by David Dower
I'm going to push at the boundaries of my "positive inquiry" mandate here at the New Play Blog to spout off a bit for a moment.
I've been watching the theater blog world all week with a growing sense of dismay. I love the energy- it gives me energy to see people all over the country and all over the terrain (aesthetic, generational, cultural) writing with passion and regularity about new plays. And to see what Isaac has organized at Parabasis around Outrageous Fortune, and the thoughtful, wide-ranging contributions of his guest bloggers on the topics raised in the book.
And at the same time, I see a discouraging amount of energy going into things that are uninformed by the source material under discussion or the events surrounding them. There's a surprising amount of stuff that begins "I haven't read it yet, but I here's what I think about it..."
Outrageous Fortune is very clear right from the jump. It asks this: "Please read the whole thing first." It is meaningless if dissected into isolated sound bites and cherry-picked stats. It is downright counterproductive when those sound bites are further dissected or separated from their context, spun, and rebroadcast as facts. And if you've only read the NYTimes or Chris Jones and formed opinions about it that way-- well let's just say your opinions on the work are as useful and productive as those who read the reviews and spout off about your work without actually seeing it. The discussion at Parabasis will ultimately cover the whole thing from multiple angles. Which will provide an invaluable resource in advancing understanding of the conditions and how to approach solutions. But if it's important to you enough to comment, it is important that you read it yourself.
Similarly, the work that we're doing at the Institute here is grounded in work that is entirely available to the people interested in talking about it. The Gates of Opportunity distills the work I did with the support of the Mellon Foundation to understand the issues and practices in communities around the country-- want to see beyond Nylachi? Read it. It's free. It's 30-ish pages. Read Diane Ragsdale's piece and the Humana piece. They are right here. You can be done with all of that in an hour.The discussions at the Institute are tweeted, blogged, and live streamed. Engage them.
One of the strangest comments I've read thus far goes something like this: "I haven't read it yet, but what if this book is greeted not with a bang, or even with a whimper, but with a yawn...?" Between you and that result stands- you! If what happens in the #newplay sector impacts you enough that you are reading blogs and posting comments, then RTWT. And then ask, maybe, take a page from Buckminster Fuller and ask yourself: "What can the Little Man do?" And do that. Or, if you prefer, be Ben Franklin, who asked himself every morning "What good shall I do this day." And do that.
OK. Back to our regularly scheduled positivity. The posts from the Black Playwrights Convening will follow...
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