WalMarting of Theatre--NY Myth

Read this post in the ArtsJournal from Theatre Ideas. Basically, it talks about the NY Myth. For me, it's manna from heaven. In fact, my tech and I were having a conversation (again) about the fallacy that all the creativity comes from NY. I think creative people move to NY, and therefore creativity is irrespective of a geographic region. While there, I saw a number of Off-Broadway plays, many which were of a caliber I would see in any hometown. It seems as if there is a one-upmanship occurring. Let's take shock value, for example. If one show contains on stage nudity, the next show contains on stage masturbation. Wow. Having worked comedy professionally, everyone knows sex is the easiest way to get an audience's attention (and in this game, the press's). As an aside, I've often laughed at how poets and theatre can be as graphic sexually as they want, yet when comedians are, it's vulgar.

I also saw this in LA when I did comedy. I did not see some stratospheric increase in the quality of comedy. I saw actors competing in comedy contests to beef up their resume. They did not care about the craft or their subject matter--was it something new? Something from their own experience? Unfortunately, no. They were simply good at acting funny. Some of the best comedy I've ever seen was in DC--smart and political savvy.

I will say, I disagree on this point of: " [having] local arts organizations run by and staffed by artists whose lives are made within a specific community and whose artistic vision is informed by that community". Having sat in numerous "how to book a season" seminars with arts presenters (many of whom are artists) at booking conferences, I do not think their vision is soley informed by the community. From many of the questions asked, their vision is tempered by money. None of them want a show that loses money--this could mean their job.

All in all, however, I thought the post was insightful and contained many truths. Let me know what you think!