THE THEATER MIRROR, Boston's LIVE Theater Guide
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note: entire contents copyright 1997 by G.L.Horton
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 16:30:44 -0500 (EST)
Dear Larry,
Your musings set me musing...
Unless I misread your notes, and missed the "Point", unlike Brustein or
Wilson you don't have a "position" on this "Issue" -- except, perhaps, that
drama --- dramatization --- is an important tool for examining human action and
interaction, and that "the critic"'s (or better yet, a varied corps of
critics with differing POV's) honest account of the process is an important
part of the feedback loop.
My feeling is that (in spite of the glut of entertainment) the tool is
underused, and more theatre would be a Good Thing.
But what I mean here is
theatre as spiritual/ethical R&D --- theatre as search for Truth.
This is what we all "need", and what must be subsidized somehow.
Theatre as pure sensation, roller-coaster ride; and theatre that tells us
what we want to hear or what, can often be supported by the market.
People who hope to profit from shaping public opinion will also underwrite
theatre, whether as art, therapy, religion, politics, etc.
The urge to discover truths about themselves and others, and to fashion
narratives that that express those truths -- and sometimes, even better, to
create narratives that show how those truths fit together into a larger,
still truthful system of interlocking metaphors -- is near enough to
instinctual in humans so that people will probably keep trying to produce
real, serious, important drama whether conditions are favorable enough for
them to succeed in doing so or not.
I'm an old-fashioned integrationist.
I would like to live in a society where
most people were of "mixed" heritage, and individuals saw maintaining,
celebrating and identifying with one or another pert of their heritage as a
matter of free will -- much as Americans have assumed in theory that any
individual was free to be a Methodist like her mother, or a Presbyterian
like her father; or convert to her husband's brand of Christianity upon
marriage; or join an ashram after taking an Adult Ed class. We take this
sort of change for granted, mostly, although for much of history and in many
parts of the world today apostascsy is a capital offense. And most people
disapprove of those who "desert" their heritage to gain material advantage,
or in response to a threat. This is the kind of disapproval August Wilson
invokes when he preaches against black actors doing "white" roles. He writes
plays for black actors (mostly for black male actors: one thing Wilson and
Brustein have in common is that their ideal theatres are by, for, and about
mostly men) Who can blame him for wanting all those actors vying to perform
for him?
I'd like a theater where we dissect racism rather than practice it
I'd
like a theatre where we could not make assumptions about the heritage of the
actors by what they appear to be in the performance. Why not a much greater
reliance on wigs and make-up, on the "artifice" of the art? It might
clarify what kind of truth it is that we are really after. We can create
credible Klingons and Narns, why not an "Othello" where a rainbow cast
presents the outward appearance of an Elizabethan version of Venice?
I know
mine is an extreme opinion-- Beverly Creasey, for instance, is a strong
proponent of non-traditional casting, but thinks it should only go one way
and is upset when a suburban community theatre casts "whites" in ethnic
roles. She regards attempts to imitate the "stereotypical" physical
appearance of a minority with abhorance. But although I devoutely wish there
were no all-white theatres suburban or elsewhere, I think putting ourselves
in other people's shoes, and seeing ourselves through other people's eyes,
are two of the most useful spiritual exercises there are.
I played a couple of minor roles for Spruil's New African Company way back when.
I would have liked to have done more. I loved the old People's Theatre
-- they did my "T-Show"! -- and I love to be in the audience at Wheelock
Family Theatre.
I'd be pleased to have the opportunity to work with such an integrated theatre.
I was delighted beyond measure when Carmel O'Reilly cast me in "Bold Girls",
and she and her Sugan countrywomen instructed me in the accent and
appearance --- not of a generalized "Irishness", but of that particular urban acre, that
generation and gender and economic class and family history --- serene in the
belief that in addition to mimicing her outward parts I should be able to
discover Nora's inner life as well. They made me feel welcome as an artist
among artists, bless them.
We don't seem to have much institutional support for "mixing".
New Theatre
has reached out, and set up "nontraditional" events. But when I attended
one, I discovered it was an opportunity for artists of color to show each
other their work, not a place for people who wanted to do their work in an
integrated environment to meet each other. If there is such a place, I
haven't heard about it.
I certainly sympathize with an out-group's desire to work, at least part of
the time, in supportive privacy. The best discussions I've participated in
on the Net have been on a list that, while it doesn't ban male writers, has
attracted so few that fear of male disapproval isn't a censoring factor.
Wonderful, wonderful stuff gets said.
And however August Wilson chooses to work, that's the inassailable point:
wonderful stuff gets said.
G.L.Horton -- Newton, MA, USA
ghorton@tiac.net
http://www.tiac.net/users/ghorton
G.L.Horton's personal page
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