(NOTE: All hyperlinked play or film names may contain spoilers.)
I've been a big fan of Neil LaBute's work since seeing In the Company of Men for the first time. His stage work is even better; The Mercy Seat might be the best art produced to date involving September 11th, and The Distance From Here should be replacing SubUrbia as the play that best reflects the status of today's underclass youth.
He's written a piece in the L.A. Stage Alliance's magazine Pravda ... er ... LA Stage about the five things that Los Angeles theater has to do in order to be more successful or, as the headline puts it, "greater." It's a great read, and my summary and follow-up comments here shouldn't stop you from reading it yourself, if theater in Los Angeles interests you (and if it doesn't you've stopped reading by now).
Talent. LaBute argues that more A- and B-list actors need to
head into the community and work onstage, and that will bring more audience
members out to the shows. Not a bad argument, but as someone who worked
in/with/for a 99-seat theater (18 months as treasurer and six months as
chairman), I wonder where the seed money comes from to get the A-list, B-list
or even D-list star in the first place.
Location. LaBute also wants the stars to be everywhere, not
just at the Ahmanson or Geffen. See previous.
Material. One of the constant fights at any small company is between those who believe that putting on new material is more theatrically pure and those who believe that doing established plays will bring in more people. At the Alliance, the goal seemed to be a mix; the outgoing artistic director in 2005 picked a season of shows that included world premieres and established plays like the over-produced, done-to-death This Is Our Youth. LaBute lands on the side of those pushing for world premieres, and I have to agree with him, but I don't know that this is a pressing or major point. There is enough work out there that has been produced in New York but never gets an LA performance to keep many theater companies going for a long time. It is nice to develop local writing, but with writing for the screen being a much more lucrative (save strikes) career, it's harder to find quality new works to produce.
Audience. LaBute says to go find an audience. I'm sure it's out there. The saturation level is something that makes finding your audience difficult, however; throw a rock in LA and you'll hit either a Thai restaurant, a strip club or a small theater.
Respect. Here's the money paragraph, from where I sit. Directly from the piece:
"We must earn the respect we crave."
I will be the first to admit that I have high expectations of myself, something that can come off as either limitless ego or crippling perfectionism to others. It's one of the things that ran me off from the Alliance. "Good" just isn't good enough, and too often those of us doing this, especially those of us doing it for free, settle for that rather than put in the extra time and effort.
I hear a lot of complaining from friends and associates about negative reviews from mean-spirited critics, and I know at least one reason why. It's because a lot of theater in LA flat out sucks. Sorry. I've seen half-written world premieres and complete butcherings of famous pieces (including LaBute's own The Shape of Things). I've seen performances phoned in by actors who can barely memorize their lines. My reviews of most plays I've seen here (and, truth be told, some that I've produced) wouldn't be any nicer.
So how do we make LA theater better? How about the actors involved put as much effort into memorizing that second-act monologue as they do in prepping for that under-5 live audition for Cavemen? How about we hire actual sound designers for shows, rather than having the producer make a really cool mix CD for the pre-show music? How about we - the producers, directors, writers and designers - treat the stage with the reverence and respect it deserves?
There's a reason that the truly great theater companies in Los Angeles - and there are a handful - stick around. It's not because the people who run them have theater degrees that are better than anyone else's. It's because they care deeply (and, in some cases, madly) about what goes up on stage.
Yes and yes.
Posted by: Alisha Seaton | January 28, 2008 at 08:46 AM