Pitch a Production assignment

English 9

October 1, 2007

Pitch a Production

You are a theater director writing a letter to someone who can finance your production of Julius Caesar. But you will only get the money if this person – sometimes called a “backer” – believes that your vision is worth it.

You already know that the backer will not go for a traditional interpretation because he/she feel like everyone has already seen the play done in togas with big Roman columns in the background.

This backer is looking for a high concept production. You can only change a few words of the original text (no more than were changed in the production we saw yesterday) but your set, costumes, special effects, casting… all of these things can be completely original.

You might decide that everything looks like the 1950s, with the women looking very housewife-y and the men in suits and ties. Or maybe it’s set in the Iraq war, and your Caeser is David Patreus. Maybe everyone will be played by children, and the “war” they are fighting takes place on a playground.

Be creative, be original. But remember that the basic ideas of loyalty, patriotism and power should still be able to come through, no matter how you dress up the play.

Guidelines

At the very beginning of your letter, boil down your concept to one convincing sentence, such as: In this exciting re-thinking of the themes of loyalty, power and patriotism, my concept is based on the characters of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, in which all the stuffed animal decide to assassinate Christopher Robin, for fear he is becoming too powerful.	5 points
Describe your set in detail. What type of locations will you try to create on this set?	5 points
Casting the major characters: Describe the age, gender and appearance (including race/ethnicity, if applicable) of each actor. The major characters are Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Marc Antony, Portia and Calpurnia – but you can do more characters if you want.	5 points
Describe the costumes. Are there uniforms? Styles specific to one place and time (i.e., a confederate soldier, or a Vegas showgirl)? Use costumes to further clarify your concept for this production.	5 points
Other Elements – choose some other element of stagecraft to help further your concept. You can use lighting effects, pyrotechnics, music, dance, video projection, theater-in-the-round. Think of memorable devices you have seen in other plays and see if they would work here.	5 points
Theme – In addition to your convincing sentence, you must regularly address one or more of the themes throughout your letter. You do not have to cover more than one theme if you don’t want to.	10 points
Formatting – This must be formatted like a business letter, with your name address in the top right and the recipient’s name and address on the left, below the date. Feel free to use one of the Microsoft Word templates for your format.	5 points
Total	40 points

Worksheet for Play Pitch

One-sentence concept
Set
Casting
Costumes
Other elements