I meant to get around to this a few weeks ago when I was coming back from the last Toronto Cold Reads of 2019, but I suppose better late than never...
As frequent readers of this blog are aware, I am much more tied to the Sing-for-Your-Supper cold reading series, primarily because they accept my pieces! I had a pretty good run with the previous editorial "team," getting a bit over a 60% acceptance rate, whereas with the current readers it is basically 95%! On occasion, they give me an extra day to get my piece together or even create a bit of a slot for me. As with most things, there is a bit of an ebb and flow, and right now there is a very solid core of writers, basically myself, David Preyde and Martin Heavyside, who contribute almost every month. Sometimes, particularly during the summer, there are quite a few new voices, and other times it is just the core. The same happens with the actors (and audience). The last two or three times it has felt sparse, but there have been times when the place was quite packed. I will say that it feels a bit like SFYS is running on fumes right now, with one of the co-hosts quitting and Lee the Mentalist rarely putting in an appearance, and even Marissa the chief reader moving on (to Ottawa!). It probably will never feel like it was in the glory days at Storefront Theatre, when the place was packed every month. (And apparently I missed out on the truly anarchic times, described by Preyde here, but I certainly saw it at a high point.) While they seem to finally have a fairly stable home at Tarragon Theatre on the first Monday of each month, it doesn't feel like there is a critical mass, particularly in the sense of actors making contact with others, that was there when Storefront was so active. I'll be very sorry if it does go away, though there isn't too much I can do aside from continue to submit pieces to them (and talk the series up on the blog from time to time). I have a couple of good ideas at the front of my mind right now, and I'll try to get one of them down on paper tonight and tomorrow. And from the Facebook page, it does seem like a relatively large number of people may come out in January, so I probably need to put a bit of extra effort into my piece this time around.
I was going to Toronto Cold Reads more often for a while, not too long after they switched format to add live music at the top of the line-up and right after the break. While some people did (and continue to) grouse about how this effectively removes at least one or even two scripts per night, many of the musical guests have been outstanding. I saw David Newberry (twice), Skye Wallace (twice) and Abigail Labell, along with some others. Then I took a long hiatus from them, even though this series takes place at The Social Capital bar, which is considerably closer to my home. Interestingly, the last time I went, the musical guest didn't actually turn up. While there are slow nights from time to time (and on those times I often am pressed into reading a part, which isn't really my bag), usually the crowd is bigger and the networking is a little healthier. I suspect that means that Toronto Cold Reads will outlast SFYS, but who really knows. I have found it extremely hard to break in with them. I did win the Writer's Challenge once and they read my piece (which went over well), and I was part of a group writing exercise as well. But they've never taken one of the pieces I've directly submitted, though I do have one in that they are considering for next season. Probably until they take one of my pieces, I will always feel a little frosty towards them. In general, the emphasis is a bit more on longer pieces that might lead to film or television scripts, and I simply don't work in that vein. More than anything, I write short sketches, usually with a humorous twist, and the fit is certainly much better with SFYS. That said, I like quite a few of the actors that go to Toronto Cold Reads regularly, and maybe I should just drop in more often without any expectation of having my pieces read there. (And while they probably will never get written, I do have two ideas that could be expanded into television pilots, and this is certainly the crowd to be in if I do decide to pursue them...)
It is pretty cool that Toronto can actually support two cold reading series, though one probably has its best days behind it. If nothing else, I get some insight into what the truly independent theatres are up to. It's not too much of a surprise that there appear to be a few cold reading groups in Chicago, though I wasn't aware of them while I lived there.
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