tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post3386900231597754849..comments2024-02-22T01:36:48.427-08:00Comments on On Theatre and Politics - Matthew Freeman: OOB Venues Study PublishedFreemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-63252546134355193252008-11-20T14:18:00.000-08:002008-11-20T14:18:00.000-08:00The one thing that continues to stick with me from...The one thing that continues to stick with me from reading the report is finally seeing numbers on this: <BR/><BR/>"The 8% of OOB companies from the study that have been producing for over 20 years represent a wide variety of company structures, genres and locations. However one common factor that all of these companies share is that they have been presenting work at the same location for at least 15 years."<BR/><BR/>I think that's incredibly important when we're talking about a community of companies whose average lifespan is about 2 1/2 years.Philuciferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16677432259206550338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-85278271212670803442008-11-20T14:16:00.000-08:002008-11-20T14:16:00.000-08:00"how can we use this information to make a positiv..."how can we use this information to make a positive change in Off-Off Broadway, and the New York Theater scene as a whole? "<BR/><BR/>Personally, I think it means that we in the theatre have the unique opportunity to prove that our art form, in its most basic form, needs only human beings to exist.<BR/><BR/>We can start a new grassroots effort which stresses unconventional theatre spaces, a stripping away of excess, and a belief in the power of the relationship between spectator and performer. <BR/><BR/>We have a chance to make theatre less about the money it takes to make it, think outside the box, and truly be that independent theatre we all always talk about. Independence can't come just from discourse, it has to come from fresh ideas, risk-taking, and action. And we have an opportunity here to do that. If we are willing to think outside the box and not shackle ourselves to old conventions and old ideas.MattJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15024391912705232207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-57195173947490354572008-11-20T12:29:00.000-08:002008-11-20T12:29:00.000-08:00I think RAW SPACE closed in 2002 or 3 as well, tha...I think RAW SPACE closed in 2002 or 3 as well, that place had three theatres and more importantly, it was the go-to place for rehearsal space, it had loads and was affordable. <BR/><BR/>RAW SPACE was like on 42nd and 11th, something like that, a big huge warehouse with lots of room . . . it's gone now.Joshua Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239067667651048280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-83396648558932753132008-11-20T12:28:00.000-08:002008-11-20T12:28:00.000-08:00It's not even partial of what really happened, I k...It's not even partial of what really happened, I know Surf Reality closed in 2002, and NADA a couple years before that, Trilogy went down in 02, shoot, there used to be a bunch of spaces and they began disappearing long before 2003, I don't think anyone could really list them all . . . it all just got too expensive, the rent, that much I do know . . .Joshua Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239067667651048280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-21571480190199932062008-11-20T11:33:00.000-08:002008-11-20T11:33:00.000-08:00This is very, very grim. The current economic melt...This is very, very grim. The current economic meltdown could fundamentally change how theatre gets done, not just in NYC, but nationally. This is the bad news, but it's also potentially the good news, in that sometimes a fundamental shake-up yields really great, unexpected results. If there is a bright side, it's that we all may come out of this with a new way of doing things, and be stronger for it. Maybe.<BR/><BR/>Hard to see any bright side looking at reports like this, though. And it's not confined to OOB, or NYC. It's affecting all tiers of theatre, all over the country, as we saw in that article earlier that weirdly considered the Goodman to be something of an upstart.<BR/><BR/>Some really different thinking is gonna be needed to weather this one. Theatre has become a vastly expensive, often mega-bloated enterprise. Many theatres' design budgets have skyrocketed, while salaries have only inched upward. Many theatres are incredibly wasteful of their resources (multi-million dollar sets for eight week runs that just get - thrown out). Recently there has been a nationwide glut of new building projects, multi-million dollar new spaces for theatres all over. I worry that those new building costs were leveraged no better than home mortgages of late, and many theatres may find themselves with sparkling new spaces attached to debts that crush them. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that a lot of the practices of "big budget" theatre are unsustainable. Belt tightening may encourage creative thinking and wean the big houses off the "throw money at it" solution.<BR/><BR/>As for theatres that already have severely limited resources, it's gonna take a massive cooperative effort to keep things afloat. I'm working on some Showcase Code reform proposals that I hope will make OOB producing more financially feasible, and give Equity actors a stake, and a piece, of that financial success. OOB companies tend to be incredibly financially efficient, we're already good at making do with less and so are in many ways more psychologically prepared for what's coming.<BR/><BR/>It's gonna be an uphill climb.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com