[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

On Cliques and Other Stuff

[smurf24.livejournal.com]

Since my original response, the word "Clique" has come up in several other people's comments. I personally tend to think cliques are the biggest enemy of cohesiveness and unity, mostly because by definition, they are exclusive and hateful of outsiders. I have never been a fan of that mentality, especially at a place like FBC, where our main goal is to put on an amazing show, which takes a certain level of collaboration and open communication.

My comment was not meant to be bitchy or whiny or "why don't people like me?" because I honestly don't feel that way at all when I'm at Rocky. On the contrary, I love my role at Rocky and I get along with mostly everyone. But there are certain people who make my job less fun.

I have been on costumes crew since I joined over 2 years ago. I have teched almost every current actor and a lot of alums. Some actors make being a costume tech amazing. They really appreciate everything we do to make the show go smoothly and they realize that our goal is to help them. Other actors order us around like we are hired hands. I've been yelled at by actors for things that had nothing to do with me. I've seen lots of actors take off our costumes and throw them on the floor instead of handing them to a tech or helping to put them away.

Despite the negatives, I've also had a lot of laughs and the pleasure of working with a great crew and talented actors. As head of costumes, I am very proud of how accurate our costumes are and how much the costumes area has been improved by our wardrobe and other recent innovations.

I may bitch and moan sometimes, but at the end of the day, it is my choice to be part of FBC and if I didn't love it as much as I do, I wouldn't still be there every weekend.

Re: On Cliques and Other Stuff

[jrising.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree that cliques form divisions in the community that make feeling part of it, and working together on our shared project (the show) difficult. It makes me glad that we have the show itself, to bring us all together.

I think there's a fine line between cliques and the natural different social connections that people have. There are times and ways when I think they are safely over that line, and some times not. Fortunately and unfortunately, as committed and strong as the Rocky community is, it isn't the whole of its members lives. So people act cliquish from the perspective of the community, just because they're forming strong friendships outside it.