Lennoxville remarks

[Barbra French]

Hi everyone;
 
I've been away from my computer for three weeks and finally got a chance to pick up my email.  I'm curious--I haven't seen any discussion on Don Rubin's Lennoxville remarks yet.  I understand he has gotten quite a few personal responses, though.  I find this odd.  I imagined that this topic (critical theatrical complacency) would spark off a discussion at least as interesting as the one about top ten lists, which generated quite a heated debate, as I recall.
 
I am not a professional critic or an academic. I make no claims to having the 'one truth', either. But I am definitely a theatre artist and someone deeply passionate about theatre.  And I find the lack of response to his challenge (and I read it as a call to arms, of sorts) concerning.
Does this mean that perhaps he has a point?  Is the lack of response merely another form of complacency?  Or is it that people out there prefer to keep their opinions to themselves (or via private email)?  I personally am willing to agree with most of his points.  I think the theatre scene is indeed stagnant and could use some shaking up, that we quite desperately need artists and critics who are not afraid to speak out and take the heat for it, and that we as a society are holding fast to the status quo despite declining attendance and theatre closures.  Are we so very afraid that we cannot speak our minds about our art?  Are we so satisfied with the way things are that we feel there is no need for change?  What kind of theatre do we want in this country?  What are we willing to do to get it?
 
We all know the numbers.  Houses average about 30% right now. Experimentation is often out of the question.  Collective and enviromental theatre is rare.  Resident playwrights are almost non-existent.  These are very real problems with very real financial concerns at the root.  It seems to me that the only way to solve the problem is to make theatre popular again.  Fun.  Hip.  We need to make theatre an event, a happening, an adventure for both the artists and the audience.  And this is simply not going to happen if we continue to hold fast to the staus quo.  Artists need to take risks, critics need to push for change and audiences need to start having fun again.  Someone needs to stand up and be brave enough to say, "I don't think this is working for me anymore.  Give me somethng new, for God's sake!"  I think we are, as Mr. Rubin pointed out, chickenshit.  We like our conventions.  We are accustomed to the way things are.  And I suspect we are terrified of change.  
 
There are pockets of interesting work happening around the country, to be sure.  But these pockets must be supported, if not financially, then at least critically.  Otherwise (like with film and television), spin-offs and sequels may be the next logical step in our downfall.  God forbid we ever wake up to our morning papers only to find a reivew of the new Megamusical:  Kitties, the Next Generation.  
 
 Mr. Rubin has thrown down the guantlet.  Any takers?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://artsservices.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/candrama/attachments/19990702/cb01d4d8/attachment.html>