Monday, January 28, 2019
Brian Clowdus: Providing Access Through Outdoor Immersive Storytelling
The Theatre Times: Brian Clowdus was left burned out and unfulfilled as a hustling actor. On a whim on his way back home, he visited Serenbe, Georgia and felt an immediate connection to the area. Following his gut, he proposed a plan for a playhouse that would eventually become one of the top emerging regional theatres in the country. Although not the initial plan, the lack of physical space drove Clowdus to create art outdoors.
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Brian Clowdus… what a cool dude! He had a vision, and on a whim he made it happen. That’s very impressive. Also, not only does he have Serenbe Playhouse, but he also has Brian Clowdus Experiences. This dude is expanding his work and making it national. I also really appreciate how honest Clowdus is in this interview. Why did he start a for-profit company? Because he wanted to make more money. He understands the positive impact of theatre on a community, but he also wants to live more comfortably than a not-for-profit company can provide a lot of its workers. I also want to see his immersive Sleepy Hollow production. I love Sleep No More so I’m extremely interested in how other companies create and perform interactive productions. Also the photographic images in this article are magnificent. Clowdus obviously puts in the time and money for all of these productions because outdoor theatre is a different beast from anything else.
It is super interesting to see a story about Brain Clowdus (and in turn Serenbe Playhouse) on here, since Serenbe Playhouse is such a familiar name to me. When I was younger, I had a lot of friends who would perform with Serenbe Playhouse’s youth ensembles and I remember seeing some of those performances that in there own right were incredible works. Even now, I have many close friends from home who have worked on and are still working on productions with Serenbe, including Titanic, which Brian mentions in his article. Brian definitely worked towards making Serenbe a truly incredible place, with many people in the surrounding areas of Serenbe working for and donating to the work that is being done. It definitely speaks to the “community builder” mindset that he talks about in the article, since the work done at Serenbe truly is done and supported by everyone in the community. I think it is incredible that Brian has also taken the initiative to expand on the work he has done with Serenbe by expanding on it and developing into Brian Clowdus productions. Brian definitely has a go-getter mindset that has allowed him to develop two very successful theatre/ entertainment organizations, and gives some insight into just how hard you have to work to make those things happen.
I cannot deny that Clowdus is doing some cool stuff down at Serenbe. He’s producing site-specific, immersive work that is pushing the boundaries of what theatre can do. However, as I was reading the interview, I realized I was subconsciously bracing myself against him. I am very wary of creative leaders who declaim their own talent and push for things that they admit are very dangerous. I do not want to jump to conclusions from just this interview, but my sense is that he probably pushes his people too hard and too far. It also seems a bit like he uses his nonprofit as a way to develop for-profit shows. I certainly hope that I am misunderstanding, but he seems to be very focused on commercial success. He also has chosen extremely popular blockbuster plays, and it would not be hard to argue that those particular plays, Miss Saigon and Titanic, should be retired.
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