Re: RAT Grad School

[TimNGail@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/99 8:55:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, jonoh1@juno.com
writes:

<<...cranking out what I viewed to be
 cookie-cutter actors at best. Especially the PATP program. The PATP
 actors' auditions were wonderful. They had that down it seemed. Yet,
 invariably, once cast, they would shut down completely at the idea of
 taking a risk of any kind. I eventually quit casting PATP grads/students
 all together.>>

Yes, yes... a thousand times yes.... and not to say what RAT is or isn't, but
I've always had a personal definition of RAT that includes the notion of
"infiltration"... SO, rather than...

<<somehow suing the entire educational system as they were making my job
 far more difficult than necessary>>

isn't is better to actually infiltrate and somehow correct the problem, or at
least do what you're doing in showing fellow artists that, indeed, there is
another way?  Of course, I understand that...

<<one just doesn't have the time in fringe
 theatre to re-teach an actor how to get back in touch with what has been
 drained from them over a period of years.>>

FUNKOPOLIS has had to deal with this issue time and time again as we practice
our specific brand of theatre.  But what we've also realized is that actors
afraid to fail come out of PATP programs, conservatories, grad programs,
undergraduate programs, bad restaurants, alleys, under rocks, etc.  And BRAVE
SOULS can also be found in each of these settings.  While the educational
system is in MAJOR part to blame, it can't ALL be thrust on them.  And I
always feel like one can sit back and moan about it, or actually DO something
about it.  So, when you say that....

<>

I say in large part that you're right.  But there are exceptions.  And if you
want to buy into the glitz and spit and polish shell game that is a
conservatory program, just know that this is what you're buying.  And buy in,
or sink.

As for Towson's MFA program, we're not glitzy, not spectacular, but we've got
Mac Wellman coming for a few weeks starting this Friday.  We just got done
collaborating with Squonk Opera, out of Pittsburgh, on a new piece.  Daniel
MacIvor workshopped some of his new work here last year.  We've worked with
Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Touchstone, Independent Eye, Theodora
Skipataris....We've got Shozo Sato coming in to create a Kabuki-esque original
rewrite of Romeo and Juliet called "For Love."  We've got an original new
piece of music theatre based on the live of John Heartfield, German
photomontage artist who dedicated his life to political, antifascist art in
the 1920's through 40's, told through the eyes of Bertolt Brecht, Marlene
Dietrich and other artists of the time.

Not a confidence game or a scam here at all.  Are there problems with the
program?  Absolutely.  Would I rather be at any one of those conservatory-
style programs, knowing that, in my case, I needed to get that MFA?  Not a
chance in hell.

And this is not Tim being all "rah rah home team"... indeed, I think too many
times our comments are made simply by trying to justify our life decisions...
not that this is a bad thing... just another posting at a later date....

There are other programs like Towson's that are out there.... I believe UC-
Berkeley is on their way to something similar?  (Someone out there want to
verify this?)  Bob Leonard at Virginia Tech is creating an MFA program focused
solely on community-based theatre, bringing in guest artists from across the
country that DO this type of work.

I think it's just a matter of actually doing some legwork, and having at least
one or two thoughts as to what type of theatre one wants to create BEFORE
going off to grad school.  DON'T go right after undergraduate work....GET OUT
OF THE SYSTEM and work for a while... create... breathe.... and then look at
why you want to go back, or if you even NEED to go back.  As for me, I took
eight years before going back, during which time I opened a small theatre in
Washingtion, DC, did a LOT of free-lance work, and did enough "pay the
bills"-type work to know that I needed to come back and get those little
letters - MFA - so that I could infiltrate the system, let people know that
there IS a different way to create theatre... and yes... get paid for it...
what better scam could be imagined?

What all of this created in me, by the way, in my attitude toward grad school
is that I am currently under the philosophy of "sucking the marrow out of the
bone" with regards to what I can get from "the system".  Anything they're
willing to give me (and even some things they're NOT willing to give), I'm
gonna take and run away with.

Just more long-winded ramblings.... :)

tim