Light Cue 23

Last Thursday evening I went out to a “Bloggers Night” to go see Dying City at Lincoln Center. The idea behind these is to generate “buzz” for established theatre companies such that they can play off the only truly viable marketing campaign that works in the theatre, word of mouth.

I do not like doing reviews. I find them to be an inherent conflict of interest as I am a working professional in the industry and thus anything I say or do not say is directly mediated by my desire to get work in the industry. Further, I have no interest in doing assignments. I have had more than enough schooling in my life and unless moved to talk about something I see no reason why I should discuss it.

The play was fine. It’s Lincoln Center. They have a larger advertising budget for a single show then I make in a year. Several years probably, but if I start thinking about that I will get depressed. If Lincoln Center wanted to hire me to light a play they would get a wonderful and in depth discussion of the work. They did not.

I am sure there will be many a long and well reasoned review of this play coming out around the “Theatre Blogosphere” today. I won’t write one. In fact, I do not really consider myself to be part of this “Blogosphere.” Sure, I have a blog. Sure the main subject tends to be Theatre and I am a theatre professional. But I am not a “Theatre Blogger.”

I do not write about “Theatre.” I tried that for a while and got bored, rather quickly. I do however write about what I am doing and what interests me. I write about plays that I am lighting. I write about my own work because that, before all else, is what concerns me. I am glad when other people do good plays but more than that I am interested in doing good plays myself, or dances or operas or whatever.

Because I do so much work on so many different plays and dances and operas and performance pieces, just talking about my own work gives a wide and varied entree into the “world of theatre.” Hell, it’s the beginning of March and I have already worked on seven shows and am in the middle of tech for the eighth for 2007.

Theatre is not about theory. It is about action. Writing about a play is like writing about sex. You might get turned on, but you’re not going to come. This does not mean there is anything wrong with theory. Theory is great. Porn is great. But if you want to fuck, don’t just sit in your bedroom reading romance novels.

I never get mentioned in any articles about “theatre blogs.” I rarely get linked to by “theatre bloggers.” I am not on any blog rolls labeled “must read.” Perhaps my writing is uninteresting. Perhaps I am simply unashamed of talking about my own work and publicly dissecting it unlike most other blogs I see. Perhaps it is too obviously advertising of my own work. Perhaps designers are not considered active participants in the making of theatre.

Whatever way it works, the reality is that I am at best on the ‘fringe’ of the theatre blog community. Most of my friends do not even read my blog. Why? Well, for the most part they are too busy being out there making theatre to spend much time reading about it.

Did I mention I am going to Rumania in June to light a play? It is an adaptation of Antigone for one woman and will be performed in the chapel of a castle in Transylvania.

That is fucking cool.

Ann Rice, eat your heart out. I am creating a site specific work in a church in Transylvania.

Of course, after this post and this one I’ll only be able to get work in non-English speaking countries. So all in all I guess this is good timing. Perhaps it is time to get out since “New York is,” as Annie Hall says, “a dying city.”

Tags: antigone, blogs, sibiu

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