Title: Heather Got Raped?; Berkeley performance space; sound and lighting design

Ok so I am in the midst of a title crisis. Mwd and I think the piece should be called, Heather Got Raped. This is based on a dream that I had where this woman gave me this thick book and it was titled, you were raped. I shared this title with some close friends, whose opinions I trust and nobody, not a single person liked it! Except for my ex-boyfriend... The general consensus is that it's too caustic and will turn off the average theater go-er. Here are the other suggestions:

Bay to Rapers
Must've been what I was wearing
Nobody asks for it
RAsPbErries: a rape tale
Go get Seth

I don't like any of these. I still like Heather Got Raped the best.

I have made it through about 15 memorized pages of the piece at berkeley performance space. Memorizing: this is what my life has become these days. No going out, no listening to music on my commute, no watching my weekly shows on ch131.com. It's all memorizing these days. The piece is fully strung together though! Now we are going through it again and feeling out blocking cues. I have been having trouble with the blocking that we've come up with in a lot of the sections; it doesn't feel natural. Mwd suggested that we go though the piece and for me to imagine like I am actually there, like I am in the moment of the things I am performing about. The difference was immediate. I felt so much for comfortable in the scenes. Now we are going through the piece with this approach and changing the blocking a LOT.
I found a sound designer through mwd who is charging me a reasonable fee. Plus a lighting designer who said he would do my lighting for free because I am a friend of a friend. Sweet deal. I sent out evites too. Omg, it's really happening.

Kickstarter video and rewards ready to go...nowhere

Thank god for mwd. She helped me come up with a "speech" for my kickstarter video and then we filmed it on my digital camera in three takes. It's really simple and straightforward. No fanciness, just the truth and the facts. I also came up with a slogan for waterbottles and tote bags: rape is bad. We researched how much it would cost to make these items and also decided to offer signed copies of the manuscript, and free tickets to the workshop. We were all ready to send away for the totebags and waterbottles but then I had this feeling that I should look into one thing: making sure that donations that people gave were tax deductible. Amanda believed that they were but I wanted to double check before giving the absolute green light...
Kickstarter donations are not tax deductible.
This doesn't work for the project at all because several of the potential donors have told me that it was important that their donations be tax deductible.
So kickstarter doesn't work at all! Bah! So frustrating and such a waste of time. I am kicking myself for not double-checking on this before doing all the prep work. Mwd suggested that we move the campaign over to Indie-go-go, another crowdshare fundraising platform. Donations on here ARE tax-deductible and this organization partners with my fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas. I've thought it over and I simply don't have time to do this right now. I will have to wait until after the workshop to fundraise and trust Mwd when she says she is still cool with working on spec.

Joys of fundraising

So I am getting really anxious about the debt that is building up towards paying mwd. I told Amanda about my concern around this and she suggested doing a kickstarter campaign. I researched it and I think it's a good idea. The only thing is that I have to come up with all these rewards and incentives for people who donate certain amounts. I also have to come up an intro video. I went on kickstarter and looked at what people have been up to. Omg, people go all out. Really elaborate, smartly edited videos. I don't have time to do this! I am nannying two different families, plus teaching. plus 10 private students, plus band rehearsal 2x a week, plus I will likely increase to 3x a week with mwd as the workshop is now 8 weeks away. Plus memorizing! 60 pages of text!! Mwd said that I need to have the piece fully memorized one month before the workshop. Amanda agrees.
So, how to get this fundraiser done with as little work and effort as possible...
And how much money should I try to raise? Kickstarter is all or nothing...

Berkeley performance space and editing tedium

Performed rape exam hospital scene at opening of performance space in berkeley. I think I was a little too emotional for the material but who cares. The important thing is that I now have a weekly space to try out my work on a small audience. I'm certain that I don't want feedback from any audience members except mwd. I've started reading the edited parts of the piece to mwd and she is not pleased. She feels like a lot of my voice has been lost in the edits. So now we are going through the painstakingly tedious process of going back through the edits and reverting them to their original state. Plus we are going through the parts that I haven't edited and I am letting mwd call the shots as to what needs changing. I thought that I was doing a great job editing. I guess I was wrong. Makes me really appreciate the value in finding a good editor. Someone can really change your piece for the worst if you're not judicious! But mwd has great instincts and is very well read. So I trust her decisions on what writing of mine need to stay, go, or be changed. And if I don't, I say something and veto the changes. I hope this part goes quickly though because I have a TON of memorizing and blocking to do.