Increasingly, The Savannah Dramaturgy has become increasingly fascinated with the prospect of a thriving, and self-sustaining theatrical community here in Savannah. While we cannot deny that there is a healthy theatre community in this town, it is the idea of sustainability that is the major hurdle.
Quite simply, we need the community to sustain us. We need Savannah and Chatham County to take an interest and pay to see shows, donate funding, and essentially help professional theatre to walk. However, the chances of this happening are minimal unless the theatrical community begins to show a similar level of interest back.
Which brings us to the idea of artists as community trustees. Artists have a vested interests in the overall health of their communities, and yet often seem to exist (or think of themselves as existing) on the fringes of society. All too often, thespians venture out of their venues only enough to sleep, eat, and work their paying job. However, even a small investment in the community could help to pay dividends for the theatre community overall.
When in Texas, we always had one particular consideration when shopping for Summer musicals: How many children can we cast? A single child cast in a show will mean a ticket bought by mom and dad (at least twice each) plus grandma, autie, Uncle Lester, etc etc. When you cast small kids, there is an interest built, an attraction between town and show. It is similar if the artist makes themselves something of a community figure. Imagine if one's coworkers, yoga class, and other contacts from volunteerism can be made interested in the show.
Further, one cannot help but think that enlisting organizational assistance with a show, a sort of co-sponsorship, could also pay dividends. If I recall the Savannah Actor's Theatre's production of Rocky Horror some time ago, there was an idea floated to cooperate with Planned Parenthood on providing prophylactics and information at the lobby/preshow. Though it did not pan out, to do this is to give another entity a vested interest in the health of the performing arts community.
We, as artists, must bridge to our communities. We are entrusted to tell the stories of a people in a way that nobody else can. And yet, people need to be listening. And, sometimes, in order to get people to listen, one has to shut up and do something.
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2 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree. The act of creating a is a give and take within the production, the same can be said with marketing. Take for example this production of "Hedwig." Due to work connections, volunteer groups, and venue we had a majorly diverse audience. People from the Tybee Theatre scene came out, Al and Chris' patrons at the Victory Starbucks came out, Val's patrons and co-workers from the Lady and Sons came, SCAD students were there, and the performers and employees of Club One attended.
Theatre artists have to be invested in their community at every level of production. Scripts should be chosen with a mind to the community; what can be done to get butts in seats. "Urinetown" was surprising in that it is a relatively unknown show outside of the theatrical community. Jeff was wise in casting and Little Theatre marketed the show well because the people involved were so active in the community. We had people come curious about the show leave loving it completely.
I completely agree about your point with child actors as well. They will tell their friends, families, and teachers to come and see them and 9 times out of 10 they do.
Probably the biggest help of all is supporting other theatrical endeavors in this community. I know I find as a director the feedback from experienced theatre people is great and very constructive. As artists we need to be excited by and about our craft and can do that by seeing other shows.
Eric, thank you for writing posts like this and doing your reveiws.
That is the heart of the Savannah Dramaturgy's mission, providing some sort of feedback/soundingboard/forum for the dramatic community in this town.
The next step is there, all we need is a little traction.
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