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Re: RAT: The Next Generation
That is what is so fascinating about a change in generations -- that
although there is always overlap in cultures, the events which take place
when you are in your teens and twenties (the sexual development years)
tend to define the "core memories".
What is so wonderful about these generational/cultural differences
(gencult?) is that someone totally immersed in one gencult will have a
strong reaction to a very different gencult. Until the tatoo / piercing
ritual came along I was beginning to get a big worried about the lack of
opposition.
Another example. I used to work out of one of the first internet cafes in
NYC. Once chat sessions got established the whole medium was appropriated
by folks in their teens for fast, friendly conversation. When MUDs came
to be it was pretty clear that the sidebar conversations were more
important than the game playing for most folks who were playing. And yet,
reporters used to come into the cafe all the time doing stories on "this
internet craze" and they would totally miss (were instructed to miss?)
what was going on. They saw addictive game playing. What was actually
happening was farflung community building.
It seems to me that theater has its own gencults. I was a teen doing
Actor's Studio / Grotowski / Living Theater. These activities all said
something specific about building a link between inner life and external
community. (Although you'd have to stretch the "community" part a bit for
Mr. G's stuff.)
Today in NYC (if not in the rest of the country -- those on the list who
travel a lot more than I do at the moment might comment on this). Today
in NYC I see a whole lot of improv form performance, cabaret, sexual
identity stuff, very mixed media. The traditional stuff too, but a new
explosion of experimentation with form. Very interesting.
All of those things form the vocabulary of the next theater generation
since they swim in the soup of it; have it as a garnish with each meal.
Cheers,
Cat Hebert
On Tue, 05 Jun 2001 12:22:50 -0400 nick <nick@ratconference.com> writes:
> Hi Cathy,
>
> Gabriele and I and a half dozen other recent college graduates and
> one of
> our professors started Thieves Theatre twenty years ago in Chicago.
>
>
> First, "generation gaps" are always present. Advertising people
> know this;
> that's why they produce specific ad campaigns for whatever age
> bracket
> their target audience is. You don't sell a car to a baby boomer in
> the
> same way you do to a generation Xer. Etc. And note all these
> self-referential terms on the age bracket we use. Also how savvy
> all our
> understandings are on the media and its manipulations. We are all
> more
> market and media wise today than we were twenty years ago. All this
> does
> not translate into the "Generation Gap" as much as it does into a
> "Cultural
> Gap." The whole of our culture is different than it was in the
> "70's", the
> "80's". Even these decade references are also a fairly recent
> phenomenon.
> The '60's being that magic decade referring to the Generation Gap
> supreme.
>
> There was a guitar sitting in the corner of every other home one
> went into
> in the '60's and '70's. Today there is a computer but probably not
> a
> guitar. These are not just to different instruments of
> communication but
> two entirely different modes. The audience is present in one and
> mediated
> in the other. We would "hang out" differently I think than this
> generation
> does. This has to affect the way in which we deal with one another
> and the
> world. I am not sure how. But definitely the present generation
> grew up
> in a more mediated culture. Clues for the any generation gap, if it
> does
> exist, I think could be found there.
>
> Looking forward to the discussion.
>
> --nick
>
>
> At 11:18 PM 6/4/01 EDT, Cathryn616@aol.com wrote:
> >Cat and I have been having an off list discussion for the past few
> weeks
> >about the "Next Generation of Theatre" Panel that some other
> students and I
> >will be running.
> >
> >I was just wondering if some of you can e-mail me your thoughts on
> my
> >generation (people in/right out of college). Cat has brought up
> some very
> >interesting points that we really dont feel are accurate. but, of
> course, we
> >could be completely wrong since no one really sees themselves as
> they really
> >are.
> >
> >So, I would really, really appreciate people's thoughts on this
> topic, as
> >well as if you think there is a generational gap in the
> theatre--please also
> >give an example, and just dont say that you think that there is one
> (this is
> >another roadblock that we have hit; we dont think that there is a
> gap, but
> >Cat insists that there is).
> >
> >Any ideas would be helpful.
> >thanks!!!
> >
> >cathy
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
>
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