What is theatre good for?

By collective blogging experiment

Members of the theatre blog community across North America are putting their collective blogs together today in an attempt to answer one of our industry’s most pressing and elusive questions: What is the value of theatre?

Organized by Theatreforte writer Matt Slaybaugh, here’s an outline of the topic that’s been sent around to theatre bloggers:

“We need to figure out what it is that theatre does well and better than other art/entertainment forms. And then we need to figure out a positive way to describe those things to people who do not already identify themselves as theatregoers. Ideally, we’ll describe things that most theatres have in common, regardless of the differences in the content of their productions. Some suggested topics: community, group experience, theatre is local, theatre is sensually rich.”

Here are the blogs that have so far agreed to throw their hats into the ring:

Here at Theatre is Territory, we don’t have a cohesive response prepared. Instead, we’ve decided to observe the discussion over the course of the day, and create a list of quotes culled from those posts.

Here are the quotes (updated throughout the day):

  • “Theater exists only as long as it is in motion, and then no more. Each moment is a death, and that process mirrors our natural processes, and makes theater the most fragile of the great arts . . . but it is also what makes it the least commodifiable, and as the corporate age grows stronger and more prevalent, this lack of commodification will become recognized as its greatest strength.”
  • “The theater is a place of exploration. It’s a place where resonance can be discovered in unexpected places. It’s a place of active entertainment in a world of passive entertainment. It requires – and rewards – a certain level of imaginative involvement.”
  • “One theatre I know has distilled its three primary values into three talking points, capturing them small cards wallet-sized cards that can be easily pulled out mid-conversation when precise verbiage is needed and precise supporting facts and figures are warranted. Every Board member has one. It clearly distills the value that they want to convey, and together, by singing the same songs in the same language, by consistently using the same three “key messages” as media trainers would say, the entire organization is working to build critical consciousness in its community. Let’s carry it further: if we really want to make that difference, it’s time to make those cards not only for every Board member, but for every actor. Every technician, every administrator, every custodian in our employ. No matter what the media does or doesn’t do for us, we have the power to build the consciousness from the bottom up.”
    – Matt Slaybaugh quoting Ben Cameron
    Today we blog about value
  • “Theatre is impossible to experience passively, and therefore it is our sharpest instrument to carve out change, whether social or personal. Its direct relevance to its community and the communion that it elicits is the reason that theatre has been around, literally, forever. It brings us face to face with each other, and ourselves.”
  • “What is the distinct value of theater? A one-on-one idea exchange with little to no distractions. And clean restrooms. Does labeling it thus entice the guy who prefers to watch an NCAA ballgame at a bar to get up off the barstool and go check out some live Thea-Tah? I’m doubtful.”
  • “Theater is valuable because it is an event, limited in its availability, that generates a communal experience. During the time we are watching a story unfold we are all in it together. The laughter is deeper and the tears are earned and heartfelt. And during that time, we are reminded that we are human and that, in the big scheme of things, on this planet, we are also in it together.”
  • “I think the real question is, how do we entice people who would not normally partake in theatre, to give it a whirl? People have to value things for themselves. We can’t make them care about it. What we can do is make it honest and worthwhile. If it’s cheap (and I mean metaphorically, not economically) and easy, then it’s disposable. It’s up to us as artists and companies to make the show, the performance, the design valuable and justifiable.”
  • “Theater requires nothing. At heart, it needs no stage (for all the world’s a stage, no?), nor does it need props, costumes, or even lines.”
  • “The challenge is for artists to tell the truth, and create a work of art that lets others share their truth. Telling the truth is a high challenge, and it requires high skill to engage it, and the result is joy, flow.”

  • “Theatre is simply one more way in which we experience the world. We slow it down, break it a part, present it as a re-enactment, through the lens of some creative impulses.”

    – Matt Freeman
    The value of theatre

  • “Fellow peers engaged in the creation of theatre become the truest audience, like the spouse who witnesses in personal detail the struggles of our life. We are an ethical as much as an aesthetic enterprise. We rehearse our ‘to be or not to be’ not in order to better act on stage, but to better live within our community.”
  • “Theatre is sexier. Watching live bodies and live mouths, live lips moving on stage is sexier. A woman standing in front of you fully clothed is better than a bikini-clad TV phantom.”
  • “The true value is in the people who create it. Those who communicate and share stories. The true value, that which separates theatre from film, netflix, iPods and the internet, is in the people connecting with the audience. It is a difficult thing to describe, even more difficult if there is little proof in existence of what theatre can be.”
    – Jay Raskolnikov
    On value

  • “. . . the beauty of live theatre is the communal aspect of the shared entertainment experience. Sure, we can sit down to watch television with our friends, and we can certainly enjoy the same movie with an audience of strangers. But live theatre is the one singular opportunity we have to enjoy the telling of a story that evolves from one night to the next, often due to the audience’s response to the magic and artistry being performed live and in front of us.”
  • “Theatre invites its audience to use its imagination in a social setting.”
    – Isaac Butler
    A value of theatre

  • “Theater is not more valuable than other art forms. Only insufferable theatre geeks believe that it is.”
  • “My point is that the value that theatre provides is almost always a deeply personal one. So maybe instead of trying to pinpoint a particular set of values for theatre we should just emphasis that theatre has VALUE.”
  • “The value I place in theatre as a creator is simply the value I place in my ideas. I’m unapologetically Wilde-ian in my view of art. The community will embrace what the community enjoys. I will embrace what I enjoy. My version of embracing also includes creation. I don’t make theatre to express the value of theatre, I make theatre to express the value of what I want to express.”
Please feel free to jump in with questions or comments, either here (in the comments section), or at any of the other theatre blogs list above (or beyond).

FINAL UPDATE: For our full list of posts on the blogosphere-wide Value of theatre discussion, click here.

12 thoughts on “What is theatre good for?”

  1. Theatre has value only so much as we (the craftspeople and the audience for it) have value . . . right now it seems that while many of us value theatre, I’m not sure if theatre values the majority of its followers.

    Just my opinion.

  2. Hi Joshua,

    Do you think this can change? How can we turn this into a more high-value situation for theatre practitioners and their audience?

  4. I don’t know. But you must admit that there are many, many people frustrated with theatre (by people I mean theatre workers, and by frustrated, I mean not valued, either they’re not making a living or not getting access or anything) and so to me, the argument isn’t about whether or not theatre has value, but does theatre as a vocation have enough value for us to devote our time to it, does the profession value those who practice it?

    Don’t you think that there’s much empirical evidence suggesting that the profession of theatre doesn’t value those who practice it?

  5. This is a great point Joshua.

    “Does theatre as a vocation have enough value for us to devote our time to it, does the profession value those who practice it?”

    This question scares me. What if it doesn’t?

    I can only hope that it does – it’s hope based on my flimsy understanding of historical precedents in which there was enough value to go around for theatre practitioners. I can hope that by asking questions about value and benefit we can work to realign our communities to value theatre in the same way we do.

    But maybe we can’t. Maybe theatre will never assume a prominent place among North American cultural pursuits.

    Maybe we need to learn to be content with dabbling at the fringes . . . get used to our day jobs . . .

  6. No way! We are going to make a living at this, and a good one. We can not continue to be “dabbling at the fringes” with the rest of our existence. This lifestyle in perpetuity is a one way ticket to a double bypass at age 44.

    Anyways, this is far from impossible. Yes there has to be supplements: voice overs, teaching gigs, etc. But if you put on shows that excite the public you should be able to make a living. If you just want to play in your own sandbox, that’s a different story.

  8. Right on Mike. Starting a theatre company is just like starting any entrepreneurial business, it just takes a fuck of a lot of work. I could care less about looking for work from institutional theatre and what their values are, my time has to be spent putting a business together, piece by piece.

    Does it take more work than starting up a web-design business? Sure. Who cares? It’s the art form that chose me.

  9. Mike and all,

    Poets all play in their own little sandbox. Some would consider poetry a worthless ambition; others would find it near the center of the evolution of language and that “History of Great Ideas” sandbox. And putting on shows that excite the public might be considered a more dilettante endeavor than “dabbling in the fringes.” The most important changes in society are often initiated from fringes of culture.

    Also some consider teaching more than just a “gig,” actually classifying it as a profession. Many consider that profession at least as beneficial to society as that of the entertainer or pop artist.

  10. Zelda,

    Ask your poet-in-residence these.

    Which is darker, grey or gray?

    Which is more hoary, GreyZelda or GrayZelda?

  11. Hey all,

    Just wanted to point out the obvious: The quotes we’re pulling in from the various other blog discussions aren’t meant to be a substitute for actually reading the full posts. I would hate for someone to feel that we’ve unfairly characterized their discussion by overemphasizing a certain quote . . .

    Just putting it out there.

  12. hey nick,

    yes, i agree with everything you write, but i don’t find it contradictory to much of what I have been addressing. definitely a lot of important contributions to culture come out of people playing in their sandboxes. it is a noble and reasonable pursuit. if you make that choice, you just have to recognize that you most likely will not make a living from your work.

    you are right about teaching too. i take my work as an educator quite seriously. you could make a big difference in the world just applying your work in that manner. i don’t buy any of the that “those who can” stuff. all my best teachers have been practitioners.

    regardless of all of this though, i definitely would like to be able to make a living out of what i spend my day creating. and just for me, personally, i find a connection between relevance and reaching an expanded audience. i also think working 60+ hour weeks constantly is not healthy.

    so here we are. there are so many hours in the week and i want to do this thing, pay the rent and my student loans, and have the time to relax. there’s only one way out really.

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