Behind the Scenes: Steven A. Chambers, Literary Manager

Steven A. Chambers

Name: Steven A. Chambers

City of Birth: Pontiac, Michigan

City of Residence: Lauderdale Lakes, Florida

Job: Literary Manager at New Theatre in Coral Gables

Education: Bachelor of Arts, Theatre, University of Tennessee Knoxville

How did you get into theatre?
I’ve been theatrical all my life (!), but I started out performing in school and church plays when I was a kid. When I got to college, it was the direction I wanted to take. Directly or indirectly, I’ve been involved in the theatre community wherever I’ve lived, but I’ve only in the last few years decided to try to make it a full-time career.

What does a literary manager do?
In my case, I review and make recommendations regarding script submissions to New Theatre that have come from playwrights or agents regarding new work, or in some cases previously produced work that has been only workshopped or had only a couple of productions. I also attend theatre workshops and showcases to see new work we might be interested in mounting on our stage and to network with other theatres. New Theatre is a member theatre of the National New Play Network (NNPN) and I recently attended an event in Atlanta as representative.

What’s your process?
Generally, I do my work from home, which is great since I live in the Fort Lauderdale area and New Theatre is in Coral Gables. I use my home computer —I get a lot of the submissions electronically. I drive down to the theatre every couple of weeks to pick up mail and to meet with Ricky Martinez, artistic director) and Eileen Suarez, managing director. When I receive a submission, I send a response to acknowledge receipt of the correspondence, then take a look at the work that has been submitted. In most cases, only a synopsis and 10 or 15 pages of a script are included. Based on that information, I may request a full copy of the script from the playwright/agent. Once I’ve had the opportunity to read the full script, I may recommend it for consideration to Ricky. We have some very specific requirements for new work posted on our website at www.new-theatre.org/playreadings.php. If a script falls outside our guidelines, generally we wouldn’t be able to consider it for production. If we think a play might be suitable for production, we may also do a staged or presented reading of the work. I’m responsible for that aspect of the theatre’s agenda, as well.

How many scripts do you read a year?
Well, I haven’t been in the job quite a year yet, but I’ve seen almost two hundred scripts or portions of scripts over the course of that time.

Have you seen trends or patterns in the plays sent to New Theatre? For example, are there hot topics?
Since we are in the Miami area, we get plays—especially from area playwrights—that reflect the cultural diversity of this area. I’ve read scripts about the Cuban-American experience, plays about family, urban plays, plays about gays and lesbians, and plays with all those elements, such as Michael McKeever’s play Melt, which was originally mounted at New Theatre in the 2006-07 season and is now being produced at the upstairs theatre at Actors’ Playhouse. We encourage local playwrights, like Michael, Sandra Riley (the writer of our current production, The Hour of the Tiger) and David Caudle, who wrote The Sunken Living Room, which New Theatre world premiered in 2005-06 and this season’s In Development. We get new scripts from around the country—and around the world—on topics from historical figures or fiction to forward-thinking ‘what if?’ plays and political plays. Ricky looks for new stories or perspectives, a different slant on a topical story, or quirky, edgy works that inspire an audience to lively discussion at the end of the play.

What kind of role does a literary manager play in the plays that a theatre produces?
In my case, I am generally the ‘first eyes’ on the work. I make sure the play meets our general guidelines and then determine if it is the kind of play that would merit production in a season of our work, based on the theatre’s mission. If not, since we are a part of NNPN, if the play might have a better fit with another company, I can get the script to that organization through our network.

What can you tell us about The Hour of the Tiger, the world premiere opening at New Theatre January 23?
I’ve got to say I’m very excited about this play—it’s set during a period of time that changed a lot of people’s lives, the Vietnam War. Set in Japan near the end of the ‘conflict,’ the changes to Western culture at the time are represented by the two Americans who are a part the story. In the play, an American woman teaching drama on a military base in Japan meets a geisha and tries to free her from her ‘manager’—read ‘master.’ The play shows the differences in Western and Eastern culture, acceptance of social differences and the need to cling to tradition. It’s really a fascinating story, especially in the way relationships are revealed over the course of the play.

How closely do you work with the artistic director or director?
We get together to talk about current productions, new work or promising scripts every few weeks. If I’m asked, I’m available to participate more closely with the selection process or to give input and observation as the play goes through the rehearsal and/or rewrite period. I’ve also done some dramaturgy and adaptation work in the past.

What kind of changes do you see in a play from the time you read it to the time it opens?
During my time at New Theatre thus far, I’ve only been involved with a couple of the plays we’ve produced from beginning to end. Over the years, however, I have worked with many playwrights in developing new scripts. I have seen scenes cut or added, characters cut or added, dialogue changed from one character to another and the complete reworking of the end or climax of a play.

You’re also and actor and a director. How does this experience inform your job as literary manager?
I read plays thinking about the feasibility of producing them, the staging and settings, and I’m always looking at how characters act, react and interact, with the questions of how interesting a character would be for an actor to portray and how a character fits into the playwright’s overall intention or plotline.

And how does your position as literary manager affect your acting and directing?
I think for lack of a better term, it has expanded my horizons. I’m getting exposure to much more work from many diverse artists. I’m getting great opportunities as an actor to find audition pieces—for example—seeing new characters never previously brought to life; and I’m reading new kinds of scripts that may require rethinking the directing process—new approaches to new work. Over the months I’ve been here, I’ve become more aware of how easy it can be to miss the details and how important it is to reread to make sure you understand what you read to begin with!

What is the biggest misconception about your job?
Ha—that I’m the person who makes the decision choices about plays in the New Theatre season. I read and filter through scripts and make recommendations for reading plays to Ricky and Eileen. We discuss potential scripts I’ve read, but the decision-making process belongs to them.

What’s the best thing about working in South Florida theatre?
Can we talk about the weather?! In my opinion, the best thing about working in theatre here is the sense of community across lines. There are actors in Miami who work in Palm Beach and vice versa. It’s a very lively cultural atmosphere, though some people (outside the theatre community) don’t seem to see it. People I talk to are surprised at the number of venues and kinds of work being produced. I say if you’re looking for a theatre event that may interest you, check out , www.southfloridatheatre.com and www.miamiartzine.com—it may be in your backyard. (Gee, does that sound like a commercial?)

Upcoming Productions:
As a performer, I’ve just concluded a two week run of Neil Simon’s Chapter Two for the Boca Raton Theatre Guild, which is going to be remounted later in the spring. Next, I go into rehearsal with Ricky and the production staff here as an actor in our next show, Equus, which opens March 5 and runs through April 4. I’m looking forward to that—it’s such a powerful play—and there is a lot of renewed interest in the script since the recent London and New York productions with Daniel Radcliffe as the disturbed young man Alan Strang. No, I’m not playing Alan—I’m playing the owner of the stable where the incident that inspires the play takes place. After Equus, I come back up to Broward County to direct a production of The Sum of Us, the story of a gay son and his widowed father, set in Australia. It’s going to be a busy spring. I’ll have worked in all three counties by the middle of April. Guess I’d better have the car into the shop for maintenance work before too much longer!

The Hour of the Tiger makes its world premiere at New Theatre in Coral Gables January 21 and runs through February 14. For tickets and more information, visit www.new-theatre.org.

Have a comment about what you’ve read? E-mail letters@miamiartzine.com.