Friday, September 15, 2006

What Makes You Want to Work With Someone Again

Over at Que23, Lucas Krech has written a terrific post about getting employed. He quotes one of his teachers: "You have not been hired in the theatre until you have been hired back."

So here's a question: what are the characteristics of someone you would like to work with more than once? What is their personality like? Work ethic? Work behaviors? Other things?

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

More On Political Theatre

An old, old friend from my month at the National Critic's Institute at the O'Neill Theatre Center, Robert Faires (arts editor for the Austin Chronical) tipped me off about a fascinating article about political theatre in his newspaper. It is called called "Hang the DJ," by Katherine Catmull. Her analysis of what makes politcal theatre so exciting when it is good, and so damned painful when it is bad, is worth a read. Just a sample: Catmull quotes playwright Kirk Lynn:

"I have been thinking a lot about bowling and football. I think a lot of theatre gets made like bowling. It has an inevitability that builds but never goes away. [It] sets up the big ideas they are going to try to knock down and then sets about knocking them down. But really good theatre is like a fumble. All really interesting ideas are shaped like a football. When they get loose, there is no telling which way they are going to bounce and the whole contest is up in the air. Political theatre should aim to fumble more."

I like it. I like it!
Check out the whole thing.

Think Again: Funding and Budgets in the Arts

Every once in a while, I think I'll post a link or two to posts written earlier in the life of Theatre Ideas that seem worth revisiting ...