I’m writing this blog while sitting in a hotel room, waiting to see a performance of a musical that is working its way to Broadway.

Am I California?  At The Old Globe?  La Jolla?  Ahmanson?

Well, I am in LA . . but not that LA.  I’m in Louisiana. New Orleans, to be exact, seeing a production of White Noise, a 2006 graduate of NYMF that has been in the news a lot lately.

Noise is playing at a little theater nestled deep in the French Quarter. And when I say little theater, I mean exactly that. It’s called Le Petit Theatre, and it’s the oldest operating community theater in the US.

It doesn’t have 2,000 seats.  It doesn’t have unlimited fly space.  But it does have a supportive community thrilled to be a part of something that is planning on playing The Great White Way (Both Jim L. and Robert D. told me that while waiting in line for the men’s room).  Oh, and it also has a super-sized tax incentive that makes it much more attractive for shows to check out The Big Easy as a place to play (I know I will).

There’s nothing wrong with the “usual” places to play.  But as I touched on here, perhaps it’s time to do what forward thinking people like New Orleanean Holly Way have done and look at other opportunities.  There are plenty of places to try out your show, but it’s up to you, the Producer, to do the due diligence and find the best opportunity for you and your product.

To extend a Frostian metaphor, sometimes the highway that everyone is on is only filled with traffic and tolls.

It takes more time to find a different route.  But that different route can still get you to where you are going, and sometimes it can even be a shortcut.