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Friday, November 24, 2017
We need more Tom Burkes to ensure the future of regional theatre
WhatsOnStage.com: As the National Campaign for the Arts announces that local authority funding for the arts has dropped by more than a third, Sarah Crompton considers the wider impact
This article is a little bit fear inducing to see that the funding for the very thing that is our careers is getting less and less each year. Especially with the recent funding attacks and cuts coming from the national government, there is a need to explore other ways in which to fund the many expenses of theatre. As the article suggest one large alternative to this is the Tom Burkes of the world. This is a tactic in which Broadway uses with its large stars who appears for periods of time after having starred in movies or TV shows. Employing this same tactic at the regional level could indeed help to draw in crowds and allow the fan base of said stars to help pad the seats of the theatre and create a likelihood for others to come back to the theatre even after the stars are gone.
The regional and local theatre stystem is the heart of what makes this art so special to so many people around the world. As the author of the article points out, some of the most endearing and memorable performances for me didn't come from Broadway or touring shows, they came from smaller productions and from theatre people who are just trying to survive. It's important to acknowledge this, as the theatre world is becoming more and more commercialized everyday causing smaller shows to fall under, depriving thousands of audience members from a theatrical experience. In this day and age, funding for the arts is becoming more and more scarce as the allocation of money is moved towards the practical and away from the creative. It's happening in education systems and it's happening in local communities. I firmly agree with he article when they say that taking away the funding is stripping a location of its culture, the sustinence and growth of theatre and other arts are essential to communities and young people, it needs to be funded and needs to continue to makes strides.
young age, my parents taking me to the regional theater in my home town to see plays and musicals. I then went on to work at the theater, selling concessions and getting to watch the ins and outs as I explored theater in my high school. I know for a fact that this theater has been a huge part of my town’s culture for generations. They receive little funding as it is, scraping together spectacles that inspire the next generation of artists to pursue entertainment. It seems to be the norm that the arts get cut before anything else, because they are seen as unimportant or a luxury. However, I don’t think it is understood how these regional theaters are the heart and soul of entertainment, and how losing the culture would eventually result in a loss of people pursuing art as a whole, from movies to fine arts to theater.
I agree with this author that regional theatre is immensely important for our craft. If all we had were big, broadway level shows, that would be great and all, but broadway does not lend itself very well to shows that are more intimate that have a different kind of nuance. Broadway is good for big, flashy, expensive shows, but that is not really where the meat of theatre is. Truly good theatre happens at a lower level. Small, focused casts and production teams are the ones who can really be on the cutting edge, unencumbered by the lavish expectations that broadway has. I did find it strange that this author wrote this article about Tom Burke, when he was only mentioned as almost an after thought in the last two paragraphs though... It seems to me like this article is more about the power of regional theatre than him as a performer/ theatre maker.
Today, I think that it is becoming increasingly important to make theatre a tangible, accessible style of artistic expression. Because, I think, there are many people who think of theatre as something that is work to go and watch, it is important to show as many people as possible that theatre is a beautiful, accessible way of watching, hearing, and learning more stories. When I was young, I experienced theatre first as a small cast member in local productions of The Nutcracker, and then moved into going to see local and regional productions with my family. These first exposures to theatre became the roots of why I wanted to work on the visual proponents of theatre, and I would not have had that inspiration if it was not for the fully funded regional and local theatre work that I had the chance to see when I was young.
It is clear in the post recession world that funding for the arts has suffered greatly. This is most pronounced on the local level in less well known areas. It is not as glamorous as funding major metropolitan areas like New York or San Francisco. As a result smaller areas suffer. The problem is that many young people are exposed to theater for the first time at the regional level. People like Tom Burkes should be commended for taking such actions to make sure that community theater is saved for future generations. If people Tom do not do this then an entire generation of young people will be deprived of the arts. I hope people in the US learn from Tom’s example and start to help young people learn about the arts.
The preservation of small community and regional theater is vital to the survival of the theater industry as a whole, and people like Tom Burke are doing their best to ensure that this will be the case. However, it may well not be enough. With the governmental spending cuts and problematic budget, as well as the rise of more large scale Broadway and touring shows, the small regional theater continues to fall to the wayside. This cannot be allowed to happen, since I feel like small regional shows have been some of the best that I have seen, and bring a diversity and accessibility to the industry. We need more people like Tom Burke who are willing and able to contribute to the fight to maintain small regional theaters, as they are fundamentally important to the culture and industry of theater.
7 comments:
This article is a little bit fear inducing to see that the funding for the very thing that is our careers is getting less and less each year. Especially with the recent funding attacks and cuts coming from the national government, there is a need to explore other ways in which to fund the many expenses of theatre. As the article suggest one large alternative to this is the Tom Burkes of the world. This is a tactic in which Broadway uses with its large stars who appears for periods of time after having starred in movies or TV shows. Employing this same tactic at the regional level could indeed help to draw in crowds and allow the fan base of said stars to help pad the seats of the theatre and create a likelihood for others to come back to the theatre even after the stars are gone.
The regional and local theatre stystem is the heart of what makes this art so special to so many people around the world. As the author of the article points out, some of the most endearing and memorable performances for me didn't come from Broadway or touring shows, they came from smaller productions and from theatre people who are just trying to survive. It's important to acknowledge this, as the theatre world is becoming more and more commercialized everyday causing smaller shows to fall under, depriving thousands of audience members from a theatrical experience. In this day and age, funding for the arts is becoming more and more scarce as the allocation of money is moved towards the practical and away from the creative. It's happening in education systems and it's happening in local communities. I firmly agree with he article when they say that taking away the funding is stripping a location of its culture, the sustinence and growth of theatre and other arts are essential to communities and young people, it needs to be funded and needs to continue to makes strides.
young age, my parents taking me to the regional theater in my home town to see plays and musicals. I then went on to work at the theater, selling concessions and getting to watch the ins and outs as I explored theater in my high school. I know for a fact that this theater has been a huge part of my town’s culture for generations. They receive little funding as it is, scraping together spectacles that inspire the next generation of artists to pursue entertainment. It seems to be the norm that the arts get cut before anything else, because they are seen as unimportant or a luxury. However, I don’t think it is understood how these regional theaters are the heart and soul of entertainment, and how losing the culture would eventually result in a loss of people pursuing art as a whole, from movies to fine arts to theater.
I agree with this author that regional theatre is immensely important for our craft. If all we had were big, broadway level shows, that would be great and all, but broadway does not lend itself very well to shows that are more intimate that have a different kind of nuance. Broadway is good for big, flashy, expensive shows, but that is not really where the meat of theatre is. Truly good theatre happens at a lower level. Small, focused casts and production teams are the ones who can really be on the cutting edge, unencumbered by the lavish expectations that broadway has. I did find it strange that this author wrote this article about Tom Burke, when he was only mentioned as almost an after thought in the last two paragraphs though... It seems to me like this article is more about the power of regional theatre than him as a performer/ theatre maker.
Today, I think that it is becoming increasingly important to make theatre a tangible, accessible style of artistic expression. Because, I think, there are many people who think of theatre as something that is work to go and watch, it is important to show as many people as possible that theatre is a beautiful, accessible way of watching, hearing, and learning more stories. When I was young, I experienced theatre first as a small cast member in local productions of The Nutcracker, and then moved into going to see local and regional productions with my family. These first exposures to theatre became the roots of why I wanted to work on the visual proponents of theatre, and I would not have had that inspiration if it was not for the fully funded regional and local theatre work that I had the chance to see when I was young.
It is clear in the post recession world that funding for the arts has suffered greatly. This is most pronounced on the local level in less well known areas. It is not as glamorous as funding major metropolitan areas like New York or San Francisco. As a result smaller areas suffer. The problem is that many young people are exposed to theater for the first time at the regional level. People like Tom Burkes should be commended for taking such actions to make sure that community theater is saved for future generations. If people Tom do not do this then an entire generation of young people will be deprived of the arts. I hope people in the US learn from Tom’s example and start to help young people learn about the arts.
The preservation of small community and regional theater is vital to the survival of the theater industry as a whole, and people like Tom Burke are doing their best to ensure that this will be the case. However, it may well not be enough. With the governmental spending cuts and problematic budget, as well as the rise of more large scale Broadway and touring shows, the small regional theater continues to fall to the wayside. This cannot be allowed to happen, since I feel like small regional shows have been some of the best that I have seen, and bring a diversity and accessibility to the industry. We need more people like Tom Burke who are willing and able to contribute to the fight to maintain small regional theaters, as they are fundamentally important to the culture and industry of theater.
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