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Clients’
Corner
Welcome, valued clients!
We want to thank you for
your loyal patronage and support
since
our founding in 1987…Brainstormers! is turning 20 this year!
We have grand
plans for this page.
As our website expertise increases,
we hope to give you passworded “keys to the kingdom”
here…someday allowing you to access your booking paperwork,
double-check your balances due, and maybe even download the
names of your authors chosen for the Skywriter Show™
! Please
be patient with us, as we are after all theatre-types and not
computer geeks, and we’ve got a very big learning curve ahead.
In the
meantime, here are answers to some
Frequently Asked Questions,
to make constructive use of this
chunk of bandwith
(Hey! We used “bandwith” in a sentence! Woo hoo!):
Q: We’re
in (your town and state).. Do you tour out here?
A: We’re based
in Royal Oak, Michigan, about ten miles north of downtown
Detroit. Currently we tour as far as we can without eating up
bookable weekday time with travel. In practical terms, that
means our current “territory” is about an 8-hour drive radius
from our headquarters, such that we can start a tour by driving
Sunday afternoon/ evening, and get the crew home not too
onerously late Friday night. So, if you’re in Michigan (lower
peninsula, sorry Yoopers), Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, southern Wisconsin, western Kentucky, or western Pennsylvania…you’re in
luck! Keep in mind, though, that we need a “critical mass” of
bookings to justify a tour; and the further we’re going, the
larger that number of shows needs to be. We’re not averse to
going further, provided you can organize a full five-day week of
shows for us.
Q: How
many shows can you perform in a day?
A: If we’re
talking about your average school day, four. Two in the morning
at one location, and two in the afternoon at a second location.
We do have a number of accounts who schedule us as an evening
invitational, with Mom, Dad and the Grands coming along to laugh
it up, so in those circumstances we theoretically have time to
do a third location.
Q: How
long do your shows run, and how much time do you need for setup
and tear-down?
A: As our
shows are improvisationally-based, every show runs a slightly
different length of time. But we average 40-50 minutes curtain
to curtain. Depending on the show booked, we need 75-90 minutes
of setup time, and 30-45 minutes to get our stuff out of your
way. Please keep these logistics in mind when you book,
relative to other events in the performance space such as
breakfast, gym class, music class, lunch, end-of-day lineup, or
latchkey. One of the reasons we’re successful, is that we bring
a BIG show to your school…and a BIG show with BIG stuff can only
be set up and torn down so quickly. So, we may have to ask you
to find creative solutions (e.g., lunch in classrooms, gym class
using half the gym, etc.) Believe us, we’re pedaling as fast as
we can!
Q: How much
room do you need for your sets
and playing space?
A: Minimum 16
feet wide, 12 feet deep and 9 feet tall. This minimum only
gives us 6 feet of playing space from our set to the first
audience row; 8 feet (i.e., 14 feet of total depth) would be
better.
Q: Can you
use our stage?
A: It
depends. First, we have to be able to get our stuff up there.
Our sound kit weighs 400lbs. Our sets and costumes come in on
rolling carts that are 3 feet wide, 8 feet long and 5 feet tall,
and weigh 800-900 lbs each. So, in order to use your stage, we
need a ramp that gives us swinging room for the 8-foot-long
carts. Secondly, we use lots of audience volunteers, so it’s
imperative that we have steps or stairs in front of the stage
that are solid, non-skid and quickly accessible, for our
performers’ and your students’ safety. Thirdly, we need the
minimum footprint of space (see above). Often school stages are
multitasking as classrooms, band or choir rehearsal rooms with
risers, or just plain storage areas…and there’s not enough
room. If your stage doesn’t work out, fear not—our shows do
very well on ground level, and even the kids in the back won’t
miss any of the action.
Q: Both
the Takeoff Show and the Skywriter Show sound wonderful, but
nobody came to the Bake Sale and we can only afford one show.
Which one should I book?
A: While the
two shows are designed to give an effective one-two punch to
your Creative Writing curriculum, we usually advise clients who
can only book one show to opt for the Takeoff Show. It will
provide the motivation to write that you want for your students,
and it doesn’t require any extra time or effort on the part of
the teachers.
But before you give up on having both shows…see our
Granting Sources
page!
Q: Can I
book the Brainstormers! here on your website
or by email?
A: No, sorry.
Every venue and every account is different, and so we’ll need to
have a person-to-person conversation or two to determine dates,
times and prices. Give us a call toll-free and we’ll answer all
your questions, as well as ask you a number of our own… to
ensure your Braintormers! shows will be a smashing success!
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Useful Docs
Takeoff
Show Support Materials (click to download):
09-10 Takeoff Show ("Funny
Farm") Study Guide
Skywriter Show Support
Materials:
Teachers' Guide
Story Cover Sheet
Coordinator Package Cover
Sheet
Press Materials:
Press Release
Takeoff Show Mini-Poster
Skywriter Show Mini-Poster
MHC Grant Docs:
09-10 Touring Program
(Round 2) App
0910 Grantee Final Report
Misc
DVD Order Form
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Client's 
Actors!
