CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The art of theater is the gift that keeps on giving

NY Daily News: I’ve heard that more tickets are sold on Broadway in a year than are sold to all the city’s major sports team events combined.

Wouldn’t it be great if the last seven minutes of the news every night was dedicated to theater?

There’s a wonderful scene toward the end of the movie “Stage Door,” where an actress doesn’t want to go onstage and it’s opening night. And so this old biddy grabs her by the arms and says, “You aren’t going out there for you! Think of the ladies who clean the theater, the guys pulling the curtains,” and so on. And I like that moment, because it’s true that we are all interconnected when we are in a theater and the whole industry is full of wonderful jobs — middle-class jobs, actually, because of the unions.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a relevant article in a time of political unrest and confusion. Though it never one references the Trump administration, I feel as though this article was indirectly attacking it for wanting to cut funding for the arts. And, Harvey Fierstein is right – the arts don’t hurt, they help. They entertain; they give people an out from stress and from everyday life. Artists work for their audiences, and the theatrical realm provides jobs and income for people who need it to survive. All of these points are addressed in the article, and each one is in line with my theatrical experiences.

What I like most about the article is that it celebrates the arts and the funds that the arts receives despite the fact that I believe that the arts are severely underpaid and under-respected. Sometimes it is better to focus on the positives, and this article is all positive; it’s a much appreciated change from all the negatives in today’s America.

Evan Schild said...

This article is so important! It starts off by saying that Broadway sells more tickets than all 7 major league sports teams. I do understand that Broadway does more shows but the sports stadiums holds thousands more than a Broadway theater. In a time when Donald wants to cut the NEA he should really look at what is contributing to the economy. What I also loved was the fact that the writer stated that they started off Broadway and had to work to where they got. One thing that did intrigue me was “Sometimes these are generational jobs” in lighting class this week we talked a lot about unions. Our teacher Jenna said that it could take 20 years just to get into local 1 because of how “generational” it is. But Jenna said that as soon as you got in you were set. You will always have a job and benefits which is extremely important in a field were no job is secure!