-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Across the U.S., regional theaters are starting to transform. Here's why
Say "theater" and many people think "Broadway."
The musical 1776, perhaps, in a freshly revolutionary, re-gendered mounting by Tony winner Diane Paulis and Emmy-nominated Jeffrey L. Page. Or Hamilton, Rent, A Chorus Line. Or maybe they think of some of the plays that have won Pulitzer Prizes in the last 30 years.
In 2005, NPR explored the history and artistry of regional theaters in a series called "American Stages." Now, to mark the 75th anniversary of this uniquely American cultural movement, NPR is traveling across the country for a look forward in our series "The Next Stage." Over the next six weeks, we'll look at:
A theater in Baltimore that's rethinking its labor2 practices
One in Oregon that's trying to expand its audience
A Minnesota theater that's reimagining the very concept of serving its community
A Texas theater that's trying to figure out how to get enough money to keep its doors open
Why new play development matters to the regional theater ecosystem3
As it happens, every one of those shows was first applauded — before it went to Broadway or won the Pulitzer — at America's regional theaters, a nationwide network of more than 1,800 professional, not-for-profit resident stages.
Before 2020, those theaters were producing between 14,000 and 25,000 productions each year, attended annually5 by an average of more than 35 million people, according to the Theater Communications Group. That's more than twice as many as attend pro4 football games in the U.S., according to figures from the NFL.
Regional theaters were conceived as an alternative to Broadway, but they long ago became indispensable to their showbizzy commercial cousin. In the 2010s, they helped nurture6 and develop eight of the 10 shows that went on to win Broadway's Best Musical Tony, including Memphis, Hadestown, Once, Dear Evan Hansen, and the runaway7 international smash Hamilton. The movement's success was contagious8.
Alas9, so was something else: a coronavirus that brought live performance staggering to a halt on March 13, 2020.
The show won't go on
'It was the worst day of my life," said Michael J. Bobbitt, who now is the highest ranking arts official in Massachusetts as the head of the Mass Cultural Council, but who was then in rehearsals10 as the leader of Watertown's New Repertory Theater, which was producing the Billie Holiday musical Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill11. To his distress12, he had to say to his cast something that's almost never said in the theater: The show won't go on.
"This was one of the rare times, remembered Bobbitt, "that New Repertory Theater did shows by and about people of color, so to have to fire all those Black artists, and then let all those audience members who were excited about coming to the show know that we didn't know when we were going to bring it back was very, very hard."
Bobbitt wasn't alone. Molly Smith at Washington, D.C.'s Arena13 Stage had a world premiere that night, Celia and Fidel, by Cuban playwright14 Eduardo Machado, and remembered a full day of emergency conversations with theater staff and government officials about what was happening with COVID-19.
"At the end of the show" she recalled, "right after I'd done a toast with the actors in the green room, I moved them into another room because all of their friends and families were in the green room, and said, 'This was our opening and closing night.'"
What no one knew at the time was...until when.
"We closed the theater that night and didn't really reopen for almost two years," she said.
But a closed theater doesn't mean there's not an audience, or that the theater couldn't still put up a show.
Keeping the lights on, online
"We immediately started doing programming online, because we knew we needed to maintain our connection with our audiences, our artists and our patrons," Smith said.
Actors and directors taught theater classes. Smith did weekly interviews with artists that they called "Molly's Salons15." They also produced several full-blown films – basically they did anything they thought might keep them in the public mind.
"And also," she said, "we were trying to give a bit back to artists so they would continue working."
Continuity was a concern at every resident theater in the country during the pandemic. Commercial touring shows could just shut down and wait. Regional stages are communities. They have staff, subscribers who might not re-up if a whole season of plays disappears, and continuing expenses like mortgages that link them to the neighborhoods they're situated16 in.
Arena had basically reinvented southwest Washington, D.C., as an entertainment district when it expanded its complex in 2010 and wrapped it in a spaceship-like glass shell with a swooping17 roof after more than a decade of planning. The surrounding neighborhood had previously18 been largely residential19 with a few seafood20 restaurants along the Potomac riverfront. Now known as "the Wharf," it's a sparkling day-trip destination with high-rises, music venues21 and teeming22 nightlife.
"Once we began building," said Smith, "suddenly all of the developers who had been waiting jumped on, because theaters really bring people to areas."
With that kind of community investment, regional theaters couldn't just sit back when Covid hit. They needed to use the downtime. And many used it to rethink the way they'd been operating for decades, especially regarding racial equity23.
We See You, White American Theater
"We are not just props24 to be pushed on the stage every February," Chicago playwright Ike Holter told NPR member station WBEZ in June 2020, "we are the backbone25 of the theater."
Holter and much of the creative staff at the Victory Gardens Theater had just resigned en masse, partly in protest over the theater's board of directors hiring a new artistic26 director without consulting them. The theater later hired — and then fired — a Black artistic director, and has recently fired its entire staff, and become a presenting organization, rather than a producing organization.
All of which backs up Holter's assertion on WBEZ's show The Reset27 that the problem ran deeper:
"These large theaters that present themselves as liberal hotspots where, 'Oh we can talk about ideas here, we can share space here,' that's all fine and dandy, but if they do seven shows a year and only two of them are by people of color in a city that is over half people of color, that is a sign of something that is systemic, and that is a sign of something we shouldn't be silent about."
Shortly after Holter's radio appearance, a coalition28 of hundreds of prominent theatermakers of color issued a statement. "We See You White American Theater," it declared, and a 29-page list of demands followed, to make sure white American theater saw them back.
The open letter got the theater world's attention, with resident theaters doing some very public soul-searching, and pledging to do better.
Bobbitt said this should always have been a no-brainer, because "diversity is good for business."
"If someone were to ask me what makes me Black," he said, "I would say that art and culture are inherent in who I am. It's the music, it's the food, it's the dance, it's the words. So there's a group of people out there that a lot of organizations don't market to, or program for, or include in their planning. And they're missing out on all those people who would probably come and engage with them."
Using the pandemic pause to reflect, and shift gears
Many in the theater world argue that should be just the start, that stages should also consider things like leaping into digital experimentation29 the way sports leapt into television; overhauling30 fundraising models developed in the 1960s; and reworking labor practices, fellowships, and internships that require artists to sacrifice for their art.
And there's more. Theaters also started rethinking subscription31 plans that prioritize well-off people who can purchase a season's worth of prime seats in advance, while leaving everyone else scrambling32 for leftovers33. And they began reconsidering the current, frustrating34 governance model at most non-profits, where theater artists must answer to a volunteer board of directors, often with little theater expertise35, which has all of the authority and none of the accountability. (The board structure is among Internal Revenue Service requirements for tax-exempt organizations under subsection 501(c) of the tax code).
Bobbitt, who has both answered to boards as an artistic director and served on boards himself, wrote a much-debated open letter to American Theatre magazine, suggesting that the board model, initially36 intended to foster community involvement, has gotten warped37 over time.
"If I was a surgeon," he said to NPR, "I don't know if I would want a group of volunteers telling me how to do my surgery. I don't think the patient on the table would also appreciate that."
Taking their cue from that letter, all but the three legally-mandated board members at A Contemporary Theater (ACT) in Seattle, one of the nation's leading resident theaters, voluntarily stepped down last month.
ACT Artistic Director John Langs said in a statement that the pandemic, while immensely difficult for theater artists, has also prompted reflection. "We recognize that this moment represents a rare and unique opportunity to disrupt the status quo and lead the institution towards necessary change. By doing so openly, we hope to be a part of the long overdue38 cultural shift in our field."
A cultural engine roaring back to life
That shift comes at a time when the not-for-profit regionals are finally regaining39 their footing as a $2 billion business and a powerful cultural engine. The regionals over the last 30 years have become the originators of nearly all new American plays.
Arena's Molly Smith, who just produced American Prophet, a world-premiere musical telling the story of abolitionist Frederick Douglass using his own words as lyrics40, said that nurturing41 new works and new artists has actually been part of the movement's DNA42 from its inception43.
"The regional theater movement was started by three intrepid44 women, two in Texas [Nina Vance at the Alley45 Theater, and Margo Jones at Theater '47], and Zelda Fichandler [founder of Arena Stage] here in Washington, D.C."
Smith said these women didn't just give birth to a new kind of professional theater, they made it a point to nurture playwrights46 and artists in the process. And when Arena expanded its physical complex in 2010, Smith added a new auditorium47 specifically to be an incubator for new plays. To emphasize that purpose, she called it "The Cradle."
She noted48 that even though there were still just a handful of women in positions of authority at major resident theaters when she arrived at Arena 25 years ago, now there are "many many more women that are running theaters, and many more artists of color. It's an exciting shift."
There is also more interconnection among theaters – a network of producing organizations — ensuring that a new play doesn't rise or fall on the basis of a single production.
Ain't No Mo', for instance, an evening of satirical sketches49 currently playing at D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth50 Theater Company, was first nurtured51 at The Public Theater in New York. The show is on its way to a Broadway opening in November, where it will join that new 1776 that was reconceived from the ground up at Boston's American Repertory Theater, and is now being co-produced with another regional, the Roundabout Theatre.
So clearly, this is a system that works, if it's also — as many say from the inside — a system that needs work.
"It's time," said Bobbitt. "I think it's time for us to re-imagine. Seventy-five years of doing it the same way is a long time."
收听单词发音 |
1
transcript
|
|
| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ecosystem
|
|
| n.生态系统 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pro
|
|
| n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
nurture
|
|
| n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
runaway
|
|
| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
contagious
|
|
| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
rehearsals
|
|
| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
grill
|
|
| n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
arena
|
|
| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
playwright
|
|
| n.剧作家，编写剧本的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
salons
|
|
| n.（营业性质的）店( salon的名词复数 )；厅；沙龙（旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所）；（大宅中的）客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
situated
|
|
| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
swooping
|
|
| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
previously
|
|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
residential
|
|
| adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
seafood
|
|
| n.海产食品，海味，海鲜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
venues
|
|
| n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
teeming
|
|
| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
equity
|
|
| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
props
|
|
| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
backbone
|
|
| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
reset
|
|
| v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
coalition
|
|
| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
experimentation
|
|
| n.实验，试验，实验法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
overhauling
|
|
| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
subscription
|
|
| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
scrambling
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
leftovers
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
frustrating
|
|
| adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
expertise
|
|
| n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
initially
|
|
| adv.最初，开始 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
warped
|
|
| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
overdue
|
|
| adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
regaining
|
|
| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
lyrics
|
|
| n.歌词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
nurturing
|
|
| 养育( nurture的现在分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
DNA
|
|
| (缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
inception
|
|
| n.开端，开始，取得学位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
intrepid
|
|
| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
alley
|
|
| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
playwrights
|
|
| n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
auditorium
|
|
| n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
sketches
|
|
| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
mammoth
|
|
| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
nurtured
|
|
| 养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
购买
在百度中搜索