I recently went to a Community Dish meeting that focused on the role of playwrights in indie theatre then read a very touching Facebook post by Daniel Talbott (of Rising Phoenix Rep). Both of these experiences hit on something that we often hint at but never address directly: accountability in the indie theatre community.
I've said it before, but I consider making theatre to be a form of community organizing. In community organizing, one of the main principles is accountability. How do we hold ourselves accountable to the people who give us so much? How do we make sure that we are truly a force for good in our communities? How does our work arise from the needs and aspirations of our communities instead of being imposed upon them? How does creating theatre reflect the mutual interdependence between artist and community? How can we frame accountability in the indie theatre community in a way that expands our capacity to think bigger and do better?
I believe we have to begin by thinking beyond individual productions, seasons, and companies. When I visit the websites for indie theatre companies and projects, I learn a lot about art and artists, but I rarely see anything mentioning the community. It's hard to be accountable to the community when you don't talk about the community. And for an art form like theatre, which is so dependent upon the communities we live and work and play in, this is a glaring omission. How can we hold ourselves accountable to a community when we do not define what that community is?
So, talk to me: Who is your community? What binds you together?
OK, I don't have much time, but I don't want to let this slip by, so:
ReplyDelete"How do we hold ourselves accountable to the people who give us so much?" Flux's structure builds in accountability because our Creative Partnership is based on equality instead of hierarchy. We also have a relationship tier called Friends of Flux (artists and audience closest to us) that features a irregular townhall for those closest to us to give feedback (speaking of, we need to schedule one of those). In both cases, we still have a lot of work to do to reach true community-wide accountability, but our structure and values will lead us there if we stay true to them, I think.
"How do we make sure that we are truly a force for good in our communities?" See above.
"How does our work arise from the needs and aspirations of our communities instead of being imposed upon them?" Most of our work grows out of our weekly play development process, and as such, it grows out of our Fiend of Flux community, though decision-making happens at the Creative Partner level (we have seven Creative Partners, and around 115 Friends of Flux).
"How does creating theatre reflect the mutual interdependence between artist and community?" We try to make sure our Core Values and creative-home-mission move through all of our programming, both in development and production, so that by developing plays, we're developing community.
"How can we frame accountability in the indie theatre community in a way that expands our capacity to think bigger and do better?" I'm guessing you mean accountability to something larger than Flux's immediate community, and towards an Indie-theatre wide accountability? We don't have specific structures in place for this, though through specific partnerships like the BFG Collective and our memberships in LIT, ART/NY and the Network of Ensemble Theaters, we do try to expand our mutual capacity. We could do a lot more, I'm sure, if structures that supported that were in place (without those structures bending us towards that work, life is so busy that's it's difficult to do what I think you're saying).
How can we hold ourselves accountable to a community when we do not define what that community is? Flux's community moves in concentric circles: our Creative Partners, the Friends of Flux, our regular artist and audience base, the Indie Theatre community (hereafter community means both artist and audience), the NYC theatre community, the ensemble theatre community, the American resident theatre community and beyond. I believe that each step in the circle carries our mission and values outward, so that the CPs bring it to the FOFs, who carry it to the peeps who know us, who carry it to those who don't, and on and on, rippling outwards. The trick is to expand the circles without letting the center fall apart.
"Who is your community? What binds you together?" See all those words above, but I'd add that on a personal level, I take Whitman's approach, and that all people are my people and I belong to them, and what binds us is our mutual effort to bring peace, justice and beauty to each other.
This is an amazing response, Gus. Thanks!
DeleteI'm guessing you mean accountability to something larger than Flux's immediate community, and towards an Indie-theatre wide accountability?
DeleteWell, yes. But also beyond fellow theatre artists. For instance, if I do a lot of work about, say the lives of Black lesbians in Brooklyn, how do I remain accountable to the community that I'm representing?
Or, to use myself as a real-life example, something like this.
Those are beautiful sentiments, Gus, in response to an important series of questions.
ReplyDeleteI don't run a company, so I have a different perspective. As a playwright, though, I think my answers to all of these questions begin with my own understanding of why I tell the stories I tell. I try to stay focused on thinking about what stories will serve my community/communities. When I'm telling stories for others, not just for myself, I think (I may be mistaken, but I think) that I'm living up to my highest standards...
Great response, Gwydion.
DeleteTo carry this further, I believe things like your Playwrights Code of Ethics is a great way to begin establishing a system of accountability for individual theatre artists.
That's definitely a start, and thank you for thinking of it and sharing it. I also wish that artists (all of us, not just playwrights) would remain mindful of the questions you ask in the practice of our work...
DeleteWe've talked a lot about building essentially a personal board as an artist. Not a board of directors for a company but your own group of 5-6 advocates and advisers that you respect well enough to take criticism from. You create a subgroup of you peer network that follows you and your work you elevate to a place of "reporting to" not just palling around with.
ReplyDeleteI think this is s something smaller than reporting to a demographic community but something that I think is actionable and will help keep motivated on a micro-level, especially for solo artists (like writers) that lack an office peer group help keep the beat.
[no - mine is not set up or activated yet]
That's a pretty good idea. How do you envision this expanding to incorporate whole communities?
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