Welcome to the online press kit for RTO Productions

After experiencing profound loss from the death of her husband, JR Orlando founded RTO Productions in honor of the love the two shared for the theatre. “I sold my house, bought an RV, and started a theatre company,” she says.

Then when the coronavirus pandemic hit in spring of 2020, JR knew it was time to go above and beyond for the art community she and her husband were so committed to. That’s how the “Stage to Screen” project was born.

“I developed a new theatre model that has the potential to support all people involved in the work — playwrights, actors, directors, backstage crews, lighting and sound operators, stage managers, house managers, ticket takers, refreshment servers, administrators. We’re going to save theatre, and we’re going to pay people a living wage while we do it.”

“Stage to Screen” Gives Audience to New Plays, Hope to Artists

Orlando’s “Stage to Screen” program offers theatre lovers a chance to experience stunning and creative new stories safely during the pandemic. For those who practice, live, and love the arts, it provides an inroad to a new type of production model.

Orlando runs an open-call contest for playwrights to submit their plays. Winning plays are then presented as a fully staged workshop production and filmed by an experienced filmmaker.

“With ‘Stage to Screen,’ we produce a new play, film it, create a promotional trailer, then gift that trailer to the playwright so they can market their play to other theatres,” says JR. “We also use the trailer to market an online streaming version of the filmed production. We put it on pay per view so audiences everywhere can enjoy it, even in a pandemic.”

Orlando also makes sure the profits of the pay-per-view play benefit all the artists and crew involved in its production: “We assign 50% of the gross profit of the film to all of the artists and workers on an individual percentage basis. The goal is to provide much-needed stability for the artistic community during this challenging time. I want our model to make other areas of the industry take notice. You CAN support the arts from inside your industry. It just takes care and creative thinking.”

Pay-Per-View Plays to Save Artists, Theatres

“I like stories that ultimately uplift the human spirit,” says JR. “Our culture is overwhelmed with unrelentingly dark narratives, and I think our zeitgeist needs stories that offer a path forward.”

Orlando’s forthcoming pay-per-view plays include:

Madame Andrèe – a new play by Andrew Sarewitz: This is the story of Nancy Wake, aka The White Mouse. She loved men, particularly her husband, but never allowed it to compromise her strength. She was both feminine and ass-kicking at the same time. She’d take any man down and barely smudge her Chanel lipstick in the process. She had a mouth that could make a sailor blush. And male or female, don’t challenge her to a drinking contest unless you are prepared to lose. From her upbringing in Sydney, Australia, to her time as a journalist in Paris, to fighting for freedom and human rights against the Nazis, Nancy Wake lived one of the most fascinating lives of an (arguably) ordinary woman who became one of the greatest spies for England and France during the Second World War — all while refusing to compromise who she was as a woman.

Dr. Rowan, the Demon & Love – a new play by Carol Wolf: Kate Rowan, a professor of English Literature, has inherited a 16th-century spellbook from her uncle and has deserted her classes and gone to her uncle’s colonial house, Three Oaks, to carry on his work in trying to raise a demon. Her work is interrupted by the gardener, Michael, who wants to renew their old affair; her aunt, who owns the house and wants her out; and her boss, who comes to fetch her back, bringing the professor of History from California who has come to collaborate with her — just as Rowan succeeds in raising John Dee, the 16th-century magician to Queen Elizabeth the First.



Download JR Orlando’s One Pager.

Learn more at www.StageToScreen.org and RTOproductions.com.