AT25: An Eye on the Future
Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, co-artistic directors, Big Dance Theater, New York City
A provision in an early version of the economic recovery bill stated that "none of the amounts appropriated...by this Act may be used for any...gambling establishment, zoo...golf course, swimming pool, stadium...theatre...and highway beautification project." An accurate clustering so it seems to me...some insight on theatre today. Most theatre being supported/lauded today is the aesthetic equivalent of highway beautification. The anti-theatre view expressed by this provision is very much embraced by the handful of disgruntled, whack-job theatremakers who, I think, are making the most vibrant work—theatre that liberates the rational mind from mimicry of the already known.
My hope for the next 25 years (let's say minutes, not years, because I already feel myself switching to an opposite opinion) is that more theatremakers will embrace their pariah status, be emboldened by it, and thus elevate theatre in the eyes of the Senate from mild scorn to downright detestation. May we be equated with the scoundrels of our age (stiff competition). May we be a toxic asset to our society. —Lazar
A Prophesy in Five Parts:
Tell Me a Story: We never tire of our stories: our Greek gods and our mortals sparring for agency, our heroes and anti-heroes. After thousands of years, I don't think the love of story will go away—but it may look very different. Staging will be less dependent on trying to reproduce what we deem real. Productions will live more in the world of the imagination and metaphor. Painter Giorgio Morandi said: "Nothing is more abstract than reality."
There Will Be Dance: And there will be dance in all plays—because dance is always true. Dance makes us know things that are ineffable, and theatre trades best in what is mysterious and without answers.
Noisy Feelings: American audiences will at last tire of the noisy, sweating and spitting school of acting and prefer their theatre drier and their emotional moments earned. The theatre will get unhooked from mawkish sentimentalism, and try to stay sober—until the sobriety breaks, and we cannot sustain it, and we weep.
Matters Durational and Electronic: Theatre is getting shorter and shorter. Maybe in 25 years it will be like a haiku. But I don't think theatre will go electronic. Theatregoing is in part a love of sitting in the dark with strangers watching live bodies sweat.
Addictive Audiences: Samuel Pepys, who lived in the 17th century, had to ration how many performances he would allow himself to see to accommodate his budget. He was an addict for the stuff. And he often broke his own rules and went to the theatre every night. Let us be optimistic and say that in 25 years, audiences will come running from all the flat screens to the multidimensional, spontaneous and unpredictable world of the stage. —Parson