Theatre Education Part 3 – But Is It Art?
Dunkirk NY – I mentioned in the last post that one of the “big lies” perpetrated on theatre students is that they get to work in near ideal conditions for their time in school, something they won’t get a chance to do for a long time after. I’d like to take a more extended look at how colleges perceive the creation of art. This is a topic that goes a bit wider than theatre, and I think exposes the deep conservative nature of artistic training on most campuses.
When was the last time you read or heard about a really good controversy concerning a show produced on a college campus? Or an art exhibit? Or a music concert? They seem to be extremely rare, and even when they exist, they hardly raise any fuss outside the institution. I guess the closest I ever came to creating a major fuss was in a production of MacBeth where I had one of the witches in the fourth act vision scene bare a breast under very low light. It raised a stir with the local Baptist minister and some local high schools because they wanted to bring their students to the show and assumed they were going to get a “traditional” rendition of the play. And that sort of says it all – the expectation is that universities will present us with “traditional” art in traditional ways, the “high art” that everyone talks about. There is absolutely no expectation that universities will produce any sort of original art whatsoever, but rather act as a museum of art in every possible way. Shakespeare will be done as “Shakespeare,” classics are expected, and high art will be enjoyed by all. Continue reading ‘Theatre Education Part 3 – But Is It Art?’ »
