a poor player

Dunkirk NY – Travis Bedard over at Cambiare Productions has thrown those of us interested in theatre education reform some suggestions as we stew over how to change an aging and ineffective curriculum. Worth a look. -twl

Dunkirk NY – I seem to have an issue lately with quality. Nothing pleases me. Between watching my rehearsals for La Bohème, the movie The Watchmen I just finished watching, and my department’s production of Charlotte’s Web I saw this afternoon, it seems I can find nothing to really like. The last two things I have watched which I can really say I liked and had high levels of excellence were Synecdoche, NY and Born Yesterday at the Shaw Festival. Synecdoche, NY had incredible vision and writing, and Born Yesterday had incredible technique. Apart from those two things, I really haven’t much in the way of quality. Except perhaps the brand of baseball being played by the Yankees and Angels lately.

I am concerned about this tendency within me to find the weaknesses in everything I see. Why, I wonder, do I come away feeling so dissatisfied with the kinds of events I am viewing or even directing? Others around me seem to feel that the mere fact of something’s existence is enough to make it a success. People, it seems, cannot clearly see mediocrity even when it’s right in front of their face, or if they can, they certainly don’t want to talk about it. The human desire for success at any cost seems to obscure the truth.

I’ve wanted to write about this for quite some time, because if there is one thing which troubles me and, I think, keeps me from fully embracing a retreat from the concept of the “professional artist” is my fear that, given the propensity of 21st century society to raise the mediocre to the level of excellence, there will soon be no excellence at all.

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Fredonia NY – Manny Fried is a local Buffalo theatre legend.There isn’t anyone in the theatre community who doesn’t love him and think the world of him. His story is colorful, passionate, and quintessentially Buffalonian. I’ve been fortunate to work with him on several occasions in shows over the years. At 96 years old, he remains for all of us quite an inspiration.

Recently the Buffalo News had a feature on him as Manny continues to fight off some heart failure that has been plaguing him of late. I thought readers of this space might enjoy this look into the life of someone deeply committed to the art of theatre, the average working man, and his community.

Manny Fried, Buffalo Theatre Icon

Dunkirk NY – I was sitting here creating Powerpoint slides for my Introduction to the Performing Arts, and I was working on the Group Theatre. I found a YouTube video of Harold Clurman, and just had to share it with you all. Amazing how some things don’t really change over the years. -twl

Dunkirk NY – This weekend I am about to plunge into grading paperwork hell – 100 midterm papers containing two essays apiece, 13 directing production books, reaction papers on our recent student production, and upcoming reaction papers on our first mainstage production. So do not look for anything intelligent over the weekend or anytime soon.

Grading is my least favorite thing to do. I am teaching our big survey course this semester in Introduction to the Performing Arts, and it reminds me once again how much our whole educational process has turned into slightly more than jumping through hoops. When you have 100 students in a room, how in-depth can you possibly be in terms of creating a meaningful assessment? There are so many ideas from professional development people out there floating around, but every one of them is resisted by students, and they take twice the time to prepare and execute correctly. And you get no support if you try – to teaching assistants, no learning assistants, no money. And the rooms are all wrong. And the technology is not widely available. And the state is cutting your budget even more. And so on and so on.

Having students jump through these hoops does little to encourage their hopes. It seems such a pathetic little game at times. But honestly, I don’t know what else to do. They need to take this class because it fulfills a general education requirement in the arts. They really don’t want to learn about the arts; they want the credit. And it leads me to think this thought when I think about all the ideas people have for reforming the arts: what if people simply don’t want them? Are we trying to reform a product that, in actual fact, people don’t want anymore? Where is the statistical data that tells us people are hungry for the arts?

And now down to the dungeon. See you when I get through the dark side.  -twl

Fredonia NY – No doubt many of you have read about the troubles surrounding Shakespeare & Company. If not, you can read about it here and here. And should you be so inclined, you can watch their “call to action” here (I found their slogan “non-profit theatre is for everyone” a bit disingenuous. It’s for everyone “who can afford it.”)

There’s a lot that can be said about this event, not the least of which is the evident mismanagement that went along with trying to become large and “important.” But I do want to say that, at this point, any money spent to rescue this company will be further evidence that those who are concerned about “the arts” are really only concerned about the “high arts” and about making sure that the arts and theatre remain an exclusive activity for the well-off. When you read the dollar figures involved, which run within the $2-4 million range, just think at the same time what kind of funding that could provide for small regional companies across the country to help spread theatre at the grassroots level. And remember, these are dollars for one company alone, whose ticket prices are out of reach to mainstream, recession-wounded people.

Now you should understand why I so enjoy and appreciate my own humble Shakespeare festival, Shakespeare in Delaware Park (full disclosure – I am not a full-time member of the staff, but am occasionally employed as an actor during the summer performances). Our festival performs two shows every summer in Delaware Park, the “Central Park” of Buffalo. It is free to anyone who wishes to come. We ask for donations at intermission, and whether we get a penny or a $20 bill from someone, we are grateful for their donation. We work on a weatherbeaten stage now close to 20 years old, which we try to dress up each year with a set budget probably under $5,000 (I am guessing that’s the amount; I am not privy to the budgets). We costume all the actors for about three grand (again, a guess). Equity actors, of which there are maybe two per show, make the Buffalo/Rochester minimum – $426/week. Non-union actors make less, and some of the younger actors make far less. The backstage area consists of a worn construction-style trailer with a dressing room for the women, one for the men, and a space in between for storage. We sit outdoors as we await entrances. There is no running water; our water supply is a ten-gallon cooler, and we use port-a-potties, just like our patrons. The actors are all “home grown;” seldom is someone hired from out of town. And we’ve been doing it this way for 34 years, playing to as many as 40,000 people per summer, all seeing Shakespeare for whatever they can afford, even if it’s nothing.

In Buffalo NY, we can only dream of what $4,000,000 would be like to have. So I have little sympathy for the Berkshire-ites who are in danger of losing their festival. To them, I offer up the Buffalo NY model of doing Shakespeare. We’re going into our 35th year, and due to the hard work, dedication and diligence of a skeleton staff and our local theatre community, we’re still going strong. But of course, should Shakespeare and Company go under, we’ll be glad to have them donate their leftover assets to us. We’ll put them to good use. And shameless promotion time -  should you like to support us, you can become a Facebook fan of SDP by looking on my sidebar and doing the click thing. The setting is wonderful, the plays are fun, the company is terrific. We’d be glad to have you!  -twl

Dunkirk NY – October is always a stressful month for me. Usually I am directing something for the department; this year it’s the opera La Bohème. The days get shorter and shorter, which means time to think about dealing with my annual bout of seasonal affective disorder. Whatever paperwork or semester projects I have in the hopper are usually at the peak point of their time frame; this year it’s a re-designed BA degree on top of document preparation for our decennial accreditation. Last but not least, it’s playoff baseball season, which means I will be up every night until one in the morning trying to watch every inning of the playoffs live.

The New Yankee Stadium

I have absolutely no qualms about admitting I am a fan of the the New York Yankees. They are my hometown team, and I’ve been following them since I’ve been 8 years old, since 1960. So after having missed the postseason last year, the Yankees are back, facing the Minnesota Twins, a wonderfully scrappy team that plays with guts, guile, determination and heart. They are fun to watch. But not as much fun as the Yankees, who won 103 games this season and are perhaps one of the most fun Yankee teams to watch in the last 10 years.

I find a lot of similarities between theatre and baseball, and quite often in my acting classes I will make comparisons between the fundamentals of acting and the fundamentals of baseball. The thing I like most of all, though, is the human factor of both endeavors. Baseball is a game that, up until last season, was played without the assistance of much technology. But in the middle of last season, a decision was made to bring in instant replay for certain types of calls; home runs and fan interference. I watched the first game in which it was ever used, at Yankees Stadium, to call a home run. I can tell you that, even though the call went the Yankee’s way, I was very, very dismayed. I knew I was watching the beginning of the end. Continue Reading »

Dunkirk NY – I am experiencing technical difficulties with my new site and have been waiting for a resolution for the the problem. In their platform “upgrade” they seem to have lost my blog and made a complete mess of it. I will be changing hosting services. Hopefully this will not be much longer. In the meantime I have been swamped with work, getting some big projects out of the way. THanks for your patience as I try to make these changes. -twl