Who should go to the OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE Discussion? Theatre-Goers

As I walk backwards up through the list of those who need to come to the March 1 discussion of Outrageous Fortune, I see that it is time to talk about audiences.  Frankly, for theatre makers, it should never not be time to talk about audiences,  but anyone who knows this business knows that one of its dirty little secrets is how often we relegate our customers’ needs and desires to the far back seats of the balcony, while we place our own craving for idiosyncratic expression square in the down center hot spot.

All of the current arguments about the questionable health of theatre and the debatable need for new plays have the audience silently lurking at the bottom of them, waiting for some bold conclusions and and bold new steps.  Are we serving them?  Have we lost them forever?  Is there a way to express ourselves without tossing them out with the masturbatory bath water? 

We do a lot of self-back-patting in the theatre.  “What I Did for Love” and other auto-congratulatory paeans to our sacrifices as show people make for popular pabulum;  but honestly, self-love is not—has never been— enough.  If we ever want them to come back with the enthusiasm and loyalty capable of sustaining a long drive towards world class theatre, then we  need to show audiences a love greater, more encompassing than the love we have for own own voices and our damnable phantom “living wage.”

So, if you are a Seattle theatre-goer, let me first apologize for our art form’s pernicious self-involvement.  It is an occupational hazard, of course, but there is still no enduring excuse for it.  You really are the most important component of what we do.  And if you are even half as concerned or curious about the health of theatre in Seattle as we are, then please come to this event.  Listen, and better yet, chime in.  We need to understand your needs more clearly in order to better serve you.

Theatre Puget Sound hosts
Outrageous Fortune
March 1, 2010
9AM – 1PM

Detail: 9am – 10:30 Presentation by author Todd London

Break – snacks
10:40 – 12:00pm Q & A in large group
Break – lunch type snacks
12:10 – 1pm small group breakouts and report back

Center House Theatre

rsvp: TDFRSVP@tpsonline.org

Theatre Development Fund, the national service organization, is convening a meeting of playwrights, artistic directors, funders, theatre managers and others in conjunction with Theatre Puget Sound at the Center House Theater in Seattle on March 1, 2010 from 9:00am-1:00pm to stimulate conversation and action to support new American play production. Tory Bailey, executive director of Theatre Development Fund, Todd London, artistic director of New Dramatists, and co-author Ben Pesner will lead the gathering, which will begin with a presentation of the results of an intensive study of new play production in America and then open out to an inclusive conversation.

TDF has just released the book OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY written by Todd London and Ben Pesner, with research consultant Zannie Giraud Voss. The book, drawing on six years of research, examines the lives and livelihoods of American playwrights today and the realities of new play production from the perspective of both playwrights and not-for-profit theatres. The study represents the most comprehensive field study in the history of the not-for-profit theatre to analyze new play production practices and the economics and culture of playwriting in America. Set against a backdrop of dwindling audiences for dramatic work, OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY makes clear the urgent need for new conversations and practices if the American play is to flourish.

The March 1 meeting will share the study findings and facilitate the beginning of a conversation in which participants can identify possible ways to improve conditions for the production of new American plays, community by community. We hope that a wide group of individuals from the theatre community in the Seattle area will join this conversation.

Comments

[Adrienne C.]

I hope that you will give those of us who are unfortunate enough to have to work that day a review of the events.

I had been hoping to somehow be able to sneak away from the survival job to go to this but, alas, the almighty dollar has gotten me again.

[Paul Mullin]

Adrienne,

I completely sympathize. Looks like I'm going to have to burn a sick day on this event myself. (Just one more aspect of making theatre in Seattle that the NYC-centric, hub-and-spokers fail miserably to understand.)

So I pledge to do my best to capture what goes on and what is said and then post it here in capsule form.

Sound good?

Paul

[adrienne]

Yes, it does.

Thank you. I'll return the favor at some point, I am sure.