CMU School of Drama


Friday, February 24, 2012

Anna Ziegler: In Search of the Artistic Home

HowlRound: What makes an artistic home? On the one hand, an artistic home is a theater you know will always have you back, and have your back. I think this can take many forms, but most important is that the theater has been explicit about making you part of the family. Its artistic director or literary manager knows you personally, and seems to enjoy your company in addition to your work. Here, people ask you what you most need and would find most beneficial. They’re willing to read more than one draft of your plays and generally work hard to include you in the life of the theater, even when unable to produce your work in a given season.

1 comment:

AbigailNover said...

I suppose I haven't really considered what it means to have an "artistic home" in the professional theater world. I would venture to say based on Anna Ziegler's response and qualifications, that any successful theater artist will find themselves in an artistic home rather naturally. Everyone needs to find their own version of this, whatever will be the most conducive to them putting out there best work and being in the best frame of mind to do so. This will mean something different to everyone, I imagine. But I would also guess that artists will arrive at the right theater community at some point just by the nature of the business.