A Poor Player

I wonder how New York City can continue to claim that it’s the arts capital of the nation when arts education in its public schools continues to be threatened. Perhaps this is an indication of what a large divide there is between the people who come to New York to have careers and the people who live and work in New York trying to build a life for themselves and their families. I will be interested in following how strongly the arts community in New York City involves itself in trying to fight off this latest assault. I was in NYC when the arts community rolled over and played dead in the 70s when arts budgeting and curricula were slashed from the budget of a city on the verge of bankruptcy. It appears now that, after a three-year growth not seen in over 30 years, the ax is out again for arts programs in the schools. And the arts are still not a completely integrated part of the curriculum itself, merely a weakly supported ancillary. Arts capital, indeed. But for whom?  -twl

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In case you hadn’t realized it by now, the trend in live performing arts is understanding your audience as just another marketing opportunity, giving you the possibility of partnering with corporations for dollars which will keep your particular arts enterprise alive while the corporation gets to shove its logo or wares in your face. It is yet another instance of the never-ending push by corporate America to reduce American culture to nothing but demographics and marketing. We are objects destined to buy consumer goods, nothing more.

If you care to read this article and then this article in today’s New York Times, you will see what I mean. The articles come at the issue in a different way, and do not specifically discuss the notion of audience objectification as such, but it is there nonetheless if you read how the audience is discussed in each article. -twl

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Seeing as to how the opportunity to blog on a consistent basis seems to be very difficult at the moment, I am taking my son Eric up on an offer to do some guest blogging for me. Eric is a sophomore BFA acting major at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL. Here is his first post:

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Why not the stage?

Since I was old enough to be taken out in public, I’ve been going to live theatre. I remember being confused by Shakespeare’s words on the cold ground of Delaware Park since I was at least eight years old. I remember my first introduction to sex appeal was SUNY Fredonia’s production of Sweet Charity despite not knowing what, at the age of about ten, a “big spender” really was. I even remember being woken up from a pleasant nap at Waiting for Godot when I was about twelve. I’ve lived my whole life with the theatre. [Read more →]

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It’s almost as if some great wind has taken me and blown me in a completely different direction, one in which I had no idea I was even going. Even though I have one class to teach, I have no stories from the classroom. Even though I am still in rehearsal for Proof, I don’t seem to have many stories worth telling. I come home from work/rehearsal and I seem to want to engage in staring at the walls for 40 minutes and then going to bed. I actually did fall asleep (nodding in and out really) during one rehearsal. My new wardrobe makes me look so different - I was sitting in a recliner the other night in Docker pants, Staffford shirt, and St. John’s Bay fleece. I said “I look old.” My wife said “You look grown-up.” What’s the difference?

In some odd way which I can’t explain, I am enjoying the ride. But in all honesty, I don’t sense myself thinking about anything. Or at least not thinking too deeply about anything. So there seems little to say. Or read. This is a phase, I keep telling myself. Nevertheless, I have some concerns about it. I hope I am not falling into a personal state of entropy. -twl

Tags: by Tom Loughlin
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