Oh, I'll be suggesting many things about the NYMF experience, believe me. And actually, there were seven shows at the Acorn - one was a two or three-nighter as I recall. Roller Derby is the poster child for how to abuse a festival. They clearly wanted the NYMF prestige (if there IS prestige) or the NYMF umbrella, but they just as clearly did not want to play by any NYMF rules or have any of the constraints that other shows have. Either there's a level playing field or there's not - it's that simple. The fact that a show using the NYMF umbrella was allowed to rent their own theater because poor babies just didn't want to have to break down their set in thirty minutes like the rest of the shows, and they wanted to have a preview, and they wanted to rehearse in their theater, and they wanted two or three days to tech and they didn't want to allow critics into their show the first week (and it looks like the second week, too, as I have not seen one review of the show). So, they rent their own theater, put the actors on a different contract so they can tech the show prior to opening, their set can stay on the stage, and they don't have to share their lighting and sound equipment with four to seven other shows, all of whom don't give a crap about each other, and therefore do whatever they feel like without regard to the consequences the show that follows them may have.
A spending cap? It is to laugh. Equity DEMANDS a spending cap of no more than 15K on the production - the actors and rehearsal space are on top of that. I would doubt that ANY NYMF show this year respected that cap. They all turn in budgets that are bogus, it's that simple. Roller Derby spent close to 100K. Think that's fair? Of course, the joke is everyone hated the show so there you are. For all the bellyaching about money, it's obvious that you spend and spend and spend - no one knew about all these little extra NYMF charges that kept popping up over and over again - it certainly drove my show considerably overbudget.
I agree about letting people know that many of the shows have been presented elsewhere, while few are World Premieres. We were very open about it and it was all over our NYMF page - photos from the LA PRODUCTION, blah, blah, blah. Again, the most egregious and blatant show that didn't put its cards on the table was Roller Derby, The "New Musical" which had its first production in 1978 and several productions since, all with considerable money behind them and all failures.
I'll say this about critics - allowing them to attend opening night is reprehensible. The cast is playing that space for the FIRST TIME, after having had a run-through right up to ninety minutes before curtain. I'll tell you this - all our mediocre reviews were from critics who saw the show opening night, when it was simply "off." The critics who came Friday night issued wonderful reviews. The critics who saw it during the run, save for one, issued wonderful reviews. But those opening nighters - ridiculous. Not even a bloody preview.
Having to design a set that then has to store in a tiny space is something every show should have to do. But, they don't. Some shows truck their set to a storage facility. Level playing field? I don't think so. When Roller Derby moved out of St. Clements that allowed other shows to get in early (paying to do so, of course) and get at least a few hours of tech time in. That happened to us, although we could ill afford it we did it - of course, NYMF didn't have a sound guy there, so that part was a complete waste of time - lack of communication on their part - they apologized - they didn't refund any dough. We did get to write a few light cues, though, so that was good. However, by the end of our run, one moving light was completely broken (a key one, too) and every other scroller was screwed up, gel-wise, so that on our closing performance most of the lighting design had no color at all. Level playing field? I don't think so.
As to what shows benefitted from being NYMF favorites, clearly the shows at the original press conference did, and it is disingenuous to say they didn't. Many shows had stars that had Broadway leading role credits, including mine. But they chose what they chose and the other twenty-two shows be damned. The other shows that benefitted from NYMF's selective generosity, were, of course, the early sell-outs, like the underwear musical. But, let's look at that - instead of promoting the shows in the bigger spaces that weren't selling out (especially the late-afternoon matinees), they just continued to brag about those early sell-outs without stating the obvious reason for them - all the early sell-outs were in theaters with only sixty to seventy seats to sell (because NYMF holds back between twenty and thirty tickets for their own use for every performance). Well, for example, if we'd been in that size theater then we would have sold out all but one of our shows. The shows that sold out frequently had their producers purchasing blocks of tickets in order to sell out and get the publicity and also the added performance. In our case, I didn't give a crap because adding a performance was simply not going to happen, because it didn't interest me in the least.