Is Theater Inherently Elitist?

Question: Is Theater Inherently Elitist?

Yes.

Theater is labor, resource, and real estate intensive.

Theater must therefore be expensive to recoup its costs.

Or theater must rely on the patronage of an elite who can support it.

Theater cannot be mass produced, so it must appeal to specific, local audiences.

Theater is inflexible in format -- you must show up at the appointed time, and view it for the appointed length of time.

Mass produced media is less expensive to create, less expensive to consume, easier to distribute, and easier to consume.

I notice that most of the blogs answering this elitism question seem to be caught up in the content of the plays. Probably because they're written by writers, who are concerned with the writing.

I'm a producer, so I'm interested in how plays are produced, so the answer to that question seems pretty obvious to me.

SHIT YOU SHOULD KNOW: DecideNYC.com

Another part in our continuing series on Shit You Should Know.

It's an election year.

It's an important election. (Mayor, a majority of city council seats, and many other positions are open and competitive -- meaning the city politics could pretty drastically change).

It's really hard to get good information.

That's why you should know about:

DecideNYC.com

• What it is: A very easy to navigate web guide to find out who is running for what positions, and recent news about them. (They also operate a useful Twitter feed).
• Why you should know about it: Because this election is big and complicated but it's also going to determine who is going to piss you off with bike lanes and massive development projects and etc. (By the way, if you want to know who on that list is pro-arts, keep an eye out for the League of Independent Theater endorsements).
• Why you should know about it now: 
• The election is coming up swiftly and really, the primaries will settle most of everything by September 10th so now is the perfect time to get involved.
• If you do check out DecideNYC and are as happy with their quality local coverage as I am, contribute to their project like I did today. Quality local coverage is hard to sustain, as New York sees all too clearly, so support it where you can!

REVIEW: 3 Kinds of Exile

Typically, I don't enjoy writing a negative review -- I try to find the positive in the production, or I don't write a review at all. I figure that usually a bad play -- if it made it far enough to be seen -- is either a good idea trying to climb out of poor execution (in which case I focus on engaging with the idea and how to better present it), or a bad idea that I don't engage with (in which case I don't feel like a bad review would contribute much.

I also don't write bad reviews because I try to approach reviewing with a semblance of humility. I have only just read Isaac's self reflection on the rush to make harsh judgment, and I worry about stepping over the line myself.

So why am I about to write bad words about John Guare's 3 Kinds of Exile, now playing at the Atlantic Theater Company? Because, as a fellow theater producer (albeit a much less successful one) I have honest questions about how this reached the stage on front of a paying public, in one of New York's premier theaters without anyone raising an eyebrow.

This Goes Beyond Bechdel

Suppose you and one of your friends get together and decide to write a staged biography about a striking actress you knew (Elzbieta Czyzewska). Would you really decide that the best way to present her life would be to have two men talk about her, occasionally imitating her, rarely quoting her, and instead rattling off a series of facts about her life in chronological order? (For 40 minutes?).

The theme of the biography is (so near as I can tell), that Elzbieta was given short shrift by directors and producers who constantly promised her big come-back roles, but never delivered. (Included in that number is a young playwright named John Guare, who seems fairly sad that he was forced to cut her from a play he wrote specifically for her).

And here she is, one more time, being presented to an audience without truly bringing her voice in the space. A few moments of imitation, but otherwise, she is quite literally an object, a portrait invoked at the beginning and end of a long story.

That's the content of the second of the three acts. (The first is a monologue by a man about himself, so there's not really much room for a woman there, apparently).

What about the third act? There are female actresses in there. They get two moments:

1) A moment where the lead character is pronounced to be attractive by two ladies, and they try to sleep with him.

2) A bride whose only line of dialogue, repeated, is "Fuck me."

Seriously. There's a female character who can only say "Fuck me." And yes, it's in context of a criticism of traditional marriage. But I really don't think that's enough! Not when it's basically a punchline in a long series of gags.

Somewhere, in a full 100 minute piece about exile in which there are female characters -- one of which is about a real-life female person -- there has to be more than three lines to encapsulate their experience, more than a few quick gags to capture their voice.

Am I the first person to ask this question? How did this play make it all the way to a major venue in New York today without someone along the way raising an eyebrow?

The Magical Other

The third act is basically the story about how a sexually repressed Polish exile finds his way to Buenos Aires, and a tempting Latino seduces him away from that rigidly structured world. This tempting Latino is presented as being magical -- hypnotic, satanic.

Guys, I'm not crazy here, right? Did nobody wikipedia this?

It's Kind Of Hard Out Here For an Artist (What?!)

So, that's already two big problems that seem to me that should have been huge liabilities before this play made it to the stage. There's another one that sticks out to me, which is that both the second and third acts are tragic stories of unrealized, victimized artists.

Don't get me wrong -- if you're a true master, you can make a good tortured artist story. Amadeus is probably a good example in that genre. I'm willing to let Sunday in the Park with George slide, mostly on the back of its music.

But for the most part, the staggering majority of "tortured artist" stories tend to be exercises in self-indulgence; here, the self-indulgence goes so far that John Guare, as an actor playing the role of John Guare in the play written by John Guare, refers in the third person to a character in the story who is John Guare. At which point a projection of John Guare is visible, as though we don't get that the person standing in front of us describing the story is the same John Guare.

Both protagonists in the second and third acts are presented as will-less victims, buffeted by their fate, misunderstood by their peers and family and lacking all agency in the world around them. Which is as negative an impression of artists as you could devise. And very little that is sympathetic is provided about them either. Instead, we are simply asked to connect to their suffering because it is suffering, and because artists are noble creatures that should not be in pain, I guess.

Editing?

All of this, as well as the overly long span of time that the three pieces take up and the repetitive, over-explanation of the messages and morals in each of the pieces (replete with unending rhetorical questions), indicate to me that John Guare was basically allowed to do whatever. It has a very unedited feel; my play-going companion detected a distinct "undergraduate thesis" vibe. 

I don't know how it got here. I don't know how it edged out the thousands of equally competent playwrights and plays that are circulating out in the world. I'm not sure how the bizarre casting, the uneven acting styles, the offensive choices, etc. were allowed to stand in a venue with those kind of resources.

My god, what Taylor Mac or Aaron Landsman or Sarah Ruhl or Susan Lori-Parks or a thousand other people could have done.

Regret
I want to end my review by honoring the people who worked on this. Genuinely. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to trash a production, knowing the time and dedication that came from a talented group of performers and designers. I'm just baffled how this incredible wealth of resources came to be marshaled for this production.

(As required by law, here is a disclaimer that I got the tickets for free.)

Julius Lester on Gossip

LOCAL2013: **ACTION ITEM** Support LITNY's Endorsed Candidates

The following is a press release from the League of Independent Theater, who are endorsing some key political players who are running for office -- all of whom have adopted our Performing Arts Platform.

We need your help.

If you want to reward these politicians for coming to the cultural tables, come out on Wednesday (June 5th) at 11:30 (FB event here). We want to show the cameras how big a force the independent performing arts and culture community is.

THE LEAGUE OF INDEPENDENT THEATER

SET TO ANNOUNCE FIRST SLATE OF POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS 

SCOTT M. STRINGER, JULIE MENIN, JIMMY VAN BRAMER

and OTHERS LEAD THE MOVEMENT TO SUPPORT

THE PERFORMING ARTS IN NEW YORK CITY 

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT SET FOR WEDNESDAY JUNE 5th, 11:30 A.M.

85 EAST 4TH STREET (BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND AVENUES),

AT THE LEGENDARY HOME OF THE KRAINE THEATER

PLEASE JOIN STRINGER/MENIN/VAN BRAMER

AND OTHER CANDIDATES ON

THE STEPS OF THE KRAINE THEATER

AS LIT MAKES ITS FIRST POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS OF

THE 2013 NEW YORK CITY ELECTION CYCLE.

Fighting for the vibrant cultural sector of New York City means fighting for independent theater across all five boroughs. The League of Independent Theater’s mission is to support those artists and venues throughout the City, and to identify candidates in each of those communities to work on their behalf.

As the only 501(c)6  advocacy organization for the independent theater and performing arts population of New York City, the League of Independent Theater (which supports the interests of over 50,000 artists who vote regularly*) is proud to stand with and endorse Manhattan Borough President, Scott M. Stringer for Comptroller of The City of New York, Julie Menin for Manhattan Borough President, Jimmy Van Bramer for City Council, and other pro-Arts candidates including: Jenifer Rajkumar – District 1; Ben Kallos – District 5; Ken Biberaj – District 6; Melissa Mark-Viverito – District 8; Cliff Stanton – District 11 and Rory Lancman – District 24.

In the winter of 2009, an audience of over 300 independent theater artists and performing arts supporters attended a Community Board Congress forum on the perilous state of the small to midsized theater sector throughout the City where Borough President Scott M. Stringer challenged our sector to create a pro-arts platform. After years of organizational meetings, private discussions and coalition building, the League of Independent Theater unveiled this platform at our “Meet the Candidates” event on March 12, 2013 at The Players Club**. This comprehensive eight-plank platform will encourage, leverage and strengthen the independent theater sector of New York City.

Despite the many financial, logistical, and creative barriers, it is a widely documented and accepted truth that the independent theater community continues to power the City’s culture and contribute to the local economy. LIT’s goal is to seek advocates in government who understand the challenges that the independent theater community faces, and will partner on specific actions to ease those burdens. Because of Scott M. Stringer, Julie Menin, Jimmy Van Bramer, Jenifer Rajkumar, Ben Kallos, Ken Biberaj, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Cliff Stanton,and Rory Lancman’s belief in us, we believe in them and are very proud to endorse and work to galvanize the independent performing arts section (50,000+ strong) to support these candidates in their upcoming races.

*NYITF Study, 2008. www.nyitawards.com/survey/oobdemographics.pdf

**Videos of this event can be viewed at www.litny.org.

The following eight (8) points make up the League of Independent Theater’s performing arts platform.

1. Create access to low-cost and/or no-cost Community Facilities Spaces that are currently available and remain unused throughout the City through the creation of a Community Facilities Space Database.

2. Create access to empty and unused City property to be re-purposed as temporary rehearsal, office and (if appropriate), performance space.

3. Include non-profit performance venues in the favorable electricity and utility rates enjoyed by religious institutions and the VFW.

4. Implement a proposal that would reduce or eliminate property tax assessments for those non-profit organizations that have an artistic mission and/or rent performance space to similar non-profit performing arts groups with artistic missions of their own. All twelve (12) Manhattan Community Boards unanimously ratified this proposal.

5. Secure affordable permanent low-cost housing for working artists.  In addition, work to provide access to affordable healthcare for these artists, depending on the status and reach of the Affordable Care Act at the time of negotiations.

6. Support the commission of an economic impact study for the independent theater territory.

7. Work with the Department of Cultural Affairs to expand the Cultural Institutions Group to include the independent theater sector’s anchor venues.

8. Install plaques at sites of historical import and rename streets after the founders of the independent and Off-Off Broadway community.

www.litny.org

SHIT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library

I haven't been updating much on the blog because my life is full of tangible things, but I haven't been dipping into theory or postulating as much.

In the meantime, while I recharge my theoretical batteries, I'm turning over this blog to a new regular feature called shit you should know. Largely because now that I'm working with the League of Independent Theater and getting into the community, I'm realizing that people don't know a lot of things that, well, they should know. Groups that are out there, resources that are out there, etc.

Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library (HIDVL)

• What is it: The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics is a research and performance institution founded by Diana Taylor as a focal point for artist-activists throughout the Americas (the Hemisphere in the name). The Digital Video Library is an initiative (one of many great initiatives they run) which archives lectures, presentations, interviews, and performance in digital mediums.
• Why you should know about it: You should know about it from a couple perspectives:
• Inspiration -- Seriously, you can see years of work from artists like Richard Schechner, FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya), or Circus Amok. Work that spans the entire gamut of performance from across many different cultures across the Hemisphere.
• Education -- If you didn't recognize the names above, or want to learn more about other movements of resistance or activism, this is a great way to just explore. (While typing this post I stumbled across Hula as Resistance and you can bet my curiosity was piqued!)
• Preservation -- If you know of artists whose work should be preserved, contact them (or contact me, I'd be happy to pass it along), their work can be preserved in perpetuity, in updated formats, without conceding ownership over the work. Seriously, an artist's dream.

An important aspect of performance is its ephemerality. The performance itself can only be experienced from within the performance. But to understand our own history, performance needs to in some way be preserved and passed down, to understand what happened and when it happened.

LOCAL2013: Mayoral Forum in Brooklyn

The following are raw notes from Monday Night's mayoral forum at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope. It's a lot of info, but I bolded the things that stuck out to me.

• John Liu
• Question 1: Felony charges for his campaign staff. Response: basically, that he's been investigated for four years (wiretapped for eighteen months), and no other candidate has gone through this scrutiny. If anyone else had gone through this, they would have "errors of omission" as well.
• Question 2: Barclay Center. It's a great facility, but "the promise was no where near met." His policy is that hew wants to end all subsidy for job creation or for affordable housing.
• Question 3: Is there anything he'd credit to Bloomberg? The smoking ban. But the soda tax goes too far. Too much top-down leadership: schools opened and closed "as a business decision" and education system is over testing.
• Question 4: Prospect Park Bike Lane: Liu says it's not popular. "Popular isn't about what the polls say… it should have had more process" than just being approved by the Community board
• Bill Thompson
• Question 1: Prospect Park Bike Lane: Needed an approval process "broader than the community board."
• Question 2: Would you impose bike lanes? "Leadership isn't forcing things on people, it's about consulting them." Education as well: need an education system that listens to parents.
• Question 3: Barclays Center. "I supported the proposal… but it was supposed to be something more. There were supposed to be jobs, there was supposed to be affordable housing." Said that there should be penalties against 'anyone' who goes back on promises; fell short of saying he'd penalize Rattner. Also said that large-scale developments should have multiple developers.
• Question 4: Is the EPA Cleanup of Gowanus Canal better or worse for the community? Cleaning Gowanus is more important than developing the neighborhood.
• Question 5: School Selection process. Supports mayoral control of the school systems, but the mayor has abused the privilege. Processes aren't transparent, need to return to community value for schools. Testing has robbed schools of so much, school closings are not policies.
• Question 6: Is it right that District 2 can exclude students? I didn't catch his answer
• Question 7: Library Closings? Against.
• Question 8: Inclusionary Zoning for Affordable Housing? Yes, and it should be mandatory
• Question 9: Other set-asides? Yes, a "smart growth" model. And NYCHA should not be allowed to dump city land for luxury housing; needs to be used for affordable housing/middle income housing.
• Question 10: Brooklyn's greatest transportation need? Fix the subways, add more buses. Bring back the commuter tax, and weight based registration fees. Would bring $1.7 billion into MTA
• Question 11: Bus lanes? Yes, he would impose them top-down, but only on large streets like Flatbush and Nostrand
• George McDonald
• Question 1: Are you happy with how Barclay has turned out? 
• "Yes, once the affordable housing is built."
• "That hasn't happened yet"
• "It will within the first six months of the next mayor's term."
• "What if they aren't built in the next six months?"
• "They'd have to."
• "… But what if they aren't?"
• "In a civilized society, we go to court."
• "If you had the chance to build it again?"
• "I would, for all the affordable housing that will be built there…once it's built."
• Also supports micro-housing, and 421G to allow commercial buildings to switch to housing. "We need housing across the city."
• And we need jobs. He'll make jobs. He did that at the Doe fund. (Audience members shouted 'how?!' and he didn't answer).
• Need to train people who come out of prison
• NYC public employees need to pay into their pension funds, like every other public employee (audience members shouted that he was lying). Wouldn't resign their contract if they didn't.
• Question 2: Prospect Park Bike Lane — would you have supported it if you were mayor?
• "But I'm not."
• "… But if you were."
• "But I'm not."
• "… But you want to be, right?"
• "Well yes, but I wasn't."
• Question 3: Transportation needs for Brooklyn: Mayoral control over MTA and Port Authority.
• "Is it going to happen?"
• "I don't know, but I'm going to fight like hell for it."
• Also wandered a bit about how politicians need to stop making promises before they look at the budget.
• Question 4: Expand subways or expand buses? Likes buses because they're built in New York, think some new subway lines (e.g. The 7 train) are a good idea.
• Question 5: About his failed lawsuit against the campaign finance board. Wants to use the State fundraising limits, rather than the city, if you don't participate in the matching fund. 
• Moderator: "So you think the state is less corrupt than the city?"
• "The state is like a slow moving crime wave.
• "So why would you follow them?"
• He cut off the conversation at this point with a humorous anecdote where a mobster says he's "too honest" and then later a business person says he's "too honest."
• Sal Albanese
• Question 1: Barclays? Not accepting developer money. Clamp down, force penalties and clawbacks on bad developers
• Question 2: Park development? Never give up an inch of parkland. "My summer vacation was JJ Byrne Park." Parks are important to communities
• Question 3: Priorities for transit? Fair tolls (Based on access to mass transit), Select Bus Service up to 20 routes, more bike lanes, mayoral control over MTA. Objects to an MTA run by "political appointees who don't even have metro cards." Would raise $1 billion; $750 million to transit, $250 to lowering fairs. "Bloomberg hasn't paid any attention… no comment on the 10% fare hike"
• Question 4: Prospect Park Bike Lane: Yes, it seems like there was enough community input. Also wants a bike lane over the Verranzano Bridge.
• Question 5: Mayoral Control of Schools: In favor if it: "I want control to repair what was broken."
• Question 6: Is it good that property values have doubled in Park Slope? Yes, but we need more affordable housing. (He paid $50/mo in rent when he was growing up in Slope)
• John Catsimatidis
• Question 1: Transit? Wants "transit-oriented development. It solves "the problem of congestion pricing"
• Moderator: "Is congestion pricing a 'problem'?"
• Don't penalize people who want to drive "God Bless them if they want to drive" -- "I'm from Harlem and I had a dream" to drive a GTO car. "Don't tell Americans that they should not dream — we should build more efficient cars, not restrict Americans from their dreams." "I teach children in Harlem and I teach them that it's good to succeed — don't hate success, don't promote failure."
• Question 2: Does social good outweigh need? His answer drew the example of the sanitation plant Quinn wants to build on the UES. "When you touch something that has germs, you get germs. When you smell something, you know what that literally is? It's something touching your lungs. And you want to know what Christine Quinn called it? Social Justice."
• Question 3: You don't believe in global warming? "I tell the truth."
• Question 4: Protection against future storms? "You can't build wooden shacks on the beach and expect to survive a storm." Quoted a Greek Saying, "Never build palaces near the sand." "Don't put your equipment in the basement." "Build more solid buildings."
• Question 5: Education? High school graduates should donate more money to their schools. Also: the education system is built to give every kid an academic education: stop teaching calculus to kids, it makes them feel ashamed when they fail and the give up and drop out. Vocational schools instead.
• Christine Quinn
• Question 1: 4th Avenue Rezoning, success or not? "In some ways" -- it made affordable housing a part of the conversation, even though they failed to get the affordable housing on 4th ave.
• Question 2: Expand inclusionary zoning? "It's a question of how far can we go?" but she wants to be "as aggressive as possible." She's not sure mandatory inclusionary zoning is legal "but wants to consider it." Favors permanent affordable housing over increasing the ratio. Willing to consider a property tax cap, but the state bill that REBNY proposed was far too generous to developers. Against the sale of NYCHA land for luxury condos.
• Question 3: Barclays? Should have not been a state project, which bypassed ULURP. Took credit for killing the West Side Stadium by driving it into ULURP even though it wasn't required. Thinks every large development on public land should go through ULURP. On Barclays itself, too soon to judge if it's successful.
• Question 4: Pilot programs to drive up parking costs? Not necessarily. Cars happen when mass transit options don't exist. Heavily favors expanding the ferry system to all five boroughs. East River Ferry was the first public transit up after Sandy. Also, breaks away from the "spoke and wheel" model of the MTA subway system. Also, more select bus services — 10 routes would be a good start. Favors dedicated bus lanes in some areas
• Question 5: Road space is hotly contested? Focus on making streets safe for young and old.
• Question 6: Industrial zoning? Expand industrial and manufacturing — she grew jobs in Brooklyn Navy Hards during the recession, and kept the money recirculating internally through tax breaks. Subdivided factories to allow more jobs to grow, and wants to bring manufacturing back to manufacturing zones that are lying dormant. (Would she support the same for "cultural zones"?)
• Question 7: Department of Education: Too much testing, and definitely need to stop "field testing" where students are pulled out of class to be test subjects for Pearson and other education. Need to move toward portfolio assessment. We're the only city with only one standardized test — has an impact on racial/gender diversity
• Question 8: School selection: process is stressful, confused, and unclear.
• Question 9 Are you too mean, and too close to business?
• "I'm tough. I'm push. And I'm too loud."
• Audience member: "That’s for damn sure."
• "Thank you, sir."
• Characterizes herself as uncompromising, willing to fight for the New Yorkers that work so hard in the city. "I want this city t one the tech capital. I want it t one the literacy capital, to have the schools with the best scores. I want this school to have the most CUNY graduates working in tech."
• Very proud of her record in City Council — most pro-tenant laws of any city council. You can now sue harassing landlords. New York's carbon footprint will be reduced by the carbon footprint of Oakland. (not sure what that means but that sounds great in an ad)
• Question 10: Sandy? We need infrastructure, hardening the city. Man-made barriers, blue belt and oyster beds. Schumer is bringing the Army Corps of Engineer to study, Cuomo is buying up land on river-front to bring in blue belt. No more overhead power lines, need gas redundancy. Punish bad players in the oil industry (Mobile, Exxon) who didn't help in recovery, and reward the good players (Hess gave free gas). Building resiliency committee.
• Question 11: What do you want people to say when you leave office? "I want people to say that I emptied my tank for NYC."
• Bill de Blasio
• Question 1: Barclays? Good for Brooklyn, but not worth it until the affordable housing arrives.
• Question 2: Was oversight in place? The Community Benefit Agreement was the strongest in the city, but should have been supported by the government. City should lock out all development from developers who did not honor the promises. Not enough infrastructure planning (water, sewage) to support. Most concerned about affordable housing and income disparity.
• Question 3: 4th Avenue Rezoning? Not enough affordable housing, and not enough give-back to schools. Los an opportunity to down-zone, and to put in an inclusionary zone. Wants mandatory inclusionary zoning. Formula can start with 80/20, maybe should be 70/30, but maybe there are other community needs e.g. Schools that we need to demand too. "Affordable housing is the one given" but other needs include schools, open spaces, etc.
• Question 4: Did Bloomberg do enough for affordable housing. Added 165,000 over 12 years, but lost almost as much. Too much of it is at the high end of low income, smaller apartments than normal. Wants 200,000/10 years, including preserving the stock. Wants to leverage the $1 billion pension fund investments to fund this. Concerned about vacant plots — wants to make it easier to bring land on the market.
• Question 5: School selection process? Needs to be simplified. Also wants a tax on people making over $1 million to pay for universal pre-K.
• Question 6: Can District 2 prioritize local students? Maybe, but the issue is that other schools aren't meeting District 2. Needs to make sure that the best schools don't misrepresent the city.
• Question 7: Double in housing prices in Park Slope? Need more affordable housing, "Local version of Keynesianism." Wants to stop the abuse of small businesses.
• Question 8: Transit needs? The deepest needs are furthest out, like Canarsie. MTA should be accountable to the mayor. Payroll tax needs to be defended.
• Question 9: Prospect Park West Bike Lane? In the end it worked, was better than the sidewalk. "Needed a deeper kind of control than the community board." Community boards are a part of the puzzle, but not everything.