Another Step in the Right Direction from ACT

One of the most vital infrastructural components of World Class theatre towns like London and New York completely missing in otherwise vibrant theatre towns like Los Angeles and Seattle, is the intra-city play pipeline: a means for moving, within a given city, successful shows from smaller venues to larger ones so that they can reach more people and, yes, make more money.  With its announcement that it will be bumping up the recent hit Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog from its birthplace at Balagan Theatre on Capitol Hill to the Allen Theater space at A Contemporary Theatre in the heart of downtown Seattle, ACT seems to be indicating its willingness to attempt opening just such a pipeline.  And as much as it might pain a perpetual complainer to give credit where credit is due, this is by no means the first time in the last few years that ACT has taken a bold step.

While Intiman flails about trying to figure out how to stay alive, and the Seattle Rep continues to… well, do whatever the hell it believes it’s doing  (Really?  Dancing with Lughnasa is so burningly urgent that you need to stage it every fifteen years?),  ACT has, under the artistic leadership of Kurt Beattie, and the entrepreneurial vision of Carlo Scandiuzzi, charged forward with innovation and risk-taking with an eye towards reaping the significant rewards that taking such risks can bring.  By introducing such novel programs as the Central Heating Lab and the ACTPass, maintaining the success of the Young Playwrights Program,  and nurturing informal partnerships with promising groups like New Century Theatre, Awesome and now Balagan, just to name a few, ACT has managed to do something few regional theatres anywhere can honestly claim: it actually lives up to its hypey catch phrase: “ACT: A Theatre of New Ideas”, and as a result, seems to be positioning itself to dominate Seattle’s theatre scene by creating an eclectic, constantly brimming shopping center of performance in the gorgeous historic old Eagles Building right next door to the Washington State Convention center.

Apparently for now, of the Three Bigs, only ACT believes that Seattle really can be a World Class theatre town and that one of its LORT houses really can take steps to make that happen.  Now, will ACT keep it up?  In the past they have let crucial programs such as FirstACT and FringeACT die while they strived to stay alive.  The pressure of success is an all-together different beast than the pressure of failure.  Can they keep moving forward when expectations for their operations begin to rise beyond simple survival?  Can they keep taking chances even when some risks will inevitably reap failure?

Golly, I hope so.  And what’s more, I’m really starting to believe it.

Comments

[Jeffery Reid]

I love satire. Keep 'em coming, Mr. mullin.