Just in case you missed it, Saturday Writer Fever got some awesome praise this past weekend from no less than the San Francisco Chronicle!
Read the article HERE!
Many thanks to writer Benjamin Wachs and photographer Jason Henry for coming out to capture last month’s event!
Excited to join us for the next one? Well, you’re in luck- it’s coming up on Saturday! Find out more about it HERE!
Thanks, as always, to all of our friends and collaborators! We couldn’t do it without you!
Our ongoing theater/improv event that brings writers and actors together to create original monologues and performance pieces, just got a lovely nod in San Francisco Magazine, which named us the Best of The Bay in Theatre Humor/Improv!
http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/best-of-the-bay-2014-arts
We’re delighted, of course, and deeply complimented. Thanks, SF Magazine! We think you’re swell too, and are humbled and thrilled by the support!
Haven’t been to a Saturday Write Fever yet- or wondering when the next one is? Look no further! Here’s everything you need to know about our next SWF!
See you there!
San Francisco Theater Pub and the EXIT Theatre are proud to present a fifteenth round of Saturday Write Fever, this time on Saturday, July 12, 2014, with Saturday Write Fever: GO BOOM!
Every second Saturday of the month, we invite writers, actors, directors, theater creators, and theater audiences alike to a free evening of quick script-making and flash-fried performance! This month Stuart Bousel will be crafting prompts from stuff overheard during various July 4th events he’ll have attended the previous weekend (“Dude, I’m so wasted right now!”), further unified by the common theme of having to take place right before, right after, or during an explosion of some kind. Close proximity to Bastille Day (July 14th) may mean some French stuff will be thrown in there too. Or pieces may just have to be written in French. Show up to find out!
Join us in the EXIT Cafe (156 Eddy Street) from 8:30-8:50 pm for registration followed by a 9:00 pm writing sprint where writers have 30 minutes (more or less) to generate original monologues based around that night’s pre-generated prompts. We cast actors from the crowd (no experience necessary), then at 9:30 pm, they perform the work on stage in the café for an on-the-spot, one-night-only, instant festival! Come join in the communal creativity, either as writer, performer, or audience!
Usually hosted by local writers Stuart Bousel and/or Megan Cohen, occasionally hosted by local actor/writer/mangenue Sam Bertken, admission to this event is free, with the Café staying open and staffed so you can purchase drinks and snacks all night long! No need for reservations, though be there from 8:30-8:50 to get your name on the writer list as we will cap it at 20. Of course, if we get 20 writers, that means we’ll also need 20 actors, so be sure to come early and let us know you want to play!
In honor of our first Saturday Write Fever of 2014, fast approaching this Saturday, January 11, and our switch to every second Saturday of the month going forward, we asked frequent SWF attendee and honorary assistant Charles Lewis III to do a re-cap of last year. Enjoy, and see you on Saturday night!
“I love deadlines. I love the ‘whooshing’ noise they make as they fly by.”
– Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
DISCLAIMER: Attendance at Saturday Write Fever is no guarantee of facial caress by Cary Grant’s cheeks.
Allison Page has done lots of cool things in her life. She acts, she writes, she does stand-up, she’s travelled the world, she founded her own theatre company, she’s a black belt martial artist, she started a comedy duo, she moved from the snow-covered-and-cold-as-a-witch’s-teat tundra of Minnesota to the snow-free-but-cold-as-a-witch’s-teat hills of San Francisco. Plus, for shits ‘n giggles, she has her own regular TheaterPub column called “Everything is Already Something”. She’ll probably accomplish a lot more before she’s shuffled off this mortal coil. And yet… if the task of writing her obituary were charged to anyone who sat in The EXIT Theatre café last year, there are three words that would be guaranteed to appear: “BLACK. TAR. HEROIN.”
That, dear reader, is the result of unpredictable creative exercise known as Saturday Write Fever.
The collaborative brainchild of TheaterPub co-founder Stuart Bousel and frequent ‘Pub collaborator Megan Cohen, SWF – as it’s known to cool kids, gang members, and fans of pro wrestling – is the first regular ‘Pub spin-off.
Stuart and Megan… givin’ you Fevah! (photo by Rachel Bublitz)
It can sometimes seem like the erratic Mr. Hyde to the ‘Pub’s Dr. Jekyll: both inhabit the same skin, but couldn’t represent a greater dichotomy. Whereas a typical ‘Pub show is staged during the traditional “dark nights” of theatre (usually Mon. – Wed.), Fever is put on during one of the most competitive performance nights of the week (especially for The EXIT, which is often running two or three other shows at the same time). Though a ‘Pub show is the end result of days or weeks of rehearsing after who-knows-how-long-it-took to write, SWF is entirely written, practiced, and read, all in the same night. ‘Pub shows occasionally have cast members hiding amongst the audience; Fever’s participants are whomever volunteers from that evening’s audience. A ‘Pub show is (hopefully) memorized back-and-forth; a Fever gives you a Post-It, a pen, paper, and lets you go to town.
There is a sense of order to the implied chaos. From the very first night (23rd March 2013) the plan for the evening was simple: 8:30 is considered the official opening of the “mixer”. During this time prospective writers and actors add their names to Stuart and Megan’s list. At about 9pm each writer is called to the stage to pick a prompt out of the bucket. From there the writers are sent to the EXIT’s green room with the writing materials of their choice – pencil, paper, laptop – and given 30 minutes to knock out a page-long monologue. At the end of the half-hour, the writers go back to the stage to pick actor names from a different bucket (buckets play a vital role in the whole process). After five or ten minutes of reading over the pages and discussing them with the writers, the actors take to the stage to read material that didn’t exist one hour earlier.
The sirens that call to us.
As simple as that sounds, it can be maddening for the writer. You might know this about us – what with all the drinking and neuroses associated with writers – but the idea of filling a blank page terrifies us. It’s no easier when you’re stuck in a room full of both complete strangers AND familiar colleagues. Of the 30 minutes allotted, I’d say I often spend 20 of those looking around the room, the next five writing the first two paragraphs, and the final five rewriting the entire piece from scratch. Oh, and I have to work in the phrase “It’s a good thing I brought my own”, as that was my prompt opening night. How it translated into a piece about the prophylactic use of dental dams, I still don’t know?
And that’s the thing with those prompts: as innocuous as they are, they serve as an amazing Rorschach test into minds of the writers. Whether or not Stuart and Megan theme the prompts for the evening (4/20, Xmas, etc.), they seem fully aware that making the words on those Post-Its as broad as possible will lead to the most unexpected results. Still, one has to wonder how Sunil Patel could take a phrase like “Okay, but I want to go first this time” and write a heartbreaking piece about reincarnated lovers whose respective deaths never get any easier for each other? What inspired Marissa Skudlarek, Claire Rice, and Rachel Bublitz to write pieces about introverted office workers, cat-sitters, and regretful young brides, respectively? And, for the love of God, who drew the mental road map that lead Allison Page from the phrase “let’s spend some money” to “Black. Tar. Heroin.”?!
But that’s the beauty of it all. One of the greatest feelings is when we pick actors, take them out into the hall, hand them the pages, and watch as they glance up at us from the page, unable to believe what they’ve just read. It’s reassuring to a writer that they have the ability to surprise someone. With the actors chosen at random, it never ceases to amaze us how well the words still work, even when the writer is the opposite of what was envisioned. Women read for men, young people read old characters, everyone eventually reads as an animal.
No one knows EXACTLY what to expect. From the very beginning TheaterPub has prided itself on, amongst other things, creating new work and smudging the audience/performer barrier. Now the flagship of its “second era” is spending the second Saturday of every month. So now you – yes, you – can spend your Saturday nights mingling with creative new people AND taking part in the madness that is the creative process.
It’s true, I tells ya! Cure your writer’s block and stage fright in 30 simple minutes! It’s fun! It’s free! No experience? No problem! All ya gotta do is come catch the fever! Just look at these satisfied customers: tragedy, comedy, and pure Insanity! This and more can be yours!
Julia Heitner, photo by Colin Hussey.
Jeunee Simon, photo by Colin Hussey
Sam Bertken, photo by Colin Hussey
The first Saturday Write Fever of 2014 will take place on Saturday – Jan. 11 at The EXIT Theatre on 156 Eddy St., San Francisco. No reservations needed. Admission is free. Participation is voluntary and subject to number of prompts.
Charles Lewis III is prone to spontaneous one-man karaoke sessions in the middle of BART stations.
San Francisco Theater Pub and the Exit Theatre are proud to present an eighth round of Saturday Write Fever, this time on Saturday, January 11th, 2014, with Saturday Write Fever: The Next Chapter!
Every second Saturday of the month, we invite writers, actors, directors, theater creators and theater audiences alike to a free evening of quick script-making and flash-fried performance! January 11 marks the beginning of our second year bringing you this special brand of creative madness, so the theme this night will be hopes, wishes and resolutions! There’s no better way to start 2014!
Join us in the Exit Cafe (156 Eddy Street) for an 8:30 pm mixer followed by a 9:00 pm writing sprint where writers have 30 minutes (more or less) to generate original monologues based around that night’s pre-generated prompts. We cast actors from the crowd (no experience necessary), then at 9:30 pm, they perform the work on stage in the café for an on-the-spot, one-night-only instant festival! Come join in the communal creativity, either as writer, performer, or audience!
Hosted by local writers Stuart Bousel and Megan Cohen, admission to this event is free, with the Café staying open and staffed so you can purchase drinks and snacks all night long! No need for reservations, though get there early to get your name on the writer list as we will cap it at 24. Of course, if we get 24 writers, that means we’ll also need 24 actors…
Taming of the Shrew Opens March 18!
Theater Pub jumps into their third Shakespeare production, this time taking on the ever-controversial, ever-thought provoking, ever-fascinating TAMING OF THE SHREW.
It’s Kate vs. the World! When brilliant but brittle Katherina (Kim Saunders)’s younger sister Bianca (Shay Wisniewski) finds herself being courted by three eligible bachelors (Vince Faso, Brian Martin, Ron Talbot), their opportunistic mother (Jan Marsh) lays down the law that Bianca won’t be allowed to marry until Katherina finds a husband. The suitors select Petruchio (Paul Jennings), a money seeking adventurer who might be Kate’s worst nightmare- or the best thing that ever happened to her.
Also featuring Sam Bertken, Shane Rhodes, Sarah Stewart, and directed by Stuart Bousel, this fast and furious production of the classic play will be one part Shakespeare, one part boxing match, and all parts Theater Pub.
The show plays March 18, 19, 25 and 27, at 8 PM at the Cafe Royale. Tickets are free and no reservations are required, but we encourage you to come early, enjoy the pop-up restaurant of the evening, and donate at the door to keep Theater Pub alive!
The first Saturday Write Fever will be March 23rd at the Exit Cafe!
The Exit Theater announces a new Saturday night monthly event in their Café- and an exciting new collaboration with the San Francisco Theater Pub!
Starting March 23rd, every third Saturday of the month, we invite writers, actors, directors, theater creators and theater audiences alike to an evening of quick script-making and flash-fried performance!
Join us for an 8:30 mixer followed by a 9:00 writing sprint where writers (any writers who care to participate that night) have 30 minutes to generate original monologues based around that night’s pre-selected subjects (will they be drawn from a hat? WHO CAN SAY?!?). We cast actors from the crowd (no experience necessary), then at 9:30, they perform the work on stage in the café for an on-the-spot, one-night-only instant festival! Come join in the communal creativity, either as writer, performer, or audience!
Hosted by local writers Stuart Bousel and Megan Cohen, admission to this event is free, with the Café staying open and staffed so you can purchase drinks and snacks all night long! No need for reservations! We’ll provide paper and pens, all you need to bring is your amazing, sexy mind and the desire to create for creation’s sake.
See you there!
San Francisco Theater Pub 