Recently I involved myself in an online controversy by making derogatory comments on the boards usually fastened to theatres.  Some board members responded in a fury.  One said that boards do the best they can with what they’re given.  Theatre, he reasoned, “(I)s a dying art form.”

Now regardless of whether board members work hard, a problem exists when someone attached to a theatre thinks that the art is dying.  And this indicates a widespread problems with U.S. theatres.

For a medium built on community, collaboration, and connection, I fear I am experiencing and witnessing a lot of scarcity minded behavior in the theatre. As I travel and direct around the country I am seeing more and more artists, myself included, being asked to work for less and less compensation. Worse so than that what often people report to me or I hear from potential employers is that as much as they would like to hire someone, they just don’t have the resources. “We accept volunteers!” 

For many people, the beginning of a new year also marks the time of year in which people try to come up with resolutions, in the hopes that these specific goals in their lives will have been achieved by this time next year. Those of us who are highly active in theatre most likely have already come up with such resolutions related to theatre. However, there might be a few additional ideas for resolutions that some of us might not have thought about and should be willing to consider to make their year in theatre even better than last year. 

So without further ado, here are just a few New Year’s resolutions – in no particular order – for all of us in the theatre community to consider…

So frequently in my rehearsal rooms, or in my classrooms, I hear theatre artists decry politics.  There seems to be an idea that one must learn their craft in a hermetically sealed bubble, lest the influences of the banal and mundane workings of the outside world impose themselves upon the art.  In the theatre, though, nothing could be farther from the truth. 

The fact is that ALL theatre is political.  The Public Theatre’s Oskar Eustis has said that it can be no coincidence that theatre and democracy were invented in at the same time.  He says “I think that theater is the democratic art—it's no mistake that they were invented in the same city in the same decade. It's the proper place to exercise democratic virtue, for the contesting of different points of view, identifying with other people, what citizens need”.

Recently Newsies announced that its rights are open for community theaters to perform. What made this announcement even more special was the knowledge that part of the Newsies ensemble could include females. (Someone needs to give me a couple years to have my baby and get back into tapping shape so I can be in that ensemble but I digress.)  

In the community theater world, there’s always talk of gender swapping within shows and roles. This is the first major production I’ve heard of which explicitly allows for the inclusion of females into what has been traditionally a male ensemble. I want to look at some other shows and roles that might benefit from a male to female gender swap. Granted this is just a wishlist, knowing that doing anything like this would require permission first. 

The sense of adrenaline floods you in an instant, with bodies flying past you as they check just one last time that everything is in the right place. The crew tightens all of the ropes lined up against the wall without a second glance towards the actors while the racks and racks of costumes are triple checked by the changers as they try to remember the order of each scene.

After spending 22 years in a cast of a Broadway show, one deserves a curtain call worthy of that achievement. It could be a standing ovation during the final bow. Or a backstage celebration. Or parting gifts from the cast, creative and producers. 

But instead of being recognized for a rare achievement in New York theatre, Jeff Loeffelholz ended his own life with a mixture of painkillers and alcohol. 

What led Jeff to this point is going to be the subject of investigations by multiple organizations and their results could lead to a complete reshaping of working conditions in professional theatre.

While Jeff's alleged treatment behind-the-scenes at Chicago is horrific, for many other performers, it's all too familiar. 

As adults, is it 'cool' to hate competitive theatre festivals and events? Is it in our moral DNA to say it's not right to judge art?' Does our stance change if we are also thrilled by it, and would we have a different point of view if we were the ones winning? 

Recently, I have attended several productions ranging from Spamalot to Into the Woods.  As I am a person who is often curious, and I usually arrive fairly early, I started looking around at the audience.  Except for Into the Woods, which was a high school show, most of the audiences were in the 40-senior range.   So, it begs the question, is theater relevant in a modern world of technology?