tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post114140264597487368..comments2024-01-07T06:59:04.212-05:00Comments on The Playgoer: the bigger picture?Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1141492783665829922006-03-04T12:19:00.000-05:002006-03-04T12:19:00.000-05:00Alison,Thank you for your comments. I agree so com...Alison,<BR/>Thank you for your comments. I agree so completely, absolutely, vociferously that I am quoting you in a separate post.<BR/>And, please, steal away for your blog. The more readers around the world, the more chance this story will finally gain tractionPlaygoerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1141432475067505302006-03-03T19:34:00.000-05:002006-03-03T19:34:00.000-05:00I too am curious about the "community" feedback - ...I too am curious about the "community" feedback - who and what it was. It does sound to me like asking for permission to put on a play. I'm not unaware of cultural sensitivities and not hostile to the idea of taking note of them; but unless you have a policy of a community determining a theatre's program, it sounds like giving away artistic power, which is, after all, the only power that theatres have.<BR/><BR/>Btw, Playgoer, I have stolen wholesale from your comments section for my blog (with appropriate acknowledgement, of course) - I hope that's ok.Alison Croggonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398213223487458758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1141411830150958202006-03-03T13:50:00.000-05:002006-03-03T13:50:00.000-05:00I think Playgoer's diagnosis is dead-on. (Am I a h...I think Playgoer's diagnosis is dead-on. (Am I a hypocrite for seconding it anonymously?)<BR/><BR/>That said, I'm not convinced Nicola *is* getting negative feedback privately from people like Kushner...If he was, why would he self-righteously complain about his "request for more time [being] blown into a screed about censorship"? (What does it mean for something to be "blown into a screed" anyway???)<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, according to NYTW's website, Doug Wright sits on the company's board. So he likely has access to Nicola if he wants to take advantage of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1141405894661859002006-03-03T12:11:00.000-05:002006-03-03T12:11:00.000-05:00Also, Pete Gurney's play O, JERUSALEM! took a coc...Also, Pete Gurney's play O, JERUSALEM! took a cockeyed look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict at the Flea a couple of years ago. I was very moved by it, even if the play was a little maddening. It finds common ground in the death of a child, and at the end swelled to a utopian peaceful quantum future that was as preposterous as it was heartbreaking. <BR/><BR/>My feeling re: the silence on this Corrie censworship/"postponement" matter is that NYTW has engendered a lot of good will and they generally have good, if predictable, lefty politics there. It's the only theater that has consistently tried to nurture a supportive structure for the artists it likes. MTC has nothing like Usual Suspects. Neither does Roundabout, Lincoln Center, or The Public. So I'm guessing it has a lot of people wanting it to take a stand and announce a date, and come out of this not looking like assholes. This is really not much in their character at all. Also I would argue that NYTW is notorious for never announcing a season of plays with concrete dates. They do have a very rolling slate of works under consideration. <BR/><BR/>I'm very curious who they were talking to "in the community" that discouraged them from producing the play. Call me sheltered, but I sure don't feel any impact of Hamas' election on the cultural climate of NYC, apart from this fracas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-1141405807380625012006-03-03T12:10:00.000-05:002006-03-03T12:10:00.000-05:00These are important points, Playgoer. And what Ge...These are important points, Playgoer. And what George Hunka has to say in his Podcast is important as well.<BR/><BR/>I was so surprised by the silence after the Times article came out on Monday that I felt I must be missing something, that there must be a rational reason for the lack of response from my community. I remembered protesting with my colleagues outside of Manhattan Theatre Club when they pulled "Corpus Christi," and expected a similar if not identical response here -- as you point out, the circumstances are in some ways different. But the basic principle is the same.<BR/><BR/>I decided to speak out on Thursday when I played the following imagined scenario out in my head: I am a young playwright, just finishing up with school and getting ready to write plays I hope will get produced. I consider myself a political playwright with aspirations to speak to the mainstream. New York Theatre Workshop, having produced Kushner and Churchill and many others, is a theatre I dream about one day being produced at. <BR/><BR/>Monday morning I open up the New York Times. I read that "James C. Nicola, the artistic director of the workshop, said he had decided to postpone [My Name is Rachel Corrie] after polling local Jewish religious and community leaders as to their feelings about the work."<BR/><BR/>In the same section of the paper, I read a review of another play about terrorism. The play gets a rave review but also alerts me, "Don't expect deep psychological portraiture or specific political insights."<BR/><BR/>In the following days, I scour the internet, waiting to see how the theatre community responds to Nicola's decision to postpone "Rachel Corrie" because of its political content. But I find nothing. Instead I read that the play about terrorism sans "deep psychological portraiture or specific political insights" is moving to Broadway, and that "Rachel Corrie" will not be seen either on the Lower East Side or anywhere in New York.<BR/><BR/>I have not seen or read Martin McDonagh's play, but the point is this: if I were a young playwright, I would get the message loud and clear -- don't write political plays if you want to get them produced. And if you write a play that gets scheduled, and then pulled for political reasons, don't expect the theatre community to come out and support your freedom of expression. This is a ghastly message to send.<BR/><BR/>The kinds of plays our future playwrights produce will in part be a result of what values we are willing to support and defend in public forums. Plays do not happen in a vacuum; we have to speak out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com