Gaining Traction?
Dunkirk NY – After having read this guy out in Seattle, I am beginning to think that perhaps, just perhaps, the idea of localized theatre is gaining some traction in the blogosphere. Mr. Mullin’s voice is powerful, and it will be quite interesting to see how far he gets. I really look forward to the rest of his essays. It’s also instructive to read the comments. I think there is a huge collection of artists out there who desperately want a localized theatre movement to succeed, and the comments seem to reflect that. Of great consequence to me is the fact that he produced one of his plays in concert with a small theatre department at a community college run by a good friend of his. More collaboration between theatre departments that have the facilities and playwrights that have the plays is something I continue to dream about.
I was particularly taken with the contrasts drawn between localized and globalized theatre. He uses a quote attributed to the incoming AD of Seattle Rep, Kate Whoriskey, as a jumping-off point for his discussion about locally grown plays. He also has a few words to say about the NYC-centric attitude infecting his regional theatre scene. You want some money graphs to whet your appetite? Here are two:
Many of my local playwright colleagues have utterly given up on our Big Houses. When a friend who works for one recently warned me that I risk being blacklisted by his theater for mouthing off like this, I mentioned it to Scot Augustson, another local playwright whom I particularly admire. He replied, “Oh Paul, how would any of us ever know if we’re being blacklisted by them or not?” Scot’s right. And as much as good friends have cautioned me about these essays, it is time to be honest and realize you cannot burn a bridge that doesn’t exist.
Of course there are plenty of blocks on the long road to home grown. Over the next few years it will be important to hold accountable the artistic leadership at what we Seattle show folks call the “Big Houses”, namely the Intiman, ACT and the Seattle Repertory Theater. These juggernauts love to pay lip service to new works, but when you dig beneath the surface of their “new play initiatives,” you find they consist almost exclusively of importing established talent from New York rather than fostering much at home…. That said, sometimes I feel stupid that I haven’t yet given up. But I haven’t. And here’s why. Those Big Houses essentially belong to us, the citizens of Seattle and the surrounding region. We fund them through our attendance and through our generous patronage: direct giving, public arts funding and donations from the corporations for which we work. We also support them through our cheap labor as actors, designers and administrators. They will respond to the demand for locally developed plays. So long as we make the demand.
Nice stuff, IMHO.
Everywhere you turn these days, the concept of localization has traction. I like to drink localized beers (Yuengling, Southern Tier Brewery, and even the occasional Genny), I buy only New York State wine (Johnson Estates, Bully Hill, Konstantin Frank), and when I want a hamburger, I am more likely to go to Sullivan’s Charbroil than to Burger King. During the late summer months I feast on local sweet corn and vegetables, and I can even get localized buffalo burger if I want (not to mention sides of beef, free-range chickens, brown eggs, etc.). Right now I am trying to get in on a new local coffee roaster who has a limited clientele at the moment. Not everything in my cupboards or refrigerator is local, but a significant portion is, and I like that. Hopefully more and more people will begin to think in these terms about their art, and if we keep getting more traction, theatre can take advantage of this by replacing the decaying regional/globalized model with the regional/localized model. Today, right at this moment, I begin to think that’s possible. -twl
(h/t to the recently outed 99Seats)
