Big ol' virtual suggestion box 2009

Editorial

Here are a series of propositions we solicited from you. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

What we’d like to see more

  • More site-specific work.
  • A bookstore dedicated to theater where actors could preread audition scripts.
  • More experimental work that is funny.
  • More living wage employment in the arts across the board.
  • More diversity of work from the thousands of years of theater history. (Just because you didn’t read it in your theater survey class, doesn’t mean that it isn’t high-quality and relevant.)
  • A performing arts intramural softball league! (Let’s see Starting Gate take on the Jungle – on the field. The Guthrie could field a bunch of different teams from all the different departments.)
  • No more smoking on stage.
  • More affordable rehearsal space.
  • Less Shakespeare.
  • Live djs.
  • More smoking on stage.
  • A stage manager-of-the-year award.

On time-management

  • Start shows on time.
  • List the show’s run time in the program.
  • Run shows at different, more creative times (like Tuesday early evening, Friday late night, Saturday late afternoon, Sunday brunch).
  • Coordinate opening nights and seasons so that fewer theaters overlap shows and dates.
  • Theater artists should make a point of seeing shows early in the run rather than on closing weekend, so we can all help spread word of mouth better.

On education

  • Professional theaters of all sizes should bring more shows to area schools and be more involved in general with education.
  • Actors can teach teachers how to hold the attention of a room. Improv performers can help them learn to handle chaos in the classroom.

On outreach

  • Independent theaters should be more aggressive about recruiting kids and adults in homeless shelters and halfway houses to see shows by offering free tickets.
  • Theater touring the Twin Cities suburbs (because some people are scared of parking downtown and those people need theatre, too).
  • Considering how many actors live here, someone in the Twin Cities should host unified regional theater auditions for all the Midwest (especially Actor’s Theater of Louisville).
  • Everyone should have a cry room, not just for kids.

On economics

  • What with so many of the small groups trying to stay alive, why don't some of us form a collective and share staff and funds?
  • Along the same lines, to young theater artists: instead of starting your own company that will have half the labor it needs, why not join forces with an existing company that needs twice the labor they have.
  • UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

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