Five DC Artists Are Funding Their Premiere as Imaginatively as They're Making It
The team behind Space-Time Laundromat believes you can make anything happen in a play with enough imagination. This fall, they're putting that same philosophy to work on something less whimsical and more stubborn: paying for it.
Five Washington, DC-area artists — Matt Bassett, Audra Jacobs, Carolyn Kashner, Natasha Mirny, and Tia Shearer Bassett — are joining forces to premiere Shearer Bassett's new play, and rather than wait for a producing house to take a chance on an unconventional script, they've decided to build the whole thing themselves, funding included.
Space-Time Laundromat follows two women — one of whom may or may not be Amelia Earhart — as they meet in a space between life and death: a place full of mismatched socks, handmade shoes, and attacking bands of Realists. The magical, poetic, playful piece has been described as "what might happen if Sofia Coppola and Buster Keaton had collaborated."
That hard-to-pin-down quality is exactly why Shearer Bassett chose to produce the premiere herself, with husband Matt Bassett directing. The two have worked together on many productions over the years, including the first two runs of her debut script, a dream once lost, now published and available for licensing through Uproar Theatrics.
"I was told by a fellow theatre-maker once that a play I wrote was 'impossible' to produce. So the rebel in me likes to go ahead and produce them myself. Because I fully believe that you can make ANYTHING happen in a play. You just need enough imagination and the right collaborators," says Shearer Bassett.
Those collaborators are central to the project's DNA. The husband-wife team invited Carolyn Kashner to act in the piece alongside Tia; Natasha Mirny of Happy Theater to design; and Audra Jacobs of 1st Stage to assist in directing. But the titles are loose by design — everyone is shaping the work from the ground up.
"This is a process where everyone is together with the production from Day One. We've read together, brainstormed together, brought our own ideas to the table. We'll be hosting a few Exploration Days where Carolyn and I play on our feet with some objects and ideas that any member of the group throws out there," says Shearer Bassett. "And once we start a formal few weeks of rehearsal leading up to the performance weekend, it's not like our designer will disappear. Making this play is a collaboration through and through."
That collaborative, anything-is-possible spirit carries straight into how the group is paying for it. Instead of a standard donation drive, their crowdfunding campaign treats funders like part of the world they're building. Backers can claim joyful rewards including original love songs and zines — small, handmade pieces of the production designed to pull supporters into the show no matter where they happen to live. It's fundraising that looks and feels like the play itself: imaginative, personal, and a little bit handmade.
The campaign runs through July 17 and supports artist pay and space rental. You can find it at crowdfundr.com/spacetime.