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Re: RAT Conference: Intergenerational Panel
Cathy,
It's great that you're getting started on this. I, personally, was
thinking more on the lines of "what do you want theater to be". Meaning,
what do you, as the new theater generation, you think it should say. What
should theater do that it isn't already doing? What new theater forms
would you like to see? What is happening now that really excites you.
[Since ya'll are from NYC you have access to a wide variety of what's
happening. ] That's how a form is defined by a new generation -- not by
playing follow the leader :). My generation played with a huge variety of
experimental forms, including interactive theater, and wound up
incorporating them in staging, but little else.
In fact, I saw the roundable as being "The Next Theater Generation: What
do We Want?" or something like that.
I, personally, see your generation being (necessarily) a lot more
practical in your approaches. More understanding of the difference
between the theater market and the art form. Able to synthesize new tech
with old forms.
Cheers,
Cat Hebert
On Wed, 16 May 2001 00:00:18 EDT Cathryn616@aol.com writes:
> Hey all! So, the other students and I got together tonight to discuss
> the
> idea of the intergenerational panel at the conference. here are some
> of our
> ideas/thoughts/questions...
> first off, having never been to a RAT conference before, what are
> the
> "panels" like? we were thinking of something more informal, along
> the lines
> of a roundtable discussion where we can throw ideas back and
> forth....
> the main topic that we tackled was the idea of a generation gap in
> theatre.
> cat, i know that this is a question that you raised, but why do
> people
> believe that there is a generational gap? after much discussion, we
> believe
> it is more of a geographical and ideological gap.
> By geographical gap, we mean that, since we live in NYC, we see
> theatre done
> by people of our generation all the time. We try to see as much as
> we can,
> everything from the downtown shows to broadway (at a discounted
> price, of
> course). We don't really see much of a generational gap because we
> see people
> who we do shows with work with the same ethic as the RAT network
> does. Most
> people in our generation tend to flock to New York and other big
> cities that
> have large theatre communities. Could it be that other people see a
>
> "generational" gap because the young generation of theatre lovers
> doesn't
> exist in other cities? Do the RATs in NY also feel that there is a
> generational gap? Or could it just be that maybe younger people
> aren't as
> prominent because they all try to start in NYC?
> Another question that arose during this location discussion was:
> does the
> luxury of being able to play around and do experimental theatre come
> from the
> fact that there is already a foundation of conventional theatre? One
> of the
> students is from Cincinnati, and she was saying that there are some
> small
> theatre companies that are being formed now, but they are doing only
>
> conventional plays because they need to build a theatre community
> base. So,
> could it be that there are young people who WANT to do "RAT like"
> theatre in
> these places, but just can't because the community might not be
> ready for it?
> We also think that there is an ideological gap. We feel connected
> with the
> RAT network because of the morals and standards that it stands for.
> Not all
> of us want to end up doing some big, commercial show one day. A lot
> of us are
> in it more for the art than anything else. If anything, there is
> more of a
> gap between us and the "broadway types" than us and the older
> generations.
> does that make sense?
> One of the questions that was raised was how young people see
> theatre and
> what we expect from it. Are you talking about the contents of a
> play, the
> tactics used to put on the play, or the whole shebang?
> Personally, I am curious of how fellow RATS perceive the younger
> generation.
> For some reason, I have been feeling a semi-negative vibe. do you
> think that
> young people see downtown shows for the sake of being cool? or do
> experimental shows, "cool" shows for the sake of being cool and
> artisty? i
> would really like to hear people's opinions of this...
> so, there it is. just thought it might be a good jumping off point
> to try and
> organize a discussion around...
>
> Cathy
>
>
>
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