Steve Julian (Have A Peak) asks whether theater is dying and gets this thoughtful comment from Jay McAdams, co-founder and Executive director of 24th Street Theatre in L.A. Had to share it. This question comes in the wake of the announcement about the closing of Pasadena Playhouse (the state theater of California - I had no idea there was an official state theater).
Jay writes:
We’ve been debating whether theatre is dying for over two thousand years. However, I do believe that for the first time, we are at a crossroads where theatre artists must change what they’re doing and how they’re doing it or risk becoming even more irrelevant in our society. Theatre will never be completely dead in our lifetime, but it’s moved from Intensive Care to a ventilator, at least as far as the average Joe is concerned.
McNulty said in the Times that if you give the people what they need, they will come. I agree. And if audiences are not coming, then one can assume they don’t need what is being offered. I run a theatre and often don’t feel the NEED to drive across town and pay $50 to see a play that someone else decided to do. And I run a theatre! I’ve made it my life’s work, and I feel that way!
Of course there are theatres that do one specific thing for one specific audience and their houses are full. But creating new audiences is the real challenge in this digital age. Tweeting about your show is not going to convert many twenty-somethings to start going to live theatre. It’s much more than just marketing that needs to be done. People need to be turned on to art when they children. This “creating audiences of tomorrow” cliché that’s been on every grant application for the past two decades has finally caught up with us. Arts Ed is virtually gone and video is the only art kids consume with their Hot Cheetos. Most artists don’t care about Arts Ed, but it is at the heart of the “is theatre dying?” conversation. And until our best artists invest in Arts Ed, we will be pushing a boulder up a mountain in trying to get young adults to start coming to live theatre. LA Unified is virtually shutting down its Arts ED Branch and the letter-writing campaign to save Arts Ed in LAUSD has only generated half the number of letters as did the threat of closing LA’s Cultural Affairs Dept. That is telling. And it is part of the food chain that ate the Pasadena Playhouse.
Theatre artists also need to really ask themselves what their community needs. Will that change the art? You bet it will. And it’s a scary notion. What happens if we just start giving the public what they really want. Isn’t that reality TV? Won’t it lead to the dumbing down of theatre?
Well, we have to look even deeper and not just ask, “What kind of shows the public really needs?”. Theatres need to ask the much more profound question, “WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED IN THEIR LIVES TODAY?” Many artists will have no interest in this question, as it is has nothing to do with how they have always created their works. Yet by definition, non-profits are Public Benefit corporations. We are there to serve the public, not just to do the art that we like and think the public should like too. If they liked it as much as we do, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
This is a sea change. If theatres dare to ask how they can really serve the public in the 21st century, the art will change. The audience might change. The artists might change. The ticket prices might change. But what also might change, is that theatre will clearly matter to our society.
Bonus: Check out this sweet video at Blogorrhea.
3 comments:
This is an important change. It's true.
I offer that we should characterize it as a correction.
I mean, when I think about what is said here, it baffles me to think it needs to be said at all.
Really? Theatre folks don't get that their art has to fill a need for others in their community to be sustainable. Really? Come on. We're all having a laugh here. Right. Right?
How could theatre practitioners have gone so far astray in their thinking that they are surprised to discover that social and cultural irrelevancy is unsustainable.
Theatre won't die; a certain approach to its production and dissemination will die. If the outcome of this is that we start producing theatre that people care about, I look forward to the future.
Theatre is dead; long live theatre!
#2amt
Hi Sterling:
When I look around I see so many opportunities for creating theater and making it part of the community that, like you, it kind of baffles me that people are having this conversation.
The comment I posted is particular to a certain way that theater is produced in the U.S. If I'm wrong, someone please chime in. Much of it stems from an outmoded form of production that was adopted by producers in back in the 1870's, which resulted in the centralization of theater (ie. Broadway) and sort of handed down by default to artists/theater companies (Regional and, at least where I live, community and independent theaters as well). This mode of production has been further institutionalized by funding organizations.
How does this have anything to do with artists being removed from the community? This mode of production changed the way we think of theater (we think of it as theatre - kind of conceptually) as opposed to something that happens in a physical space within the community and made by members who live within that community. That does make a difference.
This system hasn't worked for a long time, but it's kind of limped along. It's no longer sustainable for a variety of reasons.
I like your word for the changes taking place. It is indeed a correction. I'm sure it's going to be a painful, eye-opening transition for some and for others it represents a time of tremendous opportunity.
Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply. I really appreciate it.
I'm no historian, but I suspect your analysis is correct.
Whatever the exact details of the history may be, I think we both agree the dominate model in place simply does not work.
We also agree that the failure of that model is rooted in the fact that professional theatre practitioners tend to conceptualize their activities as being somehow outside or independent of the very communities which ultimately support those activities.
This diagnosis also identifies a cure for what ails us: produce and market theatre which engages and involves our communities wherever we may be.
Fortunately, we now live at a time, thanks to social media, where this kind of engagement has never been easier. Plus, people are hungry for this kind of engagement because it has been overlooked for so long.
So you are absolutely correct: these are going to be painful times for some but, for those who are ready to adapt, this is a time of tremendous opportunity.
If nothing else, it's going to be a whole lot of fun. too.
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