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jrisingThere 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.
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.
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Date: 2007-05-24 07:32 am (UTC)The cast vs. directors mentality is another problem, and I think you're exactly right about why it shouldn't exist. But I think in part that perception is partly a result of Alex and Gary's approach to directing. There are some ways in which a clear division is important, but if it's causing an us vs. them-ness, than it's gone too far. I think FBC is a community of volunteers, before it's a show.
Finally, ditto on your comments on action, respect, seriousness, and pride. Well said.
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Date: 2007-05-24 01:00 pm (UTC)As for cast vs. directors, you'll always have that. Just like if you walk into any factory in the country you'll get an "us versus management" attitude. If there's no "them" then all you have left is the collective "us" and while that may be great for a commune it doesn't work at all in the real world of a theater troupe. There are plenty of decisions that should *not* be made by "the collective" and in fact, you wouldn't want to and even more than that most of you wouldn't even want to know those decisions are being made.
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Date: 2007-05-25 01:14 am (UTC)To some extent, I agree that there's always an us vs. management distinction, but I've been involved in two other Rocky-sized groups that similarly have important collective projects to pursue and decisions to make, and similarly have that distinction but (I think) with less of the division. I think the difference is in how information flows. You and Gary are great at taking feedback, and I certainly appreciate that you're there to make a lot of these decisions. But I don't think that the decision-making process (the information going into it, and the different options considered) needs to be secret. It leaves that the rest of the cast to react to your decisions, rather than feeling like they're their own.