Tweeting More; Writing Less
Dunkirk NY – I’m beginning to think that, during the course of rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet, I may be tweeting more than blogging. Why? Because blogging, for me, takes time. I like to construct careful thoughts, craft essays, and generally speaking, try to write something presentable and cohesive.
Twittering, however, allows me to jot down quick thoughts simply and on-the-go. So if you happen to be an interested reader but have been disappointed about lack of content over the past week or so, give my twittering tweets a twy. There is a link on the right sidebar for your convenience. Let’s hope this experiment doesn’t make a complete twit out of me. -twl
Locally Grown and Produced – Art?
Dunkirk NY – During this morning’s reading I was struck by this article in the NY Times. As I read it, I couldn’t help continually substituting the word “theatre” or “art” for “food.” See if you do the same.
I think what strikes me the most about this article is that there are so many theatre artists out there, no doubt of liberal persuasion, who would agree with much, if not all, of the ideas contained in the article. They would be more than willing to stamp out big agri-business in favor of locally grown and organically produced food. Yet if you tried to make the the analogy that “big theatre” has more or less the same mentality behind it as “agribusiness,” you might find them more hesitant to agree or believe that change is needed along the same lines as the arguments presented in favor of locally grown food; i.e. locally grown actors and other theatre artists, locally grown theatre companies and arts organizations, etc.
DIet for a Small Planet
From Diet for a Small Planet to Fast Food Nation, agricultural activists have been at this idea that the politics and business practices of food production in this country have been detrimental to America’s health and to America’s economy. Yet only 3% of America’s food supply is provided at the local level. The same is true in the arts – the concentration of the arts into large cities at the expense of the rest of America’s artistic life has meant that only a very few can have a “healthy arts lifestyle” while millions get artistically obese on the sugar-laden and overprocessed products sold to them by television and large-musical touring companies. Continue Reading »
Random Things I'd Like to Write About But Probably Won't
Dunkirk NY – Here are some random things I’d like to write more about, but either don’t have the time to do justice, can’t think of how to formulate the essay, or I believe would bore people to death:
I’m in the midst of directing Romeo and Juliet. Apart from the difficulties involved with trying to get kids to hear and speak Shakespeare well, I wonder if they know anything at all about romance. Sure, it’s easy to take R&J and emphasize the passion and the lust, or really get into the “two warring camps” approach, but what about the romance in the play? The play has an undue amount of sonnets, and shouldn’t these go a long way towards suggesting to us how romantic the play is as well? Is romance no longer possible for undergraduates to play? Was it ever?
Two rather interesting quotes from ChelseaNow.com reporting on a meeting of indie theatre companies in NYC (h/t Leonard Jacobs):
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer told a crowd of more than 300 theater buffs, community advocates and elected officials gathered at the Players Club in Gramercy Park on Feb. 17 that he realizes the importance of a flourishing theater scene to New York City’s economy. Stringer said politicians in the past have viewed theater as an industry that would sustain itself and always remain in New York City. Tourists don’t come to the city to see its big buildings, he said. “They want to see our art and our talent and they also want to get a peek at us.”
When Melody Brooks of New Perspectives Theatre Company started up her company 17 years ago, there were roughly 100 small theaters in New York City. Now, she noted, there are 500. She called for those thinking of starting up a new theater to examine whether it would bring added value to the community or whether they could instead fulfill their mission by joining an existing company.
Hard Times All Over
Dunkirk NY – Theatre is not the only business these days suffering from hard times and a need to re-think strategies. Head over to the Chronicle of Higher Education and read this article, then read this article, and then read the most recent article. They are a series of articles written by Dr. William Pannapaker of Hope College in Michigan, who originally began writing about this topic in 2003 under the pen name of Thomas H. Benton before he was tenured. I’m sure you’ll be able to draw the parallells between careers in theatre and careers in higher education in the humanities. Things are tough all over. -twl
The Ides of Theatre
Dunkirk NY – As today is March 15, the famous “Ides of March” in Julius Caesar, it was fitting this morning to stumble upon this article in the NY Times as I began my morning read:
High School Musical Actors Envision Being Rising Stars
In today’s culture, the Ides of March represents a sense of foreboding and imminent doom. Here are some out-of-context quotes from the students interviewed to give you a clue about where I am going:
“It’s like winning a Tony while you’re still in high school.”
Mutual Admiration Society
Dunkirk NY – OK OK Scott Walters and I really like the way each other thinks. Anyone who reads both our blogs knows this by now. When he thinks I’ve written something worth reading, he hooks up his readers to my blog. Same with me. Get yourself hooked up to The Wal-Marting of American Theatre on Scott’s blog, and be sure to include in the reading all the comments. It’s a terrific read using a metaphor everyone can understand. Kudos to Scott for getting noticed by Artsjournal for this particular piece as well. Spring break sure can bring out the best in a person. Hey Scott, do you think the SETC will ever invite us back? -twl
R.I.P. Madison Rep
Dunkirk NY – In cruising the theatre blogs this evening after writing the previous post and while watching USA-Venezuela, I came across the depressing news that Madison Repertory Theatre in Madison WI is closing shop. It’s depressing to me because in my days with the also-defunct Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival I met and worked with many of the fine actors who made that place a theatrical marvel. Mark Lazar, Mark Herold, Laurie Birmingham, Elaine Lazar, Lee Ernst, Laura Gordon and so many others under the original artistic direction of Joe Hanreddy (now AD of Milwaukee Rep) did so much good work there. Another story of going $500K in debt. Very sad. -twl
Conference Workshops? Not!
Dunkirk NY
“Birmingham Birmingham
Greatest city in Alabam
You can travel ‘cross this entire land
There ain’t no place like Birmingham” -Randy Newman
Well, it’s back from the SETC Conference. With the change in time, I’ve actually lost two hours today; one from the change to Daylight Savings Time, and one from going from the Central back to the Eastern Time Zone. But I have to get this post up before I go into serious rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet starting tomorrow.
The Prof and I had a wonderful day yesterday getting our fill of downtown Birmingham. Actually, it began on Friday night when we went to the Five Point district to grab some Thai food. Five Points is a very nice entertainment district that has a number of restaurants, night life hot spots, coffeehouses, and panhandlers. Considering that it is in the neighborhood of the University of Alabama-Birmingham, no doubt there is a lot of college nightlife going on in the district. I was amazed, as Scott drove me back to my hotel, to find ourselves in a lot of traffic on the interstates. Things were very very busy.
Drinking the Theatrical KoolAid
Birmingham AL – The Prof and I finally met up face-to-face here in Birmingham AL. We delivered a joint session on re-inventing the theatre curriculum for small and mid-sized schools at the Southeast Theatre Conference. Scott was gracious enough to invite me in on this gig, and I took advantage of the offer. We pooled many of our ideas about re-structuring theatre curricula together into a joint panel, and I think it went well. Scott got about nine names for his <100K theatre project. There really was little resistance from the audience members. As Scott noted, they seemed to have the air of people who have been thinking the same things themselves.
Now here comes the rant.
I have not been to a theatre conference in a long time. At some point way back when in the dark ages I came to the conclusion that these types of conferences were only for people committed to the status quo. These are not the sort of things you attend if you want to have intelligent discussions about theatre. For the most part, everyone involved with the whole affair is really committed to the concept of spreading positive messages and positive experiences about theatre. There is absolutely no sense in these affairs that anyone connected with it really wants to think differently. In other words, my ideas for reform weren’t welcome to the party.
Fair enough, but at least at this point in time there are really no alternative conferences to go to. At places like SETC, NETC, and ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education) the emphasis is 97% on “how to succeed in the theatre business by trying a little harder.” It’s self-perpetuating, narcissistic, and almost cult-like. Anybody interested in having an adult conversation about what might be wrong, what might need reform, etc., is faced with the reality that everyone else there has drunk the kool-aid of pre-professionalism. You might as well be talking to a wall.
I think the saddest experience of my day yesterday was attending the keynote address at which Beth Leavel spoke (or rather performed). A graduate of Meredith College and University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Ms. Leavel won the Tony Award for her performance in the title role of The Drowsy Chaperone. Her IBDB listing indicates she’s been in exactly 6 shows on Broadway since 1980. Almost 13 years of her career has been performing in 42nd St., the original and the revival. She was in the right place at the right time with the right show to win her Tony. She is funny, and she appears to have a very quick comic mind. She enjoys playing the comic diva. She had the assembled multitude of college theatre majors eating out of her hand.
But she had nothing serious to say, really. Neither did the theatre majors. All the questions and all the talk was about how to succeed on Broadway and be like her. As I walked through the halls of the hotel complex during the afternoon I grew more and more sad watching all these young dressed-up kids with their audition numbers pinned to their chests waiting for their turn to show everyone what they could do and begin their climb up the great Broadway ladder. They know nothing else at all about theatre except this professional business model, and they have no sense of independent thought in terms of thinking about how to push back against it. They’re just buying it hook, line and sinker. And we, the educators, are tossing them the baited hook.
In a recent Washington Post article by Ron Charles (free registration to WP may be necessary to access the article online), the author laments the fact that young college students do not read any radical literature and are all fairly middle-of-the-rod to conservative. This is certainly true among theatre students. I do not know what we have to do to get our young people to conceive of theatre in a different way. Perhaps we cannot. It has led me to some despair over the past 24 hours. I want to follow this up a bit with some more thoughts, but for today I am going to check out the Civil Rights history that Birmingham has to offer. I think it will be far more inspiring than How To Create a Sure-Fire Resume. -twl
If Theresa Larkin Ran the NEA
Fredonia NY – Isaac Butler pointed me to an article in the LA Times entitled “If I Ran the NEA.” Some prominent artists take a stab at what kinds of actions they would take. It’s very interesting to read some of the takes on the question.
But I was most taken by the following piece of writing, which came from the comments section. Ms. Theresa Larkin had this to say, and because I do not know how to contact her, I am posting the entirety of her comments in the hope that I am not violating any copyrights. They’re just too good not to read. So consider Ms. Larkin a “guest blogger” for today. -twl
I see real value in the vision statements presented by a few of the interviews posted, namely Kurt Anderson and Jon Robin Baitz.I have restated a some of their ideas and added a few of my own in numbered suggestions for how I would coordinate NEA funding.
As an artist, educator, community activist, documentarian, and citizen, I would fund…
1.) A national system that creates a synthesis of young and old artists from across many disciplines to teach in schools and community centers that have lost funding for programs in the arts.
