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Waiting for Righty

POLITICAL PLAYS - by G.L. Horton (3/28/03)

In the March 23rd NY Times article on Political Plays, playwright Richard Greenberg says:

"You do see American theater that by default, by what it accepts, promotes conservative thinking." [Editor's note: Mr. Greenberg's "Take Me Out" does no such thing.] "But activist to the right? Theater doesn't seem to be the medium for that. Maybe it's not the right place for demagoguery. Nobody ever wrote `Waiting for Righty,' did they?"

Greenberg thinks there is no activist conservative theatre because he has a definition of theatre that omits popular productions such as Evangelical and African American morality plays, which are produced and performed below the radar of Variety and the TCG. These out-of-the-mainstream Christian productions are the heirs of the venues that made Abolition possible. These performances train values and change lives--- though they are no where near as influential as TV and movies, of course.

Additionally, I would categorize 90% of mass market "entertainment" as "Waiting for Righty"-- the hero who is strong and brave enough to win through to a goal, with the people who are opposed to his goal reduced to mere obstacles. The audience is encouraged to admire and assent to this win.

The "Art for Art's Sake" American theatre, the MFA'd practioners who are taken seriously by critics and their colleagues, drawn by the European model of public subsidy and repelled by the discomfort of Jews and gays in Christian spaces, have broken off theatre's once vigorous moral dialogue with and within churches, where it was sometimes encouraged to function as a powerful voice for the dignity and worth of losers. I'm the only white theatre practicioner in my circle who is a regular church-goer (There is a large community of African American actors and musicians for whom performance is a spiritual practice.) My church has been actively but kindly and gently working for all sorts of "leftist" causes since Abolition and the Mexican War, under the banner of Universalism (God loves all his/her children, not a particular set of the Chosen. Killing sinners is a sin.) Most of my political plays were written for and produced in church basements-- as were many of the anti-war pieces of the '60s. The Pope is rightist in sexual morality and hierarchical practice, but far left on war and capital punishment and anti-capitalism (Mammon, remember?) and church basements could once again serve as a haven for theatre opposed to The Corporate System-- if more actors and writers and directors were among the 80% of the population that identifies with some church.

Nicole Mattson comments:

"Greenberg is cutting out theater as a tool for right activism? I think that if plays with a pro-choice message can be done, plays with a pro-life message can be done. Originally, theater was a venue for upholding the status quo. Tragedies were told to the Greeks, showing the consequences of wrong actions. Medieval morality plays taught lessons in behavior, and mysteries explained what to believe.

GERALYN: Yes-- but as performed, they extended empathy to the oppressed and ascribed madness and tyranny to those at the top of the Great Chain of Being, the kings God set over the people. (Like Herod.)

NICOLE: "I just can't believe that theater won't work for the right as well as it can for the left. I mean, what is theater? Sharing an experience, whether historical or fictional, sending a message. Conservatives have experiences to share, conservatives can build a case for their opinions and beliefs through the medium of a play. It's just a tool, no political/ideological group has a monopoly on the effectiveness of the theater.

"Maybe it's not the right place for demagoguery." Last time I checked, a charismatic leader with a crowd of the "little people" behind him didn't necessarily have to be conservative. Nothing suggests that right activism is "demagoguery." A liberal can't be a demagogue? That's news to me.

In the article, A.R. Gurney says:

"I've gotten increasingly steamed up by what I feel is a rightist turn in our country's political picture," he said, "and as a playwright I wanted to speak to the community about that. There's something very creepy about the fact that the president, who some people would argue wasn't elected at all, is taking steps that are so uncompromising toward the right. There's no attempt to recognize that more people voted against him than for him. The tax plan, his attitudes toward our international obligations, toward the environment—these things are outrageous to me."

GERALYN: Thing is, Gurney is -- or was-- a Republican, from an Old Guard GOP that founded the NEA and was active in the internationalist civil libertarian wing of the party. "Creepy" is his reaction to the Neos.

 

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