NYTimes.com: Like other New Yorkers who fetishize the Pacific Northwest, Adriana Baer thought that life would get easier when she moved here last year to become artistic director of a small, respected stage company, Profile Theater. Sure, there would be challenges: Ms. Baer was 29, female and an outsider in a city — and an industry — where many donors and professional peers were older men. She was also replacing the theater’s founder, often a tricky transition, and taking on a $500,000 annual operating budget that barely covered costs.
4 comments:
I'm from Wilsonville, Oregon - about 20 minutes south of Portland. Before I left for college, I became somewhat familiar with the theater scene there; I did a show with Oregon Children's Theatre, and a couple workshops with some great Portland-based actors, directors, and choreographers. The description of Portland theatre in this article is similar to my perception from when I was around; there's a lot of passion, but not much money. The kind of people who would put on Spring Awakening (the play) and hold a talk back after each performance would thrive in Portland...but not without a day job.
I'm from NYC, and I recall being a fan of the almost quaint feel of Portland's theatres when visiting. I've never seen anything at Profile, but the theatre community seemed incredibly enthusiastic, in a way that was different from the Broadway crowds of NYC. The crowds in New York for popular shows are often fanatic, with tourists all over the place and the age range relative to the content of the play. The few encounters with theatre in smaller cities suggested older crowds, with more dedicated theatre-goers. While I appreciate the fact that popular film/TV actors bring younger crowds into the theatrical community, the atmosphere where the audience appreciates a show for itself in its entirety rather than simply a single individual is radically different.
My observations of theatrical culture aside, Baer seems to be a good choice for Profile. She's acutely aware of her inexperience and uses that to reinforce her decisions and introduce "new ideas". I look forward to seeing a show at Profile, the next time I visit.
This article a little disheartening but it does show that someone who is passionate and innovative can keep their company from drowning. Maybe theater just isn't important to society anymore. The more and more I hear about theaters shutting down I wonder if we should keep fighting to stay afloat? What is the goal in staying afloat anyway? If audiences don't want to go or support theater than why should it exist? Is culture that important, should everyone just go work for commercial theater or Disney... I don't know, but it seems as if theater really is on the way out and soon the only not for profits that will exist are ones that are constantly sending things to Broadway and have existed for at least 35 years.
I find it so frustrating that the artists that aren't afraid to take a risk and provoke are the ones that end up without funding and without a theatre. I did work with a theatre that lost their space and it is so disheartening because their work was so much better then many other theaters in the area yet because they weren't doing the old, tired, out-of-date musicals funders wouldn't support them. I understand that to fund something from the capitalist perspective it should be a pretty safe bet, but the attitude that marketability is paramount to quality is saddening. Additionally, I would like to think better of Portland funders--those West Coast bubbles of liberalism and the value placed on "edgy-ness" should be the perfect incubator for experimental, risky, theatre.
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