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Re: RAT Re: obscurity
>Subject: RAT Re: obscurity
>Sent: 2/25/19 10:31 AM
>Received: 2/23/99 6:30 PM
>From: Ezra Buzzington, jonoh1@juno.com
>Reply-To: RAT List, rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>To: RAT List, rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>
>Dear Chris,
> This really is put quite beautifully. I appreciate your insight and
>hope that your future work in the theatre (with which I am somewhat
>familiar) continues to serve your clearly altruistic ends. However, to me
>the theatre is not and must never be a sandbox in which merely those
>whose social behaviour most befits the perameters are welcome to play.
>What of the fool whose inner child pops out at the slightest tipple of
>wine and insults those around him quite by chance? What of the surly
>craftsman? What of the shy voiced poet? If we place social interaction
>over text and technique then what will that eventually do to the art
>form? Must we all "relate" to be produced? What you purport frightens me
>a bit. Taken to its' logical conclusion, only those who have the skill,
>interest, inherent charm, or best approach to sycophantry will succeed in
>the theatre. Oh, sure, a few "nice" ones will slip in as well. But,
>frankly, I'd rather produce, director and/or act in shows that have a
>deep rooted sense of self and never even meet the author than put on a
>show of perhaps lesser artistic potential simply because I want to build
>a relationship with someone.
> Best to you and yours,
> Jonathan Harris
>
>
>On Sat, 20 Feb 99 18:04:24 -0800 Chris Jeffries <cjeffries@seanet.com>
>writes:
>>Karen,
>>
>>Enjoyed your post. Please don't apologize for ranting; we all do it,
>>it
>>was your turn, we understand.
>>
>>Theatre is a people medium. Whatever other elements may be in the
>>mix,
>>call them "theory" or "language" or "politics" or what you will, those
>>
>>things do not put on a show. People put on a show. And people come
>>to
>>see people put on a show. That is why Jason and most others prefer to
>>
>>work with people they know; because people is what they work with,
>>over
>>and above "scripts" and "materials," and the better you know someone,
>>the
>>more of a person they are to you and the richer your theatre
>>experience
>>will likely be. People who select plays read a lot of scripts; all of
>>
>>them find it more fun to feel like they are producing people, or even
>>better, relationships, and not simply pieces of writing. This has
>>nothing to do with "connections" in the corporate-jargon sense. It
>>has
>>everything to do with "connections" the real word referring to real
>>things that happen to real people when they work together and change
>>each
>>other doing theatre together, whether or not they are in the same room
>>or
>>city at the time.
>>
>>Why _should_ a theatre undertake to produce a script that arrives in
>>the
>>mail? Isn't there something wrong with that model? Speaking for
>>Annex,
>>we've done about two hundred shows in a dozen or so years, nearly all
>>of
>>them unpublished, and I can't think of a single one that simply showed
>>up
>>in the mail. Which is not to say we know every writer. Sometimes the
>>
>>company does "What?" by "Who?" because the person proposing it has a
>>connection to the piece, and the others choose to trust that
>>connection.
>>But Annex considers itself most successful when the bulk of the work
>>it
>>is doing comes from "in house" -- from people who help take out the
>>trash
>>and sign up to work box office. This is not to be snotty and
>>exclusive
>>and shut anybody out. It is because the biggest rewards come when
>>everyone involved feels as invested as possible in the work -- and, in
>>a
>>breathlessly busy organization that doesn't pay people, those rewards
>>may
>>not be dispensed with lightly. Now, no one guarantees production or
>>casting to anyone who empties the trash, and plenty of people do
>>theatre
>>at Annex who don't do those other things and disappear for months at a
>>
>>time, and that's fine, but who feels more connected? The ones with
>>the
>>trash bags. And theatre is connection. For my money that's a far
>>stronger "why they do what they do" than any "intellectual framework,"
>>
>>however appetizing, will ever be.
>>
>>RAT was dreamed up (or hacked up) precisely to create connection where
>>it
>>didn't exist, to remove some of the horrible impersonality of American
>>
>>theatre, an impersonality that includes the tradition of cold mailings
>>of
>>plays. RAT conferences happen, for one, because getting one's work
>>out
>>is often better accomplished by sharing a pizza than by "getting one's
>>
>>work out." I personally have found it ten times more valuable to have
>>
>>sat down with some of these RATs and talked with them than if I'd
>>received a list of them and mailed them all a script. I may mail them
>>a
>>script or I may not, but frankly I'd rather hang out and just be
>>people
>>together, not wanting anything from them but _them_. The way out of
>>"obscurity" is to offer, not your scripts, but yourself. Ask any RAT.
>>
>>It works.
>>
>>When a person whose job it is to choose plays decides to reject a
>>particular script, she or he is thinking about a lot more than just
>>that
>>script. They are looking at it in the context of other projects
>>already
>>chosen or under consideration. They are using all of their knowledge
>>of
>>their theatre and its history, its audience, its budget, its
>>personnel,
>>its resources, all of the particular strengths and weaknesses of their
>>
>>organization and its people. Above all its people, which includes its
>>
>>audience. Chances are they know better than the playwright which
>>projects are best for their people. It may be that they are trying to
>>
>>please the "wrong" kind of people for you, in which case you're better
>>
>>off without them. Or it may be that they've tried projects like yours
>>in
>>the past and had bad experiences for one reason or another. They
>>didn't
>>do it justice and felt bad about it, or nobody liked it, or it got
>>them
>>into debt, or the theatre down the street could have done it much
>>better
>>and everybody knew it. Every theatre, every group of people, is
>>unique
>>and special, and so the best way to get produced is to be familiar
>>with
>>what's unique and special about a particular theatre and offer them
>>something that either fits them like a glove or stretches them in a
>>positive way. This, again, is why it helps to know people. It sounds
>>
>>very hard and very slow. IT IS. But that is the difference between
>>building relationships that matter and sitting around giving strangers
>>
>>the power to make you feel more or less "obscure."
>>
>>And if all else fails, say "fuck it" and do it yourself. That is why
>>the
>>Compound and On The Boards were formed, that is why Y York is
>>self-producing this spring, that is why Bret Fetzer self-produces if
>>no
>>one else is excited about what he wants to do. We've all been there
>>and
>>yes, we've all experienced doing a great show that nobody cares about.
>>
>>So what. If you have to do it, you have to do it. Even a worst-case
>>scenario is an opportunity for everyone involved to exercise
>>tremendous
>>patience and generosity, qualities this country desperately needs,
>>more
>>than it needs theatre.
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>>Subject: RAT Re: obscurity
>>>Sent: 2/19/19 2:13 AM
>>>Received: 2/20/99 3:07 PM
>>>From: Karen Cronacher, kcron@ix.netcom.com
>>>Reply-To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>>>To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>>>
>>>hi brad,
>>>
>>>I love your list and didn't take my omission personally. I just have
>>a
>>>basic rat question: how do we get far-out language plays, that are
>>black
>>>comedy and avante-garde, etc., produced???
>>>
>>>i've discussed this topic with Mac Wellman and heard Jeff Jones speak
>>on it.
>>> Basically they were very sad and embittered. They both told me
>>they'd sent
>>>out their plays to every theatre in the country, spent a lot of
>>money, and
>>>nothing happened. (this was 10 years ago, before they were known).
>>>
>>>My friend Y York warned me before i sent my play out that no one
>>would do
>>>it. And jason neulander warned me that even he rarely produces a
>>play by
>>>someone he doesn't know.
>>>
>>>so i sent my play out anyway, spending $2,000 i don't have, after
>>spending
>>>another $2,000 to produce my own solo show in the Seattle Fringe,
>>which
>>>received reviews that said i could win the Pulitzer (i'm not
>>kidding--i was
>>>shocked) but still no one came and i lost all the money.
>>>
>>>basically, no one will produce my play, tho every rejection comments
>>on my
>>>brilliance, my wildly imaginative play (magic theate, playwrights
>>horizons),
>>>how much they love it, etc. this just makes me crazy--everyone knows
>>it's
>>>good, it's been done successfully, it got great reviews, it's won
>>awards,
>>>but no one will do it. I have this faith--i believe if you have
>>talent,
>>>then people will recognize it, but i'm totally wrong and it's really
>>about
>>>connections.
>>>
>>>so, i'm in a quandry, an existential crisis, etc. i'm thinking of
>>coming to
>>>the conference.
>>>
>>>about grad school: my years at Brown were the happiest ever. I just
>>lived
>>>the passion of writing and working with people, and didn't have to
>>think
>>>about the real world. My years at the U.W. were horrid--no one was
>>alive
>>>with ideas. But i got a ph.d. there a while ago with Sue Ellen Case,
>>who
>>>was very abusive.
>>>
>>>i just wanted to let you know where i'm coming from. I will send you
>>the
>>>play, and see what you think, thank you for agreeing to read it.
>>>
>>>seattle has a lot of theatre going on but none of it is idea-based or
>>>language oriented. The compound does some interesting non-linear
>>work and
>>>on the boards is great (i've performed there) and Brett fetzer does
>>>Mabou-Mines type stuff, but i've studied lots of theory, and no one
>>comes
>>>from that place.Also, even the interesting stuff is so apolitical.
>>People
>>>do not seem to know why they do what they do--they don't have a sense
>>of
>>>theatre history or an intellectual framework.
>>>
>>>i do not usually rant, i swear. What is your opinion of all this?
>>We can
>>>open up this discussion on the list, too, if you want.
>>>
>>>--Karen
>>
>
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