SHAKE AND BAKE, BABY

Hello!

Welcome back to Dinner Cut, the first newsletter brave enough to ask, “what if egg was sexy?”

Today, we are talking about the iconic, one night only, live play version of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby that we put up last March at Bricktown (a gorgeous little punk venue in Chicago). Let’s kick off this debrief the same way we kicked off the show: making Mehgan’s boyfriend shotgun a beer to the sound of thunderous applause. If you’re reading this Andrew, grip it and RIP IT.

It was the biggest show I’ve ever done with 33+ people involved. In total there were 19 actors, seven genius musicians (love you Superfloss), four tech/backstage people helping day-of show, two photographers, and one guy (Michael Serio) in an old timey carnival barker costume telling people to take photos with him and the extra car we made.

The “plus” includes the handful of people from Bricktown who ran the bar (and popcorn machine), and other friends who helped us paint props. The whole production was helmed by my friend and collaborator Richie Owens and me. (This was a true collaboration effort so I’ll use “we” a lot.)

Time this show occupied Richie and I’s lives: 4 months. 

• Richie and I finalized the script in December and had our first read through with the huge cast on January 3.

Tickets sold: ~110

Number of audience members who passed out during Act 1: 1

• He was ok, he just hadn’t eaten anything all day and was wearing his coat indoors. Luckily, there were five nurses at the show??? We took a little break, got him some snacks, and we were ready to roll for the rest of the show.

Number of audience members who passed out during Act 2: 0

Google folders created: 9 (+ 9 loose docs)

Cost to put on the show: $2,294

Net income: $391

I did a quick peruse through my calendar and added up all the rehearsals and official build days and got ~78 hours of work Richie and I put into this show. This feels crazy low, probably because that number doesn’t include adapting the script, slapping on a coat of primer in between weekend errands, sending emails, or the nights I would lie in bed running through entrance and exit logistics. So much of my art is done in the few minutes I have between other tasks. My pasta is always boiling over because I stepped away to hot glue something.

Rehearsals: We had 10 rehearsals, the first 7 were just with the cast. We sent the band a list of songs to learn, but only did one big rehearsal on March 9 with them and the whole cast to do a chaotic run through. We met in Richie’s living room a few more times to run through the whole show and practice with the ~71 props we had in this damn show (37 homemade, 34 non-homemade) but that March 9 dress was the only time we had the entire cast all together before the actual show. And I don’t think we ever made it through a full run of the show before we did it for an audience <3

I can’t speak for directing in a more professional theater space because nobody want me, but being the “director” for a giant DIY production just kinda means you're taking care of everyone and sending the most emails. Richie and I’s main purpose was to make sure everything was set up so that the performers can crush. There really wasn’t much time to think too deeply about any of this, we just had to trust that Maddie Daviss would not only embody the role of Ricky Bobby, but that she would remember her lines or improvise something way funnier.

Money: A one-night only comedy show that costs over two grand is shocking, I know. But let me break it down honey, it's not that scary. We charged $15-$20 (sliding scale) for tickets and did no presale, just sold tickets at the door until we hit capacity (which we did 20 minutes before the damn show even started!) 

We fundraised $515 in January through Indiegogo (people will pay to have their name on cardboard cars! Write that down!!!), made $146 on merch sales and $1976 in ticket sales at the show, and scooped up about $48 in random donations (we told people to venmo us $5 and we’d post a pic of which Nascar fan reminded us of them). Damn those Venmo business fees. All together that’s: $2,685. 

Here’s a breakdown of where all that money went: 

The biggest part of our budget went to the “Show” category (paying the band, photographers, and a friend who filmed the show.) The second was the “Venue Cut.” Some theaters take higher cuts or require deposits, Bricktown only took 25% because they are angels.

Other categories that might not make any sense: “Admin” aka shipping supplies, printer ink for programs, etc. “Food” is the massive amounts of pizza and beer we bought for long rehearsals and prop building days. The “Travel” category is us covering the cost of a few of our cast members' Ubers home or to rehearsal.

The roughly $400 left over when all was said and done went right into our October production of The Witches of Eastwick.

WAS IT WORTH IT? Yes!!! Talladega Nights was the highlight of my life. Seeing 100+ people go absolutely nuts for Kerry Stephens doing a barrel turn while Superfloss played a cover of “Faithfully” was the most electric feeling in the world. The whole show was perfect. You can find the full program with cast info here.

What would I do differently? Our rehearsal schedules have matured so much since Talladega. With more recent shows, I have really tried to make sure that if people hauled their asses to rehearsal, I was making it worthwhile. No more asking people to sit around for 3 hours to say one line.

We also had no idea how many people would show up to this show, but going forward we have to have more than one night. We turned away at least 30 people at the door and if we sold out another night we would have made a butt load of money and paid the cast. 

It is not lost on me how lucky I am to have friends and collaborators who are willing to work for beer and pizza, but Richie and I decided to prioritize paying people real money going forward, even if it means slightly less beer. I mean look at these clowns, they deserve millions of dollars.

If you’d like to see how all this hard work and two grand turned out, check out Talladega Nights: The Play: The Movie. With videos from Rob Steinberg, Sho Daniels, Jack Williams, David Feinberg, Sean McGowan, and numerous other audience members; edited by Derek Davidson.

How I’m staying sane in the depths of Chicago Winter

• We are simply spoiled with new music, folks. New Justice Hill, Lucky Cloud, and Tyler DeLoatch.

• I can’t stop thinking about the Antarctic midge. The largest purely terrestrial animal native to the continent. Let me repeat, it is the ONLY INSECT ON THE WHOLE CONTINENT. It is making me so emotional thinking about this hardy bug.

• Thursday I’m presenting my gorgeous friend Daisy in Please Date My Friend at Color Club. Come apply to be her boyfriend.

• I’m hosting (not teaching, don’t worry) a church basement self defense class in Logan Square on March 3. It’s almost sold out, but trans folks can apply for a free spot here! Can’t make it? Nooo worries, you can venmo me $15 (@ matty-merritt) and sponsor a free spot.

• Some amazing shows that I will be SEATED for happening right now: Trent James at the Magic Lounge, Miles Chaney’s new solo show at the Annoyance, and Edging at the Empty Bottle on Friday (gonna be thrashing around for this actually).

• DAY JOB INFILTRATION: Target has been slowly scaling back talks of racial justice in its press releases for the last two years. Great piece by my colleague Andrew Adam Newman!

Thanks for reading! Lmk what you thought of the newsletter and if there are typos don’t tell me unless they are really bad.

Preview for next issue: How I made a leotard from scratch (I’m a very beginner seamstress) to do this routine at my friend’s show (it crushed.)