Theater Festivals

Oh man, this is funny. Threat Quality Press on theater festivals:

"A company picks a theme, not compelled by a desire to explore it, but to wedge it into their season thematically(baseball!). Or maybe it’s February (love!), or there is funding or recognition from a larger producer to be acquired (Paris in the fucking 20’s, for Christ’s sake!). Which means that the foundation of the whole thing is an idea the company never even cared about in the first place.

Writers — who want their work produced, but likely don’t have an existing play about (the Irish Potato famine!) — throw something together for the deadline. Now, a generation of latchkey plays exist to take up space on the writers’ hard drives and which haven’t had the benefit of criticism or revision in the rare case where either, under different circumstances, may have been inspired.

Talented actors are given the tiresome task of filling out poorly-developed characters and masking plot holes and exposition. Half-interested directors are hardly motivated to make half-baked skits look like plays that are ready for production.

This is shaping up to be a great night at the theater!"