Week 6 was our first week on the Boston Common! Twelfth
Night started previews this week, which meant the Apprentices have been
working front of house! It’s been a lot of work and long nights, but it’s
really great being out on the Common watching the show take shape.
Now I think it’s actually time to talk about what Twelfth
Night on the Boston Common really means. It’s not just Twelfth Night. It’s FREE theater. In the city of Boston. And Shakespeare?
This concept of free theater, or theater for all, as I like to call it, reminds me every day why I love acting in the first place. Try to follow this...
What makes theater so unique is the crucial component of experience, which changes each and every night. I'm not talking about the actors, I'm talking about the audience. It's like what John Berger talks about in Ways of Seeing; that depending on context, the art changes.
What separates free theater from commercial theater are the people watching. In the audience each night is a group of people brought together without exclusivity. The person to your right or left could be anyone at all. That's a bunch of anyones at all in one space watching the same piece of theater.
This model of theatrical experience promotes justice, not equality, but this blogpost isn't supposed to be political, so I'll give you Joe Papp's words instead.
If you don't know who Joe Papp is, he is the founder of the Public Theater in NYC and the brains behind free Shakespeare at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. He inspired a revolution on how both actor and audience think about theater. He made us think about whom theater’s for, why we choose to engage in theater, and why we make art in the first place.
He talks about the accessibility of art and what stands in its way:
“If there is a single driving force, it is its continual confrontation with the wall that separates vast numbers of people from the arts. This wall – spawned by poverty, ignorance, historical conditions – is our principal opponent, and as we joust and engage with this “enemy,” we distill and shape the nature and style of our theater."
What makes free theater complicated is the "enemy." That wall Joe Papp talks about changes every day. So if you're aware of the wall, you should be able to put on free theater, right? Take a moment to think about the implications of this...and in the meantime...
Look, Joe Papp!
Okay. Back to the wall. Accessibility to free Shakespeare shouldn't initially be a fight against the changing society, it has to support it....
In his book, Free For All, he says that theater should be just as accessible as a library. So if a free performance of Shakespeare is like a book checked out of the library, how does that inform the production? Joe Papp will tell you, again:
“In the general scale of things, certainly it’s important to take care of basic necessities… But part of the spiritual life of the city is its art, its plays, so you are creating a false distinction. I always used to say that Shakespeare should be as important as garbage collection, and I liked having a line on the budget that was close to things that were necessities to the city…. That’s what I think art should be: part of the city, part of every day life.”
NECESSITY.
Steve says that he wants Shakespeare on the Common to be the best thing he could possibly present to the audience, because for some audience members, this is the only performance they'll see all year. But Shakespeare isn't charity. It's a necessity that begins to go at Joe Papp's wall, even tries to navigate through and around the wall.
Shakespeare on the Common is more than just a performance outside.
And this is how I feel about free theater right now. Just so you know, I've rewritten this post three times now, hence the delay into Week 7...
What makes theater so unique is the crucial component of experience, which changes each and every night. I'm not talking about the actors, I'm talking about the audience. It's like what John Berger talks about in Ways of Seeing; that depending on context, the art changes.
What separates free theater from commercial theater are the people watching. In the audience each night is a group of people brought together without exclusivity. The person to your right or left could be anyone at all. That's a bunch of anyones at all in one space watching the same piece of theater.
This model of theatrical experience promotes justice, not equality, but this blogpost isn't supposed to be political, so I'll give you Joe Papp's words instead.
If you don't know who Joe Papp is, he is the founder of the Public Theater in NYC and the brains behind free Shakespeare at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. He inspired a revolution on how both actor and audience think about theater. He made us think about whom theater’s for, why we choose to engage in theater, and why we make art in the first place.
He talks about the accessibility of art and what stands in its way:
“If there is a single driving force, it is its continual confrontation with the wall that separates vast numbers of people from the arts. This wall – spawned by poverty, ignorance, historical conditions – is our principal opponent, and as we joust and engage with this “enemy,” we distill and shape the nature and style of our theater."
What makes free theater complicated is the "enemy." That wall Joe Papp talks about changes every day. So if you're aware of the wall, you should be able to put on free theater, right? Take a moment to think about the implications of this...and in the meantime...
Look, Joe Papp!
Okay. Back to the wall. Accessibility to free Shakespeare shouldn't initially be a fight against the changing society, it has to support it....
In his book, Free For All, he says that theater should be just as accessible as a library. So if a free performance of Shakespeare is like a book checked out of the library, how does that inform the production? Joe Papp will tell you, again:
“In the general scale of things, certainly it’s important to take care of basic necessities… But part of the spiritual life of the city is its art, its plays, so you are creating a false distinction. I always used to say that Shakespeare should be as important as garbage collection, and I liked having a line on the budget that was close to things that were necessities to the city…. That’s what I think art should be: part of the city, part of every day life.”
NECESSITY.
Steve says that he wants Shakespeare on the Common to be the best thing he could possibly present to the audience, because for some audience members, this is the only performance they'll see all year. But Shakespeare isn't charity. It's a necessity that begins to go at Joe Papp's wall, even tries to navigate through and around the wall.
Shakespeare on the Common is more than just a performance outside.
And this is how I feel about free theater right now. Just so you know, I've rewritten this post three times now, hence the delay into Week 7...
Anyways, did you know, the Public Theater moved into
the old Astor Library on Lafayette? Incredible.
Back to what we do here. The Apprentices went to the West End House this week, where we
played Shakespeare themed theater games with the kids. They didn’t have a
specific interest in acting, but it was so fun watching kids just jump in. I
always learn a lot about courage from kids. Also Team Simon got to perform their Greenshow! Our show is pretty kid friendly, so it was nice performing for a young audience.
The West End House reminded me of my 5 summers spent at Turtle Lane Playhouse as a camp counselor. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I saw hundred of kids run through those doors for 5 years and watched many of them grow up with my own eyes. It was crazy.
Experience of the week? I actually ran into one of my campers from TLP on the Boston Common. I was walking to the info tent and I heard him scream "Caroline." I haven't seen him in two years but I recognized his voice. He's 14 and going into high school. I was his counselor when he was 8. He was Horton in Seussical.
Experience of the week? I actually ran into one of my campers from TLP on the Boston Common. I was walking to the info tent and I heard him scream "Caroline." I haven't seen him in two years but I recognized his voice. He's 14 and going into high school. I was his counselor when he was 8. He was Horton in Seussical.
Anyways, the official opening night for Twelfth Night is this
Thursday, and Team Simon will be performing their Greenshow! Week 7 is going to be exciting! Hopefully the blog post will be lighter next week.
Or not. Ars gratia artis.
CC
Or not. Ars gratia artis.
CC
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