Actors Alliance

Consensus Organizing for Theater Workshop: Building a Diverse and Robust Audience
Instructor: Seema Sueko
Date:  Monday, May 20, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Venue: Mo`olelo @ The 10th Avenue Theatre, 3rd floor Gallery, 930 10th Ave, San Diego CA, 92101
Course Fee: $25
Registration: To register, please call 858-761-1719 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
*Payment in full is required to hold your spot. You may mail a check payable to “Mo`olelo” to P.O. Box 710564; San Diego, CA 92171-0564, or pay with a credit card over the phone.

Description:
Mo`olelo’s last three productions achieved 108%, 101% and 90% audience capacity respectively, 43% of the audience was under the age of 45; 20% self-identified as African American, 19% self-identified as Latino/a, and over 50 different ethnic groups were served. We achieved these numbers through a process we’ve codified called Consensus Organizing (CO) for Theater. We would like to share these community organizing strategies so that all arts practitioners have the tools to engage diverse and robust audiences. In this workshop you will learn about Mo`olelo’s Consensus Organizing for Theater process, have time to brainstorm and test the CO process on your own projects, and leave with outreach tools to apply to your own work. The CO process crosses the traditional departmental silos found in arts organizations and produces positive results in areas of Development/Fundraising, Education, Marketing, and Dramaturgy/Artistic Content. This workshop is perfect for arts administrators who work in those areas as well as artists, board members, and representatives from non-arts organizations who are interested in incorporating an arts component in their work.

About the Instructor:
Seema Sueko is the Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Mo`olelo. She developed Mo`olelo's Consensus Organizing for Theater methodologies, Green Theater Choices Toolkit, and led the Company through its selection for awards and recognition from the American Theatre Wing (creators of the Tony Awards), Theatre Communications Group, NEA, NAACP San Diego Branch, and she received the 2012 Consensus Organizer of the Year Award. Seema holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago and is a member of Actors' Equity Association. She is one of six arts leaders in the country to receive TCG’s inaugural Leadership U[niversity] grant, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Directing credits include: Since Africa at The Old Globe and Mo`olelo (Patt? Award Outstanding Ensemble); How I Got That Story, 26 Miles, Yellow Face, Good Boys, Permanent Collection, The Adoption Project: Triad and co-directed Kita y Fernanda with Robert Castro at Mo`olelo. Acting credits include: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow [Yale Rep and The Old Globe] (Patt? Award and Craig Noel Award for acting); Rashomon [North Coast Rep]; A Christmas Carol [San Diego Rep]; and A Chorus Line [Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre] among others. She is a three-time recipient of the Chicago's Jeff Award for her performances. Playwriting credits include: remains (McDonald Playwriting Award) and commissions from Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis and Centerstage in Baltimore.

Course Title: Writing for Stage and Screen
Instructor: Stephen Metcalfe
Dates:  Every other Tuesday, April 2 - June 11, 2013 from 6:30 – 9:00 PM
April 2, 2013
April 16, 2013
April 30, 2013
May 14, 2013
May 28, 2013
June 11, 2013
Venue: Mo`olelo @ The 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Ave, San Diego CA, 92101
Course Fee: $300 ($275 for members of AASD, AEA, AFTRA, SAG or TCG)
Registration: A 20% nonrefundable deposit is required to hold your spot in the class. The balance is due April 2. To register, please call 858-761-1719 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Class Size: 7 – 10 Students
Description:
Over those course of 12 weeks, this class will help students "start from scratch" by exploring the basic elements of writing for the stage and screen. Each week individuals will create brand new original work to be read, discussed and provided feedback. The class will concentrate on story and scene structure, character building, dialogue, dramatic tension, themes and theatricality.

About the Instructor:
Stephen Metcalfe’s career has touched on all forms of dramatic writing; screen, television and stage.

His first produced screenplay was JACKNIFE. Based on his Off-Broadway play, Strange Snow, it starred Robert DeNiro, Ed Harris and Cathy Bates and was directed by British stage and screen veteran, David Jones.

The adaptation of French director, Jean-Claude Tachella’s, Cousin-Cousine soon followed. Produced by Paramount, COUSINS was directed by Joel Schumacher and starred Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini, William Peterson, Sean Young and Lloyd Bridges.

In the early 90’s Mr. Metcalfe took the darkly realistic, 3000 and turned it into the Pygmalion–like fairy tale, PRETTY WOMAN. The film, of course, starred Julia Robert and Richard Gere and was directed by Garry Marshall.

Numerous rewrites followed. Among them were ARACHNOPHOBIA directed by Frank Marshall; IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, starring Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda and directed by Andrew Bergman; THE AIR UP THERE starring Kevin Bacon and directed by Paul Michael Glazer; MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS, starring Richard Dreyfuss and directed by Steven Herrick; THE MARRYING MAN starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger; DANGEROUS MINDS starring Michelle Pfeifer and ROOMMATES starring Peter Falk and directed by Peter Yates. Mr. Metcalfe has also worked with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner respectively, on the as yet un-produced screenplays, THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR and AMERICAN SPORTSMAN

Mr. Metcalfe has adopted both stage plays and novels. His play, EMILY was done for Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures; TIME FLIES, by Paul Link, was adopted for producer Laura Ziskin; A.R. Gurney’s THE OLD BOY was written for Touchstone Pictures and Peter Mayle’s comic novel, ANYTHING CONSIDERED, was done for producer, Stanley Jaffe and Sony Pictures.
In 2002 Mr. Metcalfe wrote and directed the independent film BEAUTIFUL JOE starring Sharon Stone and Billy Connelly.


Mr. Metcalfe’s stage plays include LOVES & HOURS, VIKINGS, STRANGE SNOW, SORROWS AND SONS, PILGRIMS, HALF A LIFETIME, EMILY, WHITE LINEN, DIVIRTIMENTI, THE INCREDIBLY FAMOUS WILLY RIVERS and WHITE MAN DANCING. His plays continue to be produced in New York and at theaters through the United States as well as in Europe and Japan. His television credits are available upon request.