A Poor Player

Dunkirk NY - There has not been much need to write since my tooth has been fixed (root canal this past Monday), largely because Scott Walters over at Theatre Ideas has gotten on one hell of a roll! Amazing what a sabbatical can do for someone

Scott is doing and saying all the right things concerning the regional theatre situation. He has done the research, crunched the numbers, proposed small actions people can take if they are dissatisfied with the status quo, and has been getting some good positive attention from many of the big-city bloggers. It’s very inspiring and very timely - things seem to be coming to a tipping point which may produce some real change.

So for the time being, grab some of the debate going on about the regional theatre scene and follow up on the comments and links from Scott’s site. Add him to you blogroll or RSS reader if you haven’t done so already. I’ve really nothing to add to the debate for the time being, so for now just forget about me and read up on this issue. And if you’re a theatre person struggling to figure out what to do with your life in relation to your art, consider not thinking anymore about the status quo. Think about something other than NYC or the west coast. Throw away anything you may have learned in school about headshots, resumes, and begging other people to cast you. Think, instead, about serving the community or region you grew up in and finding ways to offer them a theatre scene which is connected to their lives and situation. You may find more reward in that than in anything you could possibly do elsewhere. -twl

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Dunkirk NY - While I was writing my previous post, I began to feel a great deal of pain in the right side of my mouth. I had been kept up the night before with a bit of pain, but I had thought it was a passing thing. But after posting the piece, the pain had only grown worse. I called my dentist, who apparently does not work on Friday, and got some medication to carry me through this past weekend. It qualifies as one of the worst weekends I’ve ever spent in my life. And today I get to sit in the big chair and find out what all this is about. I suspect a root canal is imminent.

So bear with me, and in the meantime, if you haven’t already, you can read Scott Walter’s response to my “One New Play A Year” campaign. No doubt I will follow his suggestion at my own institution with a “special topics” course in contemporary drama for the fall of 08. We’ll see where that takes us. -twl

…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?
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Dunkirk NY - Upon arriving home from my Thanksgiving break yesterday, I checked in with my survey project I began at the beginning of the month. Using a Yahoo! Group composed of Fredonia Theatre grads, I asked 6 questions which tried to provide some sort of glimpse into how successful our graduates have been in “making a living” in the arts/entertainment theatre. One of my contentions about reforming theatre education is that we haven’t got enough data to really back up why reform is necessary. This is one small attempt in trying to get that data.

“Making a living” was defined as earning money. Income earned through teaching theatre was not included as being “in the business.” Out of a listed 320 members, 85 have so far responded to the survey, which is a 27% sampling of the group. I have prepared a small document which shows the responses and some observations about the results. If you’re interested, you can download and read it here. Responses would be welcome, but in order to comment, please remember you have to register on the site to do so (see the tab at the top of the page). -twl

Massapequa, NY - It has been one hectic week last week. I thought I’d be able to get a decent post off, but not so. For some reason which I cannot fully explain, the week sort of got away from me. I can’t say I accomplished much of anything critical other than the usual paperwork and class assignments.

But I have been trying as much as possible to keep up with various assorted blogs. I am sure anyone reading this will no doubt have themselves been kept abreast of things like the Local 1 strike and whatnot. At any rate, much that has been going on for me has been mundane in nature. So all you get after a hectic week is nothing but a report of a hectic week.

And notice of an upcoming hectic week. Fredonia has always had a tradition of taking the entire Thanksgiving week off. To do that we sacrifice a few other days here and there in the calendar that might ordinarily be off. So I have arrived this evening at my parents’ home on Long Island, preparing for a week of family visitations. By last count there figure to be about 22 people here on Thanksgiving Day. My brother, who lives about 5 minutes from here in the old neighborhood, is having his house remodeled inside, so he has temporarily moved in with my parents, complete with his two cats (which, combined with my other brother’s dog, makes for an interesting menagerie). But the week is going to be filled with all sorts of family business, so it does not appear I will be getting out to do much more than spend time with people here. So, if you are someone in the NYC metro area thinking I am in town and it would be nice to get together, forget it. I won’t have the time to spare. That’s just the way it is. Not even time to catch a show in NY. Sorry.

And I do like Thanksgiving. It’s my second-favorite holiday after New Year’s Day. I like New Year’s Day the best because it’s the last American holiday left without a single social or card-sending responsibility attached to it. Thanksgiving comes next because I like the meal. So have a great Thanksgiving for yourselves and I hope to get back to some worthwhile posting when I come out of my tryptophan coma.  -twl

Dunkirk NY - So the strike is on, right as the Christmas rush is about to happen. I really have no clue as to how this is going to play out, but this morning I have been cruising the internet looking for background and information. I am not sure which side is in the right, and no doubt like all such disputes I am sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. One thing I am sure of, however; the mainstream media will not give the striking union members anything like a fair shake. More than likely the cameras will be focused on theatregoers who came from long distances only to find that their kids can’t get in to see Grinch. Boo-hoo.

In the course of my internet journeys, however, I did run into two blogs which I think people should be aware of. The first is The Humble Nailbanger, a blog written by an IATSE member who apparently works in a TV studio and is a third-generation stagehand. The second is One NYC Stagehand, a guy with 30 years backstage experience in Local 1. Both these blogs are relatively new, and I think over the course of the strike will probably provide some interesting feedback (h/t Theatreforte).

I am generally favorable to the concept of unionization, but I am also painfully aware that, like every human activity on the planet, they are as subject to corruption, stubbornness and self-centeredness as any other organization. Local 1, for example, is notorious for being a “family business” - it’s next to impossible to get in that local unless you have a family connection. So I don’t think there’s any purity to this strike: each side is out to get its cut. After all, Broadway is, in this context, nothing more than a business, no different from watching the UAW strike against Ford, Chrysler or GM. There’s no art at stake here, people - only money and profit for each side. -twl

Dunkirk NY -

(Mailer) recalled something he had said at the National Book Award ceremony in 2005, when he was given a lifetime achievement award: that he felt like an old coachmaker who looks with horror at the turn of the 20th century, watching automobiles roar by with their fumes.

“I think the novel is on the way out,” he said. “I also believe, because it’s natural to take one’s own occupation more seriously than others, that the world may be the less for that.” -NY Times obituary of Norman Mailer

I remember when Norman Mailer and Jimmy Breslin ran as a team for Mayor of New York City back in 1969. The more I think about it today, the more I’m convinced that their secessionist platform for the city of New York was a correct one. Make NYC the 51st state in the union. Then perhaps the city would not be bleeding upstate NY so dry. I’d couple that to add Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and Orange County to the mix.

His quote seems so right to me now as I think about theatre as an art form. Even a literary mind as great as Mailer’s understood he was a dinosaur. Simply substitute the word “theatre” for “novel” in the second paragraph and you have pretty much the same situation. It’s not that it’s unusual for styles to disappear, but whole forms like theatre, the novel, poetry and the like; this is something new to current culture. I doubt we’ll see another Norman Mailer. Who reads, anyway? -twl

Dunkirk NY - As I mentioned in my earlier post this morning, I am currently conducting a smal