Monday, March 21, 2011
In Moderation
American Theatre Wing: "Now that I have the opportunity to speak with artists directly, I must confess I rarely attend post-show discussions, even as they have proliferated, but I have seen enough of them over time to know that there are aspects of the sessions that are virtually immutable. Allow me to enumerate
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As a dramaturg, this was a great article to read. I love the list, having expereinced a lot of those. (#10 is the best.) I think that talk backs can be extremely rewarding when done well. It is an opportunity to enrich the theatre-going experience. I agree with one of the comments on the article cite that sometimes a separate event works better. I know that BAM does a lot of these, often following a show, but listed as a separate artist talk. Typically, talk backs are tough. I'm a little intimidated at the thought of hosting one, which I'll do next fall. I've seen some go very well, but I've seen some fall totally flat. You need to be able to swing the conversation as the moderator. (For example, in the Spelling Bee talk back, a prospective student asked the actors why they chose to attend CMU. The dramaturg re-directed the question to something about the opportunity of working with people at CMU and from outside the school on this particular production. You've got to be ready for OT questions.)
Post-show discussions are an incredible gateway into learning about not only a specific production, but theatre in general. Post-show discussions are so valuable because they provide how-to's and little quirks about productions that you had no idea even occurred. Part of what makes working on a show so exciting is to figure out how to make something work the way you want it to. It's refreshing to go to a post-show discussion because it reminds audience members and fellow artists that great and even flawed do not just materialize out of thin air. Every theatre artist struggles with realizing a show. It's refreshing to actually hear that.
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