Sunday, July 22, 2012
Playing Politics by Jules Odendahl-James
HowlRound: I’ve been struggling with the connection between “politics” and “theater” since the early days of my MFA directing curriculum. I (foolishly?) told my advisor that my approach to an upcoming scene assignment would be informed by feminist theory I’d been reading. He looked at me with a wry smile and said, “Just be careful not to let politics get in the way of the text.”
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In response to author, Jules Odendahl-James's question, “What exactly is political in relationship to theater?” my answer is a lot. Plays are written to be a thought provoking connection to the audience and the audience lives life in a sea of politics. It affects everyone from your average Joe to the big man on Wall Street so plays include recent issues, older issues, and even cultural differences to call to their audience. Like the author though, I do agree with Michael Rohd in that it would be a difficult challenge to incorporate politics into today's theatre in a nonconventional way. It would be worth while however to make a "creative path to collaborative action for the betterment of all."
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