Recovering playwright, once won a STRANGER Genius Award for theater. Now writing a bloated novel about… G-d help me! Theatre.
I guess I can’t help myself. But also I cannot help believing that unless we speak up– especially when we have this short-lived national spotlight– everyone will assume that it’s all going peachy and in the right direction, when the sweet Lord knows it ain’t.
So join the fray if you can. We need intelligent voices to counter the advocates of half-measures, old thinking, and worst of all: “politeness-at-all-costs.”
One of the best things about Seattle as a theatre town is that it’s small enough that you can get your arms around it. If you care to, you can get to know pretty much everyone who is active here as an artist. For instance, I have met Yussef el Guindi, chatted and corresponded with him, and very much enjoyed the interaction. But thanks to Vincent Delaney’s interview of Yussef over at HowlRound, I feel like I know him so much better, and admire him all the more for it. His thoughts on the new works scene in Seattle are fervent and hopeful without indulging in the “best-of-all-possible-cities” Pollyannaism that some successful playwrights and artistic administrators like to espouse publically here.*
I . . . wish artistic directors were as brave as their audiences. I think audiences are much more adventurous than some artistic directors imagine. . . .
What’s surprising to me is that you’d think the Seattle theater scene would be more open to riskier choices, in terms of choosing plays that are a little edgier, even more political. Seattle being, for the most part, a liberal city, you’d think that would be reflected in the plays selected. But perhaps more than being liberal or progressive, Seattle is also known for being very civil. We are a polite town. That politeness gene, I sense, seems to influence the selection of plays, as much as anything else. But then I’ve always felt theaters in general are inherently conservative, especially the big LORT houses. . . .
Thanks, Yussef, for energizing and inspiring me to keep working for world class. You being here gets us so much closer.
* Note to said colleagues: singing desperate paeans to perfection is a particularly pernicious form of despair. We can only have hope when it’s possible for things to get better.
After dispensing with the obligatory, “gee, ain’t-Seattle-swell?” lovey-dovey lip service, we are finally getting to some questions in the comments on Vincent Delaney’s kick-off essay that point to ways in which we can truly progress towards being a world class theatre town.
Here’s playwright and novelist Nick Stokes:
Not that I’m not up for drinking beer and listening to our plays, but . . . I’d also venture to say that without original work being produced on some scale, we don’t have a unique Seattle Theater scene. We just have the same theatre as everyone else and nothing to claim as our own. Which doesn’t necessarily hurt actor careers, though it does stunt those of writers and directors and perpetuates everyone’s obscurity.
Do we as writers have a bad self-image locally? I don’t think so. I think the confidence problem is higher up the production chain. That said, the best we as artists can do to create a scene is create engaging, unique, provocative work and get it up however we can (Eclectic, West of Lenin, Fringe, self-production, etc.) … and that said, the scene will remain pretty small without some serious institutional support and a belief among those in positions of influence that we have a scene worthy of discussion and capable of national relevance.
And here’s playwright Keri Healey (who just gave us the world class play Torso):
Can someone in-the-know provide us with a compare/contrast look at which services are provided through all the existing new play development programs in Seattle? What does “play development” mean to each of these programs — and what are their goals with the plays/playwrights once the “development” portion of the program is over? Writers, are you getting your scripts produced at these theaters or getting help from them in securing productions at other theaters once you have gone through this process? I find that in Seattle, it’s a fairly easy process to pull a few public readings of a new script together (gathering actors and a director and getting feedback). I’ve even found producing (at a small level) to be accessible to many folks. What is most difficult, for me, are those next steps…of getting the play beyond the public readings/first production stage and onto a broader platform. I’d love to hear about the other features that are available through the various programs, if any current/past participants can chime in on those.
Perhaps some of Seattle’s customarily silent Big House artistic administrators would finally care to weigh in during this nationally broadcast discussion of Seattle as a theatre town? It really ain’t too late for them to join the fray.
Or for you!
I know my buddy Vince would love to hear from you.
Keep your eyes on HowlRound. According to Seattle Playwright Vincent Delaney, “The national journal based at Arena Stage, is featuring Seattle for the entire week. We’ve got blog posts by playwright Stephanie Timm, Allen Fitzpatrick of Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, Kathy Hsieh of Sex In Seattle, dramaturg Liz Engelman, and a culminating interview with our own Yussef El Guindi.”
Vince has already posted his kick-off essay and it’s a clarion call.
Local actors rule the Equity stages here, and no one expects that to change. They’re just too good, and everyone knows it.
So, Playwrights?
Raising the profile of Seattle writing is really a matter of changing our own self-image. Yes it’s frustrating to see season selections that reflect some other city’s priorities (curse you, Wichita)—but what are we going to do about it? Sit and complain? Threaten to leave? Spend all our energies on angry blog posts?
(Uh-oh. I think I know who that last shot might be aimed at.)
Go read Vince’s essay and give him feedback in the comments section. Then keep your eye on HowlRound and weigh in when Stephanie, Allen, Kathy, Liz and Yussef step to the plate. This is a great opportunity for Seattle to continue its discussion about mapping its way to World Class as a theatre town, and an even greater way for the whole nation to see how sexy smart and committed we are.
Go get ‘em, Seattle!