AT25: An Eye on the Future
Seema Sueko, artistic director, Mo'olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego, Calif.
My very unscientific "methodology" for exploring the question of what the next 25 years will bring to American theatre began by looking back 25 years and seeing both happy and horrific sights:
...miniskirts.
...Duran Duran.
...The Real Thing.
After waking from my daydream, I realized there are lessons to be taken from each of these "icons," allowing us to take a good look at where we were and consider where we're going:
Miniskirts: Great at the time, but I wouldn't dare wear one now. Lesson learned: Time to clean up my closet and time to clean up our act. I hope that within 25 years we clean up our theatre buildings and identify eco-friendly theatre processes and materials to be used throughout our operations. Mo'olelo is currently developing a Green Theatre Choices Toolkit, thanks to a TCG grant—a first step in identifying how to create theatre without sacrificing the long-term health of our communities. (And I promise not to sacrifice the long-term health of humanity by wearing that miniskirt again.)
Duran Duran: They're about to record a new album, described as an "art school project" driven by curiosity. Lesson learned: With or without shoulder pads, artists will remain curious over the next 25 years, creating new forms and incorporating new technologies (and, yes, I still heart Duran Duran!).
The Real Thing: Tom Stoppard's play won a Tony in 1984 and still gets produced widely. Lesson learned: As society becomes more digitized, equal and opposite to that drive is the growing need for authenticity. Live theatre offers just that: authentic artistic experiences. But beyond our work on stage, we will need to be transparent in all our operations, especially how we engage audiences. Current marketing strategies, particularly paid advertisements, will no longer prove effective. Instead, good old-fashioned word-of-mouth will draw the audience. So we need to generate word-of-mouth proactively. At Mo'olelo, we take a community-organizing approach to each show, holding grassroots, activist-type gatherings with community groups, engaging them as stakeholders in each production months before the first rehearsal. It's a page out of President Obama's handbook.
I hope that within 25 years, our marketing departments become community-organizing departments headed by activists. That kind of authenticity inspires new theatregoers and creates something that stands the test of time—more so than my miniskirt, and perhaps even more than Duran Duran.