Artists want their work to have impact, and certainly theatre artists are no exception. Unfortunately, a lot of us, a lot of the time, stay caught in the trap of thinking that exquisite craft is the only way we can really move people. After all, our stories are old, often ancient; surely we can only make them relevant by telling them so well that our audiences will be altered somehow by the excellence of our execution. Why else would you do Of Mice and Men? Or Hamlet? Or All My Sons? Most of us already know the message of these works, so the value must lie in the medium. And so it does.
Please understand, I am not looking to explode the canon. I, too, see great value in revisiting the classics over and over again. But I also believe that there is another path to relevance available to theatre artists. When we bring current local issues into our theatres we replenish its vitality for effecting change in the here and now; and we guarantee its rightful place among the arts that lean into the future and not the just the past. Theatres do not just have to be museums.
So as gratified as I was by The Sunbreak’s very positive review of The New New News: A Living Newspaper, imagine my even greater gratification when I saw in a separate piece these words written by the online magazine’s editor, Michael van Baker:
I have to admit to having been inspired by The New New News to sit down and write this update on the site's progress. The play's argument that transparency is lacking as news is reinvented (at least as a business model) online hit home with me. We're in one of those historical periods of exploration, financing tiny little caravels to travel uncharted paths, and it's just plain discourteous not to leave a journal behind.
Let me start with the more reader-relevant details before moving on to a discussion what makes The SunBreak tick, and what our online magazine plans are.
The New New News continues its run for two more weeks at the Theatre One Stage at North Seattle Community College. While we at NewsWrights United understand that the piece will never join the ranks of the classics, we are nonetheless very proud of the immediacy of the stories we are telling, and the overt impact they are having in our community. Theatre for, by and about the people of Seattle! Market fresh, and indeed, quite perishable! (We only have two more weeks.)
You can check it out by ordering your advance reservations here.
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