Comments on Trailing Spouse Blues: Act Locally

Audience condescension is one of my biggest pet pe...

2008-09-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

Audience condescension is one of my biggest pet peeves, so I'm with you on that, but I question how directly related it is to a lack of local stories or themes.

The stuff I create would often fall in that heady, intellectual place. I make it a purpose of mine not to condescend to the audience, which means I refuse to water anything down. I assume that the audience will either be able to follow where I go or go someplace else that works for them within the world. And I try to make that the only thing I assume about them.

I know that this isn't going to work for everyone, and it certainly won't appease anyone looking for locality in themes or references. And I take exception to any claims of elitism because my work doesn't acheive goals that I never set out for it. (I know that you aren't making that judgement, but when it comes to the intellectualism/elitism argument, the two are often seen as one.)

I guess my point is that there's a difference between assuming a person is stupid and providing something they're not looking for (in this case, but not as a rule, heady intellectualism).

If these artists aren't marketing to the people you know because "they won't get it", it's elitism. If the people aren't going to the shows because it's not that local experience they're looking for, it's just different strokes.

As a member of the academic community, I find myse...

2008-09-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

As a member of the academic community, I find myself torn concerning your observation. There was a time not that long ago when the academic community, and the artistic community as well, were firmly worker-oriented. Look at the intellectuals and artists of the 1930s, for instance. But during the 1960s and 1970s, things swung in another direction and it became a badge of honor to be conceptual, obscure, and disdainful. The Theatre of the Absurd fired the starting pistol on that rush to elitism. Academic theatre picked it up, as well as the "art is good for you" approach that came along with the marketing of the newly-formed regional theatres, and pretty soon we had a educational-artistic complex that emphasized inaccessibility. That said, many other parts of the university have promoted workers and oppressed minorities when nobody in our society gave a damn about them.

But I do think that most of our artists are college educated, and are creating theatre for a college educated class of people. We could use an infusion of John McGrath.

The academic community with the 100+ year history ...

2008-09-19T09:05:00.000-04:00

The academic community with the 100+ year history of being at the nation's intellectual forefront quite simply fosters a sense of superiority over the lower-class, less-educated, less worldly community in which it exists. I'm not talking about fantasy, I'm talking about human beings assuming other human beings are just not smart enough to "get" certain things. And the people on the receiving end just accepting that assessment. Art is created by and for the elite. And that's a faulty system, in my opinion.

We work in an institution where we're surrounded d...

2008-09-18T19:15:00.000-04:00

We work in an institution where we're surrounded daily by an intellectual elite who assumes that there is much beyond our realm of comprehension.

Most of my work is about things beyond our realm of comprehension, but I'm supposing not in the sense you're expressing here. I think we've already had that conversation, though.

What do you think is the cause of such - condescension? contempt? - for the communities that support theater artists with the money from their pockets?