Theatre Management

It seems these days I really have to focus on managing my tasks more. I have so much to do, it's crazy trying to keep it all in order. Of course, that's the best thing about school I think--otherwise I would be bored.

So Global Village: We talked about the AIDs/HIV epidemic in Africa, which is just horrible. It was interesting to talk about statistics and compare with the rest of the world. South Africa has the highest rate of infection, followed by the countries in the Carribean. So sad. The US isn't too far behind, and neither is Asia really.

We discussed the conspiracy that the people who invent medicines and research cures dedicate their time to things that will bring them money, instead of things that need to be done. Of course...I think if someone had the cure to AIDs it would bring in a lot of money.

Theatre History: We had our first lecture in a long time! It was awesome. We talked about Contemporary Theatre, the Regional Theatre movement, and Post Modern theatre.

Contemporary theatre involved the beginings of Off-Broadway (because Broadway was only in it to make a buck) and Off-Off-Broadway (when Off-Broadway began to make a buck). I've never attended either of these in New York, but I would love the opportunity to really watch some artsy, avante garde shows!

Regional Theatre is most likely where I will be working for the better part of my life, so it was cool to talk about it. The Alley Theatre in Houston was mentioned, which is cool because I'm from Texas, so that's near home. I'd love to come back home to perform one day, but to start off with it doesn't seem like the best option. Regional Theatres hardly do Repertory style anymore (like doing 3 shows in one weekend), the modern approach is to do one long running show before switching to the next in the season. But if I had the chance to do Rep. Theatre, I'd like to give it a shot. It sounds challenging.

It was also interesting to hear the differences in the amount of African-American and Feminist theatres now and in the 40s-70s. The numbers are so much lower. I think it's sad that so many specific groups don't have voices in the artistic community anymore. But I suppose that means they've flowed into other groups and are being heard in different ways.

We also touched on Post Modern theatre, which is mostly taught in Grad Schools and professionally it seems. I can talk more on that later when I understand it better.

I finished my second to last summer play, and I'm ready for another day of reading!