We asked each of our creative team members to write a short essay on why this project matters to them. Here's the second of five. -Ed.
Fresh theatre is living theatre. I hold this truth to be self-evident. I have held it so for a very long time, but have only argued it publically and formally for about 9 months, since launching my blog Just Wrought, and its first in a series of essays, “Theatre Takes Place: Why Locally Grown Plays Matter”. By itself, the notion is not terribly controversial. The argument comes when we theatre professionals attempt to determine whether you can make something fresh with 10 year-old, 20-year-old, 50-year old and 500-year old ingredients. I say, “Well… sometimes.” My esteemed adversaries in this ongoing argument defiantly avow “Always!”, and then they sink a staggering amount of effort into convincing their audience, and more importantly, themselves that that so long as you have excellently trained and accomplished actors, insightful and renowned directors and designers, plenty of money from donors and an interested public, you can always make the already existing great plays of the canon fresh.
I disagree.
In reality you need actual fresh content to keep plays fresh, and theatre alive; and fresh content only comes from creating new plays. And thus, as much as the ascendancy of "The Director" in the 19th Century, and "The Artistic Director" in the 20th, seemed to herald the demise of the playwright, the playwright remains a necessary component— perhaps the necessary component—of ensuring theatre remains a living—and not merely a museum-- art form.
We at NewsWrights United believe that employing the theatrical form of the living newspaper to cover local news is one of the best ways of injecting fresh, loc
ally compelling, material into the theatrical canon. That alone, however, is not enough to answer why this project matters. Happily, when we produced our first edition It’s Not in the P-I: A Living Newspaper about a Dying Newspaper, we noticed an added bonus. The people that came—and we sold out nearly every night—came not to see excellent theatre adeptly presented by trained professionals but rather stories about a local newspaper that they loved (or hated) that had died recently. In other words, they came to see themselves.
When theatre offers the new and the relevant, it matters and lives. When it offers only the polished and perfect-- plays we all already know-- it dies a museum death.
We are doing this project because journalism matters. We are also doing it because theatre matters. When blended they achieve an almost explosive synergy. Why? It’s simple. Audiences matter. Stories matter. The rest is icing. Sometimes icing is delightful, but it will not keep you alive in the long run.
Fresh theatre is living theatre. I hold this truth to be self-evident. I have held it so for a very long time, but have only argued it publically and formally for about 9 months, since launching my blog Just Wrought, and its first in a series of essays, “Theatre Takes Place: Why Locally Grown Plays Matter”. By itself, the notion is not terribly controversial. The argument comes when we theatre professionals attempt to determine whether you can make something fresh with 10 year-old, 20-year-old, 50-year old and 500-year old ingredients. I say, “Well… sometimes.” My esteemed adversaries in this ongoing argument defiantly avow “Always!”, and then they sink a staggering amount of effort into convincing their audience, and more importantly, themselves that that so long as you have excellently trained and accomplished actors, insightful and renowned directors and designers, plenty of money from donors and an interested public, you can always make the already existing great plays of the canon fresh.
I disagree.
In reality you need actual fresh content to keep plays fresh, and theatre alive; and fresh content only comes from creating new plays. And thus, as much as the ascendancy of "The Director" in the 19th Century, and "The Artistic Director" in the 20th, seemed to herald the demise of the playwright, the playwright remains a necessary component— perhaps the necessary component—of ensuring theatre remains a living—and not merely a museum-- art form.
We at NewsWrights United believe that employing the theatrical form of the living newspaper to cover local news is one of the best ways of injecting fresh, loc
ally compelling, material into the theatrical canon. That alone, however, is not enough to answer why this project matters. Happily, when we produced our first edition It’s Not in the P-I: A Living Newspaper about a Dying Newspaper, we noticed an added bonus. The people that came—and we sold out nearly every night—came not to see excellent theatre adeptly presented by trained professionals but rather stories about a local newspaper that they loved (or hated) that had died recently. In other words, they came to see themselves.When theatre offers the new and the relevant, it matters and lives. When it offers only the polished and perfect-- plays we all already know-- it dies a museum death.
We are doing this project because journalism matters. We are also doing it because theatre matters. When blended they achieve an almost explosive synergy. Why? It’s simple. Audiences matter. Stories matter. The rest is icing. Sometimes icing is delightful, but it will not keep you alive in the long run.
Hi there, after reading this remarkable paragraph i am too happy to share my experience here with colleagues.
ReplyDelete휴게텔