Can Facebook Lead to Deep Inner Discoveries About Theatre?

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Written by Jennifer Adams

Wednesday, 04 June 2008 13:45

You wouldn’t think so. But the other day, I became Facebook Friends with a girl I did community theatre with growing up. She is living in Maine, where she and I are from, and doing theatre at a professional theatre in the area. I checked out the website. They are a professiona, non-profit theatre company that does standards like A Funny Thing…Forum, On Golden Pond and Noises Off and current Broadway hits like Stones in his Pocket. I was trying to explain, in my first email to her EVER (yes, I’m that old… I don’t think it existed when I was in high school…), what kind of theatre I do in Chicago. It definitely got me thinking.

What I said was something like this: Chicago Theatre is a very strange mixture of professional quality standards, expectations and talent, with community theatre budget and pay-scale. It's very interesting to hear someChicago artists bash community theatre, considering the quality of work that her and I were involved in at our community theatre in Maine, when outside of major cities, "community theatre" just means that you don't get paid... Not many people in Chicago get paid, that's for sure; but then you combine the TYPE of work that is being done, which is much more gritty, in-your-face work that appeals to 20-somethings and... well, artists! I guess that is part of what people think separates the two.

After I sent it, it got me thinking a lot about what I’d written… I realized that it isn’t really precise, although some pieces are more accurate than others…

How DO you define the Chicago storefront “style?” A lot of it is “much more gritty, in-your-face work that appeals to 20-somethings and... well, theatre artists,” but a lot of it isn’t. I don’t think Halcyon’s work falls into that category… A lot of the theatre in Chicago is new work, but not all. Much of it is based in Improv, but not all…Musical Theatre is becoming more and more popular all the time… Budgets vary drastically too: Some sets consist of chairs and costumes from the director’s kitchen and grandma’s attic, some have elaborate sets, costumes, lights… the musicals that are being done tend to have a more simple tone, focusing on the acting and singing then on a giant helicopter falling from the sky…Some Storefront theatres don’t pay anyone. Some pay their Stage Manager and Designers, but not actors or directors. Some are lower tier Equity and pay one or two actors, and some theatre companies pay $25 per production.

The community theatre that I worked at in Maine had very high standards. We always strove for highest quality sets, costumes, lights; the directors, stage managers and designers got paid, the actors didn’t. We did a production of "Dracula" where the audience moved outside for the last scene, which is set in Dracula’s tomb. Everyone had a day job; I worked with chiropractors, teachers, and pastors. People ages 5 to 80. People who loved the theatre, but didn’t want to make a career of it, or who had families to support and missed what they used to do. Some of the artists I worked with also did theatre where they got paid; some went on to get their Equity card, some left the business for good. However, sometimes a whole family was in a cast together, and you would lose them for a week due to Baseball Championships.

My mother talked to me yesterday about moving back to Maine, and starting up the theatre company there. She said we could do the type of theatre we want to do, have an audience of more than 10 people, and get paid $1,000 to $2,000 per show as a director. VERY tempting... and then I looked up some demographics on Maine ... something like 1,200,000 people. 97% Caucasian… SO different then what we are trying to accomplish with the theatre company here... if you look at the shows we’ve done, and our Artistic Associates and Company Members (just don't look at my hair!), I hope the first thing that you see is our effort to be inclusive, to show the possibilities of diversity in theatre, from our script choice to the artists we work with, to the cultural elements we bring to each show.

That would not be possible in Maine… if we did Haroun and the Sea of Stories in Maine, the cast would be entirely white. I would never have found a choreographer to teach the traditional Indian dances or give us as much music as we had... however, more people would probably have seen the show, meaning more people would learn the story, learn about Salmon Rushdie, hear the music... the lighting system may have been more advanced, and Tony and I could have gotten paid instead of paying to produce it...

In Chicago there is a LOT of talk back and forth about “Equity” vs. “Non-Equity.” No one says “Professional” vs. “Community” because we all see ourselves as doing PROFESSIONAL theatre, although some people think that "Non-Equity" and "Non-Professional" are synonymous...

I guess my question is: What is it that defines "professional" and "community" theatre? Pay? Budget? Standards? Commitment level? Diversity? Script Choice? Talent? Is it only one thing, or is it too complex to comprehend?

Are we all Potter Stewart? “I know it when I see it.”

Comments (1)

The other day, as Tony and I were loading in some set materials at the PJG, we were talking to a bloke who'd showed up to see the Alcyone Festival. He was a week early, we told him, and I felt pretty excited that we had people who just couln't wait till opening. Anyway, we got to talking and he said he'd seen a few Halcyon performances and really enjoyed our work, and went on to say "because you know, some of the community theatre you see..."

Well, I cringed and thought "does he mean he considers US community theatre?" Then I realized that -damn!- that's what we do! It's all over our mission statement. It's like that silly billboard that says "Not Fast Food. Good Food Fast." Well, I have eaten at that particular establishment and it is delicious and will probably kill me one day (I think the root beer has about 1200 calories and is made with butter). But it sure is fast food.

As far as I'm concerned, Halcyon is community theatre. When we have a billion dollar budget and a holographic floor we're still going to make theatre for, about, and by our community. Maybe it's not about trying to squirm clear of a phrase with a negative connotation so much as trying to pry the negative connotation off of the two words that define our purpose!