a poor player

…perhaps I should be too.

Dunkirk NY – Extended vacation? Boredom? Laziness? Dry rot? Empty thoughts? I would suppose some of all of these reasons would count in some part to explain not writing. What I can tell you is that I came many times in front of the keyboard, stared at the blank screen for a few minutes, and walked away. Yes, holidays and end of semester take their toll. Yes, I’ve been busy. But there are other issues at play, not the least of it being what to write about.

I am a person who likes to believe that whatever I am doing has some meaning, some impact. I do not like getting involved in activities merely for the sake of my own ego or sense of personal achievement. And if there is one thing I have learned so far about blogging, it is this – it has little impact. I am not saying it has NO impact, but the impact that blogging in general (and theatre blogging in particular) seems to have is fragmented and is of concern only to a small handful of insiders. To be sure, blogging has begun to have some impact on the indie theatre world, and to that extent it might be useful. But if you’re not tightly connected to that world, as I am not, then what impact can you say you’re having?

This past semester I have tried two different sorts of experiments to gauge what interest there may be out there in the theatrical ideas I hold to be important. Both experiments were relative duds. Now, I don’t exempt myself from blame in the sense that I did not do much follow-up on either experiment, but nonetheless the amount of noise generated was, again on a relative basis, minimal. Both the 5-part series on reforming theatre education written with Scott Walters of Theatre Ideas (who has also come back, so click that link to get some new and very interesting ideas from him) and the survey of Fredonia students have not raised any interest beyond the usual suspects. It’s not as if a torrent of comments, suggestions, or anything else came my way. I was hoping that a small number of practicing artists would at least make some comments of some sort, but nothing hit. There appeared to be a lot of traffic, but in terms of generating feedback, something along the lines of a dull thud was what transpired.

I totally blame myself, because of course what was needed was aggressive follow-up, not a “wait and see” attitude. So I took a long time trying to decide what steps I should take next. During this month of January what I hope to do is lay out a plan of attack, and present some ideas on which I intend to follow up. And as something of an unintended follow-up to Scott’s excellent posts on regional theatre and new plays, here is the first idea I want to announce and promote: the “One New Play” campaign.

I think it’s simple: every theatre department in the country should commit one of their production slots a year to the production of one new play. Ideally, that play should be regional in nature, featuring the work of a playwright from within the region. But I would not make that a requirement. All that matters is that one new play a year gets done on every college campus each year. It can be either a student-produced play or a department-produced play. It can be the work of a student in the department (!) or the work of an outside playwright. Any work that remains unpublished (i.e. not available through Sam French or Dramatists or Baker’s Plays or any other publishing outlet for royalties) would qualify.

At this point in America’s theatrical development, it’s clear the regional theatres won’t do this. It’s also clear that, given financial constraints, university settings have the most finanical resources at their command to help developing playwrights see their work produced. Finally, it’s also clear that the idea of a regional theatre will no longer be something that will be the responsibility of professional regional theatres. That task has to be passed on to universities, which need to move from a pre-professional model of training to one which encourages regional theatrical voices. By starting something like the “One New Play” campaign, hopefully some impact can be made. I have to do some further development with this idea, but I am going to try to make this one of the projects on which I can do some decent follow-up.

Of course, you have to put your money where your mouth is, so I am going to be directing a new play at SUNY Fredonia starting in a couple of weeks – Aunt Raini by Tom Smith from New Mexico State. Loosely based on the life and work of Leni Reifenstahl, the play presents some interesting ideas about ethics, art and relationships. Attached to that I am running a symposium of events around the ideas contained in the play, most notably where is the line between art and propaganda. So – if you’re someone who works in a theatre department and you’re right now in the midst of selecting your season, why not consider a new play? I invite you to join the “One New Play” campaign. If you have any ideas about where I might go to follow up on this idea, let me know through the comment section. Perhaps together we can have an impact. -twl