Calling all theatre people or bloggers, or both!

Overheard on Twitter:

The Baltimore Theatre Alliance is accepting applications for bloggers, either to write reviews of BTA productions or to blog about personal Baltimore theatre experiences. Granted, the applications are due tomorrow, so I apologize for not posting it here sooner, but I just discovered this yesterday.

I followed the link from @balttheatre to the blog. Although the Baltimore Theatre Alliance is a prominent promoter of theatre in the region, the blog is a new endeavor for them. Upon viewing the ad, I contemplated sending in an application, but then decided against it, knowing that soon after graduation (just 41 days now!) I'm moving to Central Florida and will therefore a) not have time to blog much anymore due to the hours I'm going to be working and b) will no longer be living in Baltimore and therefore will not be seeing much of its theatre.

I do regret not having this opportunity sooner, especially with the recent development of All the World's A Stage. But if you or anyone you know is interested, they are still accepting applications until April 12th. It's a great way to promote yourself in online media and to break your way into the Baltimore theatre community.

I remain your Drama Queen.

Take off that gloomy mask of tragedy, it's not your style

My Russian Theatre and Politics class went downtown last night to the Hyatt hotel near the World Trade Center, where the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, spoke briefly about Russian-American relations. It didn't remotely have to do with theatre, but it gave us some perspective into foreign policy, and how current economic and political conditions in Russia can affect the types of artwork produced there and consequently those we may see here in the near future.

I won't bore you with gritty details, but essentially he indicated that Russia is a young nation that is still learning how to embrace its independence and govern itself. He himself does not agree with certain ways the United States has handled certain instances in the past, or with the ways in which the American media has portrayed Russian political action, namely recent conflicts with Georgia, which struck a particular chord in me as a Mass Communication major. But he does acknowledge that Russia has also had considerable failures. He also says relations are improving and he is optimistic that we will come to terms on several issues such as gas prices and our relations within NATO.

(Update: Today (March 5th), NATO resumes ties with Russia! Thanks, Twitter!)

Overall I'd say he's quite optimistic about the future of Russian-American relations, and when it comes down to it, even the fact that we were permitted to have this class to examine new Russian drama (which is still not universally accepted in Russia) and function as intellectuals in this fascinating new element of their culture is still mind-blowing to me. Hopefully these improving relations will allow for improved support of the evolving arts in Russia so that we may enjoy them here.

Here's the class with the Ambassador, courtesy of Dr. Robyn Quick.


And here's Dr. McCartney approaching him, also courtesy of Robyn.


As always, I am your Drama Queen.

Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it, and the reaction will be passionate.

The concept of theatre as a cultural icon is not lost on most people. It's obviously a large part of the American art industry, as it is in other countries across the globe. But why has it become ingrained in these cultures as such a significant aspect of how we live? I suppose the bigger question is, why do we care about it so much?

Andy Field, a British blogger and theatre nerd like myself, argues that theatre is not only meaningful because of what it does, but also because of the ways it influences us.

"In less than a fortnight, I have seen...shows that, taken together, were a brilliant exploration of how we watch theatre and why we watch it," he writes. "I've seen a stage littered with unsettling, almost unwatchable little scenes of contorted figures twitching while a beautiful, haunting voice sings out from among them. I've watched six people stand agonizingly still for over an hour and, with words alone, skip through a parade of places and scenarios and thoughts."

As a performing art, theatre is meant to be experienced by the individual, and therefore we will all, with our own life experiences and ideas about the world, indubitably take something different from it. Despite this, there are shows that create their own messages. Some shows like the 15th-century English play Everyman depict stock characters meant to represent specific stereotypes in society (such as Knowledge and Beauty), which usually causes audiences to reflect on those elements of human nature. The pro-Soviet Russia play An Optimistic Tragedy was written during the Russian Civil War in a time of heavy governement theatre censorship, but was allowed to be performed because of its positive representation of Soviet ideals. As the heroine dies in the last scene, her last words mirror the play's message: the Communists will prevail.

Theatre is much like the mainstream media: it presents predetermined information with some element of bias, and what we take from it is what we get. We can't see into the playwright's mind, just like we can't see into the minds of media moguls who determine which information is divulged to the public. It may offend, it may make us want to change the world, it may break our hearts and evoke unhappy memories of fear and struggle. The sheer diversity of it and the potential it has to evoke emotion renders it a cultural aspect that cannot be ignored.

--DQ