RAT Entering the quagmire-- proceed with caution.

["Adam" <kafclown@well.com>]

I'm always a little reticent to wade into these "big" discussions about what
kind of art people should or shouldn't make, whether or not theatre is
theatre if people don't see it (or if only a bunch of rich people get to see
it),  or whether we should have dramaturgs, or is so and so a real artist
now that they've been embraced by some version/vision of commerical success.

This kind of discussion is a quagmire- a boggy swamp underneath which
millions of hours have been spent and bottles of wine have been drunk and
venom has been spewed.  It's all underneath the surface, and everytime I get
into this discussion I end up stubbing my toe on some broken bottle.

That being said-- (there goes my toe...)

I think theatre is ultimately a blue collar occupation.  We make things with
our hands and with our minds. These  things (some people call them shows, or
entertainments, or plays -- I think that what we really make are memories)
-- These things we make don't last very long in the physical world, but
hopefully last a lot longer in people's memories (as shocking, or pleasant,
or provocative, or whatever)

So, in my vision, my little solo clown company and the Disney corporation
are in the same business.  We just have a different method and style of
manufacture.  We also for the most part, have a different audience that we
hope to reach-- and different reasons for being in business (although we
might share some common reasons as well-- like our desire to make money.
Reasons aren't single.)

Nonetheless, the basic product is the same (memories)

So why am I telling you all this?  Because I think it's easy to get lost in
the idea of Creating Art or Being Serious or Being Successful  -- and lose
the personal reasons why you came into this craft. And all of the Ideas that
we have about our work -- ideas about its meaning, or about what we are
Saying, or where we fit into the social cradle of the world-- all those
Ideas often end up getting in the way of creating these memories.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying "Thinking, Schminking.  Do Your
Work, and everything else will fall into place"

Or maybe that was Four feet good, two feet bad?  I can never remember...