The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03
NGCHTDDRAMATEYSCHANCE
SPRIN0 THE TIWE 70 HAIE 4
PLAT PRODr CED.


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~ you have written a play that no man
hRer Will accept and have confidence In your
" talents, together with a fow hundred
dollars there In no reason why you
ehOuldnb tahe q little theatrical hlsr and
produoe your play on your account.
Broadway theatres come cheap at this
season OF the year. actors can be had for
low salaries. there 10 plenty Of soenery
rottlnR away In s~torehouses available 10 the
hrst man who will pay the char Gss that have
accumulated and behold, for a few hundred
dollars the unaOted playwright can got n
hearing In New York. Several have tried
II this spring, as they do nearly every spring,
and though such productions seldom cause
q ripple along Broadway, they satisfy the
cravings Of the unknown authors 20 see their
plays acted.
In nearly every case the productions have
proved the wisdom Of the regular gers
In rejecting these delicate flowers OF fancy,
but your enthusiastic author will always
ind excuses for his failures. II nothing
Elise can be thought Of as an excuse for
failure, he can always exolaim bitterly:
"Ah, It's the syndicate trying to crush
out all opposition. How can one man
buck against the big m%anagers2 My play
would rave been a great success il"
However the great Joy Of the Enacted
dramatist is in getting acted. and the fact
remains that the %springtime Is the happy
budding season for hey pIaywrights along
Broadway.
b average mana ger Of a theatre 10
quite ready TO close his house by May /.
His regular season il over, his rent for the
year is presumably paid, and he Is I'm
willing to risk his own money on new pro-
auctions after that date. Here ia the great
opportunity of the Enacted dramatist.
1T costs you almost nothing to run
your theatre he tells the "Cut
down the orchestra by half, let me produce
my play with simple scenery that requires
only a few stage hands and your expenses
will be much less han at any time during
the winter.
1T isn't fair Of you to charge me with
rent, for your annual rent Is supposed to
be paid by this season Of the year, and,
besides, if you don't let me have your
theatre 1t would be closed anyhow and
you would get nothing from it. On Che
other hand, il you will do this for me and
my play makes a hit, I will give you an OPP
ton On it for next season.
1T might prove another Hazel Kirke'
or a Shore Acres Anyhow, what nave
you to lose? Nothing. Then take a chance
with me and let me produce my new play
for several weeks
This line Of argument Is pretty effective
with most managers who are in direct con-
troll of their own theatres, and they are very
likely to accept almost any kind Of financial
proposition made by an unacted dramatist.
The syndicate theatres, which are identified
with the we'll known stars, cannot as a rule
be secured on such terms. though they, too,
can be rented outright If the Enacted drama
fist has enough money to pay the almost
prohibitive rental asked. For the man
ayers of these theatres do not want to
identify their houses with the spring pro-
auctions Of unknown stars.
How the Enacted dramatist goes about
his business and what it costs him to see
his play acted may be gathered from the
experience of one playwright who per-
onally produced one of his own plays this
spring. 1t was not an absolute failure,
neither was it a great success, but the I'M
acted dramatist received enough encourage
ment to make him think the venture worth
the sum ii cost him. And he has hopes OF
selling the play to a prosperous manager
for next season.
Il wrote my play, so 1t could be acted
~cheaplyA with a small cast and inexpensive
scenery" said the dramatist. There were
eleven parts In the play, and three Of these
parts were played by doubles; that is, by
actors who we're cast for other parts in
different acts. This made my company
consist of only eight players, five men and
three women.
Il tried to get q leading woman Of some
prominence to play the principal role.
When l first made inquiries. early in March,
l was met with naughty stares and in
quhries as to my financial standing; Each
leading woman / spoke to wanted $500 a
week or more, and demanded to be featured
or starred In my play.
Il was much discouraged then, but az
the season wore on to a close and / did not
arrive at any decision / began to receive
notes from the erstwhile naughty leading
ladies asking me to call. One Of them cut
her salary TO 500, and finally. offered to
1 take SIS a week II I would give her q lot OF
advertising and get her pictures printed
In the newspapers.
Il closed with her at s75. q week and
agreed to give her all the publicity possible.
My leading man cost me 800 a week. L
secured q man whose salary un~questionsbly
had been $3.50, n as his name was well
known / thought this a reasonable price.
1.-THE other salaries were mostly In the
SIS and $40 a week class. ! had to pay the
union rates to my stage carpenter, property
man and electrician, but this only brought
my total salary IBt up 10 SOlV y week, ana
l thought that pretty cheap for what l
was getting.
Il did not have to pay q salary for a stage
director, because l concluded to stage the
play myself and conduct rehearsals as l
wanted them. This vas a very important
item, as most stage managers demand a
lump sum Of 5000 or $500 to produce q new
play.
"'The bargain ] made with the manager
OF a Broadway theatre was concluded only
after many hours of argument. When I
first tried to talk business with him he
showed me a list Of his winter weekly ex-
penses, amounting to 81, 800 a week. One
thousand Of this was for rent. Salaries Of
employees and orchestra amounted to $500.
The rest went for the electric lights, heat
and advertising.
HE wanted me to guarantee him his
weekly expenses and pay him $3.50 a week
besides as his regular profit. But after sew
eral heart to heart talks l convinced, him
that unless e altered his terms l could not
produce my play at his house.
First he agreed to eliminate the question
OF rent altogether, as his regular season
would be over. That saved the item Of
81 900 a week. Then by cutting down the
orchestra and laying of a lot Of employees
the sala rles we're reduced to $3.50 a week.
Finally we got the legitimate expenses
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