RAT Intro from another Eye

[The Independent Eye <bards@independenteye.org>]

And another voice, from Elizabeth -

	I saw a concept that sailed by on one recent post - rat banking -
and grinned.  We were really revved, years ago, by Lewis Hyde's THE GIFT:
Imagination and The Erotic Life of Property, to the point of buying a case
of books to give to friends.  I don't like wondering how to pay the rent,
but I don't like being a commodity, and don't feel there's the bankroll or
the flacks to make me be a competitive one.  It's scary to jump off that
set of tracks, but I find the "security" of the marketplace to be something
of a mirage, too.  Our last production in Philly, based on sacred Sumerian
text, never set a ticket price for the whole run.  We were pretty clear
that it wasn't to be a freebie, but that it was individual and anonymous
who paid what (we used little envelopes in the programs, and nobody watched
over what happened on the way to The Hat).  When the run ended, we made
about what we'd have made at standard tickets, but with *much* larger
attendance.  Me, I want the butts in the seats, and as long as there's
enough cash to make it to the next production, I couldn't care less what
the per-capita rate was.  I want to be free to work that way.
	My own wish is to make fewer works, make them better, and keep them
longer.  That's why the return to touring.  I want that work to connect
with individuals, and connect with the best energy possible and with a
minimum of intervening latex.  (Metaphor, OK?)  I'm a buzz-junkie.  It
feels *really* good to have worked a long time on a piece I love, perform
it for a lotta folks, and keep on tinkering and fine-tuning, learning all
the different ways to catch the trapeze bar and how the humidity,
temperature, and the local lay-offs affect that.  I get one form of buzz
from working solidly on my craft.
	Another buzz is having a chance to see faces, hear voices, and find
out something of what happened inside somebody's head (and maybe heart) in
the process.  An energetic disagreement has an amperage of its own,
gnarlier than a big hug, but still amperage.  And it's been my experience
that people respond more freely when they don't filter everything through
the ticket price.  We had the privilege, a little over a year ago, of doing
three performances for three different groups, for free, in the area to
which we moved.  Each was within the context of a pre-existing event.  Over
the following two months, we got, in contributions from people who came
onto the mailing list in that span, a total of about what we'd have needed
to get from tour fees.  (Yeah, it's still money, but it feels different.)
Before that, we got a flood of conversations, lots more stories of similar
experiences, some tears, some fairly enthusiastic hugs, and explicit
responses of how personally important that witnessing was to this person
talking to us.  That's big-time buzz.
	Yet another buzz is finding how many others go off-road, make the
work their own way, take the flak and keep going.  I'd like to know a whole
lot more about the new texts produced here (that's our main focus), what
ways have been found to rework, recycle, keep the same thread weaving after
the initial launch, or, if the wish is to create, produce, drop and move
on, why?  And then what do you do to keep a rich sense of a body of work?

	Cheers - Elizabeth



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