Re: RAT RE: Bleak Outlook on Theater

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

John,

The audiences were lost a long time ago. And that includes people who
primarily work on the stage. Stage performances are just too hit and miss
for audiences who have learned, through massive exposure to TV and film,
to be extremely critical of performances and staging. So I think it
depends a lot on the quality of the theater performances people are
exposed to -- or how theater fits into the social life of their
community. For example, the local community theater may get substantial
turnouts if at least a couple of the actors meet TV standards. People are
willing to forgive a lot for someone who runs the local bank or operates
the lawn business. What they aren't willing to forgive is "professionals"
who aren't (in their estimation) particularly good actors, or productions
that are poorly conceived / selected / rehearsed or flat out boring.
Audiences don't have high tolerance for that, and once word-of-mouth gets
out that such and such a company doesn't have a high standard, they can
only get friends, family and potential cast/crew to come to performances.

On the performer / production company side I find a lot of
arrogance/lack-of-self-evaluation that doesn't help the whole equation.
"I'm doing new work. You should pay attention to me." "We have toured the
U.S. with our goatcheese musical. That should impress you." "My new play
tells you how to react politically. You have an obligation to listen to
me." "Everyone in Tribeca loves our crossdressing version of Lear. You
[dolts] in Kansas City really must get more current by coming to sit on
the floor for two hours and watch us lip-sync."

Git ma drift, pardner?

Cheers,
Cat Hebert



> on my bad days, it seems to me that theater is being kept together by 
> actors
> and others interested in the art and craft of stage performance, and 
> that
> the audiences have been lost to film and electronic performance 
> media....
> 
> john angell grant
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> [mailto:owner-rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com]On Behalf Of Cat Hebert
> Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 7:01 AM
> To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
> Subject: Bleak Outlook on Theater (wasRAT Marx in Soho (in LA)
> 
> 
> Greg Romero wrote:
> > I'm just glad I don't have such a bleak outlook
> > on things.  I'm over here trying to make a
> > difference, however small that might be.
> 
> Right. I just wanted to lay out my view of  the way theater has 
> tended to
> function in the U.S.  I left out another major factor, of course, 
> and
> that is that the large drama publishers have become the wholesale
> distributors of play products that are selected, for the most part, 
> on
> the basis of productions in major cities and at major theater 
> festivals.
> 
> I think it's important for people to accept that because of the
> prevailing market forces, the work they want/need to do may only 
> reach a
> niche audience. That's one reason I'm so interested in 
> Internet-based
> live performance -- since even a small niche can have quite 
> sizeable
> numbers when you magnify it internationally.
> 
> My belief is that every single person on the planet has some unique
> higher-functioning talent to offer and some story to tell, and it's 
> a
> test of our success as a species to see just how many people get to
> fulfill that talent and to tell that story.
> 
> Cheers,
> Cat Hebert
> 
> 
> 
> 
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