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Re: RAT Marx in Soho (in LA)

To: <rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com>
Subject: Re: RAT Marx in Soho (in LA)
From: SylvainBBB@aol.com
Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 13:29:53 EDT

MANIFESTO
Let's be honest.
Why do I do theater?

I came for the chicks and stayed for the beer. Big-house established theater bores me and I like to be in charge so I start my own theaters.

My politics are humanist and humorous and I hate George W. Bush and the same could be said about the theater I do. But theater is not inherently partisan, liberal, conservative, communist or capitalist.

Theater changes lives. Completely. I've seen it over and over again. But not the audience usually. The people who banded together and created a self expression greater than the sum of it's parts, themselves, they come away altered. Changed. Believing in themselves and their dreams so much more. Believing that they make a difference. That what they have to say matters. That teamwork, love, sweat and a Mikita Cordless Powerdrill can overcome ANY adversity.

If enough people are exposed to THAT. Well shit. I don't think we'll elect any more of the Bush family for one thing.

In a message dated Mon, 7 May 2001 2:36:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, The Independent Eye <bards@independenteye.org> writes:

<< Friends -

Cat posted a list of depressing functions for theatre. More or
less true, I guess, though I'd add that even in the most compromised
structure there are many people who're there because they're still trying
to keep a vital spark alive, in them and in their audiences. I don't
believe that the people in the "established" theatre worlds are any less
spiritually alive, creative, socially aware, than the people on the RAT
list (I've worked with both, a lot), just as the Proletariat or Peasantry
as individuals aren't somehow more evolved or divine than the
Upper-Middle-Class as individuals. But we're talking about structures
here, and I agree that the structures are generally in need of the San
Andreas Fault.

Since this has evolved from a simple comment about ticket prices,
I'm wondering where we all are on that. You theatres out there: what are
your ticket prices? how are you surviving? what are you doing to overturn
the rule of the box office? who feels this is an irrelevant question?

I think we'll learn a lot more if we focus on the specifics of our
own practice than if we simply stay on the theoretical plane or focus on
criticizing the Other.

I'll start. Until 18 months ago, when we moved, The Independent
Eye was very heavily supported by grants. At our Philadelphia theatre, we
charged $16 general, $13 for students, $10 for groups; also had
pay-what-you-will nights. Most of our tour audiences were admission-free
(the sponsors paid us fees, and we also had a wealthy donor who subsidized
school performances when the school didn't have money). It was our policy
never to refuse a tour gig because of money - we sought donations for a
fund to support these. We operated on about a $140,000 budget, non-Equity,
but most of the actors paid at least Equity minimum; $2,000/mo rent for our
49-seat theatre space (which doubled as our residence); and a couple of
full-time and a couple of part-time salaries. We were dissatisfied with
that structure, felt the work was very good but that we were falling into a
rut with our audiences and simply becoming the weird little Bishop/Fuller
commodity over on Arch St. The work we envisioned just wasn't going to fit
there. So we moved, and now we have no grants, no theatre, no support
structure - and working to reinvent, and that's why I'm taking the time to
post here.

Our upcoming show, HITCHHIKING OFF THE MAP, is an interesting case
in point. We opened last year in San Francisco, and I think actually our
ticket price was the damnable and shameful $18. With space rental,
promotion, travel, etc., we didn't make a cent personally. Upcoming, at a
nearby arts center, the price will be $16, $13 for seniors/students, $12
for groups. If we're very lucky, we may clear a few hundred bucks for our
own salaries over the three-week run. If we'd opted to do it at a little
community-center space instead of a classy arts center, we'd have saved
about $450 in rent, but had to take all our lights down each weekend, had
nothing but front lighting from stands, and had very little coverage in the
media. We need a larger audience and greater visibility here because we
want to start workshops leading toward creation of an ensemble, so it has
to go beyond just our immediate circles of friends.

But we've also played parts of it in a living-room - at a benefit
dinner to raise money for a friend's medical expenses. And for tour gigs
where the audience didn't pay: Unitarian churches, colleges, at
conferences on sacred sexuality and polyamory, etc. These were low-tech or
no-tech; and response, I have to say, was *much stronger* at these
performances than in the straight theatre settings. Due to many things, I
think - the ticket question, but also the occasion, the immediacy of
presence, etc.

But I have a very hard time with making a move totally outside the
conventional theatre structure. Maybe just because I like my toys - my
lighting plot & my set, Elizabeth's sound score, other experienced actors
when the story requires it. But maybe, too, because I just don't want to
abandon the field. Is the conventional theatre (I mean the established
theatre ceremony/occasion) totally a sinking ship, or does it still have
voyages to make?

I'd really welcome postings on what other theatres are doing in the
realm of economics (anybody besides me & Harold Zinn ever molested the
audience with an $18 tab?), and how it's affecting your work.

Peace & joy-
Conrad

Visit The Independent Eye's website
at <http://www.independenteye.org>.

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