That's ok Grog. I'll go back and double check errors. I thought I got all mine.
I agree with you about pushing the audience, but it's such a delicate dance you simply cannot alienate your
base. We took a huge hit a couple of years ago when we produced The Goat, we took a
bit of one this year producing Blackbird and that's even with our very tolerant
base. And while I agree we are artists, and we do need to do productions that stretch our abilities and talents, I think thumbing our noses at Traditional
Stock, which is my take on Mr. Kileys statements, is cutting off our noses to spite our
face.
I think Fringe
Theatre is an excellent
venue to do the kinds of things we want to do, but this leads into a pet peeve of mine. Just because we want to do it doesn't mean people want to see it and we are, after all in a business. I think my Left
wing leanings are well documented on here and in other place, but this is one area where I feel "Corporatism" is a very good thing. My feel is that Fringe works should be produced under the auspices of extremely strong well funded established regional, or even smaller Theatres. I feel a big issue in our business is that everyone who doesn't want
play nice with others decides to create there own little
theatre. This behavior tends to suck up funding and create divisive rifts in communities. Imagine a town with two or three strong large theatres that can afford to then fund smaller productions produced in studio spaces and with the support of a real staff. It's sort of a dream of mine, and I have heard a lot of the arguments to the contrary; " Yeah but then only some stuff gets produced, by whoever is kissing the ADs
butt...." Maybe, that is a scenario but I feel that most people in our business know how to
play the games, and I trust most ADs to do the right thing.
I'm gonna go check my post again Thanks for the
feedback, and know that I agree with you in principle.