I often face the dilemma whether to spend more time in class focused on the process of theatre making or the product of the play. Do I coach the monologue to go straight to a product (although admittedly an inferior one) which will get it ready for an audition which always seems to be happening yesterday – – or do I slow it down and layer the monologue one step at a time? I so want to take the slow rich approach but the reality of a class of kids and a quick 80 minutes on the clock dictate otherwise. Why all this rushing to a product?
In my years as a State Director for Florida State Thespians, I saw two extremes in schools. I saw schools that cranked out 6, 7, even 8 plays a year. I also saw schools, some with even larger populations, offer only one musical and one fully mounted straight play a year. Indeed, I have seen theatre departments that were a one man/woman show that cranked out a half a dozen plays a years. Why? Why would anyone want to turn theatre into an endurance test? How can one director have that much to say artistically that they need six plays a year to set them free? Is it for the kids? Its quantity giving them something that quality is incapable of giving? Is their best education on the stage or in the classroom? Closing one show only to open another – – how do you stay hungry to the process?
Does a show have to go on? Do we need to throw sets, paint, posters, ushers, tickets, and god-awful microphones at everything we do? What if a play needs to still stay in two chairs learning the art of giving and receiving? If a show can’t get there, no trip to Lowe’s or hours at the Goodwill will help. If we get a few minutes cooking, put them on their feet making conflict happen – and have a small audience to seal the deal – – isn’t that enough? I always thought that a show should EARN its technical and physical investment. I would not promise a rack of costumes, a fully decked-out prop crew, or a herd of well meaning cookie-selling parents to a play that just isn’t rising to the surface. Make the production earn this – it is not an entitlement!