre director to be on the hunt for less-than-conventional stage props. For the first Pint Sized plays, in 2010, the play I directed, Queen Mab in Drag, by Stuart Bousel, called for a diamond snail ring, and a fairy princess costume for a man (worn very well by Rob Ready). After wondering what the heck a diamond snail ring was, I thought, “I’ll have to make one!” Out came the Sculpey clay and paint.

For Ashley Cowan’s play, Word War, part of PianoFight’s ShortLived, I created a giant iphone/ipad out of cardboard and tape for a dream/dance fight sequence. I also ended up making custom t-shirts for M.R. Fall’s play, Test Preparation, when it was included in BOA X. I’m proud to say the playwright and I designed these ourselves!

For me, part of the fun of putting on theatre with a small budget is finding a way to bring interesting props to life with a bit of glue and paint. Although homemade clay versions of sex toys would have provided a fun and interesting challenge, I am very grateful to Good Vibrations for donating props that we otherwise could not afford in order to bring Tom’s play to life.

I’d like to maintain some element of mystery, so I haven’t posted any pictures of the props. To see what Good Vibes has donated for Put it on Vibrate, plus nine other original short plays by some fantastic local playwrights, you’ll have to come see the show!

Pint Sized Plays III
July 16, 17, 23, 30 & 31, 8pm at Café Royale, 800 Post St. San Francisco, CA 94103
And July 18, 8pm @ The Plough and the Stars, 116 Clement St. San Francisco, CA 94118

Pint Sized Plays Interviews 1: Tom Bruett and Leah Winery

This year’s Pint Sized Plays interviews have begun! First up, we have a pair of this year’s playwrights, Tom Bruett and Leah Winery, both of whom will be participating in Pint Sized, and Theater Pub, for the first time. To find out more about this year’s festival, and the people behind it, make sure you keep your eye on the website- and don’t miss the Pint Sized Play Festival III when it opens at the Cafe Royale this July 16th!

So how did you hear about Theater Pub’s Pint-Sized Play Festival and what possessed you to send something in?

Tom Bruett: I heard about the Theater Pub’s Pint-Sized Play Festival on Facebook through many friends that were sharing info about it. I had this crazy play about selling sex toys that I thought would be perfect for the venue and thankfully the folks at the Theater Pub agreed!

Leah Winery: I’d gone to a Christmas theatre pub with a friend and really felt that I wanted to have my voice heard in such an eclectic mix of people. There are some theatre companies in this town that are ostensibly open to the entire community, but are actually incredibly insular and exclusive. I love that as a relative unknown, my piece was accepted into the festival. It really shows that the producers of Theatre Pub are more concerned with the quality of the writing than the reputations of its writers.

What’s the hardest thing about writing a short play?

Tom Bruett: I think the hardest thing about writing short plays is coming up with a unique and interesting situation and then creating characters that people care about and have something to say in ten pages.

Leah Winery: You run the risk of falling in love with the characters and the story and wanting to know more about their world. God forbid; it inspires you to write a one act or a full length in order to flesh out their journey.

What’s the best thing about writing a short play?

Leah Winery: It forces you to be concise. There’s zero time for exposition or introduction. It’s almost like walking into a random movie theatre half way into the film, watching a single scene, then walking out. In a very tight framework, you have to trim the fat and get to the meat of the story immediately in the name of efficiency.

Tom Bruett: I love short plays because it allows you to have an evening of work by a bunch of different writers, covering a ton of different subject matters. I love the sense of community that is created.

Who do you think is a major influence on your work?

Tom Bruett: Nicki Silver, Edward Albee, Thornton Wilder

Leah Winery: Jack Daniels.

If you could pick one celebrity to be cast in your show, who would it be and why?

Tom Bruett: Jennifer Coolidge. Come on! Wouldn’t you love to hear her try and sell sex toys?

Leah Winery: Steve Carell. He’s the master of the repressed, ticking time bomb type of guy who wouldn’t be able to vent his true feelings about his horrible wife until she was dead.

What is a writing project you are currently working on?

Leah Winery: I’m working on filling out a lovely little Q&A for Pint Sized…

Tom Bruett: I’m working on a play about fighting time and aging. I love comedy, but I’m trying to tackle some bigger subjects.

What’s next for you?

Tom Bruett: I’m starting grad school part time in the fall at SFSU. Looking to round out my BFA in a theatre a bit.

Leah Winery: I’ll probably step away from writing for a while and focus on raising my toddler. I’m sure my next piece will have something to do with poop, and the profound implication that everybody does it…Or zombies from outer space. Or pooping zombies from outer space. That’s never been done on stage, right?

So what upcoming shows or events are you most excited about in the Bay Area Theater Scene?

Leah Winery: I can’t wait to see Truffaldino Says No at Shotgun Players. Ken Slattery is a fantastically funny writer, and the concept of an Italian harlequin clown who ends up in the States in a bizzaro sitcom world is brilliant.

Tom Bruett: I’m very excited about Upright Grand, by Laura Schellhardt, that is opening at TheatreWorks in July. It’s a beautiful play about the relationship between parent and child directed by the fantastic Meredith McDonough.

What’s your favorite beer?

Tom Bruett: Blue Moon!

Leah Winery: I’m actually not much of a beer drinker. (spoken in a gruff, Spanish accent) I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis…And yes, that was the most interesting response in the world.

Don’t miss the Pint Sized plays, opening July 16 and playing July 17, 23, 30 and 31 with a special performance at the Plough and the Stars on July 18. All the rest are at our usual stomping grounds, Cafe Royale, located at the corner of Post and Leavenworth in San Francisco’s lovely Tendernob neighborhood. Performances are free, no reservations necessary, but show up early and stay late- we’re bound to be sold out and the crowd is always the best part of Theater Pub!

Artistic Director Julia Heitner Announces This Year’s Pint-Sized Plays!

I spent a marathon day on Monday getting inspired at the Theatre Bay Area annual conference, gathering information about interactive experience from Burning Man founders and tips from site-specific mavens, Kim Epifano (Epiphany Productions/Trolley Dances) and Lauren Chavez & Ava Roy (We Players.) With this knowledge fresh in my mind, I am so pleased to announce the line-up for our annual bar-specific play festival, The Pint Sized Plays!

We have 10 new plays by 10 fantastic local playwrights. For Pint Sized III I plan to include everything our audiences love about the festival: entertaining theatre, great acting and direction, live music, beer drinking, and of course, our resident llama! For the first time this year, we are also taking the show on tour to other bars around San Francisco. First stop, the fantastic Irish Pub, The Plough and Stars on Clement Street!

The Line-up:

Beeeeeear by Megan Cohen
Third time Pint-Sized fest playwright, Megan Cohen continues to surprise us with this play about a beer-drinking bear.

Beer Theory by Marissa Skudlarek
Boy meets Girl. Dionysian meets Apollonian.

Celia Sh*ts by William Bivins
What happens when all the mystery is lost from a relationship?

Circles by Seanan Palmero
Watching a Nascar race brings up philosophical questions from the bar patrons. Are we all just going in circles?

Circling by Nancy Cooper Frank
Don’t we all deserve… a parking place right out front?

To Deborah by Leah M. Winery
Friends and family reveal their true feelings about the dearly departed.

Llama by Stuart Bousel
The llama is back!!!

Man vs. Beer by Sunil Patel
A Teetotaler is peer pressured by a talking beer.

Play it Again, Friend by Tim Bauer
Man contemplates life through the music of the bar pianist.

Put it on Vibrate by Tom Bruett
Pleasure party + Mother-in-Law = Hilariously Uncomfortable

The festival runs July 16,17, 23, 30 & 31, 8pm @ Café Royale, (800 Post St @ Leavenworth in San Francisco) with a special touring performance, July 18, at Plough and the Stars, (188 Clement St. @ 2nd Ave in the Richmond District), SF. Additional dates for the festival TBA.