Hello Blog Readers!
I am so sorry it’s been so quiet here recently. As some of you may know, there has been a lot
of change happening and I’ve been running to catch up. My family and I have relocated from LA to
Cincinnati. I am teaching Understanding
Theatre (basically an Intro to Theatre class) at Prairie State College outside
of Chicago.
“But wait,” you must be asking yourself, “didn’t he just say
they moved to Cincinnati?” How very
observant of you. I did indeed say
that. I am making the commute and
spending three days in the south suburbs of Chicago and the rest of the week
home in Cincinnati. Fun stuff!
Fear not! I am still
working as a VO actor, doing coachings over skype and working on whatever film
project tickles my fancy. In fact I just
wrapped shooting on a short film about a man who wants to explore his darker
urges as he moves across the country.
Some would say that moving across the country is a terrible time to be
shooting a short film… and I say yes, that is correct. But when else am I going to do it! Now if only I could find time to edit it…
A quick shout out to my friend Aaron Galligan-Stierle for
his great mention of my book on his blog.
So go check out that blog! Aaron
is a great actor and teacher in NY and he has some fantastic things to say: http://auditioncoachnyc.tumblr.com
I’d like to talk today about something that has been on my
mind since I have started teaching this Intro to Theatre class. It’s something that may rankle some bed
sheets and ruffle some academic feathers, but it’s important to talk about.
What is Theatre?
A lot has been made over the years about the death of live
Theatre. How it is being relegated to
spectacle musicals, and blue hair filled matinees, but not really a living and
breathing thing outside of a small section of the populace. To be fair, that is a completely valid view
of theatre if you have a very limited and dusty view of it.
I propose that theatre is much more. Theatre is not only a thing to be studied and
written about by pipe smoking academics.
It is a living breathing and evolving thing that can be found almost
anywhere. If your view of theatre is
only something that happens on a stage, or by a troupe of well-rehearsed
actors, I think maybe it is time you open your mind.
When discussing the mid-term assignment of the class (go see
a show and write a review) I told the class that I would be very open in
anything they wanted to see. If they
could convince me it was theatre, I would accept it. One of the students asked if he could go see
a WWE performance. The more I thought
about it… I found I couldn’t say no.
There is nothing more theatrical than WWE. Storylines, character development, drama,
comedy and romance all presented in the round.
Is it Chekhov? Of
course not, it’s not even Neil Simon.
But it’s theatre. If theatre is
to survive, I think it must be welcoming of all examples of itself. This doesn’t mean that the old classics and
forms will die out. On the contrary, I
believe they may find a new audience if that audience isn’t told that what they like is somehow less than.
I leave you with this:
when you watch a recorded performance of a staged production, is that
theatre? If you think it is, tell me
what the difference is between that and any film or sitcom. At one point that film or sitcom had live
actors, doing live things in real time… sometimes in front of a live audience. So is that theatre too?
You tell me. I’m
willing to take it all into a big tent.
