AT25: An Eye on the Future
David D. Mitchell, managing and interim artistic director, Run of the Mill Theater, Baltimore, Md.
Looking 25 years into the future is hard. I hope that our national theatre community continues to diversify both on the boards and off. We need to nurture and train more people of color on both the artistic and managerial sides of theatre. This will give rise to work that reflects America's melting pot of culture and ethnicity.
I think it's imperative that theatres develop and maintain community-based programming—programming that continuously involves the needs and wants of the "would-be patron." We'll need a theatre that illuminates and authenticates the triumphs and tribulations of both the bourgeoisie and today's common man.
I hope that we are able to preserve craftsmanship. It's important that technique and process never take a backseat to the demands of technology. This may be our biggest challenge—evolving our theatrical tradition to include the technical modes of the future. Oh! The-Internet-HD-right-now-generation! Will they hold fast to the timeless teachings of our theatrical forefathers, our great performance theorists? Or will these great contributors become "reflects," only to be unearthed 20 years from now like some lost Egyptian artifact? We need young voices that are committed to the idea of fusing the old tradition with the new.
As we move into the future, I think arts education will reveal itself to be the true cornerstone of contemporary theatre. There must be a serious commitment to the youth! Who will write? Who will direct? Who will produce and perform? Who will come see and support theatre 25 years from now? As a national community, one of our primary goals should be to provide access to all, no matter what economic hurdles lie in the way.
We are resilient, passionate, intellectual beings. Let us strategize and forge into the next 25 years with as much certainty as our lessons from the past and present allow.