Well, at least we ended the week with a bang. Since I last posted, I've done two weddings, three shows and now I need a nap. Lesson learned: the first thing I say when asked to officiate a wedding is "what date are you planning?"
I did enjoy the weddings this weekend. Both couples worked hard at their pre-marriage counseling and seem to understand the work it takes to build a successful marriage. When you get to the church the day of the wedding and you feel excited to join the couple together, it's a good feeling. All the same, it takes a surprising amount of energy to get through the wedding day, and I find that I really can't stay at the reception for too long following the wedding service. I would love to stay and celebrate, but something in me just needs to decompress. I never understood why pastors didn't always stay at the reception for very long - now I think I do. We wish the couple all the best, and immediately we start wondering if we did enough during our pre-marriage work to help them succeed.
Saturday night was the final show of "The Spitfire Grill." You can see pictures from this amazing production in my previous post. I've REALLY enjoyed being a part of this show and I know many of our audiences walked away feeling good about spending a night at the theatre in Barrett. If there's a community theatre where you live, support them! We work so hard to put on quality entertainment - it's wonderful when folks are appreciative of the work we do.
Prairie Wind Players was mentioned in yesterday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune in an article about theatre companies throughout the state. I can't say I was really impressed with the article - the writer made one glaring factual mistake and described our group from "tiny Barrett" as "decidedly lower key" in comparison with a summer internship program in Alexandria. Of course we're tiny - anyone driving into town can see that. Of course we don't put the same amount of work into our productions - we're a VOLUNTEER theatre company. If you're going to write an entertainment article promoting the arts statewide, it seems to me you could be just the slightest bit charitable. This is perhaps one problem living near Minneapolis/St. Paul, the arts mecca of the Midwest - 'outstate' artistic stuff often gets short shrift when compared with the Cities.
But that's what's happening in Barrett. It's sunny, I've got the morning to do some work on flowers, the lawn and our cars, and then we're going to have a short holiday with Beloved's sister & family. Life is good!
Scott
The Strib author didn't seem to know the difference between summer stock and community theater. Summer stock (like L'Homme Dieu) is professional. No community theater can 'compete' with summer stock.
ReplyDeleteI've had some new thoughts on this topic recently. For years, I've been telling folks who do community theater that the reason they're losing audience support is (brace yourself, this is going to hurt), the shows are boring. Tired old material, under-rehearsed and indulgently performed, just can't compete with all the other entertainment and leisure options folks have nowadays. But now technology is putting the highest levels of professional theater out of most people's financial reach. Tickets for WICKED, making its first visit to Minnesota, are $110 to $700 or more, because folks buy them up while they're only available to groups (at the original prices of $24 to $80) and then auction them off. A fellow theater lover in Boston tells me the practice is nation-wide and the only way to get seats at honest prices is to become a season ticket holder. That's not a viable option for folks who live a substantial distance from large cities.
If this practice continues, 'lesser' theater venues such as summer stock, educational theater, and community theater will have a new opportunity to become THE source for theater entertainment for the public at large.
Here's hoping they make the most of it. RW
I lived in the Cities during seminary and during that time I only got to the Guthrie once, to see "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" with Patrick Stewart & Mercedes Ruehl as George & Martha. Now with the new theater, I'm afraid that my options will be even more limited than before.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the reasons I enjoyed Spitfire so much was that it was a NEW show, and a step out of the norm for PWP. It was live theater that people hadn't seen before, and surprising in many ways. Was it great art? Maybe not, but I think there were, as you noted, some really great, emotional connections within the play for all the players, and that can be a wonderful thing to experience. Maybe someone who came to the show thought about live theater in a different way thanks to our work, and if that's the case, then we did well, I think.
I will admit that I'm a homer when it comes to comments/articles from the Strib. I LOATHE the term 'outstate' and I see red (pun definitely intended) when they refer to the Cities becoming a 'cold Omaha' if things don't change. So perhaps my reaction to the article on theater was a bit more visceral than it needed to be - but it still seems a bit patronizing to me.