Re: FringeFamous

GusLynch — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:32:36 -0000

Casey was spot on in his intial comments. The fact that he's now doing a Chekov reading does not make him a hypocrite. It makes him a working actor (maybe one and the same). His remarks were that of a talented actor begging for material that speaks to and excites him as well as a severly flagging theatre audience. But he's not a producer. He's not an Artistic Director. He's a mercenary actor who answers the phone when it rings.
I don't know if we necessarily need plays only written in the last 50 years, or plays laced with pop culture references to appeal to younger audiences (the last thing I want to see onstage in town is some pandering Albbe meets Juno piece of garbage), but something is broke theater-wise in town and play selection ain't a bad place to start.
In my humble opinion, the problem isn't merley with the time lines the theatre community draws upon. There are literlly thousands of plays to choose from, and yet the same old "classics" keep coming up in the rotation again and again. We live in a supposedly progressive, well versed theatre town, yet the "hot" independant small company made it's bones with plays like Miracle Worker? Are you joking? I'm sure it was a sturdy production and executed with the usual Minneapolis competency, but does anyone else remember the often exciting, if flawed work Eye of the Storm used to bring to use regularly?
As audience numbers have dropped, companies have become increasingly safe, insular, and terrtitorial.
We have no true theatre crtiticism in town. We got one cheerleader in a weekly, and a couple of guys worried a lot more about keeping their jobs in a dying medium than representing and critiquing the local scene.
And the general public in town enjoys HAVING a theatre scene a lot more than PARTICIPATING in one.
Next time you hear the man or woman on the street trumpet that Minneapolis "Has more theatre seats per capita than anywhere else in the country//world/multiverse/etc," ask them when the last time they went to see a play in town. The answer will be Christmas Caroll at The G more than it should.
We certainly have more EMPTY theatre seats than anywhere Ive ever been.

Oh, and theatre owners aren't helping by making independant production cost prohibitive. Most decent venues in town will cost you 1000+ dollars a week to rent, for a show you'll be lucky to get your friends and family out to.

I'm glad Casey spoke up, and I applaud him for the degree of intestinal fortitude he showed by making himself heard. In this town's conform or be blackballed climate, it took some guts. ALthough I think the volume and quality Casey has done in town should buy him a little freedom to voice his opinion.

And hypocrite or not, he seems to have started a worthy dialogue, which is more than I can say for any other theatre artist in this town in the last 5 years.

Gus Lynch
ProLook Productions
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Re: FringeFamous