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Talking In Chicago

April 25, 2006

by:

Joe Patti

It is only a coincidence that this entry like the one last week is about a theatre podcast. I only recently noticed that the Talk Theatre blog/podcast page had merged with Theatre in Chicago to become Talk Theatre In Chicago and wanted to explore it.

Not living in Chicago, I don’t know what other resources exist, but I have to think this site is set to become the premiere source of info on theatre in and around Chicago. There are listings of current shows, what is coming soon, a separate link for kids shows, news about theatre around town and the collected reviews for each show from the papers around town.

And there are the podcasts. What I like about the podcasts are the way they are presented to visitors. There is a brief description of each show and then when you follow the link for a particular show you have the choice of listening to the complete show or going directly to the news, reviews or interviews segment.

One thing that became apparent though was that it may take a little while for people to become accustomed to formatting their programs for the podcasting medium. The first podcast I chose to listen to was an interview with Goodman Theatre Executive Director Roche Schulfer.

Unfortunately, the start of the interview was reminscient of the conferring of an honorary doctorate by a university. The interviewer went on and on for nearly three and a half minutes reciting Schulfer’s bio. I actually haven’t listened to the interview yet because after a 1:30 or so, my only interest was seeing how much longer the dry recitation was going to continue.

I am happy to report that after sampling a handful of other interviews and reviews, the host reached the point of the program much quicker. My first impression as a theatre person though was that this l-o-n-g intro was not wise on a medium mostly utilized by people with expectations of more immediate gratification and shorter attention spans.

Podcasts in general and the Talk Theatre in Chicago website in particular, provide super opportunities for introducing and educating people with little experience all about theatre. You can visit, find a performance near you, read the reviews for it and listen to a podcast so that you can at least start to become familiar with theatre vocabulary and the way people discuss it.

But first they have to be interested enough not to skip over an interview because it starts out so damned boring!

I can understand why folks would want to give people their due and I concede that I often ramble a bit in my writing from time to time before getting to the juicy interesting stuff. I too have sinned! On the other hand, theatre people should know that exposition should be played out across the length of the play rather than clumping it all at the beginning. (Again, I too have sinned.)

The endeavor looks like a promising resource for the Chicago theatre community which has always had a great reputation to begin with. It would be super if other cities could adapt/expand on what they have done for the culture of their communities.

Featured

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News for Presenters

April 24, 2006

by:

Joe Patti

Just a bit of news for presenters if you have missed it. A few news items Association of Performing Arts Presenters has been involved in.

The first is the testimony that Yo-Yo Ma and APAP President Sandra Gibson have given to the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee about the deleterious effect visa restrictions have had on the efforts of U.S. presenters to bring international performers to the country.

The APAP site has copies of both speakers’ testimony as well as a Powerpoint presentation Gibson made and 14 pages of media coverage of their testimony.

There is some good news/bad news about visa processing on the APAP site as well. The good news is that as of April 1 all O and P visas for performers will be processed at the Vermont Citizenship and Immigration office. This is good news because Vermont has the reputation of being the quickest processing office–or did before all the applications got dumped on them.

It is important that you send your applications directly there because sending them to any of the other three offices means they will have to be forwarded on to Vermont which will only delay your processing. The Vermont station address is on the APAP site.

The bad news is that Vermont has been instructed to send part of their load to the California office which has the reputation of being the slowest office. Because you must send your application to Vermont, if you live in Los Angeles, there is a good chance your paperwork will be coming back for a visit quite soon.

It only add insult to injury if you lived in L.A. and mailed it to the California office only to have them mail it to Vermont who then turn around and send it back to California for processing.

The entire visa situation is a real big deal for APAP. (And for full disclosure, I had to cancel a show myself because of visa complications. So I am making a big deal about it, too.) They are actively soliciting feedback about any problems people have with visa processing asking people to email Jim Doumas, Government Affairs Director at jdoumas@artspresenters.org

General Musings

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Paula Vogel–Cool As Hell

April 19, 2006

by:

Joe Patti

As much as I enjoy James Lipton Inside the Actor’s Studio, his respectful posture and meticulous research just isn’t as fun as the host of Cool As Hell podcast’s energy and fearless interview style.

Last month Michael interviewed playwriting icon Paula Vogel and got her talking about the state of the arts in the U.S. Her ideas about getting kids doing art at the same age they are learning to kick a soccer ball and getting the arts back in schools might not be new.

She does say some interesting things about the messages artists are getting these days. Among them are her feelings that “Darwin and captialism are very bad models for art” (3:15) and art begets art.

I was also intrigued by her idea that even though she was a klutz, she had to learn to play sports and as a result, all athletes today, artists of the flesh she calls them, speak for her inner athlete. She hopes for the day that every creative artist speaks for the inner artist housed in everyone.

The thing I like about Michael is that he is respectful but he starts his interview right off saying he disagrees with some of her views. After he lets her explain, he then challenges her idealism and asks for practical ways for her vision to manifest in a country that isn’t likely to throw off the captialist model she says is unhealthy for the arts.

I don’t know that she really provides any new answers since she talks about going back to the 60s arts environment, calls for more money to fund the arts and art in schools. She does present some quotable moments like “art is a dog that you feed that bites you” (7:05) when arguing that art should challenge society but the agenda of arts funders is to make art palatable and devoid of challenge.

On the other hand, I give her credit for doing the interview. Podcasting being so new, I imagine it would be difficult to gauge how substantive a discussion she would be expected to have.

State of the Arts

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Phooey With Flaws

April 18, 2006

by:

Joe Patti

As a counterpoint to my entry yesterday, I offer this article from the Gotham Gazette.It was suggested to the editor Artsjournal.com by a reader. While the article is about being an artist in NYC, it obviously has lessons for any place in the country.

What really caught my eye was #7

7. Be Perfect
A composer who teaches on the faculty of the Juilliard School observed in a television documentary marking its centennial celebration that an average graduate of law school or medical school can still have a decent career. But it is not possible, he said, for a successful artist to be only average.

Here I am saying you shouldn’t be afraid to be flawed and I come across this article which I have to agree with that says only the perfect and sublime can ever expect to make enough to eat.

Going back to the Power of Flaws entry I cited yesterday, I wonder if it is the fault of the people who promote visual and performing arts (movies included). As Andrew Taylor says-

…read through most arts marketing materials or grant applications and what will you find? Perfection, triumph, success, and positive spin. Their performances are always exceptional. Their audiences are always ecstatic. Their reviews are always resounding (or mysteriously missing from the packet). Their communities are always connected and enthralled. In short, they are superhuman, disconnected, and insincere.

Is it any wonder then that people expect perfection from artists?

It is a viscious circle. You have to say you are wonderful because people expect you to be wonderful because you have been telling them how uniquely wonderful everything you do is.

General Musings

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