Re: RAT RE: New Thread

[InTheLime@aol.com]

In a message dated 99-04-26 14:32:54 EDT, you write:

<< So what are other rats doing like this? What do people think about this 
kind
 of production versus high production value, long rehearsal process stuff? >>

John Sylvaine -

I think there's a place for everything.  I like the sharp, quick stuff.  
There's this theatre here called the Brick Playhouse which does fast 
turn-around development work (1 minute play festivals, lots of short 
works)...but comedy is the most active form of this "fast-food" type of 
theatre... I prefer working with the same people over and over and filtering 
in just a few new folks along the way (VAT's an ensemble company)...and I've 
found that when you work from that core approach you can create more quickly 
(short-hand develops in the communication style) - but we haven't done 
anything where we do it right in front of an audience.  How does that work?  
Is it just an improv company you're talking about...or is it along the lines 
of write a work quickly, stage it quickly, get it up quickly (ala sit coms, 
but on stage?)

I personally like poor theatre best, what can we create with absolutely 
nothing...and couldn't give a rat's ass...oh, excuse me rats...for "high 
production value" if the actors don't get there.  If that "value" is lots of 
money on a stage that could feed one of my company members for several 
years...I say drop the shtuff and focus on the breath.  

BUT...that really doesn't speak to the question of fast and furious. It 
sounds cool and wicked scarey. Sometimes the spark comes from the pure 
intensity of the fear of creating in front of an audience - who's doing this 
on the East Coast that I could see in action?

--Aileen McCulloch, Managing Artistic Director
The Vagabond Acting Troupe
Philadelphia, PA