With smoke and steam pouring into the Manhattan skyline, the question on Broadway has become: What now? The debate on when to continue presenting shows is not heated or disrespectful. It is not, in fact, much of a debate. We all realize that Broadway will have to continue, but how?
With one of the TKTS booths decimated in the wreckage, it says alot when that isn't even a consideration. Quite simply, who wants to see a play - even with the Mayor urging us to do just that - when you have to pass by this carnage to get there? And is it fair to the victims and their families to go out and enjoy ourselves? These are not easy questions, but they need to be answered.
Theatre has always played an important role in America, and despite all the questions above and how they will be answered, I believe that for us - the playwrights - even bigger questions loom. During World War II, playwrights turned to the family and to patriotism; during the Vietnam War, they began to protest. The arts are meant to mirror society, and nowhere has that been more direct than in the theatre. So, now, where do we in our profession head?
Much debate can be made in a variety of directions: protest, patriotism, militant, even multi-cultural. But one thing is clear to me: There will be a definite trend away from the "angry play" that has dominated American theatre for the past twenty years. I feel that more harmony will be introduced, deeper themes of international brotherhood will be expanded, and playwrights will no longer be ashamed to show fear rather than anger.
That, to me, seems like the biggest change that will occur: Fear will be brought to the forefront. Anger will, of course, exist, but it will become a minor player in the show. Shows, like Rent, that show off class distinctions will fade away. Large spectacle musicals will almost certainly begin disappearing even more rapidly. And I wouldn't be surprised to see more intimate shows begin sprouting up at an even more rapid rate.
I feel that off-Broadway stands the most to gain, both because of its cloudy geography and its smaller venues, which will allow intimacy while also providing less of the obvious threat that Americans now feel in any large gathering of people. But we, as playwrights, will determine the shape of the future of theatre not all at once. We won't decide as a group what we will write about. But trends will begin and increase, and years will pass. And historians will look back and see that, like Americans, playwrights became of like mind and like cause without even realizing they'd done it.
With one of the TKTS booths decimated in the wreckage, it says alot when that isn't even a consideration. Quite simply, who wants to see a play - even with the Mayor urging us to do just that - when you have to pass by this carnage to get there? And is it fair to the victims and their families to go out and enjoy ourselves? These are not easy questions, but they need to be answered.
Theatre has always played an important role in America, and despite all the questions above and how they will be answered, I believe that for us - the playwrights - even bigger questions loom. During World War II, playwrights turned to the family and to patriotism; during the Vietnam War, they began to protest. The arts are meant to mirror society, and nowhere has that been more direct than in the theatre. So, now, where do we in our profession head?
Much debate can be made in a variety of directions: protest, patriotism, militant, even multi-cultural. But one thing is clear to me: There will be a definite trend away from the "angry play" that has dominated American theatre for the past twenty years. I feel that more harmony will be introduced, deeper themes of international brotherhood will be expanded, and playwrights will no longer be ashamed to show fear rather than anger.
That, to me, seems like the biggest change that will occur: Fear will be brought to the forefront. Anger will, of course, exist, but it will become a minor player in the show. Shows, like Rent, that show off class distinctions will fade away. Large spectacle musicals will almost certainly begin disappearing even more rapidly. And I wouldn't be surprised to see more intimate shows begin sprouting up at an even more rapid rate.
I feel that off-Broadway stands the most to gain, both because of its cloudy geography and its smaller venues, which will allow intimacy while also providing less of the obvious threat that Americans now feel in any large gathering of people. But we, as playwrights, will determine the shape of the future of theatre not all at once. We won't decide as a group what we will write about. But trends will begin and increase, and years will pass. And historians will look back and see that, like Americans, playwrights became of like mind and like cause without even realizing they'd done it.
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