Re: RAT what is forward thinking now...

[Rae <c639450@showme.missouri.edu>]

> experimental theater: what was once a movement of inquiry, demanding new
> ways of seeing and thinking, has become, simply, a genre. Even much of
> the work in this past FringeNYC Festival, though less endowed with
> gizmos, tended toward the conventional. What gives? Is it the absence of
> political and social movements from which theatrical experiment once
> drew a sense of purpose? Has the creeping commodification of the
> avant-garde made trying to catch the Next Wave or the eyes of HBO the
> loftiest goal of those not interested in the mainstream?"
> 
> 
> I thought this would get everyone going for a moment. I found it
> provacative.

Hmmm. . .my first thought is to point out that The Style Formerly Known As
Realsim (and now considered by many, not the knowledgable, to be the, umm,
default setting of theatre, if you will) was once wildly radical and
subversive, yada yada yada.  Perhaps we're waiting for the next new-old
wave. Perhaps "conventional" (and frankly, I'm not sure what the author
meant by that; w3as she referring to "realism," or what, did she clarify
in some other part of the article?) was the best style for the messages
being delivered. . .these are just my first thoughtlings, I'm sure I'll
have more to say as the discussion escalates.
Rae
Double-Wide Art Theatre
Loose Change Players