Folks, I am so excited right now that I am leaping heart first into this blogging without thinking thing. If you have agreed with what I have been saying so far, or conversely, if you have been vehemently disdaining it, you need to go to http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/ to see what I am trying to say said by someone who actually knows how to say it, better, more thoughtfully, more informedly, and more consistently than I can offer it here, life-addled playwright that I am. What Scott Walters is saying is so clear and bold and brilliant that I basically insist that you stop reading this right now and go check out this: http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/2007/08/welcome-new-readers.html
Yup, that’s right. In August of 2007 he called for, what I so boldly and presciently just called for in December of 2009. (Hey, I’m a playwright. I’m used to being irrelevant and my betters preceding me.)
Just recently Scott posted this: a very cogent history of what went wrong with the regional theatre movement in America. (BTW: thanks a lot, Tyrone Guthrie. Do we need to fight another war to get you British to finally fuck off?)
Naturally I subscribed to the guy’s blog, and just yesterday he comes out with this: http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/2010/01/outrageous-fortune-chapter-1-build.html
It is the first in his chapter by chapter analysis of Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play, the hot new treatise which examines the “collaboration in crisis” between playwright and those who produce their work by Todd London, Ben Pesner and Zannie Giraud Vos. The book is available on line at www.tdf.org/outrageousfortune. (Though trust me: there is already a promo copy sitting unopened on your favorite theatre critic’s desk.)
This is it, folks. You mark my words. This book is going to spark the revolution Louis Broome has been so ardently calling for from his comfy day job office in Redmond. I have not read it. I have no idea if it is ultimately any good. But that hardly matters because it is going to spark the deep struggle that will turn this whole art form upside down in the space of four years. The powers-that-be already have their forces out, desperately, snarkily trying to put out the fire. The first missile of dismissal comes from Chris Jones.
“’Outrageous Fortune’: Playwright book full of whine and din”
I’d respond, but my guy, Walters, does it so much better:
Chris Jones may characterize this as whining, but that is a term that is always used as a weapon to shut up anyone who questions the status quo. The consistency of the complaints is indicative of a real problem…. The larger picture — this study uses 250 surveys received from “working professional playwrights at all stages of their careers, including Albee, Congdon, Dietz, Letts and many others whose names you would recognize … , as well as surveys of almost a hundred theatres across the country — reveals an entire system in disarray, not simply individuals in dismay.
Walters also knows what it will take to set this all aright:
As a theatre historian, it is baffling to me how willing artists are in this country to dismiss what has been proven effective throughout most of theatre history. Yes, Shakespeare AND the rest of the Elizabethans created work within ongoing ensembles, yes Moliere AND the rest of the theatre artists of the French Neoclassical era, AND the commedia dell ‘arte troupes, AND Chekhov and Odets and O’Neill and and and. And lest someone wants to make the case that this is a thing of the past, we might look to the Royal Court as a model, or to Ariane Mnouchkine and Peter Brook and Peter Stein and and and. What is it about the American theatre that is so committed to the idea of a “free agent nation,” failing to recognize the artistic value of an ongoing relationship between artists?
“May you live in interesting times,” goes the Chinese blessing/curse. These are them, friends. This is the crisis coming to the head that we have been earnestly ardently waiting for. This book will be pivotal, whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not. This is what the forces of change will rally around. For those who were hoping that they could put it off for a few years, it is too late. The New York Times is writing about this now. The problem is receiving wide and deep attention now. Join the fray or stay away, but this chance will not come again within this decade, if ever.
So order the book. Show up at the discussion of it hosted by TPS at the Center House March 1 from 10am – 1pm. (Stay tuned for details on that.) Think about how you can make this theatre town world class now that everything’s a’changing, because, trust me brothers and sisters, you will not recognize the place nor the art form in four short years.