Post Mortem

We always ended our theatre productions with a post-mortemdiscussion to talk about what worked and what didn’t. On 7/26/2023, StoryZ, our new theatre and performance group, hosted its inaugural offering, an Open Mic Poetry Event.

I’ll be having a longer discussion with others soon, but I wanted to jot down some points before I forget them. So here goes:

1. A starting time of 5pm (suggested by the venue) is too early for people who have day jobs. We actually started officially at 5:30.
2. 2 hours is likely too long a time for an event of this nature.
3. Recruit people you can rely on to help; we had two people telling set up and tear down and running our livestream and video camera.
4. Definitely have a plan if no one else is reading. Luckily we had 4 readers, including me, so there was some variety. (I was able to fill in between readers, and still had half a binder of poems to go.)
5. For me, more rehearsal personally using the mic, juggling papers, etc. Needed: music stand!
6. Do a quick mic check on everyone; the mic requires proximity to work properly and everyone was moving back and forth.
7. Don’t be afraid to end early.
8. Have the next event in mind so you can announce and pre-sell with those who did show up.

The most important thing? We did it. Like those workers who built the pyramids (if you don’t think aliens did it), this push started moving that first stone toward its place in the larger building. Now on to event #2!