|
Welcome to Mark-Brian Sonna Productions,
or as we are called in the industry: MBS Productions
We specialize in "New Theatre":
New Plays
New Musicals
New Translations
New Adaptations of Classic Works
In essence, every play or musical we do is a World Premier. We are the only Theatrical Production company in North Texas that specializes in exclusively producing works previously unseen for the stage. Our audiences are the most adventurous, sophisticated, and eager, for they know that they'll get to experience new works for the stage.
We were founded in 2004 by Mark-Brian Sonna when he produced the show "Theatre of Death" which was presented at the Teatro Dallas space for the Halloween season. The show consisted of 6 short plays dating from the middle ages through the present day all dealing with Death. Two of the plays were world premiers, three were new translations, and one was an adaptation of an existing work. This set the tone for what was to come. In 2005 we did a second show of Theatre of Death to kick off a 3 show season that carried us through the summer of 2006. In our 2006/2007 season we presented 5 plays. We now currently produce 6 shows a year as well as assist and serve as consultants to other theatre companies in developing and producing new and existing plays for their audiences.
As the amount of plays we produce grow so do our audiences. We've gone from doing 2 weekend engagements to an average of 4 week runs for our shows. We are one of the only theatre groups that has succesfully been able to cultivate weekday audiences, making our performance schedule fuller then most other small theatres. In fact, because of high ticket demand we've been known to add shows on Monday and Tuesday evenings to accomodate our audiences.
We have received countless critical raves for every show we have produced. Many of the productions have been named by critics and newspapers in their top lists of plays fo the year including #1 slot for plays such a Dante: Inferno, Dream Cafe,The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents: A Bur-Less-Q Nutcracker!
The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents: A Bur-Less-Q Nutcracker! won the National Goldstar Nutcrakcer Award (aka "the Nutty") in 2014 for being the most beloved Nutcracker in the USA, beating out other companies such as The San Francisco Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, The Joffrey.
Almost every year since we've been eligible for the prestigious Column Awards we've generated a nomination. The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents: A Bur-Less-Q Nutcracker!, 24 hrs of Love, Dante: Inferno, John XII, The Importance of Being Lovely, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Delights or Love, The Futility of Hope, were nominated for Best New Play of the Year.
For our 2013/2014 season we set a unique record: all 6 plays were nominated by Broadwayworld.com for best either best new play of they year, or best play of the year, and racked up a record breaking 40 additional nominations in all other categories including acting, set design, costuming, directeing, etc.
Our teaming up with RoverDramawerks generated nominations for their play "Surviving Grace" and our teaming up with Queer Voltage resulted in the play "Queer Anarchy" which was voted as being the "Best Stage Production" of 2007 according to the Dallas Voice readership.
Our production of Dante: Inferno was also voted as the best stage production of the year in 2014 by the Dallas Voice along with Mark-Brian Sonna being voted as best actor mae or female of the year for his work with our company.
Our business model is unique in the theatre community. We are a for profit theatre group, yet we pay all our staff and artists on a per-show profit share basis. This means that every performer, technician, staff, has a vested interest in making the show a success, thus insuring and maximizing the artistic contribution of each individual involved in the production. Though contributions are not tax deductible, not a cent is ever wasted, and the monies contributed directly affect the profit margin of the show. In other words, your contribution directly helps the artists involved!
|
