This year was the third year that Portland Center Stage offered the Made In Oregon section of the nationally acclaimed JAW festival. The festival focused on four writers Susan Mach, Brian Kettler, Nick Zagone, and me (Andrea Stolowitz). The readings were staged on the main stage (500 plus seats) at PCS from Monday through Thursday at 6PM. What was most impressive about these readings (other than the stellar talent on display) was that audiences came out in droves, with each reading having about 200 audience members. Wow. Oregon audiences really support their local writers. Of course much of the audience interest has to do with the fine reputation that the JAW festival holds both nationally and locally (and also that the only competing events were the Escher lectures at the art museum), but still, a more interested local audience you could not find.
So what’s on my mind? Why am I writing this article? Something niggles at me. Strong local interest in Oregon for everything Oregon (beer, cheese, wine, coffee, cars) and a strong talent pool of local actors should make this a playwright’s dream town, but somehow being local and getting productions is more elusive than it should be. Somehow the risk to an established theatre of putting on a new play by an unknown writer is big, but the risk of putting on a new play by an unknown writer who happens to live in the state of Oregon has been practically insurmountable. Why is being local seen as a detriment? How can we get out of the mindset of local being equivalent to “not that good”? And who is judging this anyway?
Maybe we need to start from the ground up. Maybe the established theatres feel like they can’t take the social/financial/personal risk of embracing the local, but the new young companies in this town can. In the past several weeks I have spoken to three separate theatre groups who have, by some sort of cultural flowering of the collective unconscious, developed an active interest in new plays and in new plays by local writers. It’s true, they are mostly young and mostly new, but they are feeling the pulse of what is going on nationally. Being a playwright is “in” again (thank you, 13P) and being local is the new hip (if you are a beverage or a car).
So what’s a playwright to do? Keep your head down, your mouth shut, your pen scribbling, and FIND YOUR TRIBE and make theatre. Maybe while the people of social and artistic import are arguing about the “real role of the regional theatre in relation to the local artists,” the new American plays will be developed and executed by the talented, motivated, professional people on the ground. And I am not talking about scrappy late night theatre. I am talking about new companies carrying Equity contracts, having nice seating and dressing rooms, and high production values. To quote Nike (also local to Portland), “just do it.”
I guess that’s my only answer. And maybe someone from a big regional might even come see the show and use some of their flagship status to send your work out to the great beyond to all those literary managers yearning for an authentic voice. But really probably not.
astolowitz@dramatistsguild.com
Portland
This year was the third year that Portland Center Stage offered the Made In Oregon section of the nationally acclaimed JAW festival. The festival focused on four writers Susan Mach, Brian Kettler, Nick Zagone, and me (Andrea Stolowitz). The readings were staged on the main stage (500 plus seats) at PCS from Monday through Thursday at 6PM. What was most impressive about these readings (other than the stellar talent on display) was that audiences came out in droves, with each reading having about 200 audience members. Wow. Oregon audiences really support their local writers. Of course much of the audience interest has to do with the fine reputation that the JAW festival holds both nationally and locally (and also that the only competing events were the Escher lectures at the art museum), but still, a more interested local audience you could not find.
So what’s on my mind? Why am I writing this article? Something niggles at me. Strong local interest in Oregon for everything Oregon (beer, cheese, wine, coffee, cars) and a strong talent pool of local actors should make this a playwright’s dream town, but somehow being local and getting productions is more elusive than it should be. Somehow the risk to an established theatre of putting on a new play by an unknown writer is big, but the risk of putting on a new play by an unknown writer who happens to live in the state of Oregon has been practically insurmountable. Why is being local seen as a detriment? How can we get out of the mindset of local being equivalent to “not that good”? And who is judging this anyway?
Maybe we need to start from the ground up. Maybe the established theatres feel like they can’t take the social/financial/personal risk of embracing the local, but the new young companies in this town can. In the past several weeks I have spoken to three separate theatre groups who have, by some sort of cultural flowering of the collective unconscious, developed an active interest in new plays and in new plays by local writers. It’s true, they are mostly young and mostly new, but they are feeling the pulse of what is going on nationally. Being a playwright is “in” again (thank you, 13P) and being local is the new hip (if you are a beverage or a car).
So what’s a playwright to do? Keep your head down, your mouth shut, your pen scribbling, and FIND YOUR TRIBE and make theatre. Maybe while the people of social and artistic import are arguing about the “real role of the regional theatre in relation to the local artists,” the new American plays will be developed and executed by the talented, motivated, professional people on the ground. And I am not talking about scrappy late night theatre. I am talking about new companies carrying Equity contracts, having nice seating and dressing rooms, and high production values. To quote Nike (also local to Portland), “just do it.”
I guess that’s my only answer. And maybe someone from a big regional might even come see the show and use some of their flagship status to send your work out to the great beyond to all those literary managers yearning for an authentic voice. But really probably not.
astolowitz@dramatistsguild.com