HowlRound Theatre Commons: The death of theatre has long been predicted. When films—especially talkies—were invented, people thought theatre would perish. When broadcast TV arrived, the funeral was planned. When cable and VCRs hit the market, the death knell was again sounded. The internet, it was hypothesized, would be the final nail in the coffin. VR and AR were the latest plagues to threaten. But time after time, theatremakers have all been certain we’d find a way to morph and even benefit from new technology. And now will this pandemic not seal our fate as archaic? It may just be the great equalizer.
2 comments:
I really resonated with the author when he referred to Covid-19 as “the great disruptor.” The necessity to expand formats and allow theatrical experiences to still exist separate from these magnificent theater venues have allowed many people to realize that a venue can be anywhere. So do we have a need for these theaters anymore? If they were specifically for the experience, but now we have had access to new experiences - does this reduce their value? I also highly resonated with the author’s section on how capitalism is the root of these black spots in our moral compass. Many people have taken this time to demand changes to the very structure of our theater practices - but the thing standing in our way is our greed for money. In my current Anti-Racist Theater section, our professor keeps bringing us back to this - that our capitalistic tendencies are what is keeping change out of our institutions.
My first thought when reading the title - theater isn’t already a necessity? Because I have definitely been in the mindset that many changes of thought and progressions in our world have happened because of the influences of theater. Without it, we would be so behind in our education of the masses, in our initiatives to spread awareness and grow support for important social and political causes. But this article was so well-written, I am now completely in awe as to how COVID put everything into perspective. Theater ended up at the bottom of essential work - obviously those who love it have been working to keep it alive, preaching about how it is integral to our progression as people, but as can be seen by the BLM movement and other causes for social justice that prevailed in the time of this pandemic, theater was not essential to making these causes gain traction. So this idea that maybe really theater has been surviving as just a nicety is quite impactful. However, I think we should reflect on the fact that we have been through so many iterations of “this will be the end of theater,” yet it has still changed and adapted and survived. Meaning there has always been more to theater than just existing “for fun,” but perhaps this will be a time for many to reckon with the changes that need to make it definitively essential.
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