RAT Politics, Theatre Audiences, and the Medici

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

Adam wrote:
> The important question is  "How can I create an event that is so 
> powerful and moving that people will be changed by being a member of
the 
> audience."
 
> That change that you hope to incite is political, it's social, it's
> intellectual, it's emotional, it's an individual response.
> 

The question, though, is how you go about inciting *political* change in
a theater audience member. That usually implies helping people to change
their point of view on a particular issue -- largely through making such
a compelling argument within the piece that the individual goes home and
re-thinks their point of view.

To be able to effect "change" of this sort, a theater piece must present
the point of view currently held by the audience member and then show
cogent reasons for switching point of view -- usually by showing how the
effects of the new point of view will make changes for the "better".

Theater which shows only one side of an issue (doesn't represent the
audience member's current point of view) can't effect *change*, it can
only reinforce the belief system of those already committed to a
particular point of view (a valuable function). This is the function of a
lot of political street theater in the U.S.

Showing both sides of an issue (as in "Aunt Dan and Lemon" -- which
infuriated lots of NYC liberals of my acquaintance) isn't particularly
easy to do for many authors/companies.

And yet, in an era where access to accurate information about current
events isn't widely available (since news is filtered through the
currently pro-corporate / anti-consumer media, and functional illiteracy
reduces access to print and internet sources of information for many
people), theater would be an ideal way to help keep people informed.

Unfortunately, the whole concept of working-class theater has largely
died in the U.S. (except in the church-based community where it seems to
be making a resurgence). Theater costs too much. Many theater people
don't understand / are afraid of the working class and produce arrogant,
preachy work. 

In terms of changing political points of view of people who ordinarily go
to the theater, another problem arises: the people whose views
"progressives" most want to change primarily go to entertainment /
spectacle theater *because* other theater presents points of view totally
opposed to their own. This means that the only way theater can reach
these people is to be so socially desireable (mega-hit, Pulitzer) that it
will be socially inexcusable.

This opens a theater political influence avenue that I like to think of
as "The Medici Wardrobe Effect". Apparently the M family -- always known
for subtlety in dealing with suspected enemies :) -- had a great deal of
difficulty getting at one particular evasive noble. So someone in the
clan had the idea of having a particularly gorgeous, jewel encrusted
wardrobe made up and got it into the hands of the enemy du jour by
devious means (probably got them to think they were swindling someone
else). Inside the wardrobe, the hooks were coated with a tactile-contact
poison that took quite a long time to act, but finally produced the
desired result.

Quite a bit of socially desireable theater has small, political effects
embedded in an otherwise flashy product, and are virtually the only
(theater) way of getting to actual decision makers.

Cheers,
Cat Hebert
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.



---------------------------------------
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