Comments on: OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE

By: Jason Grote

Jason Grote — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:27:02 +0000

I always feel a twinge of regret throwing theater under the bus, knowing that people who have been generally supportive (like you, Asher) will wind up reading it. It makes me feel ungrateful, or like a bad investment.

You can take comfort in the fact that it will probably be many years before I leave the theater. One of the great ironies of our business is that it’s the most rewarded — the Pulitzer and Obie winners and Broadway hitmakers — who can most easily make the jump into Hollywood and who frequently don’t return. I will continue to write the best work I can, but that will be happening out of necessity (i.e., I need the money, as meager as it is), and largely in spite of the nonprofit infrastructure. In other words, theater and I are stuck with each other for now.

But I do have my reasons, most of which I shouldn’t share online. What I can and will say publicly is that I’m determined to not become one of those angry, bitter middle-aged dudes with a permanent chip on my shoulder. I am choosing instead to walk away, though by the time I do I will probably have written about 10 plays I’m happy with, which isn’t too bad.

By: Itchy and Scratchy sans Poochy

Itchy and Scratchy sans Poochy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:44:51 +0000

I guess that’s fine, but then why are these theatres taking public subsidies and calling themselves “non for profit” — which is not just a pro forma consideration but — well i thought — was about an ethos and about the shepherding of artistic work.Let’s call a spade a spade: MTC and the Roundabout are commercial theatre. Right Todd? Right Lynn? Give the taxpayers back their money, and free that money up for theatres that are doing the actual work.

By: Asher

Asher — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:34:12 +0000

This is prob highly cynical (and certainly impolitic in my part) but, when you own real estate (a theater) in NYC and when you run a multi-million dollar org, at some point, a lot of it does become about the economics and figuring out a financial model that works for you – in the case of certain institution, yes, that means programming plays that feature prominent Hollywood stars and producing only plays by established writers who sell tickets.

By: Itchy and Scratchy sans Poochy

Itchy and Scratchy sans Poochy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:47 +0000

We need OUR OWN Martin Luther nailing his theses to the TKTS booth. The theatre powers have been usurped by near-total venality. This isn’t just about theatre, this is about culture, and the future of art in general. Does ANYONE running these theatres actually care about art anymore, and by extension the psyches of human beings and souls? Or do they only care about buillding their instutitions and Sienna Miller and Tony Awards and prefab-looking-yet-new 4 million dollar lobbies?

The Space is all but foreclosed, people. Theatre Producers DO NOT own the theatre. The artists are the true stewards. Maybe that’s why this is happening. We need to be or own saviors. We need an exorcism.