tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post113675952293870180..comments2023-09-29T03:23:53.191-07:00Comments on Stage Thrust, with Bobo the Theater Ho: readers' theater attendance; profanity and violence in contemporary playsJoelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16492478732621202655noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1137708486343857942006-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:002006-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00Amen AnnAmen AnnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1137625794876123932006-01-18T15:09:00.000-08:002006-01-18T15:09:00.000-08:00The size of audiences for the recent reading stage...The size of audiences for the recent reading stage production for "To Kill A Mockingbird" were better than I expected. <BR/><BR/>I’ve been involved in local reading stage productions as audience, actor and director for a number of years. I like the format very much. It can be the happy conjunction of a good script, good actors and the imagination of the audience. I don’t think it is well understood as a format by the general public, even by those who purchase season subscriptions regularly. <BR/> <BR/>Past staged readings at the Civic have had larger audiences than the usual 20 to 30 faithful. Angels in America sold out but you may be surprised that Miss Lulu Bett packed in as many or more. Never heard of it? Zona Gale, recipient of the Pulitzer for literature for the novel of the same name, was being taught in various women’s studies at local colleges. By contacting teachers and professors to promote that staged reading I, the director of what was to me an unknown piece, was able to bring in the biggest audience I’ve ever seen for the Sunday night series. Did any of those students ever return to other readings? I don’t think so. Why aren’t professionals, the college educated, the middle class replenishing the theatre?<BR/><BR/>Sunday night is hardly the best of all choices. The last breath of the weekend meets the desire to cocoon. Seniors don’t want to drive in the dark. Darkly serious scripts don’t tempt the curious who may depend on the news-rag show previews to expand the view of the play. Weekend afternoons may be better. With alcohol or chocolate may be better. Outside the usual theatre location could work better. Couple of days in a row might be better still.<BR/><BR/>Reading stage suffers from an identity crisis. What is it? Why would I want to go to a partial production? If it is such a good script, why wouldn’t the theatre do a full production? Why are tickets so expensive (as compared to movies or rentals)?<BR/><BR/>What is needed is better advertising to educate neophytes and historical supporters that this form has certain advantages. Reading stage done right is as powerful as fully staged productions. It is the distillation of the force of acting. A director can cast fine actors whose schedules don’t permit them to otherwise appear. One can experience actors whose physical reality may not match the visual but whose talent supercedes the role. Quality editing of necessary narrative or stage direction, spoken by an actor as narrator, can be minimally invasive. Imagination in the audience mind can be as rewarding as those images we create when we read novels. Those who love the written word can concentrate more on the script, see with eyes closed. Educators who blend classroom with performance art have a greater advantage. Students are exposed to other interpretations or experience of major works. <BR/><BR/>The challenge is to create a new audience. Theatre companies cannot afford six-plus character shows, giant sets, technical requirements. Nor can they offend established subscribers with edgier works. But to be a viable art theater must not be restricted by the dollar. <BR/><BR/>Reading stage may best be used to expand the mission of a theatre. Royalties must be paid and one might be surprised that staged readings are as expensive as full productions. I think it is time for theatres to think outside the bricks and mortar box, take staged readings to other performance spaces, in the summer, under the stars, in the parks. Directors can work with marketing writers to contact with potential audiences. Open reading stage to the public for free/donation requested and it works like advertising to promote the theatre’s season. Pass the hat, pay the actors and director.<BR/><BR/><BR/>What could be next for reading stage? I asked our resident curmudgeon to post the rules because I wanted readers of this blog to see them and to assure everyone out there who wants to see or do more theatre that it’s useful to know what the format has been. Past directors have tweaked the rules. I think that makes it even more interesting. I personally love the reduced rehearsal time, the lack of memorization, the spontaneity of the performances, the salad of opportunity that reading stage delivers. <BR/><BR/>Actors are bound to the tyranny of commercially driven script choices, the predilections of directors, the wage and most especially to ephemeral nature of the very art of acting. There is room for more theatre.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1137030287675497502006-01-11T17:44:00.000-08:002006-01-11T17:44:00.000-08:00Thanks for your comments, Bobo. I'm anxious to ge...Thanks for your comments, Bobo. I'm anxious to get a copy of The Pillowman. I usually have trouble keeping up with the scripts for our current season, but I suppose I must put down my murder mysteries long enough to scout for potential shows. Sigh!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1137019764876769112006-01-11T14:49:00.000-08:002006-01-11T14:49:00.000-08:00I have been asked to post the rules for Readers Th...I have been asked to post the rules for Readers Theatre - or Reading Stage, whichever you prefer. So, here goes.<BR/><BR/>It is my understanding that The Drama League has "established" the following:<BR/>"All Reading Stage performances must conform to the format outlines below:<BR/>- No lighting cues. Lights will illuminate the stage...nothing more.<BR/>- No sound cues. Live sound effects are allowable, and must be performed by the director or his/her designate.<BR/>- No costumes will be provided and no costume changes will be allowed.<BR/>- No props; everything must be mimed.<BR/>- No blocking; movement is expected to be from chair to reading area and back again."<BR/><BR/>I know, there are some who say rules are made to be broken. Personally, I remain a purist, but then again I am just an old phart. Who am I to tell somebody else how to produce a theatrical piece?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136970990730784872006-01-11T01:16:00.000-08:002006-01-11T01:16:00.000-08:00I know I had a friend who was attempting a playrea...I know I had a friend who was attempting a playreading club, that I attended a meeting of that was just he, his wife, and I... you may know this fellow Bobo as you work with him (I wont mention his name in case he can beat me up) <BR/>I'd love to see something like that get off the ground (even selfishly as a playwright who tends to write "Edgy" stuff)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136936773640977662006-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:002006-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00Thanks, David, for the good point about actors bre...Thanks, David, for the good point about actors breaking into a new area - and with relatively little time commitment, too. A source told me that at Interplayers, for Tuesdays with Morrie done readers-style, audiences ranged from 20 to 100.<BR/>I still think maybe organizing a playreading club -- along the lines of a book club -- might be the way to go. Could be open to anybody, but esp. members of the Spokane theater community. Any interest? How would we know the gender breakdown, so as to accommodate and choose good scripts matched to whoever shows up?<BR/>AND I want to revive the idea of an awards night for local theater. Bobo will investigate how the B-Side awards night did. He hears rumors of how a proposed Tony night hereabouts may have gotten nixed ...Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136922212273809502006-01-10T11:43:00.000-08:002006-01-10T11:43:00.000-08:00Anon 11:17 makes very good points, yes.I was blind...Anon 11:17 makes very good points, yes.<BR/>I was blinded by my enthusiasm for good scripts -- of COURSE it's intriguing mostly to insider types.<BR/>What if the Civic or other local theaters simply organized cold reading nights? In the past, I've belonged to a couple of playreading clubs -- get together monthly, read a script. It was great fun. Main difficulty was in acquiring multiple copies without using Mr. Xerox to violate the law, wink wink.<BR/>The readings are tremendously invigorating for those who are involved. Maybe that's the problem - play readings are are a lot more fun for those doing it than for those watching it.<BR/>Especially in light of the disbanding (?) of the Civic's play reading committees, this might be a way to try out as-yet-untested-locally scripts. Ignite!, Lake City, ARt, CenterStage -- your chance to get people onto your stages and invested in upcoming productions. Fill an opportunity that Civic is jettisoning?Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136920371532594602006-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:002006-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:00Jan W, I agree about verbal obscenities being spla...Jan W, I agree about verbal obscenities being splattered all across the stage. It's like stage nudity: Are people paying attention to ANYTHING else onstage if somebody strutting around naked? No. And then if they've got a potty-mouth -- for awhile, that's all you hear, then -- you're right -- you just tune out. Used sparingly, of course, it can be startling and quite effective. My beef is with people who object even to those moments -- i.e., who have a zero-tolerance policy for onstage profanity.<BR/>And I agree that four-letter words in themselves do not equal edginess. In the case of The Pillowman (McDonagh is also the playwright of The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Cripple of Inishmaan (sp?) -- however, the F-bombs seem justified to me: highly charged and angry men in horrific circumstances ... of course they wouldn't scruple to talk like this.<BR/>But Pillowman is on the edge in part because it doesn't quaver from challenging the liberal pieties that the press is absolutely free, the artist has responsibilities only to himself, violent content (as in video games or movies) couldn't possibly influence young people to do despicably brutal things, etc. Does abuse justify acting out later in life? And why not, if parents, neighbors and authorities have done absolutely nothing to forestall the suffering of children? And maybe totalitarian states wouldn't be so bad, if they would round up all the child molesters and terrorists and kick some serious ass. <BR/>You can see how, in coded, metaphorical form, McDonagh is taking on invasion of civil liberties, torture, our collective paranoia, and so on.Bobo the Theater Hohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02543482882758983557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136918339558127962006-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:002006-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00what is your definition of "edgy"? Must a show ha...what is your definition of "edgy"? Must a show have loads of profanity to be edgy? Can one perform edgy subject matter without cursing continuously? I think the constant cussing detracts from a show (movie or play) Language should be used for emphasis and character development. If you are bombarded by it, you become numb, and when someone does curse for effect, it has none. Keep suggesting shows, please. I was not familiar with a couple you mentioned. Gotta go to the library!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136849326709420302006-01-09T15:28:00.000-08:002006-01-09T15:28:00.000-08:00For anonymous 1/9@11:17am:Well said! You are right...For anonymous 1/9@11:17am:<BR/>Well said! You are right on the mark. But, I think "Readers" is plural, not possessive, isn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136834238985416942006-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:002006-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:00Reader's theater should not be treated as a revenu...Reader's theater should not be treated as a revenue generating event. Outside of the large markets searching for production financing, the reader's theater serves as a forum to hear plays (new or proven) under consideration for production. Given that as the intention, audiences would tend to be artistic types (directors, actors, writers) and also literary types. The remaining audience are generally friends and family of the people reading.<BR/><BR/>With the goal of "listening" to a play to consider it for production, blocking gets in the way. Having seen readings with blocking, the experience is like watching a first rehearsal (not that great) and often the reader, wrapped up in the blocking loses the timing of the writer or their place in the script.<BR/><BR/>The consistently best reader's theater I have seen occurs in comfortable chairs, beverages are not necessary but wouldn't be a problem, blocking might occur if the narrator can not bring a vision to an action, and the audience attending can see the play in their mind's eye with eyes closed and relaxed.<BR/><BR/>Reader's theater isn't a production after all. It's intended purpose is to hear and visualize the playwright's story.<BR/><BR/>There may be exceptions like "Hair" which is musical and one can watch the singers. But that is more of a concert forum than reader's theater of a comedy or drama.<BR/><BR/>There are some plays written with the intention of reading only (i.e., Animal Farm). This show in full production is just another reader's theater.<BR/><BR/>Given that the audience attending are artists, friends of artists and literary types, and given the goal of considering a play for production and getting feedback from the audience, charging admission shouldn't occur.<BR/><BR/>If a theater is presenting reader's theater as a revenue source, the audiences will always be small contingents of friends and family of the cast.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136828191596491942006-01-09T09:36:00.000-08:002006-01-09T09:36:00.000-08:00There was one reading stage show that was VERY wel...There was one reading stage show that was VERY well attended. "Hair" was a reader's theatre show, the end of the season and it was standing room only. Maybe they should do more of those, because it was exciting and amazinly well done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15527783.post-1136778609835349072006-01-08T19:50:00.000-08:002006-01-08T19:50:00.000-08:00Ah, so much to comment on. First, let us acknowle...Ah, so much to comment on. <BR/>First, let us acknowledge that Readers Theatre was created for a specific purpose - to get backers for proposed Broadway shows. It was a gimmick created by Lawrence Langer of the Theatre Guild to present new scripts directly - and in their most dramatic form - to possible backers. Rather than mailing scripts out and have most of them remain unread - and therefore unappreciated - Langer would hire established actors to read scripts aloud to invited deep pocket audiences who were wined and dined in the process. (Yes, Bobo, as you suggest, comfortable chairs and good wines.) The potential backers were then available to receive a strong sales pitch on why they should put their money into the planned show. But we must keep in mind that Readers Theatre has never been a commercial success. When Eugene O'Neill, Jr. established Readers Theatre, Inc. in 1945, and teamed first with Herebert Berghof to read "The Mayor of Zalemea" and then Blanche Yurka to read "Oedipus Rex (both at the Majestic Theatre), each ran only two performances. Six years later, in October 1951, Paul Gregory produced "Don Juan In Hell" (the third act of Shaw's "Man and Superman") for a one night fund raiser at Carnegie Hall. He was smart enough to get Charles Laughton to direct and read the part of the Devil. Laughton cast Charles Boyer as Don Juan, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as The Statue, and Agnes Moorehead as Donna Ana. It was so well received that it move to the Plymouth Theatre in April 1952 for 66 performances, and the re-opened at the New Century Theatre in November of the same year for another 38 performances. To my knowledge it was, and is, the only commercially successful Readers Theatre production. But then look at that cast. Four of the biggest stage and film stars of the day. <BR/>Personally, I love Readers Theatre, but I suspect that only other actors really enjoy watching it. Sadly, your average theatre goer wants action, costumes and a set on stage, nothing less. Vivid imagination is not their strong suit.<BR/>As for your suggestion that a little blocking and a few props be added in - well, there are rules against it, but if bending a few rules makes the project a success, who am I do argue against it. Good luck getting the support you seek.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com