Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Theater Artists Must Be Prophets (& an Announcement)
The Clyde Fitch Report: As those of who follow this column probably have figured out, I am a college professor. Two years ago, I began publishing a multi-part series on Todd London’s inspiring book An Ideal Theater: Founding Visions for a New American Art. In it, I published my thoughts on the seven sections of the book: “What Is America / What Is an American Theater?,” “About Us. By Us. For Us. Near Us.,” Amateurs or Professionals?,” “The Genius of the Individual, the Genius of the Group,” ” Theaters or Institutions?,” “Toward a Political Theater,” and “The Artist’s Journey: School, Studio, and Stage.” This semester, I am teaching a course on London’s book, and I have asked each of my eleven students, most juniors and seniors, to provide a short essay concerning one of the book’s theater pioneers who appeal to them. This is not to be a book report, but rather their opinion concerning the relevance of the ideas contained in their chosen essay to today’s theater world.
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2 comments:
One of the most important pieces of wisdom that's been gifted onto me in my life comes from one of my early mentors. She said, "If you're not adding to the conversation, you're taking away from it," which is what I think is happening in this article. I struggle with the use of the term 'prophet' though. A prophet has a connotation that what you're saying is the be all and end all, and for someone working in theater, that is the opposite attitude that you want to have coming into a collaborative process. However, after reading what Todd London said about the role of the prophet, I can kind of agree. The point I most identify with is that one of the tasks is "to bring to public expression.... fears and terror." We as a people can only grow after we conquer our fears. Growth doesn't happen while you're comfortable. Theater is one of the last art forms that allows you to completely face all of your fears head on, whether it be through acting or designing. I really like the notion that our purpose of ourselves as theatermakers is not just to entertain, but to "profoundly illustrate the human condition." It is our job to depict both a real and surreal take on life and that is an idea I can get behind.
I think there is something very important about the use of the term prophet here. The term prophet means "inspired teacher", and I believe that a teacher cannot inspire his or her students if they themselves are not inspired. There is somewhat of a conundrum in this article though. All artists (teaching or not) must be prophets of the message they are tasked with, and if they do not succeed in demonstrating their message and inspiring their audience, they have not fulfilled their task.
I do have to point out though that it is hard to know what artistic pieces have challenged the modern audience without some distance in terms of time. We can look at the Grapes of Wrath and know that it had impact now; however, we may not know that about anything that is occurring now until 50 years from now. Oftentimes, a prophet is not considered a prophet until many years into the future.
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