To Begin at the Beginning

The question every theatre professional asks himself (herself) from time to time is a primal inquiry that all people confront at some point in their careers:

Can't anybody here play this game?

We've all confronted them--superficial actors, clueless or autocratic directors, artless designers, narrow-minded playwrights; if you work in the regional theatre system (as JOMO does), the frustration is compounded by administrators who are holding onto their jobs for dear life while desperately seeking more meaningful employment at a bigger LORT company and apathetic, ineffectual boards. And to make matters worse, we play before audiences that feel increasingly disconnected from theatre's strengths, wanting more and more of less and less. Nobody is happy where things are. The work doesn't pay well enough, touch audiences deeply enough, create satisfying art. Almost all of us will all die in debt, falling short of our personal goals, failing to advance the art form.

It doesn't have to be this way. Nobody wants it this way.

Let's change it.

As with a systematic overhaul of a failing business model, we must first define the problems, both specific and broad. Over the weeks that follow JOMO will approach each sector of live theatre in America and, using specific examples from coast to coast, attempt to define the impediments that keep theatre from becoming an essential element of our aesthetic and cultural life. Then JOMO will start looking at solutions, in the hope that we can come to some consensus about how to grow the art.

A word about JOMO; if blogs suffer from anything, it is the tone of the rant that infests even the best of them. This comes, in theory, from the single point of view that is inherent in blogs (even when blogs take the form of dialogue). To be consistent with a pluralistic philosophy, JOMO is, therefore, not one single person but several theatre professionals working both on Broadway and in the regional theatre. JOMO has also worked extensively in non-professional theatre in such entertainment centers as Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach and Branson. JOMO has seen a great deal of theatre everywhere, and worked with a great many theatre people. If these bona fides sound vague, it is only because JOMO is hoping to protect both its own identities as well as the people around it. There will be no name calling. Skill and dedication will always be called out; incompetence will be dissected anonymously.

This column is, like theatre itself, a dialogue. Your comments are welcome and will be addressed seriously and publicly. We all need to solve this together. It can and should be a "win-win" situation. You are asked only to please keep your comments short and your observations funny (or at least empathetic).

Speaking of empathy, JOMO closes today with the title of the next posting:

OFFENDING THE AUDIENCE (why it is necessary, and the death of empathy)

Thank you!

JOMO

P.S.--And as if it were planned (it was), read about this weekend's TCG consortium in Minneapolis at www.tcg.org Apparently JOMO is not the only one wondering where we go from here...