Your Friday Question: What's It All About, Alfie?
Why start a theatre company in Chicago?
Scott Walters obviously thinks it's not a particularly good idea, for you or for theatre in general, and he's got some good data and good ideas to back it up. I have some of my own thoughts on the subject, which I'll post next week.
But as I put that together, I want to hear from you - folks who are in companies, who have started companies, who have joined small, upstart companies, who are thinking about doing any of the above. (And, if you are in a company, avoid rehashing your mission statement: I probably already have it on file.)
3 comments:
It's a good question ....
Chris, my husband and coartistic director, and I had done a lot of acting. We started out acting in Chicago when we first moved here. I went to grad school (briefly) for acting.
But I really wanted to be a director. =) I had directed a few things in college and just had an itch to keep directing.
Chris and I had worked with quite a few directors and had reached that point where you start thinking ... "You know? I could do this better ..." and so we continue to attempt doing theatre in the best way we know how and we're always trying to get better.
Why in Chicago? I love the city. I enjoy the competition. I enjoy the high stakes and the fact that I have learned so much from artist and critical feedback. I enjoy the vast array of amazing, talented, competent actors and designers we've been able to work with.
It's difficult and trying and I feel tired a lot. But, I've never regretted starting the theatre company here. There's a handful of things I would have done differently before throwing our hat into the ring, but ... they're things that can be fixed with time and effort.
Please let me know if you'd like more of an answer.
=)
RZ
The reason to start a theater company in chicago as opposed to any other town in America...
The reason used to be that it was easier in this town...
Whereas the majority of theatre goers in NYC were tourists, Chicago audiences used to be filled with Chicagoans...is that still true...I don't know.
that those who wanted to produce theatre could do it for significantly less money here than other metropolitan arenas and yet receive a comparable amount of the benefits of major metopolitan arenas (more audience, more ink, more opportunity due to more venues, more artists to consider working with (note...I didn't mention quality...I only mentioned quantity).
There was a time when the scene here not only culturally but also fiscally real estate wise...was sharply different than LA or NY. That gap in cost of living I suspect is shrinking...
You can still get a show reviewed in this city so long as you know how to send a press release to the right paper...in NYC (when I lived there) you needed to hire a press agent to even get a listing in the paper much less a review by a periodical that is not solely electronic or bloggy.
For the same money it took to produce in NYC...you could do 3 times as many shows in c-town.
Is it still easier in this town than others to produce, and get reviewed, and say what you want on a stage...? I think so, but I also think that the gap is shrinking bit by bit year by year
Devilvet
the town needs another theatre company like a hole in the head.
well, see putting holes in peoples heads is exactly what this new theatre company is about.
WildClaw is dedicated to horror. (http://www.wildclawtheatre.com). and one can easily make the case that the horror-loving community is being woefully under-served by Chicago theatre.
(although I have just recently happened upon Devilvet's site and am encouraged to find that Chicago horror theatre may be about to become its own little sub-community).
and despite the market forces that Devilvet cites, I think something can be said for the force of tradition, and self-fulfilling expectations. Chicago theater has a tradition of being great, so great people continue to come here, work here, and expect it to be great. and more often than not (although not often enough) it is great.
Paul Foster
http://www.wildclawtheatre.com
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