[rocky] Professionalism killed the Rocky star

[jrising]

There was a fantastic discussion at the Rocky party about the state of the cast. The vocal consensus was this:

There's an undercurrent of over-professionalism at the show. In small but definite ways, the drive for professionalism stifles some of the fun of the show and makes working at it a chore. Because the show isn't as much fun, it isn't as good, and the audience has noticed. Both directors, theater 3, and Acid's absence were blamed for these problems.

It's so tough to disentangle real harmful effects from nostalgia. So, tell me: do you agree? Have we gained the world and lost our soul (or raised the bar and broken our backs)? The drive for screen accuracy can push us to do better, but if it drives out jokes and connecting with the audience-- if our performance just duplicates the film-- do we want it? The cast members used to work up the audience waiting outside before the show. Does anyone do that now? We have such a great group, and we can fix these problems, but maybe not without big changes.

Feel free to post anonymously or email me separately.

Comments

[jrising.livejournal.com]

It's great to hear this. I love FBC, and I'm so happy to be part of it, and it feels incredibly vibrant and active right now, and I know I'm always going to remember these times. I don't want my bringing these things up to be construed as complaining. I do feel like there's something uneasy in the air, but I hope that our surge and energy will jostle things up, and maybe help everyone have a share of good old days.

[jdub0014.livejournal.com]

I don't see what you're doing as complaining. Though it is perhaps the easy way out. Rather than presenting your own ideas, you presented an unbiased account of your perspective of what everyone else has been feeling and thinking. Very clever. I wish I was that good at not becoming a bad guy.

I do like these discussions, and I enjoy reading what others have to say. It's so easy to complain though. I'm almost tempted to start a post about how great FBC is and see if that generates anywhere near as much positive feedback as this has negative.

[jrising.livejournal.com]

I hope so! There's so much *right* about the FBC-- even if people notice the bad more easily than the good, the fact that we have such a committed community shows that people love it.