Monday, June 13, 2005
Keeping the Conversation Going
On June 5, 2005, the Shakespeare Theatre's Artistic Director, Michael Kahn, met with a small audience at the offices of the Human Rights Campaign, and held a wonderful discussion on theater in Washington, D.C. Not only was Mr. Kahn enthralling, but the audience members asked courteous questions that have been perplexing me since I moved back to Washington, my home town, after over a decade in New York:
1) Can the Washington area, which now boasts over 200 performance troupes, support so many theaters? (Yes, said Mr. Kahn confidently).
2) Aren't Washington audiences rather stodgy, turning out only for Shakespeare, Gilbert & Sullivan, trusted American classics by Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, and Tennessee Williams, fun musicals to which you'd happily take a 10-year old, and anything imported from London and Dublin? No, said Mr. Kahn, Washington audiences are far more adventurous. (I was startled but pleased by this answer, since I consider myself a stodgy theater-goer who can be dragged, kicking and screaming, to Woolly Mammoth---and afterwards feel grateful for having gone---but otherwise only look forward to Shakespeare, G&S, trusted American classics, musicals that I enjoyed as a ten-year old, etc.) . Thank goodness I am not typical, and have friends who will drag me to Woolly and elsewhere.
3) Mr. Kahn seemed unworried about the commercialization of theater, such as the naming of a theater in New York after American Airlines. He said for the right amount of money, and with assurances that the company would have no artistic say over content, he'd happily dub the Shakespeare Theatre, "The Federal Express Shakespeare Theatre." (Which would be one way to avoid confusion with the Washington Shakespeare Company in Virginia. Think about it, Federal Express.)
I left feeling optimistic and energized, even as the weather tried to dampen my spirits through humidity that rivaled the innermost circles of hell. (What did Washington theaters do before air conditioning?)
This blog is an attempt to keep the conversation going. It is founded with the kind encouragement of the wonderful folks at Footlights, www.footlightsdc.org, and the incomparable Joel Markowitz and the Ushers, at http://www.zzapp.org/mack/ushers.htm. As soon as I can figure out how to add your links to the "links" section, I will of course link to you, and to Potomac Stages, and to Theaterboy.net. Right now I am still finding my way towards the curtain.
1) Can the Washington area, which now boasts over 200 performance troupes, support so many theaters? (Yes, said Mr. Kahn confidently).
2) Aren't Washington audiences rather stodgy, turning out only for Shakespeare, Gilbert & Sullivan, trusted American classics by Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, and Tennessee Williams, fun musicals to which you'd happily take a 10-year old, and anything imported from London and Dublin? No, said Mr. Kahn, Washington audiences are far more adventurous. (I was startled but pleased by this answer, since I consider myself a stodgy theater-goer who can be dragged, kicking and screaming, to Woolly Mammoth---and afterwards feel grateful for having gone---but otherwise only look forward to Shakespeare, G&S, trusted American classics, musicals that I enjoyed as a ten-year old, etc.) . Thank goodness I am not typical, and have friends who will drag me to Woolly and elsewhere.
3) Mr. Kahn seemed unworried about the commercialization of theater, such as the naming of a theater in New York after American Airlines. He said for the right amount of money, and with assurances that the company would have no artistic say over content, he'd happily dub the Shakespeare Theatre, "The Federal Express Shakespeare Theatre." (Which would be one way to avoid confusion with the Washington Shakespeare Company in Virginia. Think about it, Federal Express.)
I left feeling optimistic and energized, even as the weather tried to dampen my spirits through humidity that rivaled the innermost circles of hell. (What did Washington theaters do before air conditioning?)
This blog is an attempt to keep the conversation going. It is founded with the kind encouragement of the wonderful folks at Footlights, www.footlightsdc.org, and the incomparable Joel Markowitz and the Ushers, at http://www.zzapp.org/mack/ushers.htm. As soon as I can figure out how to add your links to the "links" section, I will of course link to you, and to Potomac Stages, and to Theaterboy.net. Right now I am still finding my way towards the curtain.
