Thursday, January 15, 2009

No business (cards) like show business (cards)

Question for y'all, especially if you move in theatrical circles: Do playwrights have business cards? By which I mean, is it accepted practice to spend a bit of one's own money printing up cards that say "Playwright," and then to give them out to other theater professionals that one encounters? Or is this just weird/pretentious?

I ask this because I went to see The Arabian Nights at Berkeley Rep on Tuesday, and as I BART-ed back to the city, I found myself seated across from one of the performers, Alana Arenas. I congratulated her (it was an awesome production...longer post to come later) and we chatted for a bit. She was very sweet, and when I shyly told her that I am a playwright, she asked me my name and said she'd look out for my work.

At that moment, I wished that I could've handed her a business card that included my name, the title "Playwright," this blog address, etc. (Especially because my surname is very uncommon and hard to remember.) But do playwrights ever do this? What's the etiquette?
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6 comments:

  1. JaimeJanuary 15, 2009 at 10:49 AM

    Yup, that's totally cool. It's helpful to be able to give out a card with your contact info, even if you don't work at an institution that prints them for you.

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  2. Marissa SkudlarekJanuary 15, 2009 at 11:58 PM

    Thanks, Jaime. Though I do have business cards for my day-job, I'm glad to hear that it would be good to get special playwright-cards too!

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  3. RobertCinnamonJanuary 21, 2009 at 9:50 AM

    You must. I love business cards (though I think most are astonishingly tasteless) and keep meaning to get some printed. One idea though is that you could just have some personal cards printed, that only have your name and contact info (and a pretty picture) so that when you bump into Crispin Cordosa who you haven't seen since 1998 and who's getting off the train you're getting on and the guard blows his whistle and you don't have enough time to tell Crispin that you're a playwright but you want him to phone you regarding thoroughly non-playwrightful activities... all I'm saying is that it gives you flexibility. Or don't do that. But get some cards. Definitely get the cards.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2010 at 10:39 PM

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  5. WaseemDecember 5, 2012 at 2:14 AM

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