Nov 11, 2009
Nov 10, 2009
Shirley Unleashed
From his new position at the LA Stage Blog--resuming, one hopes, the essential coverage he once did for the LA Times' Stage Beat--Don Shirley takes on his old employer's New York-besotted theater coverage (full disclosure: It's a tendency from which I've occasionally personally benefited since I moved east). He has a particularly juicy target: film critic Kenneth Turan, who's taken to hawking his long overdue new Joe Papp bio, Free for All, with the arguable encomium that Papp "made theater in America both accessible and essential.” Without taking anything away from Papp's tremendous achievements, what we have here is a very common conflation of "theater in America" with "New York theater." (Another classic case here.)
Shirley:
Tell it, Don.
UPDATE: 99 Seats chimes in with (mostly) praise of Papp's efforts and legacy, and some important qualifiers to the above. I do think that just as it's possible to overstate the extent to which New York theater is synonymous with American theater, it's quite possible to go too far in the other direction. Of course New York is a theater capital, and what happens here has huge, even disproportionate influence throughout the U.S. and the world. That's a self-evident, and self-perpetuating, fact of life, and it's been true for at least a century. What did change in the 1960s--and I forget who put it to me this way exactly but it stuck with me because it makes a lot of sense--is that while American theater was once centrifugal, with New York power essentially rippling outward to the rest of the nation, American theater is now more centripetal, with theatrical power more evenly distributed throughout the country but still rotating around the validating stamp of New York's theater biz. Papp was at the center of that business just as the rules were changing, and it's inarguable that just as he knocked down barriers within the city proper, he knocked them down between the city and the nation at large, and while he deserves credit for the theater he made here that poured out into the world, he obviously can't take credit for the vital theater that poured inward over those broken-down walls.
All that said, I welcome Don's post, because while it's theoretically just as possible to overstate the importance of the regional theater movement vis a vis New York theater as it is to do the reverse, in reality that almost never happens, even--perhaps especially--in the hometown papers of said regions.
Shirley:
Turan misunderstands what “made theater in America both accessible and essential” during Papp’s lifetime. That task was performed not in New York, where theater was already quite “accessible and essential,” thank you very much. It happened in Los Angeles and elsewhere outside New York.
Those were the decades when professional, non-profit companies appeared throughout America. Although these companies are often labeled “regional,” which carries a whiff of condescension, they deserve most of the credit for making American theater ”accessible and essential.”
It should be obvious that this decentralization of American theater was more responsible for increased “accessibility” of the art form than the actions of any single New York-based producer.
Tell it, Don.
UPDATE: 99 Seats chimes in with (mostly) praise of Papp's efforts and legacy, and some important qualifiers to the above. I do think that just as it's possible to overstate the extent to which New York theater is synonymous with American theater, it's quite possible to go too far in the other direction. Of course New York is a theater capital, and what happens here has huge, even disproportionate influence throughout the U.S. and the world. That's a self-evident, and self-perpetuating, fact of life, and it's been true for at least a century. What did change in the 1960s--and I forget who put it to me this way exactly but it stuck with me because it makes a lot of sense--is that while American theater was once centrifugal, with New York power essentially rippling outward to the rest of the nation, American theater is now more centripetal, with theatrical power more evenly distributed throughout the country but still rotating around the validating stamp of New York's theater biz. Papp was at the center of that business just as the rules were changing, and it's inarguable that just as he knocked down barriers within the city proper, he knocked them down between the city and the nation at large, and while he deserves credit for the theater he made here that poured out into the world, he obviously can't take credit for the vital theater that poured inward over those broken-down walls.
All that said, I welcome Don's post, because while it's theoretically just as possible to overstate the importance of the regional theater movement vis a vis New York theater as it is to do the reverse, in reality that almost never happens, even--perhaps especially--in the hometown papers of said regions.
Objectify This
Caught this interesting juxtaposition of posters at an 8th Ave. garage last night. Apologies for the terrible cellphone camera image...
Here's a closer look at the more distant one:
The poster does refer to a crucial costume and, er, incident in Mamet's play. And the faceless booty on the Fela! poster is hardly a misrepresentation of that show's charms. I mean, it's nice to see women of color on Broadway posters but--I'm not sure this is progress.
Here's a closer look at the more distant one:
The poster does refer to a crucial costume and, er, incident in Mamet's play. And the faceless booty on the Fela! poster is hardly a misrepresentation of that show's charms. I mean, it's nice to see women of color on Broadway posters but--I'm not sure this is progress.
Nov 9, 2009
Radiohole Gets Cute
As a new father myself, I was moved to donate to Radiohole to support their latest tour of Whatever. Heaven Allows (Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, Jan. 14-16; The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Feb. 12-13; PS122 in NYC, March, and UCLA Oct. 13-17). Why? Here's why:
Can you say no to these faces?
Left to right: Tallulah May McRae Silovsky, Mia Pearl Fliakos, and Zapata Huber Hoffman Enriquez.
UPDATE: Found a revelant link.
Radiohole has just enough money to pay our artists a small stipend. So what about child care costs? At each of these stops we must raise money for the babies & the Baby-Mamma & Daddies to join us on the road. That means plane tickets, car-seats, sippy cups, the works!! This family-style tour will cost us an extra $3500!
Can you say no to these faces?
Left to right: Tallulah May McRae Silovsky, Mia Pearl Fliakos, and Zapata Huber Hoffman Enriquez.
UPDATE: Found a revelant link.
Nov 6, 2009
Over-and-Out Links
- Five hours of Taylor Mac apparently worth every minute.
- Remember, Ragtime's great book is a big reason its awesome score comes off so well.
- Thurber's Scarcity reportedly strong in L.A.
- Marsha Norman tackles the gender gap.
- Justly viral. (via)
What Are You Seeing This Weekend?
Apart from "what showtune is stuck in your head," that's been the favorite question on American Theatre's Facebook fan page. The answers this week (and every Friday, since I think we're going to make it a regular feature) are an illuminating cross-section of, well, American theatre: from Walworth Farce at UCLA to Narnia in Memphis, from Labute's This Is How It Goes in Richmond to Angels in America in Philly...It's a fascinating (and growing) list.
The Undeciders
I don't get up to much straight-up theatrical criticism these days, but here's my bundled-together take on three current Broadway offerings: Hamlet, A Steady Rain, and Superior Donuts. All of them star vehicles, in a sense, but in only one case is the star in question the playwright.
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