Actors Acting #1

The State of Our World

h/t Shelley Carter

It is astonishing how few people, even among those working in the theater, realize that the problems of Broadway have been accumulating for decades, that they are built, in fact, into the system. The problems are not going to be solved by passing new laws or repealing old ones, by increasing or lowering ticket prices, by passing out more free tickets to young people, by regulating ticket distribution more closely or by removing restrictions, by curbing labor unions or silencing the critics, or by the myriad schemes proposed to lure more people into the theater.

Some of these actions may help, but the basic problem will remain. The difference between the costs and income is so great that only a few plays with very long runs can succeed. The profits from these may more than compensate for the great numbers of plays that lose money. But it is hard - and it is going to get harder - for new American plays, especially serious works, to get a hearing.

No amount of money can start a revolutionary theater. Every group that has set out to make major innovations in the art of the theater has started with minimal financial resources. The main assets have been determination and a willingness to starve if necessary.

I have been speaking so far only of justice, which has nothing to do with art. A more important objection to poverty and instability is that they are not particularly helpful to the development of an artist. There is no home for artists in the theater in America. I am not speaking of the fact that few actors can settle down in a house, raise a family, and grow a lawn. Actors have always been vagabonds, vagrants, and masterless men. When I speak of a home, I mean a place where playwrights, actors, directors, and designers can work together for a lifetime, each contributing to the growth of others and of the theater. A few theaters in Europe have achieved this kind of stability. None has yet in America. - Jack Poggi, Theatre in America: The Impact of Economic Forces, 1870 - 1967

 Group Theatre Members at Brookfield Theater Center, summer, 1934

5 Things: We've Got Some Catching Up To Do Edition

 More than five things. Because it's been so long and so much is on my mind and to counter-act the inertia.

Inertia. Oh it's so hard to get something moving once it has stopped. I'm working on some new things. It's a slow process just now.

I'm looking for countries I might move to with my family. You know, it's election year and it always freaks me out and the freak has started earlier this year. Last week someone suggested Dubai. Yeah. Maybe they were joking. Hard to tell these days, isn't it?

Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder. 

Idealistic playwrights who take issue with our occasional anti-playwright attitude should perhaps take note of the fact our issue is less with the fact you wrote something as it is the fact you wrote something un-questioningly for mainstream theater production, the same beast so many playwrights find fault with while never stepping back to think critically about whether the very faults they find with the production model (NPD hell, anyone?) are not informed by a set of ideological assumptions that likewise inform the very aesthetic practices they present onstage.

I just want to record that and play it over and over again until it strips every last nerve. Actually, I want to write this on the wall in my studio because it's nice to have an affirmation. Stay tuned...

Playwrights Are Not Writers.

From Francis Bacon to Hobbes to Turning: George Dyson on the History of Bits. And then there's this list.


 NYT Critic Watch. It's fun to read the reviews and rate the critics. It kind of affirms the status of the NYT as cultural arbiter, but I won't beat that dead horse. It's in the name of research, so give it a try.

Print Culture 101: A Cheat Sheet and Syllabus. Where are we going with this? Trust me. I don't know.

Top 10 Scenes in Literature to Bring You Terrorsleep: Part 1 & Part 2 because it serendipitously mentions the name Gerald, I like the word terrorsleep, and I've read a few of the books listed. I highly recommend Blood Meridian and As I Lay Dying.