Theater Ideas Newsletter
January 30 to February 6, 2025
Only one piece of writing this week, which has been frustrating but necessary. It occurred to me that I just sort of launched into The Rooted Stage Series without really explaining what I was trying to do, and I I decided that I needed to pause an provide some context. I’ve tried several times to write a Preface/Introduction when I was thinking The Rooted Stage would be a book, but got bogged down. This time, I wanted to do was pretend as if I was being interviewed by a slightly skeptical version of me, in dialogue form. So: Me is, well, me; and MeToo is the skeptical questioner. MeToo’s lines will be bolded, and my answers will be regular text.] I hope it will help you to better understand the trajectory of these posts.
I Interview Myself (The Rooted Stage -- Introduction)
MeToo: Welcome to “Excuse Me, but WTF???,” the podcast where we try to get to the bottom of just what the heck some of y’all are thinking. Scott, you’ve just launched on your blog what you are calling a “series” called The Rooted Stage that so far has been focused on American theater in the 18th and 19th century. What in the world made you think this needed to be done???
Me: I sometimes ask this question myself… Well, shortly after I released Building a Sustainable Theater, I was interviewed by Munroe Shearer for HowlRound. Early in the interview, he said: “You give a history lesson in the book about the Theatrical Syndicate, and how it can still be felt in the business models of theatres today. Can you talk a little bit more about what the Syndicate is and what remnants of it we still see today?… I couldn’t believe this was my first time hearing this story.” I’ve heard variations on this theme from many, many people, from current undergrads to retired theater professors, all of whom are fascinated by a story that explains a lot about how we got where we are in the US theater today. So in many ways, this is a supplement to Building a Sustainable Theater, going into greater detail about how the theater became centralized, bureaucratized, and commoditized. And lest that lead to despair, I will talk about all the many great artists who successfully fought against this trend throughout the past century.
MeToo: Why did they fight against it? Wasn’t it the inevitable march of progress?
Me: I’d argue that not only was it not inevitable, it wasn’t even progress! It was the result of particular choices made by people with power at a specific time–choices that may have made sense then, but have negative consequences today. I remember reading a story about ham that is applicable.
I didn’t comment on this article on the blog, but I thought it was good enough to share with you all. While it is about the internet rather than theater, I invite you to consider whether there are any applications to theater or the arts in general. I sometimes think that the importance of changes to the way we use the web (e.g., the addition of the “Like” button, and the introduction of the algorithm) aren’t really noticeable until long after they have become the norm. I think this is not only true of the internet, but of the theater as well, and that’s part of why I am writing The Rooted Stage series. The article is by Seattle author Tracy Durnell, and is called “The Open Web as Gift Economy (Part 4).”
Economist and arts administation professor Michael Rushton is publishing a fascinating series using the alphabet as an organization principle (much like Sue Grafton crime novels). Each post is well worth reading, but I was particularly struck by “I is for Isomorphism (All the Same).” In it, Rushton discusses the tendency for institutions to gravitate toward “best practices,” which ends up leading to a lack of innovation and a general homogenization of the arts. Again, I didn’t have time to comment, but maybe I will get to it later.
Next week, I hope to provide the final technological pieces that will get us to 1870 and the arrival of the Combination Company, after which we’ll work our way to 1896 and the birth of the Theatrical Syndicate.
P.S. You may have noticed that I no longer provide a “comment here” button for my newsletter. Partly, this is because I haven’t quite gotten it set up to notify me when a comment needs to be approved, but mainly it is because I prefer to talk one-on-one about this, and if the conversation seems to be one that would benefit from more perspectives, I will ask the commenter for permission to include it within a newsletter. I do hope you’ll share anything you find worthwhile—I’m not broadcasting each newsletter to the social media sites as I did in the past. I prefer a more personal, private experience. That said, I do believe that there are people “out there” who might find some of my ideas address their frustrations and might inpsire new approaches. If you know someone you think fits that bill, I hope you’ll share it with them.
P.P.S. If you prefer to see these posts when the pixels are still warm, rather than waiting until Thursdays at noon, you can see them at scottwalters.micro.blog. If you’re using an RSS reader, feel free to follow. You can click “subscribe,” but the weekly summary will lack all of the contextualization and commentary that you see here. So the choice is yours.