Off Stage Conversations

Hello, this is Andie Arthur, Executive Director of the South Florida Theatre League. I'm here with Off Stage Conversations, where I take a look at what's being talked about in the national and international theatre community.

The Essence of Theatre

Tony Kushner gives an interview where he talks about the difference between playwriting and screenwriting. For Kushner, playwriting isn't about storytelling, but about the argument of the play.

Melissa Hillman also takes a look at the mission of theatre and comes up with a different answer:

And this is what I think theatre is for: gathering a group of people to enter into a world wherein a story can be created, shared, and fully experienced in real, physical space and time by both creators and audience. Our stories contain all the mysteries of our existence, all the secrets of our hearts, all our hopes and fears and dreams and longing and joy and pain and everything that makes us who we are, who we were, who we fear becoming, who we want to be, what we dream we can be, at the deepest, most meaningful level our brains can comprehend.

Part of what is interesting to me is that I wanted to title this "why we create theatre," but I think why we create theatre is a different question than what is theatre for -- and I wish we looked at the differences more often instead of conflating the two.

The Dreaded Artist Statement

And an artist statement is supposed to answer both of those questions. Theatrespeak talks to a bunch of theatre artists about one of the most dreaded parts of a grant application.

The Importance of Community

David Byrne writes for the Guardian on how New York City is no longer a functioning community for artists as income inequality is slowly squeezing out a vibrant artistic community.

Becoming Commercial

The Chicago Reader has a piece on the new Chicago Commercial Collective, which plans to take bring back popular shows that had limited runs at non-profit theatres and turn those productions into commercial theatre.

Better Donor Connections

Philly.com talks about the new generation of Philadelphia donors and what arts organizations need to do to connect with them.

And Michael Kaiser writes for the Huffington Post on the importance of keeping elevator speeches current -- focusing on recent achievements and needs -- as opposed to a static mission speech.