Re: RAT Reading Series Press Release

[brad rothbart <scrdchao@nni.com>]

>Alas and alack. Yet one more reading series -- "on a national level?"   Ye
>Gods.  Wouldn't all that energy be better put into PRODUCTION of one or
>two worthy plays, instead of unstaged readings?
>
>I have never been able to get over all the misdirected energy of "reading"
>plays, many of which are never produced, or produced elsewhere than the
>original venue.
>
>I also feel for that unfortunate playwright who bought a ticket to Philly
>in order to see a reading of her play, and then learned that the play
>reading was canceled.
>
>Folks, let's focus on production, not reading these plays to death.

Wait. Stop.
  Hold on.



 While I did wrong by Karen Cronacher,will freely admit that, and  am
willing to suffer her ire because I feel I wronged her, I don't know you.
And you don't know me.

 Your point about production is well-taken, but at least  where I come
from, no one is going to venture a p roduction of a tremendously  complex
work, such as the first piece we are reading ( A Girl's Guide to the Divine
Comedy) without a reading.  Rather than having that reading in a small,
airless rehearsal room, why  not make it into a public celebration of that
playwright and their work??

 In terms of  " on a  National Level" -- guilty as charged. I stepped into
Press Release-speak. In my defense, playwrights , and plays, are coming in
from all over the country.

 However, for a playwright's work to be heard, people need to be there,
which means they need to hear about it, which means press. So shoot me.

 These plays are not read to do death - many of them are not read at all.
Those that are read do not hasve college courses devoted to their work, or
monographs written about them...
 For whatever socio-politico-cultural reason one wants to put forth, these
plays, for the most part, do not get produced. Does that mean they
shouldn't be read , either? Should we consign these writers to the dustbin
of history simply because they are not the flavor of the month??

 I f you feel as strongly  as you seem to, I issue a challenge: find a
theatre for a year. Raise the money to put on 4 works, with full production
value, paid actors, designers, directors, a Tech Director, Spaces for all
of us to live. We can do three plays by these "underheard  playwrights"  in
a year 8 weeks of rehearsal, 4 weeks of performance, 1 week break...  $
750/wk per company mermber, with full health benefits.

  In other words,  as Justice Brandeis ( I believe) held that the answer to
free speech (even offensive speech) is not restriction of speech but rather
more free speech, the best response to an idea you don't like is not to
tear it down, but to build your own structure.

 If enough of us do that, the theatre will have many homes.

Think on it.

Selah.

---Brad