Summer Play Festival
July 10 - August 5, 2007
On a tip from Jason Grote, I checked it out. Can't say enough good things about this festival. Have I died and gone to theatre heaven? 16 plays in 27 days. Each play is only $10! I have no idea how they pull that off, but the result is packed houses, buzzing energy, and all around gratitude for this amazing art form. Have seen three shows there so far, two of which were excellent, one pretty good.
Located in W. 42nd Street's Theatre Row, right next to the dramatic Mecca of PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS (with its huge neon sign, which I had never seen before - so cool!), SPF takes over a complex of small theatres with non-stop action for almost a month. And it's air-conditioned, thank god.
This past Monday featured a fascinating panel discussion with six young critics from THE VILLAGE VOICE, TIME OUT NEW YORK, NEW YORK SUN, VARIETY, etc. The discussion got down and dirty about what critics should do, can do, don't do. Of course the audience got involved and Q&A degenerated into a mild shouting match! In short, followspot readers would have loved this.
SPF is definitely a festival Portland playwrights should be targeting. From there it's just a hop next door to PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, then you're on your way. I notice Adam Bock's THE DRUNKEN CITY is on at PH this year.
Whoever is responsible for SPF - amazing job!
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8 comments:
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"Focusing on the Portland, Oregon theatre scene in precisely 50-word increments"
Anonymous, have you never gone on vacation?
And actually, a Portland-based playwright-actor was in SPF, last year, I think - Alex Moggridge, who was in my JAW/West reading. Though he's since moved to New York.
"Anonymous, have you never gone on vacation?"
Do you take an entire community with you when you go on vacation?
"And actually, a Portland-based playwright-actor was in SPF, last year, I think - Alex Moggridge, who was in my JAW/West reading. Though he's since moved to New York. "
And...? It's still not theatre in Portland. Make as many loose connections to this city as you can, and it will still not be Portland. The reason why this is so very important is that theatre in Portland needs as much rallying and publicity as it can get to keep it alive and (hopefully) to have it thrive. And throwing our attention and focus on giving free publicity to New York is counter-productive to that cause.
Oh, fer cryin' out loud. Did Followspot sign some sort of contract with you? Are you paying money to maintain this site? It's a BLOG, for pete's sake -- and we're damn lucky that somebody bothers to take the trouble! What would you prefer . . . that followspot said nothing at all when he/she/it goes on vacation, because he/she/it isn't able to view Portland plays or discuss any new developments on the local scene? It's either NY and Williamstown or nothing. Over time, Followspot has been good enough to put placeholders on line so the rest of us have an opportunity to comment on the shows he/she/it cannot get to. All this is much more than the poor, struggling Portland theater scene had just a few years ago. I've been in shows that were utterly overlooked by followspot in years past, and I fumed, but there really wasn't anything to be done about it, because followspot owes the rest of us NOTHING. This blog is a luxury -- a gift. I'll admit I scanned through the NY posts and nothing much stuck, but I think it's a good thing to be reminded we are (or could be . . . or should be) part of a larger theater community, or at least cognizant of its existence. And sure, you're free to bitch and moan if this site doesn't measure up to your idea of what we deserve, but I wouldn't blame followspot for cutting you off after one or two rants. Any more, and you're just making yourself look petty and self-centered.
"Oh, fer cryin' out loud. Did Followspot sign some sort of contract with you? Are you paying money to maintain this site?"
Well, rather than directly address the typical David Loftus rant (the ones that makes eyes roll all over town), let's look at the larger picture, shall we?
Yes, it's a blog. It's on a Blogger site. I don't think that anyone could confuse this medium with, say, a newspaper or a television broadcast. But despite that, Followspot has taken a much larger role in this community; in its short lifetime it's become an institution in this town. You know it, I know it, Followspot knows it.
In theatres all over Portland, Followspot is discussed and referenced. Followspot is quoted right alongside the Oregonian, Willamette Week, and other more conventional established media in various theatre companies' publicity campaigns. The reviews and comments published here DO have an effect on the commercial success of any given production, no matter how much we'd like to think that they don't. It's a unique and wonderful part of our theatre culture here. One can only hope that both the current maintainer of Followspot and their predecessor recognizes this, as they've both acknowledged (directly and indirectly) the rather large readership that this mere blog has.
With that in mind, there is an obligation to fulfill its purpose: a focus on the Portland theatre scene. Does Followspot have to stick to this? Of course not. There is no legal reason to do so, but rather a moral one. See, the reader/commentors are just as responsible for making Followspot the beloved institution that it has become. A forum like this is a need in our community, because the more "conventional media" are just not doing an adequate job of it. It's actually rather sad that a mere blog can rise to such prominence when you think about it. There is a real need.
In the end, we the reader/commentors own Followspot as much as the blog maintainer does. These are our stories and our work that make up the body of the blog, and our attention let it prosper. So, we do have a right to voice our displeasure when we see something that has become a part of our culture change in an unpleasant way.
"Any more, and you're just making yourself look petty and self-centered."
And the pot called the kettle what, Mr. Loftus?
I have enjoyed your comments re: your vacation theatre-going, Followspot. And I love the fact that you are such a fan of theatre, even beyond the border of Portland, that you take the time to attend when out of town and share your thoughts about what you have seen. Frankly, I'm more than a little jealous of your trip! While you're gone, I continue to look forward to constructive and insightful comments about our local scene, knowing that your blog allows my in-town fellow Followspot readers to post such.
To add to Paige's thoughtful comments, I also find it interesting to follow a Portland-oriented thespian's reactions to theater outside our bubble. His reaction is just as interesting as what it is that he's reporting. And it's better to have a brief period of foreign flashes than mere empty darkness, no?
Besides, the current blogster inherited the "mission statement" from its founder ... perhaps he's simply trying out new ways to make Followspot as relevant and useful as possible -- or at least active in his absence. It seems to me his predecessor also posted threads from theater he saw on vacation, not to mention national news threads.
On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to share our ideas for what we find useful, albeit in a more constructive manner. How about a nice little e-mail, rather than a snarky comment?
I also have to disagree with the previous commenter who says this blog has any impact on the "commercial" (by which I infer "box office" given that hardly any --if any-- of the theaters covered here are commercial in nature) success of a production in Portland. If that's the case, then the production was probably being seen only by theater insiders anyway, which in my opinion does not make for a very sustainable enterprise, especially a "commercial" one.
Gotta second leneman's comments. Portland's home to a few world-class companies, and it behooves us to take a passing interest in what's going on past Gresham city limits—or at least not to get offended when people discuss it.
And as for commercial impact, it'll take more than a couple hundred visitors a day (at least five of whom are me, at different computers) to top the 90,000+ readers Portland newspapers reach every week. Followspot's a great resource for us to have, but I, for one, am glad that audiences haven't yet learned en masse how bitter and vindictive we get in this forum.
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