Donald Margulies on the Decline of Theatre & Imagination
“The magic of theater is its power to astonish, but astonishment can occur only if the audience is willing to suspend its disbelief. How are we expected to astonish young people who have seen everything imaginable, on screens of all description, since they were born?”
There’s a great essay there about both the current state of theatre and also Margulies own strategies for dealing with it. I like the fact that rather than try to compensate for what is perceived as a “weakness” of theatre (which, when he boils it down, really seems to be basically a matter of cost, which is great; there are so many nice little theatres that don’t charge an arm and a leg, it means that they’ll have more people coming) he simply plays to their strengths.
I spend an inordinate amount of time using technology; in fact, right now I’m typing this sitting at a bar watching Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. But on a regular basis I pull out my juggling clubs or my acoustic, and go out just to remind myself that first, one must be an entertainer. The rest of the glitz comes later. You have to have a foundation of solid content.
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I’ve long been having the “is theater really dead?” convo with a dear friend who just so happens to be directing the east coast premiere of “Shipwrecked” at the Longwarf. I miss the theatre but it’s been so insanely long since I’ve seen a good show (LA is, for all intents and purposes, anathema to decent theatre) I’m not really sure how to find my way back. Maybe I need to drive down to San Diego.
What about the smaller shows? Especially little one-person monologues. Somewhere out there is the heir to Spalding Gray; every town has tiny, struggling gems. Yes, there’s a lot of dreck, but personally I think it’s just a matter of the really big shows being dead – people aren’t going to pay that kind of cash for anything they’re unsure of. Not when they can buy 26 hours of HEROES for the cost of one ticket.
But the little theatres, the independent plays…they have some real gems. I enjoyed the recent “Reefer Madness” as much as I enjoyed Spamalot or Les Mis, and the house was packed. I think that the truth is that theatre is changing…and some people see that as death rather than growth.
Aren’t you in Chicago? LA’s theatre scene is not strong. At all. Large, small, doesn’t matter. Actors are here to get in the moving pictures, theatre’s just something to pass the time. And they’ll bail on a show for a sprite commercial. There’s one company I’ve found that does nice work and they double cast everything so folks can keep working. They’ve been around forever and naturally I’m completely spacing their name. Sigh. On more cup of coffee…
Not even Chicago (though that has a great small theatre scene…Goat Island comes to mind for starters) but Madison WI, which has Proud Theatre (LGBTQ Teens), Mercury Theatre, Encore Theatre, Broom St. Theatre, Middleton Players Theatre, Strollers Theatre, and more…so yeah, guess I’m spoiled.
That’s sad about LA. It’s a common problem among dance companies everywhere, in fact, because the touring companies pay so well, and small groups sometimes can’t pay at all…