Comments on: On theatre in society: porosity

By: Section 98 – Open Source Entry #11 – HATCH Feedback – Praxis Theatre

Section 98 – Open Source Entry #11 – HATCH Feedback – Praxis Theatre — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:20:31 +0000

[...] October 2009, Struts and Frets blogger Kris Joseph posted On theatre in society: porosity in response to Mike Daisey’s How Theater Failed America, about the current dysfunction of [...]

By: nancykenny

nancykenny — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:08:00 +0000

Wow. I feel like you’re talking about me up there. I feel though that it’s not just the audience we have to let in, but the rest of your cast and crew. They have been so ingrained into the "privacy" of it all. I tried to get rehearsal footage to put up from one of my company’s shows and got turned down by one of the actresses in it because she didn’t feel she looked "good enough". Since I didn’t have her permission, I had to scrap the whole thing. This comment was originally posted on The Next Stage

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:02:23 +0000

Hi Chris,

Great post. We are attempting to incorporate our process as integral to our relationship with audience in the next Praxis production (can’t name it until the press release goes out). In any case, I just assigned this post as reading material for the next rehearsal. They’re probably reading this right now. Hi Cast!

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Hi Chris,

By: Ian Mackenzie

Ian Mackenzie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

My god, this post is poetry. Lovely, lovely stuff. This comment was originally posted on The Next Stage

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Yes, Simon. Yes, yes, yes. Thanks for writing posts like this that are fueling this sea change. Sea changes are, by definition I think, big and scary – but we are all fortunate to be living in a time when a big one is approaching and we get to be part of how it’s defined. And fortunate to be able to collaborate with lovely minds like yours. What a terrific and truly awesome responsibility and opportunity. This comment was originally posted on The Next Stage

By: Jon Stancato

Jon Stancato — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Hi there, Glad to read this post and wanted to share something that my company, Stolen Chair, is doing in NYC. We’ve been given a sizable grant from a program called Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists (from The Field) to adapt the business model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the theatre (our CST). A small community of members will be following the development of our newest original work, QUANTUM POETICS, from its earliest zygotic stages until its first public presentation. Along the way, we’ll be curating a variety of thematically related cultural and educational activities to bring the audience even further into the world of the play. The community will also have its own private online social network, with exclusive rehearsal footage streamed right from the studio, podcasts, excerpts from the developing script, and, most importantly, a feedback forum where we can dialogue about the work-in-progress even when we can’t do so in person! The reasons behind the initiative speak to a lot of what you say above about creating a community of informed, invested stakeholders. We’ve just opened up signups over at http://communitysupportedtheatre.org (where the whole concept is explained in detail). NYtheatre.com will be “embedding” a writer in the CST for the next 9 months and she’ll be chronicling the progress of the show and the community we’re trying to build. Here’s to more models! Jon Stancato Co-Artistic Director The Stolen Chair Theatre Company This comment was originally posted on The Next Stage

By: krisjoseph

krisjoseph — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:17:42 +0000

Nothing truly WORTH doing is simple. But calling it simple makes starting it feel easier

By: krisjoseph

krisjoseph — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Nothing truly WORTH doing is simple. But calling it simple makes starting it feel easier

By: Brian M. Carroll

Brian M. Carroll — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:38:36 +0000

Kris,

“it’s NOT about the PRESENTATION. I don’t feel I’ve been clear enough about that.”

Hey, it’s a blog, not a published book.

Thanks for the concrete example of “using the NAC production of Christmas Carol as a chance for the company to work with some of the countless Ottawa groups battling poverty and homelessness”.

I can see the potential for both art and impact on the community. See Dorothy O’Connell’s “Chicklet Gomez” and “Cockeyed Optimists”. I can also see the potential for Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crap). Take the example of the naive character Miles in The Drawer Boy, whose only contribution to “The Farm Show” has huge consequences for the farmers with whom he is billeted, and from whom he draws that contribution.

Sturgeon’s Law is not an excuse not to try something.

But it is a warning that art, like all endeavour, is not “so simple”.