Today we’d like to introduce you to Bree O’connor

Hi Bree, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I am currently the Artistic Director (and co-founder) of Playful Substance, a development-focused theatre company based in New York City. I am originally from rural, southern Minnesota and I began my love affair with the theatre in high school via school productions and our local community theater. Since then I have dabbled in everything from Shakespeare to sketch comedy, playwrighting to directing, and acting to design. My focus for the last 7 years has been on helping both new and established playwrights and screenwriters navigate their way through the writing process. A small number of the works that come through our Writers’ Group process receive a full production and we are hoping to add new ways to promote our writers and their work in the next year or two.

I am a lifelong writer in addition to my theatre-making activities and I am currently working on a memoir about my formative experiences with sex, love and violence that is written to be shared out loud. I will be organizing several live reading events (in NYC) of my memoir project in 2025. The intent is to record these live events for podcast release. Until then, you can follow some of my progress on my Substack, Unreliable Narrator (breeoconnor.substack.com)

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Absolutely not.

In the last 25 years, live theatre has become more expensive to produce while audiences have migrated to more passive means of obtaining their entertainment. This drives up ticket prices and re-inforces the audiences’ desire to stay home and spend less money. In addition, funding sources have either become smaller and more competitive or have disappeared completely leaving sponsorship, ticket sales and crowd funding as the most reliable funding sources available. But even these sources come with nearly impossible obstacles. Sponsorship is not particularly viable because the audience for the product (a show) is finite, so the reach is minimal. I’ve already laid out the issue with ticket sales. Audiences WILL leave their homes for unique, live entertainment, but they tend to prioritize opportunities to see celebrities in the flesh and are terribly worried that if they have never heard of something it must be bad. (And it costs another $5000 for a company to hire good PR to help convince an audience otherwise). This leaves crowd funding, which requires a lot of energy and planning to execute annually.

I’ve quit three times because the work load can be oppressive and occasionally demoralizing. If you are not independently wealthy, this work can be draining. You have to look out for yourself and be able to count on your own resilience.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

My specialty as a producer, director and facilitator is in curating group experiences and collaborations. I enjoy setting up a space inside which creative connection between artists and audiences is possible. One of my favorite events is called Pithy Party. Writers from our Writers’ Groups are invited to choose 10 minute excerpts of a work in progress and those pieces are then given a quick rehearsal process with a few actors and a director. Then we invite audiences in to see these excerpts as staged readings hosted by one of our friends from our collaborative community. The event is loose and communal. Mistakes are woven into the tapestry of the evening with love and acceptance. Everyone in the space knows that these works are fresh, sometimes even unfinished, and sometimes read by artists we just met. The result is a warm conversation between artists in process and an audience that is invested in new work succeeding. Then, we eat! Our audiences and artists have a chance to mix and mingle, talk about the work and get to know one another as people.

We do not hold traditional auditions for Playful Substance projects. Instead, we prefer to use events like Pithy Party and developmental readings to engage in “low stakes play”. This way, we can invite creatives that have met to come in and play with us for a couple of hours or a day and see how they really work instead of seeing them for 5-15 minutes and watching them present something they think we want to see. We are interested in the whole artist, how they work with others, how they solve problems, and what excites them about the work.

As a playwright, actor and designer, my specialty is emotional connection. I am able to appreciate, explore and express emotional landscapes without fear. Stories allow us to feel deeply and then return to stasis. Each time we do this, we know that when we encounter these emotions in real life scenarios, that we can endure. We also learn how to exercise compassion for others as we walk around inside their circumstances for 90 minutes and learn a little more about how we are the same and how we are different. This aspect of arts engagement is more vital to our survival as a community, nation and species than any time I have previously experienced in my nearly 50 years on the planet.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?

I am outgoing and friendly. People tend to regard me as a “very nice lady” who appears trustworthy and confident. What they do NOT know is that I suffer from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. This means that I will default to reading any interaction that is less than overt enthusiasm as a negative. I frequently go home after events and examine all the ways I failed in conversation and assume this means that no one I encountered liked me. I sometimes avoid going out at all for fear of being rejected when my personal defenses are a bit low.

The good news is that I know this is what is happening. Knowing is, as they say, half the battle. Since I know, I am able to challenge these negative thoughts, but it is a struggle. I look at my theatrical practice as a tool for overcoming RSD.

Pricing:

• Writers’ Groups for Playwrights and Screenwriters (all levels of experience) Weekly and Monthly meetings available (online only) $60/month
• Writing from Memory (Online Memoir Writing Workshop) $30

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.playfulsubstance.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playfulsubstance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlayfulSubstance/
• Other: https://breeoconnor.substack.com/

Image Credits

Sullivan O’Connor, Amanda Faye Lacson, Bree O’Connor, Lorenzo Tijerina