Explore

Alithea Talk Track 2025-12-14

Below is a 10–12 minute talk track you can use as-is (read it verbatim or adapt). It’s designed to: (1) honor your relationship, (2) keep scope rational, (3) introduce big horizons without “Disney tomorrow” energy, and (4) end with a concrete, low-risk wedge.

⁠

Alithea: “Infrastructure for Optionality” Talk Track (10–12 minutes)

0) Opening (30–45 seconds)

“Hey — thanks for making time. I’m coming to you with two hats: alumni/friend, and also someone who’s been building operational systems and thinking a lot about how small creative orgs can stay strong in a shifting landscape.

I’m not here to pitch a wild pivot. I’m here to reflect what I think Alithea already is — and propose a practical way to make it easier to grow, fund, and partner without losing what makes it special.”

⁠

1) What I see Alithea already being (1–2 minutes)

“From the outside, Alithea isn’t ‘mime’ in the stereotypical solo, white-face, silent-clown sense. It’s movement theatre — ensemble-based, choreographic, multidisciplinary, and honestly closer to an embodied storytelling lab than a niche performance troupe.

You already have:

A distinct artistic language grounded in physical expression and group dynamics.

A track record of education and workshops with young people.

A real institutional anchor through Wichita State / the local ecosystem.

And a history of making collaborative work across forms — music, visuals, theatrical composition.”

(Pause) “My point is: you already have the ingredients of something bigger than ‘a show.’ The question is how to make that legible and sustainable.”

⁠

2) The reality of the landscape (1–2 minutes)

“I don’t need to tell you the arts landscape is getting harder: attention is fragmented, touring and funding cycles are unpredictable, and the old models don’t reliably support long-term stability.

At the same time, there’s a weird opportunity: the world is hungry for embodied intelligence — nonverbal communication, movement literacy, believable human motion in digital media, health-adjacent embodiment work, ensemble coordination — all the things movement theatre trains implicitly.

So I think there’s a strategic opening: Alithea can either stay ‘hard to categorize’ — which can be beautiful but also expensive — or we can package and map what you already do so more partners and funders can understand it and support it.”

⁠

3) The thesis (1 minute)

“My thesis is simple:

Alithea has a unique ‘movement grammar’ — a teachable, transferable language of embodied storytelling — and the fastest way to unlock new opportunities is to build lightweight infrastructure that captures it.

Not bureaucracy. Not turning artists into admins. Infrastructure that runs in the background and creates optionality.”

⁠

4) Three horizons (2–3 minutes)

“I see three rational long-term trajectories. These are not promises — they’re possible directions once the foundation is built.”

Horizon A: Alithea as Organization of Record (preservation + authority)

“One lane is preservation: gathering artifacts, documentation, lineage, and becoming a credible steward of this tradition — especially the ensemble/movement theatre lineage that doesn’t have as clear a ‘home’ as other forms.”

Horizon B: Alithea as a movement-grammar supplier (industry + research)

“A second lane is applied partnerships: motion capture acting, XR/AR, robotics ‘human feel,’ animation, game studios, advertising — places that need believable embodied expression. This doesn’t mean abandoning art; it means translating the art into a training and collaboration capability.”

Horizon C: Alithea as an education + embodiment engine (outcomes + programs)

“A third lane is scaling what you already do in education — and potentially a wellness-adjacent track — but in a way that has outcomes and curriculum structure, so schools and institutions can adopt it repeatedly.”

(Bridge) “All three horizons become more plausible if one thing is true: we can map the assets, relationships, and knowledge you already have into a system that’s usable.”

⁠

5) The “don’t call Disney” paragraph (45–60 seconds)

“I want to say something explicitly, because it’s important: I’m not suggesting ‘we should go call Disney’ or chase giant partnerships unprepared.

The only reason I bring up big industry shifts at all is to show that the world is starting to value compressed, transferable creative intelligence. Big companies are building new pipelines for that.

For Alithea, the smart move is not chasing a moonshot. It’s building a bridgeable asset — a curriculum, a catalog, a pilot partnership — so that if something bigger ever becomes relevant, you’re ready and credible.”

⁠

6) The wedge proposal (2–3 minutes)

“Here’s what I propose as a low-risk, high-leverage starting point. Think of it as a Phase 1 wedge — not a forever commitment.”

Option 1 (recommended): Ops + Knowledge Backbone MVP (30 days)

“In 30 days, we build a simple ‘invisible backbone’:

A single source of truth for contacts, partners, donors, alumni, works, artifacts.

A grant and partnership tracking rhythm — basically a dashboard that tells you: who, what, when, next action.

A lightweight artifact intake process: when something comes in, we tag it, store it, and track permissions.”

Outcome: clarity, less scramble, increased capacity, and a system that supports every other horizon.

Option 2: WSU / Shocker Studios pilot (30–60 days)

“A second wedge is a pilot collaboration: a short workshop like ‘Embodied Acting for Motion Capture’ with students, plus documentation and feedback. The goal is proof: does this lane have pull?”

Option 3: Artifact + permissions sprint (30–60 days)

“A third wedge is: pick 10–20 key artifacts and build the first ‘mini archive’ with permission status and metadata. This becomes a seed for a foundation and for fundraising.”

(Pause) “My recommendation is we start with Option 1 — because it enables Option 2 and Option 3 without adding stress.”

⁠

7) What I need from you (60–90 seconds)

“For any of these to work, I’d need a few things from you, and I want to be respectful about scope:

A point person — one person who can give weekly input and decisions.

A realistic time commitment — even if it’s just 60–90 minutes a week.

Access to what already exists — folders, archives, past docs, contacts — even if it’s messy.

Agreement on a ‘definition of done’ — what does success look like after 30/60/90 days?”

⁠

8) Close with an easy next step (30–45 seconds)

“If this resonates, the next step isn’t a big commitment. It’s a single working session where I ask questions, we identify what exists, and we pick the wedge.

After that, I can come back with:

a 30/60/90/365 roadmap,

a simple dashboard spec,

and two pilot options — one internal, one partnership-facing.

How does that feel? What part feels most exciting, and what part feels risky or heavy?”

⁠

Optional Add-ons (use only if needed)

If they worry about “becoming corporate”

“I’m not trying to corporate-ify Alithea. I’m trying to protect the art by removing friction. The goal is: artists create, systems support.”

If they ask “what’s in it for you”

“I’m interested in this as a partner and builder. We can structure it as a project, a retainer, or a shared initiative depending on what feels right. But first I want to validate what’s real and useful.”

If they ask “what would you actually deliver in 30 days”

“I’d deliver: a working dashboard, a clean dataset structure, an intake process, and a weekly rhythm — plus a short memo translating the big horizons into concrete next moves.”

⁠

If you want, I can also produce:

a 1-page leave-behind version of this (for email/Doc),

a shorter 4-minute version for a casual phone call,

and a 30/60/90/365 plan template that has three “lanes” (ops, archive, partnerships) so you can decide the vector after you get their input.

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.