Doing Tennessee Williams wasn’t, in those days, an opportunity to show off world-class décor or prepare for a splashy New York transfer; at most it was an acting exercise for B-list movie stars nostalgic for the stage.
Thursday, September 05, 2019
How a Summer Festival Is Shaping New York’s Theatrical Winter
Doing Tennessee Williams wasn’t, in those days, an opportunity to show off world-class décor or prepare for a splashy New York transfer; at most it was an acting exercise for B-list movie stars nostalgic for the stage.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
This entire article and this entire festival has my whole heart. Seriously, its sort of a magical place to work and spend your summer. The work that happens at this festival is what I describe to be everything I like about broadway and the New York theatre scene, it creates stories and extraordinary plots in a controlled environment where artists are able to experiment with a full production and the all the people involved in the process really are able to carry a sense of pride with the work that is being made. I won't ignore the elephant in Purnell, I will attack it head on. A lot of people at CMU walk around with this sense of clout that they are somehow deserving of shows like this right after they get out of college, and deserve much more then they are worth. Yes the internship is unpaid, but the opportunity to work as assistants for designers, broadway stage managers, extraordinary directors, etc. is something that takes many people years to achieve and this festival allows you as a young person in this industry to showcase your talents to people that can and will hire you as a professional and not just a lunch runner or coffee maker. I know plenty of people whose careers have been made and successful due to this festival. I know that people will probably still think what they want to think, but seeing that the show I worked on as a 1st ASM is one of the shows moving to NYC, I can say that Williamstown works for me.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding Williamstown’s culture, especially surrounding overworking and underpayment, and seeing an article like this brings a lot of people to be more vocal about that relationship. That being said, I too joined the fest this summer. I will truly say that being able to work on many of these productions with the incredible, talented, and truly iconic staff members. The level to which the entire crew demands excellence is vaguely terrifying, but incredibly motivating. The energy and passion with which they approach and follow through on each project is something to aspire to. This festival gives a chance to so many young and diverse professionals who are trying to tell stories that reflect norms, standards, and cultures outside of the typical Broadway narrative. All in all, I am so proud of the work that the WTF family has accomplished, and I am excited to see how all of these go as they open.
Post a Comment