RE: RAT "The Director and the Community"

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

Hmmm. A bus of directors. Perhaps a new designation, like flock, or gaggle. Would probably want something more control oriented, like "a tank" of directors -- or convoy.

Anyway, it seems to me that there are two related problems here. On the one hand, directors coming from other cities *will* know the community if they are directing for mainstream theaters -- the theater community in most places is college educated and upper middle class. How those audiences will relate to theater will vary some depending on local exposure, but....

On the other hand, sometimes directors don't know their *own* communities (and may not care). For example, bringing particularly controversial pieces/productions into towns where there is no history/preparation for that sort of event, and no established "leading-edge" community -- like a university with a strong arts program. Or... making the mistake that a particular community is too "conservative" for particular kinds of theater, when, in fact, there may be a sizable audience -- if developed.

Won't the bus of Lincoln Center directors feel more at home at the TCG conference?  Since the Philadelphia theater scene is essentially dark for the summer by June 21 -- except for certain productions entirely aimed at the TCG conference, I"m wondering what the Fill-A-RAT conference can offer -- except for groups from other cities talking to each other.

Cheers,
Cat Hebert

-------------------
Hi all,

Anne Cattaneo is planning to bring a bus full of directors to the
Philadelphia RAT Conference from the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. 

http://www.lct.org/dirlab.html

She was asking if rat could accommodate a roundtable on something like "The
Director and the Community."  Often directors are "jobbed into" a city to
direct a play.  Can a director in such circumstances really understand the
community in which the work is being presented?  Or is such discovery even
warranted?  Perhaps it's the director's "outside eye" on the community that
has value.  Etc.

Ralph Lewis of NYC's Peculiar Works and Michael LeLand of Philadelphia's
Theatre Double are trying to gather some ideas and get a sense of any
directors or others who would like to participate in this.  

Email them off-list if you want <theatredouble@aol.com> <Pwprl@aol.com> or
share some ideas here.

--nick




---------------------------------------
To [un]subscribe to the rat-list, send an email to "majordomo@ratconference.com"
with [un]subscribe rat-list" in the body of the message.
For information on other functions send a message containing the word
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
---------------------------------------
You may also [un]subscribe on the web at http://www.ratconference.com/cgi-bin/web_domo.pl?list=rat-list





---------------------------------------
To [un]subscribe to the rat-list, send an email to "majordomo@ratconference.com"
with [un]subscribe rat-list" in the body of the message.
For information on other functions send a message containing the word
"help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
---------------------------------------
You may also [un]subscribe on the web at http://www.ratconference.com/cgi-bin/web_domo.pl?list=rat-list