AT25: An Eye on the Future
Claudia Alick, associate producer/community, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland
In theatre, as in everything, the old adage remains true: The more things change the more they stay the same... So instead of writing about what I think the future will be, I will strive to be a bit more aspirational. This is what I hope American theatre will be in the next 25 years, and I'll be working to make it happen—just watch me, just help me, just join me.
Shakespeare will continue to be American theatre's little black dress, appropriate for all occasions and able to be paired with just about everything and everyone. Theatre will mix both local and virtual communities in terms of developing, marketing and producing the art. Ways of producing that have less impact on the planet will flourish. The term "American theatre" will begin to mean less as we embrace a more global outlook and a more diverse aesthetic and audience. The current forms of mainstream producing models will naturally atrophy to make room for the current underground to take the forefront. A sexy new underground will form to take its place.
This new underground will challenge popular forms, take old stuff that was cool and flip it on its head. I can't be really specific about what the coolest new stuff will be—it would be reductive, repetitive and ridiculous, and God knows we don't need more of that. Times are tight right now, and some of us will be tempted to make safe and stupid choices. We need to be smart and embrace uncertainty. DON'T PANIC. Don't worry, you won't have to do theatre naked in a field under the sun because you can't afford lights, costumes or sets. But isn't it awesome that some of us will choose to do that? And isn't it even more awesome that that's all you need for theatre? That's why theatre won't die. All you need is people doing something, people watching, and the magic in between.
Theatre will continue to cause a ruckus and make waves. Theatre will continue to make change. The job of theatre is not to tell us what to think, but to tell us what to think about. And boy, do we have a lot to think about over the next 25 years!