Saturday, July 30, 2016
Intimate Theater, the 99-Seat Plan and Getting Artists Justice
Clyde Fitch Report: I began my career in intimate theater in LA, first as a nonunion actor, then as a member of City Garage Theatre for five years, then as managing director of Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC), co-founded in 1996 by the late Lynn Manning and Quentin Drew. WVTC was created with the vision of bridging gaps within communities of color in South Central LA and the greater LA community. It was born out of a Cornerstone Theater Company residency in Watts, a community that many of you might hesitate to drive through, much less work in every day, due to preconceived notions bestowed by the mainstream news media and pop-culture films, like Boys n the Hood, that persistently characterize communities of color as bastions of poverty and crime.
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2 comments:
There needs to be more people like this man. The whole thing about theater is its open to everyone and excepting of everyone. Its great how he is support of everyone and trying to help everyone. Also the whole thing how people won't go see his art because of wear it is in town is insane. They now his arts good but they still won't go. People need to stop being afraid just because the town has a bad rap doesn't mean no one should go to the theater. Its infuriating because the artists aren't getting back because of wear the theater is. As an artist its so hard to get out and this being to reason one gets held back is insanity. Im glad this person is righting for a change because its not right to any one.
It's interesting to see the intersection of traditional Japanese culture, an American classic show, and a feminist group entirely separate of traditional Japanese culture. The fact that these women run their theater almost as a cult, not allowing these women to marry, and use traditional rigid Japanese structure brings an element of ancient culture to a show that could not be more American. I like that women play both men and women, but I'm super intrigued about how they choose to depict men and women in their shows. To some degree, I don't like that they generally depict the man as the classic male hero and the woman as very proper and morally correct, but at the same time I like that these choices are made entirely by women. If these women want to see these men as heroes, then I respect their decision to depict men like this.
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