Explorations

Joan:…I stood on the bank a long time. But I knew it was my only way of getting here so at last I put one foot in the river. It was very cold but so far that was all. When you’ve just stepped in you can’t really tell what’s going to happen. The water just laps round your ankles in any case…

-Far Away, Churchill

I keep thinking about my New York experience in relation to my digital story and my research question. The above quote from Far Away helps to explain my current situation, ‘When you’ve just stepped in you can’t really tell what’s going to happen’.  This is exactly what I thought while wondering the streets of New York City after each of my interviews.  Who knows where any of this information is going? What’s going to happen to it all? Yet, this same thought crosses my mind even now as I pour over my interviews in digital format. The only difference is now I find myself wondering around downtown Fredericksburg. I keep wondering where I’m going to find the narrative, the story within all my information.  There are so many different bits of information; funny quotes, inspiring stories, and odd ends that I’d like to include within my digital story

For me, the question of ‘Why Theatre’ has changed and evolved a number of times over the course of this process. And while the wording has changed, the intent of the question-trying to figure out why theatre matters-is still at the very heart of my work. What is it about the theatre that makes it important to society? Anything?

I keep coming back to my interview with Robert Zukerman, Director of theatre funding for the New York State Council on the Arts; he handles grants for non-profit theatre in New York State. About half way through our 2ish hour interview he said:

 The public perception of the arts, by and large, is not an overwhelmingly positive one, in this country. We’re still fighting against over 250 or 300 years of Puritanism and… right wing distrust… of intellectuals, of art, and it hurts, its hurts my agency. …We are always being asked to make the case for the economic impact of the arts, and for someone who’s been involved, you know, I find it, I’m getting exceedingly frustrated by that. Because I know what its meant to me, and I know the importance of the arts in terms of everything one does, and how it enriches one’s life…but I’m constantly running up against people who question the importance of the arts.

The struggle of defining the importance of the arts, or theatre, is not one isolated to myself, or students within our class. Working professionals in numerous arenas of the arts struggle to make this case on a daily basis. For Robert, in part it means working with legislation to gain funding to support the arts. What I’ve quickly realized is that the ability to articulate the importance of the arts is vital to their very existence; without a clear, well substantiated argument the arts will very well lose their footing. It is something our society consistently witnesses, the cutting of arts, theatre, music, dance, ect.,  programs  from within our schools. Part of me wants to complain: my Dad who works in investment banking never has to justify or explain why his work is important and valuable to society. Largely because his work carries such a (perceived) importance: money, but also because the impact is outlined so clearly. We don’t have numbers or some type of measuring stick to grade and show the importance of the arts in simple terms, but we need, we must communicate the value. I feel like I’m getting my feet wet with it.

I’ve put a great deal more thought into my final research project for class. In my first attempts I tried to refine my initial question of ‘Why Theatre?’ I thought that I would need to clearly outline and define what information I wanted. I thought I should narrow down the question to a literal or philosophical viewpoint. At the very least I thought I should make a possible list of sources.

After a week of thinking, I’m not quite sure that’s how I want to approach the problem. Unlike most every other class I’ve taken, the goal of this research project is to present my findings, rather than manipulate the information to prove my thesis. I’m comfortable not knowing where this project will end up, and I’m also comfortable with the idea that I may not ‘like’ what I find.

Theatre. Theatre. Theatre.  Red Curtains, spotlights, blank verse, laughter, darkness, the box office, foyer, tip-up seats, footlights, scene changes and music; these are all confusedly superimposed in a messy image covered by one all purpose word: Theatre.  Sprawling, decentralized and in perpetual flux, the American Theatre is almost designed to dare artists to represent or define it. What is Theatre? People or Ideas? Large commercial shows or obscure ‘happenings’? Classics or New text? Truth or Questions?

The very notion of theatre presents these questions, on how we know a thing, and what elements are used to define it.  The truly remarkable(though very difficult) idea that everyone has a differing view on ‘theatre’ helps to answer not only these questions, but the over-reaching question of ‘ Why theatre?’ The difficult part of this idea comes from the easiest plausible answer: People do theatre for many different reasons. They also think many different things. Duh. That seems far too simple and dry to even keep writing about.  However, it does leave the door open to my digital story telling options…

In keeping with the questions, I’ll leave it to Peter Brook for the final thoughts:

 …[we are] facing the simple unattractive fact that most of what is called theatre anywhere in the world is a travesty of a word once full of sense. War or peace, the colossal bandwagon of culture trundles on, carrying each artist’s traces to the evermounting garbage heap. Theatres, actors, critics and public are interlocked in a machine that creaks but never stops. … Why do we applaud, and what? Has the stage a real place in our lives? What function can it have? What could it serve? What could it explore? What are its special properties? —The Empty Space, 1968.