Annah Feinberg on surface-level programming, becoming huge beyond repair, and the illness currently plaguing non-profit American theatre.
Many theater practitioners believe that nonprofit theaters in the United States are ailing. Among them, the word “broken” is thrown around over and over on industry panels, in articles, classrooms, and many corners of the Internet, yielding significant intra-industry agreement that something is wrong. Around the country, organizations producing new and reimagined works for the theater have become bloated and complacent—traits which are reflected year after year in the work on their stages. Regurgitated formulaic family dramas, diluted, stale productions of last season’s mild Broadway success, and the perfunctory nods to diversity that, at best, result in tired productions of August Wilson, populate the stages of America’s nonprofit theaters. This surface-level programming and rehashing of the successes of others does not follow the countercultural ideal that gave rise to the resident theater movement, and it is certainly not creating a new ideal for the twenty-first century. The regional theater movement that was formed in opposition to the commercialism of Broadway is now employing the same commercialist tactics it once deplored. The same movement that was formed through the progressive politics of art-for-all, and out of the belief that unheard voices should be heard, now looks homogenous, exclusive, and unlike the American society it was built to reflect. Many of the theaters that were at or near the forefront of the movement are now giant institutions with giant buildings and giant overhead. Arena Stage (founded in 1950), the Alley Theatre (founded in 1946), the Goodman Theatre (founded in 1925), the Guthrie (founded in 1963), South Coast Repertory (founded in 1964), Manhattan Theatre Club (founded in 1970), La Jolla Playhouse (founded in 1947), and the McCarter Theatre (producing entity founded in 1960) are examples of theaters that were formed at the start of the movement and have become huge beyond repair. It has become clear that the nation’s biggest theaters represent the most viable extra weight within the field.
Many theater practitioners believe that nonprofit theaters in the United States are ailing. Among them, the word “broken” is thrown around over and over on industry panels, in articles, classrooms, and many corners of the Internet, yielding significant intra-industry agreement that something is wrong. Around the country, organizations producing new and reimagined works for the theater have become bloated and complacent—traits which are reflected year after year in the work on their stages. Regurgitated formulaic family dramas, diluted, stale productions of last season’s mild Broadway success, and the perfunctory nods to diversity that, at best, result in tired productions of August Wilson, populate the stages of America’s nonprofit theaters. This surface-level programming and rehashing of the successes of others does not follow the countercultural ideal that gave rise to the resident theater movement, and it is certainly not creating a new ideal for the twenty-first century. The regional theater movement that was formed in opposition to the commercialism of Broadway is now employing the same commercialist tactics it once deplored. The same movement that was formed through the progressive politics of art-for-all, and out of the belief that unheard voices should be heard, now looks homogenous, exclusive, and unlike the American society it was built to reflect. Many of the theaters that were at or near the forefront of the movement are now giant institutions with giant buildings and giant overhead. Arena Stage (founded in 1950), the Alley Theatre (founded in 1946), the Goodman Theatre (founded in 1925), the Guthrie (founded in 1963), South Coast Repertory (founded in 1964), Manhattan Theatre Club (founded in 1970), La Jolla Playhouse (founded in 1947), and the McCarter Theatre (producing entity founded in 1960) are examples of theaters that were formed at the start of the movement and have become huge beyond repair. It has become clear that the nation’s biggest theaters represent the most viable extra weight within the field.