Wednesday, March 10, 2004
The best month of the year...
March is the month live theatre takes center stage in Louisville, via the Festival of New American Plays. Mainly funded by the Humana Corporation, this festival has produced many interesting plays over 25 years.
Tonight, I went to see one of these new plays, called Tall Grass Gothic. While I'm open to new and different perspectives, this particular play didn't hold my interest. It was bleak and dark-- good atmosphere set, but the emotional connection with the audience was very distant. I think I speak for most of the audience, insomuchas I felt a restlessness in the crowd, just wanting to get out of the auditorium and away from this mess. Perhaps that was the goal of the play. If so, it was certainly accomplished. I couldn't wait to leave the bleak scenes being played out in front of me.
Good theatre isn't necessarily pretty. But it engages you on a sensory level you may not normally feel. So, tonight, I can say this play affected me. --Not in a good way, but the point was to make an impression. And it did.
Tonight, I went to see one of these new plays, called Tall Grass Gothic. While I'm open to new and different perspectives, this particular play didn't hold my interest. It was bleak and dark-- good atmosphere set, but the emotional connection with the audience was very distant. I think I speak for most of the audience, insomuchas I felt a restlessness in the crowd, just wanting to get out of the auditorium and away from this mess. Perhaps that was the goal of the play. If so, it was certainly accomplished. I couldn't wait to leave the bleak scenes being played out in front of me.
Good theatre isn't necessarily pretty. But it engages you on a sensory level you may not normally feel. So, tonight, I can say this play affected me. --Not in a good way, but the point was to make an impression. And it did.
