How the Graduate Was Put on Stage

8/7/2019 How the Graduate Was Put on Stage

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BognrAlexandra

ProjectandEventManagement

2011.04.11.


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Bognr Alexandra Project and Event Management

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HOWTHEGRADUATEWASPUTONSTAGE

Doestheworld-famous"Mrs.Robinson,you'retryingtoseduceme!"sentenceringsthe bell? It is a quote from the same titled movie made in 1967 starring Dustin

Hoffman(ashisdebut)andAnneBancroft.Theplayisanadaptionoftheold-time

favoritemoviewithminorchanges.Thispaperisgoingtoshowthewholeprocedure

ofhowa"TheGraduate"wasputonstage,alsoanalyzesthefundingofthetheaterand

theperformance.

MadchTheaterhastwosourcesofincome.The majority of it comes from the

government - directly from the local

government. (Just a short note: since the

2010 change in the political system, the

governmentisplanningtostopsupporting

some theaters including Operettsznhz

and Madch Sznhz, but these are justideasofthebrainstorming)Inexchangefor

themoney,thetheaterhastoproduce3-4

stage musicals and plays each year.

Secondly, the ticket sales cover the other

part of the income. Madch Theater is a

non-profit organization (MadchSznhzNonprofit Kft.), therefore all themoney is

reinvestedinthefuture"products".

Thewhole procedure of putting a play onto stage can be split up into five parts,

startingwiththelegalsteps,thenwritingthescript, followedbythecasting (onlyif

needed),rehearsalandfinally,thepremierandfuturewould-beperformances.Inthe

followingparagraphs,thesestepsaregoingtobedetailed.


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LEGALSTEPS

Since "The Graduate" isoriginally an American novel by CharlesWebb which was

later turned into a script (written by CalderWillingham and Buck Henry) for the

movie,theplayrequiredspecialpermissionfromStudioCanal.TheoriginalBroadway

productionwasmanagedbyJohnReidandSachaBrooks.Waybeforetheplanningof

creatingastageplay,legalactionstakeplace-allthepermissionsneedtobereceived,

contractsneedtobesignedandagreementontheroyaltyfee,too.

WRITINGTHESCRIPT

Thefirststepwastochooseadirectorwholaterwritesthescript.SzirtesTams,the

main director of the theater chose HerendiGborwho is famous for his films like

"MagyarVndor"or"ValamiAmerika"butcompletelynewinthetheaterbusiness.He

welcomedthisnewchallengeandwrotethescriptbasedontheoriginalversionbut

healsoaddedtwosceneswhichofcourseneededpermission.

Thestoryremainedthesame:"RecentcollegegraduateBenjaminBraddockistrapped

intoanaffairwithMrs.Robinson,whohappenstobethewifeofhisfather'sbusiness

partnerandthenfindshimselffallinginlovewithherteenagedaughter,Elaine."

(www.imdb.com)

The original genre of the film was rather a drama, although the story calls for a

comedy. Now, more than 40 years later the desires are fulfilled because Herendi

Gbor,thedirectoroftheplayturned"TheGraduate"intoafascinatingfarce.

CASTING

Castingisagain,notaneasything.Itisfineifthedirectorhasacertainconceptofthe

would-becharacters,butsincemostof theactorsdonotbelong toMadchTheater,

"having"theactorsisabeneficialconsequenceofnegotiationswithothertheater.


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Theplayhasadoublecast,whichisanordinarymethodofabiggerplay:

Benjamin:KOVCSLEHEL/SZENTEVAJK

Mrs.Robinson:NAGY-KLZYESZTER/UDVAROSDOROTTYA

Mr.Robinson:PUSZTASZERIKORNL

Elaine:FODORANNAMRIA/HOLECSKORSOLYA

Mr.FrankBraddock:SZEREDNYEYBLA

Mrs.OliveBraddock:HVSVLGYIILDIK

Receptionist:BARTATTILA

Asitwasmentionedearlier,someoftheseactorsplayregularlyatMadchTheater,butmost

of themdo not. Udvaros Dorottya for example belongs to the National Theater, therefore

bargainingwithAlfldiRbert(directorofNationalTheater)wasfundamental.KovcsLehelworksforKatonaJzsefTheater,FodorAnnamriabelongstojTheaterandNagy-Klzy

Eszterisindependent.Afterthesenegotiations,contractsareneedtobesignedeitherdirectly

withtheactororwithhis/heragentorwiththetheater.

REHEARSAL

Havingbeenselectedtheactors,the7-week-longrehearsalperiodtakesplace.The

firstweekisthereadingrehearsalwhichisonlyaboutthetext.Thesecondweekis

aboutthe"motion"rehearsal,whichunlikethepreviousone,focusesononlythebody

languagepartlikegesturesoftheactors.Fromthethirdweekon,threeweeksofscene

rehearsal.


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Duringtheseweeks:fittingonthecostumesandthesceneryshouldalsobecreated.

Then,thereisoneweekrehearsalwithcostumes.Itisimportantthatalltheseactions

take place on the rehearsal stagewhich isof coursecompletely different from the

"real"one.

After this 6-week-long period, the theater closes foroneweek and this is the time

whenthetheateroffersthestageforthefull-dressrehearsalweek.Thefirsthalfof

thisweekisforgettingusedtothestageandthenewatmosphere,whilethesecond

halfisopenedtospecialguests.Theaimistoplayinfrontofaudiencebeforethe

premiere. The audience usually consists of retired people (since these rehearsals

startsat11inthemorningandalso,theticketsarefreebutyouhavetoknowwhotoask), therefore the attending community is not very diverse but they fulfill their

"function".Thencomesthepremiere...

Theparagraphsaboveshowedthepracticalpartofhowtomakeashowoutofanidea

(oroutofaforeignbutexistingplay).Thefollowingparagraphsaregoingtohighlight

thefundingofsuch.


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ABOUTMONEY...

Making"TheGraduate"costaltogether30million

HungarianForints.Unlikethetheater,theplayhas

three sources of income. The additional one

includes the sponsors (they support the

advertisements).Thewholebudgetcanbesplitup

intoseveralareas-40%ofthemoneygoesforthe

actors and the staff, 17% for the scenery. In this

casethisamountwasrelativelylowbecausethere

isonlyonescenerywithminorchangesatdifferent

scenes.Thiswasduetothelowbudget"szentel"to

theplay.24%wasspentonmarketing.Therewere

approximately 45-50 costumes which made up

12%of the30-million-budget.The remainingwas

spent on others. And, there is an additional

unrealizedlossforthetheaterduringthefull-dress

rehearsalweekwhentherearenoperformancesin

the evening, therefore the estimated money for

ticketsalescannotbecollected.

There are differentmethodswhen paying for the

staff. The whole system is quite complicated

because the theater has only a few employees.

Their own employees are the tire-women or the

propguybutalltheothersarefreelancers.But,if

youlegallydonotbelongtoacertaintheateritalso

implies that a "bunch" of contracts are needed to

bedonebetweenthetheaterandthestaffasitwas

highlightedearlier.

The director gets 50% of his salary at the very

beginningandtheremaining50%atthepremiere.


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As for the actors, there are two "common practice", the actors are free to choose

which one they prefer: (as in the director's case), they can receive the half of the

paymentatthebeginningandtheother50%atthepremiereorbepaidoccasionly.

So,letscalculate...Altogetherthereare800chairsinthetheater.

Theticketpricesdifferatweekdaysandweekendsandalso,thereare6distinguished

categoriesaccordingtotheseatwhereitissituated.Thereforethe1stcategorycosts

4700Ft/5200Ft, the 2nd 4200Ft/4800Ft, the 3rd 3400Ft/3800Ft, the 4th

3000Ft/3400Ft,the5th1900Ft/2100Ftandfinally,the6th1000Ft.Byaddingthem,

theresultwegetis2,8milliononweekendsand2,5milliononweekdays.

The difference is not that significant considering the additional costs. From this

money, tax and royalty fee have to be paid instantly, 1,8 million Ft remains.

Subtractingthecostofelectricityandthesalaries,1millionFtremainsas"profit",or

rathersayincomeaftereachplay.Itisnotahardmathematicaltasktocalculatethat


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30millionFt(thewholebudget),devidedby1millionFtis30.Therefore,therehasto

beatleast30performancestogetbacktheinvestedmoneyandstill,wecannotspeak

aboutprofit.

Let'sfollowthelogic:thepremierwas24thand25thofMayin2010,thefollowing

months'programlookedlike:

Generally speaking, 9 performanceswithin 2 months. Continuning the calculation,

whatwefaceisthattheinvestedmoneyreturnsinapproximately7-8months.Donot

forgetwestillcannotevenimagineprofit...

DespitethattheMadchTheaterisanon-profitorganizationahugeamountofmoney

circulatesinordertomaintainthetheateranditsimage.Ticketsarenotatallcheap,

this study clearly showed that a performance is a long-term investment and not

particularlyagoodone...butprofitisnotanaim.Afteraproductiongetsitspayback

thedirectorofthetheaterdecideswhethertocontinuetheplayorremovefromthe

repertoire.


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REFERENCES:TheGraduate,TheInternetMovieDatabase,accessed2011.03.27.:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/

Diploma Eltt, Madch Sznhz Official Website, accessed 2011.03.27.:

http://madachszinhaz.hu/Ea_Madach/Diploma_elott/Diploma_elott_h.php

All the information that are not referred was told during discussions with:

Herendi Gbor, the director of the play HnigZsuzsa,thefinancialdirectorofMadch Theater Szente Vajk, actor

Pictures were downloaded from the Official Website of Madch Sznhz

Program of May/June 2010 was downloaded from Official Website of Madch Sznhz

How the Graduate Was Put on Stage

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