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
This is a great piece. I wonder if part of the answer lies in creating an alternative to these conference models. Were there events wherein the speakers whole purpose was to critique to status quo and speak intelligently it might provide an alternate vision for your and other’s students.
Then again, critique is often most effective when borne of disillusionment. Perhaps this very system is laying the foundation for the radical critique that is not yet possible since we are still firmly entrenched in the conservative critique of the radical performance art of the ’80s.
Despair indeed. What will all these young bright eyed actors do if (or perhaps when) Broadway disappears? When that brass ring no longer exists? And spreading positive messages? Good grief, have any of these people actually spend time trying to make a living in the theatre? Happy fun time fluffy bunny world it is not and it does a great disservice to spread that message to up and coming actors.
Being a theatre artist can be an amazingly fulfilling, astonishing, heart expanding job. It’s the only field I’ve ever considered. (that might be because I’m woefully qualified for every other field…)
But the perspective that has kept me sane over the years is not ‘how do I get to New York and get a Tony’ but rather ‘how do I satisfy my art.’ And it’s amazing how the very simple, the very small projects do more than satisfy.
I don’t ever see a Tony in my sights, nor do I see a move to New York. And I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my career. Ha.
[...] always Tom Loughlin pours out his soul over the sad state of theatre grads trying to fit themselves into a machine that just [...]
[...] that the metaphor Tom Loughlin used to describe what we had both seen at SETC was “drinking the theatrical KoolAid,” a reference, of course, to a horrible example of religion at its [...]
[...] that the metaphor Tom Loughlin used to describe what we had both seen at SETC was “drinking the theatrical KoolAid,” a reference, of course, to a horrible example of religion at its [...]
[...] when they were fresh. In the meantime, Tom has provided some excellent posts entitled “Drinking the Theatrical KoolAid” and “Conference Workshops? [...]
For another model check out Britain’s Devoted and Disgruntled at http://www.improbable.co.uk/show_example.asp?item_id=17
It’s not academic but once a year it gives us all something to think about. Lyn Gardner describes this year’s here http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/jan/13/theatre
[...] chillingly gee-whiz paragraph when I was listening to Beth Leavel’s keynote speech (or, as Tom Loughlin calls it, “performance”) at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) last Friday, specifically [...]
I am currently enrolled in a Performing Arts Administration program, and I see this same problem every day. We fret over the future of theatre and the arts, but are resistant to change the failing model. We seem committed to preserving the tradition till it dies rather than giving it new life. What happened to creativity?
Your post raises some very valid and relevant problems that face that the theatre right now. It has also been my experience that there are few people who want to truly address what is wrong with the American stage and how we can make it right. I find it incredibly fascinating and unfortunately insightful that your experience with the keynote address and Beth Leveal was dominated by discussion of how to “succeed on broadway and be like her.” I think that we can agree that American theatre does not need any more Beth Leveal success stories. What it desperately needs is radical success and reform stories, and this is what should be addressed and encouraged in any theatre conference. From my experience, your discussion of theatre majors is right on the nose. As a soon to be graduating theatre student myself, I have been exposed to several instructors and several working and successful guest speakers. Not one of them has ever pointed out anything wrong with theatre or offered any encouragement or advice on how to fix it. It has consistently been advice and encouragement of how to become successful in the current and broken theatrical model.
I am eager to hear your future thoughts on the issue and how you think we can go about changing. To me, it seems that theatre education is one of the best (If not the best) places to begin addressing the problems. If instructors and guest speakers can begin planting seeds that may inspire students to think twice before drinking the “Theatrical KoolAid” as you put it, I think then we may start seeing reform and revolution against the current flawed system. As far as what that reform entails, I tend to agree with Scott that the decentralization of the theatre is one of the major necessary reforms that will allow theatre to reach its full life-changing potential. Any thoughts you would like to share on the issue would are always welcomed.