Intimate Excellent: There hasn’t been that much rapturous cheering in Madison Square Garden since the Knicks won their last championship in 1973. But the thunderous hollering heard this Wednesday at the sold-out arena was not for a basketball game. It was for a play.
11 comments:
It’s so inspiring that eighteen thousand New York City students had the opportunity to see To Kill a Mockingbird at Madison Square Garden this week. And even better the performance was completely free of cost. The broadway play put on a performance, specifically for these students. I just think that is so inspiring. Kids should be exposed to the arts more frequently. Also, the fact that it was free is so wonderful because I’m sure that if they were expected to pay for their own tickets, many of them would not have been able to go. I agree that people need to stop perpetuating the myth that kids don’t have an attention span because of video games. Some kids have really great attention spans and others probably would too if they were exposed to the performing arts more. Also kids don’t hate theater. According to the article, the kids that saw To Kill a Mockingbird were in awe of the performance and had audible reactions throughout the play.
I don't know much if anything about To Kill a Mockingbird but even with that being said I'd want to go see this. I honestly can't imagine going to see a show surrounded by 18,000 other students. Even in high school money was always a barrier to kids seeing theatre. Our shows were only $5-$20 but that would keep a lot of people I knew from attending. So Broadway shows are far more expensive than those that don't have a deep interest in theatre would be willing to pay, especially young, non-financially stable students. What they're doing is really influential work. Exposing students to the arts is such an important thing because art is one of the most prominent ways we express our ideas, emotions, and opinions. It's often where we go to make social as well as personal commentary and viewing what others have created can be such an influential experience for a person. I really applaud their ability to organize an event like this and I hope to hear about (and potentially see) more in the future.
Having seen a lot of press surrounding this event, it makes me so happy to see theatre being brought to a wider audience. This article touches on the fact that artistic directors struggle to reach the younger demographic of students and kids. I think this is sometimes due to heavy content in the shows, but more importantly, and as this article recognizes, live theatre is a very expensive and often out of reach for students, especially innercity students. This article also covers other arguments, such as children and teens have too short of an attention span, or that they don't care about classic shows. However, I completely disagree. The reason why attention spans are low is often due to theatre or art that is not engaging. This is true for people of all ages, not just young people. Also, classic stories are received well when they do not feel out of reach to the people watching them. For example, I have seen Twelfth Night about 6 times, all different productions, and some times I loved the show because I could relate to it, other times I was bored. Overall, this is a super special event and I am so happy this show was brought to this audience.
This is such an inspiring and compelling story. It almost made me tear up. I think that it's really hard for some kids in high school to go out there and see professional shows considering financial barriers families might face. In fact, I spent a whole summer working and saving up to go on my school's trip to NYC and Broadway. It was so worth it, but working all summer for a one week trip when so many kids at school didn't have to even think about the cost really put a damper on my feelings. So first off, I'd like to really appreciate this event giving kids the opportunity to see a professional show for free. Eliminating financial issues gives teenagers the opportunity to get new experiences and perhaps unlock a new passion they didn't know they had, and that is so important. Secondly, I think it's so great that these kids showed so much enthusiasm at this event. It really goes to show that teenagers are capable of appreciating things older generations may have you believing they can't.
This makes me so happy! I'm really passionate about everyone, especially kids, having access to theatre. This performance is big not only because it's accessible to young people, but because of the content. A lot of children's theatre is entertaining and useful for kids, but very surface level. So, I love seeing kids being exposed to such an important story. To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that I love and I haven't seen the play, but I've only heard good things about it. I remember a while back when there was an article about the effects of live theatre on young people and how it helped develop empathy. That article has really stuck with me as one of the reasons I continue to be passionate about making and watching theatre. This article just further proves that point to me. I'm glad that these incredibly intelligent students were able to prove the value of theatre in a young person's life.
What a surprise, children can’t afford to go to Broadway shows in New York for over $150. Giving students the actual opportunity to see this show is wonderful. I am glad this happened, but annoyed that it no one believes young people can love theater until they see us enjoy it as if students aren’t working hard to put on shows in their schools and applying to conservatories or attending auditions to make it in the industry. I wonder how this production differs from the New York version. How did the lighting and set change? Did they just keep the props and furniture or was the lighting design able to be salvaged in this giant arena? I can not imagine how much of a challenge transporting this show was but I am incredibly happy that this is becoming a possibility outside of regional theater. Bringing theater to educational settings is so important because otherwise we often don’t have those opportunities. It can inspire young people to become more involved in the arts, but there is still inherent value in bringing theater to young people no matter what.
I wrote about this event last week, but that article moved me so much that I absolutely had to read and write about it again. I think it’s really great that common myths (but not myths…excuses) were debunked with this event, because it absolutely defied them. I absolutely agree that producers were looking into the wrong questions—you can’t always wait for the kids to come to you, especially if they don’t have the funds. But, the stories to be told are important enough to take to them and be the perfect first exposure to this art form. I think the one myth that young people are only into contemporary stories is so absolutely false—I think regardless of the time period, if a story is human and people can find themselves in the characters and events, it doesn’t matter when it is set. I actually think that it was clever to use Mockingbird as an introduction to theater, because people will find interest in something if they had potentially been exposed to it in class before. It’s really cool that with 18000 kids in the arena, a big open space, that they were able to react to the story without restrictions. They could yell and cheer and cry. Normally more wild behavior like this can be frowned upon, but for a one-time educational event like this, why not let the kids experience it however they want?
I think this story is incredible. Situations like this are why I do theatre. It is so inspiring to me to see how one production can change so many people’s lives. At the end of this article, they talk about some commonly held views about young people and their relationship to theatre. I think the idea that young people hate theatre is just so wrong. A student talks about it in the article but it is not that young people hate theatre it is that young people aren’t given enough access to theatre. And it is possible that not every student in that room enjoyed “To Kill a Mockingbird” but if shows like this keep happen and young people are given more opportunities to see theatre they may find theatre they enjoy. One doesn’t have to like every single movie to like movies. So why should it be the same for theatre. I like that at the end of the article they talk about doing this in LA, or other cities. I would love to see cities across America and across the world produce productions like this one.
What I find interesting is that this article discusses the grappling with a desire for more young people to come see theater. While I do agree that this was probably a remarkable experience for the students to see and an exciting challenge for everyone involved in the production to put on, it doesn’t exactly solve the issue of accessibility for these students in the future. Like the article says, if a student were to want to see this production again in it’s home at the Shubert Theater, their ticket would be strapped with a hefty price tag. This would be true if they would like to see many other shows on Broadway currently. It’s good that they created this opportunity to expose students to this and I enjoyed reading that they were very engaged, but the generalizations that people were anticipating in terms of a negative reaction seem a little unfair and very generalized to me.
J.D. Hopper
Ah! Yes!! Bringing affordable, professional-grade theatre to young, impressionable people! This is wonderful! And how genius to give them access to a production that they have likely already manifested into their learning space at some point. This performance probably connected so many dots for students in attendance. It is wonderful that these kids took the standards of entertainment-focus and broke them. When you introduce people to a new experience that seems foreign to them, they WILL be interested, no matter whether it be positively or negatively interested. I am just glad that these students had access to a performance that made them feel connected to the art in front of them, and made them feel SOMETHING at all. This is a great way to introduce the arts, get people more in touch with their education, and start to understand a more active version of teaching and learning-comprehension on all levels of schooling.
I hadn’t heard about this performance until it had already happened but I think it’s such a great idea! The choice of “To Kill a Mockingbird” as opposed to another play was, I think, particularly helpful - it’s a book that just about everyone reads in either middle or high school, and that still addresses relevant issues to today, but that many students see as outdated or find hard to connect with. The play version could help resolve that issue by bringing the story to life and making it easier to experience, and making it free to the students instead of the exorbitant original price was, I’m sure, so helpful to bring high-quality theatre to students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to experience it. Seeing it in Madison Square Garden with 18,000 other students seems chaotic and exciting, and I think plays into the themes of accessibility that we talk about a lot - sometimes, when people don’t go see theatre, it’s because they feel like it’s an environment that’s not welcoming and has social standards they don’t understand. By filling the audience with high schoolers and performing in such a large space, they can feel free to react as they see fit, and enjoy their experience.
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