Time Out New York: "After years of private bitching and public grumbling about our nonprofit theaters’ toothless seasons, homogeneous production designs and timid, old-man marketing, I’ve finally found a person with the taste and courage to be the ideal artistic director of the 21st century: me."
if the one and only Joe Papp was truly as revolutionary and special as the article makes him out to be then i am not looking forward to another Joe Papp to diminish the status of the original. i think the author does a good thing by catching himself at the end of the article and stating that this new guy will be very different than Papp himself. The 'next Papp' might already be out there doing his thing in such an avante garde way that we just dont know about it yet.
ReplyDeleteI think that the key isn't to be looking for the next anything, if we look for people to replace the last generation's greats, where is our legacy.
ReplyDeleteDoes it make me sound like an old man if I say that our generation is apathetic? Maybe its because some of the older generation is staring at us, waiting to turn a trick.
I find it strange how theatre artists become "Art Leaders"; you obviously don't go to school for it like you do other entertainment professions. However, people still manage to poke their heads out and become successful regardless of their origin and experiential training. It really takes an incredible passion for theatre, not just an interest in any given focus.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that this author of this article brings up that "Running a daring, high-quality theater" in New York City is almost impossible. Especially after he claims that he would be fantastic at doing so.
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