Friday, November 14, 2014
Tony Committee to Review Decision on Sound Design Award
NYTimes.com: The Tony Awards administration committee, which oversees the annual honors for Broadway plays and musicals, on Thursday asked the rules committee for the Tonys to review a request by theatrical sound designers, Broadway actors, and many others to restore Tony Awards for best sound design for a play and for a musical.
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If the Tony Award Committee does not reverse this decision, they are pretty stupid. Back in June when this news was announced, I remember the complete outrage from the theater community at large. Members across all disciplines seem to be in support of the Sound Design Award being put back in its proper place. By not reinstating this award, the committee would be saying a major "f*** you!" to the theater community. I sincerely hope the committee does not let their pride get in the way of reinstating this award. The petition with over 30,000 signatures should be a clear sign of the decision they need to make. If they do not make the right decision, it will be interesting to see how the theater community will react.
In addition, I am growing to simply not trust the credibility of the Tony Award Committee because of other decisions they have made. Making "This Is Our Youth" and "It's Only A Play" ineligible for the Best Play category simply because they were written a long time ago is inexcusable and goes against what the committee has deemed in the past the definition of the Best Revival category.
I can't believe the award committee hasn't reversed their decision on this yet. I remember the huge controversy when they announced it the first time. It was clear that pretty much the entire theatre community agreed that this was a horrible, disrespectful, and insulting move on the committee's part. Lack of knowledge is not an excuse for completely invalidating and ignoring the incredible, amazing, and artistic work that sound designers do. As artists and professionals, they should strive to understand and educate themselves, not dismiss an entire craft just because they don't understand it.
Clearly the Tony award Committee doesn't have their heads screwed on right, because after enormous public outcry over an issue that never needed to be an issue in the first place, they still have to 'review' this decision. Apparently the issue is that the committee feels that too many people do not understand sound design and see it as a technical skill as opposed to a design skill. While that argument may have elements of truth in it, such as the technical skills needed for a properly executed sound design, that logic could apply to any design. Lighting design involves a huge amount of technical skill as well, so does scenic design or even acting or dancing for that matter. To condemn a medium of art that is a huge component of the show based upon the fact that people don't understand it as an art is the exact opposite reaction to help the situation. Hopefully the Tony Award Committee comes to it's senses.
This was such a ridiculous decision that the Tony's committee made this summer, and it's about time that they reverse it. I get that they'er worried that reversing their decision will hurt their credibility, but they need to look at the big picture and realize that going back on this decision is not nearly as bad for their credibility as neglecting something as major as sound design. It's been a while since I read the letter that the Tony's committee first posted when they made their decision, and I forgot that it mentioned done of the reasons that they got rid of the categories was because of a lack of expertise. I mean really. "We're too ignorant to appreciate/judge anything we can't visually see, and we're also too bigoted to learn about it." Yes, that's a harsh way to put it, but that's kinda what it sound like. I mean, there job is to judge theatre, and if there's an aspect of theatre design that they don't understand shouldn't that mean it's their job to learn it. Their logic is incredibly flawed, and I really hope they change their mind. It wouldn't show weakness on their part, it would show that they're secure enough about themselves that they can go back on a decision and that they care about the people who put value in their award.
The only thing that would upset me more than the original removal of these two awards is if the committee is presented with a request to return them and it gets denied again. This is obviously an issue the entire theatre community (and beyond) has been blown away by for almost six months. There is no excuse for the blatant disregard for an entire artistic community that the Tony committee has shown. In what way is it acceptable for a group of people to say, "I'm sorry, we don't really understand your craft- so rather than educate ourselves on how we can better appraise your work, we're just going to eliminate your chance to be recognized as an outstanding artist in your field"? Obviously we're not putting together a very good group of representatives if they are unable to make the appropriate decisions regarding what very well may be the most exciting moment of a designer's career.
Looks like they Tony Committee finally heard all the uproar. I still think that it's the biggest cop-out in the world to take away an award from such a deserving group of people due to "a lack of expertise among Tony voters in assessing sound design." Then instead of taking away something because you don't understand it, LEARN ABOUT IT. Just because you can't justly assess something doesn't make the potential award winners any less deserving of recognition for their hard work. Plus, there are plenty of industry professionals that the board can reach out to in order to devise a complete list of voting criteria that the board can understand; there are plenty of resources from other performing arts communities for the board to reach out to so that they may achieve a better understanding of sound design. Since the early 1900's when the technology evolved, every theatrical production has had some form of sound design in some way. So the fact that the category is in any way "new" is fictitious. It's been way too long that sound designers have gone without any form of recognition, so to take that away from them is a huge slap in the face to all the people who have contributed to nearly 100 years of deserving work.
Every time I see news about the removal of the sound design award in the Tony's I get more angry with the award committee and the American Theatre Wing. I can't seem to figure out why the committee seems to think that not knowing how to analyze the work of the sound designers is a good excuse to eliminate the awards all together. I think that an organization this big, with this much power should have the resources to get another member on the committee that should be able to analyze and pick winners for the awards. I think a testament to this is the fact that the petition is signed by all of these successful people in the industry wanting this award to come back. For pete's sake, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Jackman, John Kander, I think it's about time for the Tony award committee to open their eyes and reinstate the sound design award into the Tony's rather than continuing on this path of regression that they have set themselves on.
It's sad to still see no change after the huge outcry that has been made, but like all great causes, nothing changes over night. I still am very interested in understanding the criteria the critics base their votes on. If it truly is just a lack of understanding, than the answer should not be to abolish but rather educate. All artists and professions work equally as hard on their craft because everyone wants to create something they are not only proud of but express an understanding or drive to understand of the world around them. And if the Tony Award Committee can't see that just like all other designer's sound designers are striving for the same thing, they are poorly mistaken.
As glad as I am that the Tony people are reconsidering their decision, I still think the decision to get rid of the award is completely asinine to begin with. The theatre community should be moving forward with its views on what constitutes design as opposed to retreating out of ignorance. Also, the fact that they basically cited ignorance as to what sound design is as one of the main reasons for getting rid of the award is ridiculous. The tony voters are generally smart people that could very easily asses the aural quality of a show if they chose to. I cant believe that someone could intelligently grade something like lighting but not sound. The ideas that go into both fields are very transferrable.
Like others have said, it is clear that this decision needs to be reversed. And, don't get me wrong, I am just as upset as the next guy about the current absence of this award. However, I think it would be interesting for the Tony committee to shed some light on why they made this decision in the first place. It just kind of happened, with very little explanation as to why. If we never get to know, then there's no learning from any of this business. It's just some people who took a good award away for no apparent reason and then everyone got mad so they put it back. I want there to be a sound design award, but I also want this ongoing battle to have more substance.
Yay! Someone actually brings the brain back to the Tony Award Committee. Receiving a chance to go see the dress rehearsal last spring, I thought this ceremony and this award is something really sacred to theatre people in America, although I was pretty disagreed with some of their decision, like some of the shows that recieved the award wasn't that great in my opinion, but I thought it was just my taste, up until days later that I heard the announcement, now I totally feel offended to the committee and I remember I said "This is ducking stupid!" And one part of my brain believed that the committee member must had a severe disagreement with some of the sound designers so they decided to announce the news with feelings, which whatever the real reason behind this story is, is stupid anyway. And to me, this is a real insult to sound people, who actually work so hard, like you can't have all the fancy crazy things happening in the show that will look complete without sound system in Radio City Hall, Neil Patrick Harris will not be able to blew people's mind with "Sugar Daddy"- I mean, of course he can- but those perfect sound system helped A LOT. that's just stupid Tony Award Committee . I'll keep saying that over and over. And Yay! Bring back the sound trophy.
I think this whole idea is rather absurd. The intention behind the Tony Awards is for the theater community to come together to celebrate all the work that has been done this past season. By eliminating sound design from the Tony Awards we are basically telling the sound designers that they are not part of the theater community, and are not working in the community. This is obnoxiously rude. However, I wouldn't put it past a committee that felt it was ok to not present an "in memoriam" in a celebration of theater practitioners in order to include performances of work that has only started work-shopping.
THIS IS CRAZY. I do not find it fair that this committee is able to make this absurd decision and no one can really do much about it. The tonies are supposed to present audiences with the best of what is going on all around the broadway stage. I believe it is not right to just cut two major component of the theatrical process just because of lack of educated voters. But I feel like this is a solid representation of what our society has come to in general because we are more apt to get rid of something than to spend the time and effort in to making something better. I think this is just the first step towards a very large disaster that will overcome the tony awards. This choice will have a trickle down affect to wear shows will lose some of their luster and eventually audiences and performes alike will suffer. I think they committee should take the petition and use it as a driving force towards educating people in order to bring these components back to the Tony Awards.
Claiming that you are unable to identify the difference between poor and quality sound design is an absurd excuse to drop a category that shows appreciation and accomplishment. In that statement alone, it sends a message to sound designers that their work is the same if they put in a few hours, or an entire run's worth of work. How difficult is it to include a single category? I saw a parody of this announcement, were half way through, the sound goes out and the audience is no longer able to here the remainder of the message. This is a blunt example of the entertainment world without sound. Without it, no other work would be able to be communicated. I am not even a sound designer myself, but I couldn't imagine how this makes aspiring sound designers feel. Knowing one of the highest awards does not apply to you must be so unmotivating and demeaning. I'd hate for future sound designers to feel that they must choose a different path for fear they will not be appreciated in this brilliant concentration.
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