In November of last year I received several invitations to join a group I had never heard of before, named Stage 32. I had never heard of it and I did not know the people who were sending me the invites. So, fearful of getting a computer virus, I deleted them. I had been having problems with my computer and it was not cheap to get it taken care of. I had gotten a virus from the U.K. that wouldn't let me open my word documents, so I wasn't going to take any chances.
But I kept getting these invites, so I did the logical thing and I looked up the site they were inviting me to join. Wow! What an eye opener for me. Stage 32 is devoted only to artists, mostly film, but theatre is in the mix as well. I felt bad that I did not remember who had sent me these invites. But I had already sent them to the junk folder, never to be read again.
But I digress. I joined Stage 32 and I'm so glad that I did. The number of artists there and the way you can meet people of such talent is so wonderfully easy. I like easy. It is here that I met an actor from N.J. who put me on to a page on Facebook for N.J. theatres. That's how I come to meet Brian Remo the Art Director of Fearless Productions in Rahway, N.J. http://www.fearlessprod.com/.
But it is also how I come to know Jake Chika, theatre and film director from Pretoria, South Africa. Jake was directed to my site by me after he accepted my invite. We are continuously promoting ourselves, but who else if not us? It is the nature of our beasts, artists. He said my play, 'Talk to the Hand' sounded really interesting and he asked to read it. I was fully willing for this to happen. That was the beginning of our joint venture. He said he wanted to direct it and told me about the Fringe Festival in South Africa. A play will be exposed to a much larger audience, local and international media as well as theatre owners coming to the festival to find a play that they will want to lease and take back to their own theatres.
This of course fascinated me a great deal. To have my play, have a longer life in theatres all over the world possibly, not only intrigued me, it thrilled me. Work had to be done. Jake sent me a budget, we worked on it and trimmed it some. Then fundraising, (new to him and me) needed to be done. This brings me to where I am today. I started a crowdfunding campaign. I keep making changes in it, almost daily because I am new to this and I'm doing research constantly. Friends have given me invaluable advise and some have been useful in other ways, such as helping with more changes to the website (http://dreamartsproductions.com/).
I think a coming together of two artists from two different continents is a great way of sharing our talents in a totally new venue. This dream of mine will become a reality in July, this year when the festival is held. I hope that some if not all of you can join me in this dream. I will keep all apprised of the news either in another blog or you can check out more information on my site, http://www.gofundme.com/BrendaIovino .
I encourage all film (in any capacity) and theatre artists to join Stage 32.
Ciao