Re: RAT, The dramaturgy of...

[jonoh1@juno.com]

On Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:28:57 -0500 (EST) Laura Winton
<fluffysingler@prodigy.net> writes:
> Response to Jonoh:
> 
> Point is--theatre ISN'T medicine and shouldn't be treated like 
> it--like
> "this is icky, but it's good for you".  

I would argue that it <is> medicine to the degree that it is perceived by
an audience member to be medicine. Your original analogy of art=medicine
is a good one. And it's been said before. Some people (those people many
artists are hoping to "reach" with their "work") take the medicinal view.
Are they to be shunned simply because you and I know that art needn't
necessarily <be> medicine? 
  My mother kissed away scapes. That was medicine. A swami passed sage
over my aura. The was medicine. My doctor has me on meds to help with a
recent health problem. That's medicine. If I have a cough and I can't
sleep I'll knock back some icky cherry stuff from over the counter. I
believe it will work and it does.


Also, my point is that the 
> only
> audience ISN'T in the suburbs, but everyone seems to act that way.  
> There
> are 1/3 of a million people in the city proper and very little of 
> what's
> offered here seems to be geared toward them.  THAT'S my complaint. 

Sounds like a void that needs filling? Are you filling it?

 
> Yes, I
> DID choose to live here, and when I came, it did appear to be a 
> vibrant
> urban area.  But the people who run things here don't seem to see it 
> that
> way.  

This is victimized thinking. The "they" theory. What are you doing to
change it?


They don't seem to realize that there are people who choose to 
> live in
> the city and might possibly have different perspectives and 
> interests
> besides upscale shopping and dining and getting drunk and 
> nightclubs.  (Or
> donning a fur coat to go to the theatah.)  Most of the restaurants, 
> clubs
> and cafes that are not appropriately upscale have been or are in the 
> process
> of being driven from downtown to build more skyscrapers and 
> department
> stores and restaurants with valet parking.
> 
> I wouldn't mind these places except that they are crowding everyone 
> else
> out.  There's no room for the rest of us anymore.  there's a line in 
> one of
> my long poems "The inhabitants of the old city are bused out to 
> sweep the
> streets, collect the trash, and take it home with them."  That's how 
> it
> feels.  I'm sure we're not the only city going through this.  I 
> don't
> despise the mainstream.  I watch television, I buy popular music, I 
> go to
> the movies (ok--mostly indy films since we DO have a great movie 
> theatre
> here for such things).  I MIND monoculture.  Coming from a small 
> town, I
> expect better things from an area of this size with the artistic 
> reputation
> that it has.  But there is still more monoculture than I am 
> comfortable
> with.

Personally I'd like to hear what Brad would have to say about this
situation. Or maybe some of the BCTers from LA who practice their theatre
downtown would have some words of advice for you. They're in the process
of revitalizing a sorry environment in a very healthy and positive way. 

It's very easy for artists to take the
fucktheaudience-THEYareouttogetme-bigtheatreBADsmalltheatreGOOD-financial
poverty=artisticintegrity train and not know when to get the hell off.
(This is <not> directed at you, Laura, but just general ya-ya.) But what
passes for charming and romantic in our twenties pales into pathetic and
useless in our later years. I've seen many a young, vibrant, gifted,
radical artist turn into a ranting, angry, desperate, older artist who
throws rocks at planes and curses the gods for making his throw so weak,
simply because they were not able or willing to accept the stupidity that
surrounds them (humanity) as a given and make it work <for> the artist.
It doesn't help that the assholes <do> seem to be in control and <do>
seem to make all the big decisions that affect the less influential
artists. It's up to us to keep making the art that shames them into
recognizing their own shortcomings and responsibly points out a few ways
in which they can improve the world.
Keep making art responsibly.
That'll show 'em.
Good luck
Jonathan
>