11 Be or Not 11 Be

As you know, we had our first reading of our reading series (11 Celebrates 10) on Monday!  The play was called Out To Lunch by Joseph Langham, and we read at Under St. Marks. 

Before I talk about the performance, which I will, I wanted to point out something else.  Something that I hope continues throughout our reading series.  It was truly inspiring and fun to work with other young theatre artists with similar aspirations and goals in creating theatre.  At our rehearsal for the reading there was energy and excitement about this relatively unknown play.  There was also a sense of play and silliness that I think can be lost in a world that often seems to be every theatre company for itself.  This reading went beyond that and was simply about people wishing to create theatre collaboratively.  Of course this project was low stakes and the artistic commitment was on a much smaller scale than attempting a full production.  When something becomes a larger commitment, that is when it seems people need to stay true to their own company.  That is when actors and directors and designers become territory that is not ready to be lent out like a library book.  I’m in no way condemning this, I act in a similar way…I just wonder if an inter-company loan system might benefit us all.   

The reading itself went well.  We had a good sized audience, the playwright was there we had a talk back that opened up the play in new ways and shed some light on theatre and art in this day and age.  The entire evening was very fun, again there was a lightness and an honesty to what everyone was doing that made this an enjoyable experience for all.  Even more exciting was that this became an opportunity for theatre artists to talk about the political nature of theatre, the power of theatre and what needs to be done in theatre as we move forward in our world today.  I felt like I was a student in a small café in France right before the revolution.  Certainly with our country, economy and lives where they are, an artistic revolution is necessary.  We are on the cusp of great change, for better or for worse, and we need to be prepared to reach out and also listen to the pulse of our country and then, like any good actor would do, react.

 

Written by Ryan Emmons