Open the Red Door

by Matthew Falduto

Red Door - There's a new theatre company in town and they are focusing on a very specific niche: original work. Red Door Ensemble promises every show will be original, previously unproduced work. The founders of the theatre were all connected in some way to Stage Left Productions, which folded not that long ago. While Stage Left never seemed to have a clearly defined purpose, Red Door does. Their vision promotes the idea that the theatrical experience is a unique history of the world and one that offers a different viewpoint than any that could be received from a text book. One of the group’s goals is to push the idea that the theatre is an unmatched oral history of behavior and culture. Red Door Ensemble is interested in helping create the new canon, a new cycle of work that teaches the next generation and beyond what the people of today were like. Artistic Director Josh Beadle explains, "Often as theatre practitioners we try to think of the next step in theatre, thinking of the form as a whole not just this one production we're currently working on. With a complete dedication to original work we're putting ourselves on the cusp of theatre. It's the difference between curating a museum and creating the work to be put in that museum; there's nothing wrong with deciding what pieces should be spread in the world of theatre, we'd just rather be creating those pieces." Beside Beadle, founding members include Kerry Kieler as Managing Director, Tori Morgensai as the Production Manager, and James Trainor as Dramaturge. The acting ensemble consists of Steve Wunderlich, Ashley Yates, Jana Stedman, Rick Adams, Ryan Westwood, Nathan Scheetz, and Jeremy Ping. We had a chance to discuss this never venture with Josh, Tori, Kerry and Jeremy.

Creating a new canon is a lofty goal. How do you select shows to produce to make certain they are worthy of being part of the "new canon"?

Josh: Well there’s a great deal of haggling over existential issues and Robert’s rules of orders. Seriously though, I don’t think any theatre artist actively seeks to create the new canon but that is exactly what every artist is doing when she or he chooses to do a play. We choose plays we like and want to produce or have a message we like and want to spread; rarely is a play performed just because someone feels that it must be done to complete a canonical regard but that is in fact what we’re all doing. I guess, in a sense, we’re just ensuring a certain consciousness when we pick these plays.

With this first season we had a pool of scripts we were looking at and we weighed the merits of each. Discussed the practicality, the appeal, the playwright, and finally it all comes down to the fact that you have to want to produce the show. You have to love the material. There are the shows I don’t think I could live without. If I were stranded on a desert island these are the scripts I wish I had. That is how we often choose scripts to be produced and you just hope that your tastes are close enough to the tastes of the community so you can serve them.

Are you focusing on local playwrights or are you looking from work from all over?

Jeremy: With such a strong selection of writers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area, we feel that people who are either from here or still here should have their pieces produced, so we prefer to stay local.

Kerry: And as we grow as a company we hope to extend our reach to writers from all over.

Your first production, Red Door Shorts, will be scenes from your first season of plays performed at Public Space One. Do you plan to produce all shows in Public Space One? Is there a cost for Red Door Shorts?

Tori: We’re open to performing anywhere. This first production will be at PS1 because most of us have worked in the space before and have a relationship with some of the members of the James Gang. It was a good fit for this production but we’re definitely not ruling out the potential of any other found space. We’d like to experiment with producing shows in both sides of the corridor, perhaps having a split run with a couple weekends in Iowa City and a couple weekends in Cedar Rapids. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to find a home in our future! The show will cost patrons a flat $5 admission. We decided to have the lower ticket cost because we’re such a fresh and new face that we didn’t want to turn people away; in other words we want to prove ourselves to the community. The night is also intended to be a kind of preview of what’s to come.

How do plan to generate revenue to get this theatre going? Do you have patrons or grants or is this self funded by the members of the ensemble?

Josh: For the first few shows the cost will be taken directly out of my pocket. We will be self-funded and ticket sales will be going directly in to the budget for the next play. We will be looking in to some potential grant funding but we don’t believe in fully putting the cart before the horse in regards to fundraising, however, we do have some fun events planned for after our this first show. Our second show is about the post-apocalypse and so we have some fabulous ideas with zombies brewing.

Ah, zombies. A classic in live theatre. But moving on, I have to ask... nearly every theatre in the area is producing original work: City Circle often does a ten minute play festival, Riverside has its Walking the Wire, Mount Vernon Lisbon has its Slices of Life, ITAC recently produced two short original plays and won an Icky for it. Dreamwell is holding a playwriting contest, the Writers Joust. And of course, there are the original shows the University of Iowa theatre department does every year. Explain to us why we need Red Door too.

Kerry: Producing one new work each season is noble goal, and one that many theatres aspire to – but producing entire seasons of new work is unmatched by any theatre in this area. We hope a dedication to new and original work all season long will set Red Door Ensemble apart because even with the rise of original work in the area people are still having trouble getting produced.

Jeremy: If you look at the University, who by far has the largest avenue of original work, there are still playwrights there who aren’t being produced. Both local established playwrights and aspiring new playwrights will get to see their work produced by our company because they will have that many more opportunities to do so.

Along those same lines, are you considering any sort of collaboration with any of the existing theatres? Or is this a go it alone endeavor?

Kerry: At the moment we’re producing work alone but part of our philosophy and part of the inherent nature of theatre involves collaboration and never competition. We would absolutely love to work in conjunction with other area theatres, whether that simply be to promote each other’s work or to share resources. There is an absolute vibrant theatre community in the corridor and we want to add ourselves to that community.

I see a lot of familiar names in this group - Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, James Trainor - is this Stage Left reborn? How is this project different?

Tori: Red Door is co-founded by Josh Beadle, Kerry Kieler, Jeremy Ping, and myself. Yes, most of those names are familiar to the Stage Left crowd. However, the very structure of Red Door is completely different from Stage Left. Stage Left was run quite like a traditionally structured theatre organization with one person on the top, a board making most of the decisions, and lots of hurry up and wait! Red Door Ensemble is formed from two ensembles: the producing ensemble and the acting ensemble. Our producing ensemble is responsible for carrying out the organizations work and producing each show, we’ve tagged ourselves with titles just because it can be helpful at times for others to be able to identify with them and for ourselves to fall back on a kind of structure but more often than not we’re making decisions communally. What shows we’re going to do, who is going to be in them, where we are going to do them, has all been decided communally and collaboratively between the four co-founders. Our hope is that this group remains this way, we’re hoping to create a community of like-minded artists.

Having an acting ensemble is different from most area theatres. Old Creamery does it, but other than that, I think most of the theatres in the area have auditions on a show by show basis. How involved will this acting ensemble be?

Kerry: Our acting ensemble will participate in all aspects of the season including on and off stage work and will have the opportunity to voice an opinion on season selection. Red Door will truly be a collaborative effort of actors, directors, writers and technicians.

What did you learn from Stage Left that will help you succeed with Red Door?

Josh: I started Stage Left at a very peculiar point in time. I had little to no experience in the community but I was in a place in my theatrical education where I absolutely needed to direct a play. It sounds crazy to reflect on this point because of how far I and that group traveled over that time. But the original creation was because I felt I’d been called to this profession and I knew that I wouldn’t be given a chance to direct until late in my college career. I mean I didn’t take a directing class until my last term of my Junior year, about a year and a half ago. My real education came from the creation of that group, so for me there is no way I can truly sum up what I learned. I’d have to write a book. Which may not be a bad idea…

Maybe we can write one together about our experiences, Josh. That might be really interesting. But back to Red Door, most theatres find that it's hard to create an audience for shows the general public has never heard of. How do you plan to overcome that?

Josh: That’s the challenge of any theatre not doing a piece by Shakespeare or a Stephen Sondheim musical. Not to be dismissive of either of those theatre artists or those that produce them. I remember our first conversation when somebody brought the idea to the table of doing all original work: how do we promote something that nobody knows? And we talked and we talked and we talked until finally someone asked how is that different than any other promotion of a script? You look at ICCT producing “Wonderful Town” right now; I’ve never heard of it. You look at Dreamwell producing “Poona the Fuckdog” and Riverside producing “End Days” right now. The community at large does not know these shows for the most part, maybe some hardcore theatre people, but most of them are producing shows as well.

Okay, so let's get a little more personal... I would love to know why some of you specifically want to do this. What's in it for you?

Kerry: For me, Red Door will be special because it will give us the chance to foster local talent that doesn’t always get the opportunity to shine. We have a chance with this company to draw attention to the astounding amount of local talent in the Iowa Corridor and we think writers in this area will be excited about the opportunity to have their work produced and to get to play a real part in making that happen. Knowing that our company will never be recycling old standbys, that we will always be producing the newest, freshest, next possible hit plays is both challenging and exciting and I look forward to being a part of it.

Josh: My goal as an artist has always been to create this community, almost that utopian artist society, a much less maligned version of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Where there is a group of artists of all types existing side by side and creating together. That’s my hope, that we can create this true ensemble where we’re creating new plays and actualizing each individual’s potential.

Thank you all so much. I am certainly looking forward to Red Door Shorts.


Red Door Shorts, a collective original work featuring previews from each production of the season, will run March 12-14 and 19-21 at 7:30 pm at Public Space 1, 129 E. Washington Street, in Iowa City. Reservations can be obtained by calling 319-329-6612 or emailing the producing ensemble at reddoorensemble@gmail.com

Red Door Ensemble wishes to extend an open invitation to local theatre artists and playwrights to become involved in this exciting new endeavor. Actors, playwrights, technicians, and directors are encouraged to contact a member of Red Door’s Producing Ensemble at the number or email above to learn more.