RAT catching up

["Glen-Skip-Newell" <skipworthy@hotmail.com>]

*ahem*

1- To mateao-See 'Alice's Resteraunt' by Woody's boy Arlo. Interesting
story. think you'll like it. ( NEVER MIND the rules, man...I just wanna dump
my van-load of garbage...)

True Pop culture lives on forever, in it's own surreal way. My personal view
is that 'pop' culture as it exists in nature, evolved because it was, well,
dominant culture. The rise of the television culture (especially here in
Amerika) meant that we were conditioned to instant gratification and
convienience...that and pretty colors and inane story lines (were there
really more than a few basic storylines in ANY of those shows? as enjoyable
as they were...). To me , the 'spectacle' of the half-time show, in all it's
'glory' ( and could any other culture but one created by TV give birth to
THAT?) and other, similar, entertainments, are the very epitome of what's
wrong with what we've been taught, what we've allowed ourselves to believe,
continued to perpatrate to the rest of the world...that we are in some way
'superior' or more highly evolved than they are. Fact is, what that stuff is
really about is selling cheeseburgers-how cheaply can I make them, how many
can I sell and for how much and what can I get away with in the meantime and
when I get caught will my cheeseburger and cash keep them from calling my
bluff and if not I'll beat the shit out of them. Fact is, we're just lucky.
Rich and lucky.

Reality- we don't HAVE a 'Culture in America.' No real 'theatre' tradition-
outside of Broadway (thank god that's almost over) and alot of really
impressive playwrites. I attended a matinee at the DCPA (a ship in the TCG
fleet) and was struck by the fact the 'average' (read most) american hasn't
the first clue what to make of theatre in the 'culteral' sense. many claim
to appreciate it. many claim to respect it. But the telltale sign is the
homage paid, and where and when and how. Half-time shows are Light
entertainment- pretty colors and shiny things- and we respond by tuning in
and buying cheeseburgers, which we don't ever really get to taste, even
though we shove them down our gullet, eagerly swallowing what we've been
'sold'- and it is killing us, because we have no culture to tell us what
real food tastes like. Joe Average has not the first clue how to chew AND
swallow real, meaningful food. Meanwhile, Joe Average somehow gets his mitts
on tickets to see Shakespeare's Winter's tale by a good ensemble at one of
the finest theatres int he country, and he wants to TALK BACK TO THE SHOW
like he's at home, and crunch his ice and popcorn loudly as if he were at
home or in one of those dens of inequity called 'moviehouses' (that's
satire, folks, BTW). But maybe that's good. Because maybe it's our own
fault. maybe we need to be disrupted that way.

2. Dramaturgs. hmmm. I think appointing a highly trained  and talented
individual as the gatekeeper to the kingdom. I think the dramaturg and his
role in the modern theatre ( which is if not uniquely american in invention,
is so in spirit) is one of the most important developments in the modern
theatre. His contribution to the writing process makes the work better
 ususally), his research and education make the subject and process of art a
little more understandable and accessible, and that's a good thing, because
it makes it a little easier for the more educated among us to do what  we
do.

more later. I need a cigarette...

Skip