BACKWARDS RECIPROCITY
(or letting the old folks in!)

It is clear that most new theater companies, at least in New York, are created by and for young(er) artists. That makes sense. After all, it is hard, HARD work, requiring energy and determination--often requiring every waking hour of life when you're not at work at a "rent job" to make enough money to pay for the damned thing! (Breathe.) It is not LIKE having a second job, it IS a second job. (I know--I was there once. Kinda still am, but that's another discussion.)

It also makes sense that artists spending all this time and energy on forming a company would deal primarily with issues, concerns and aesthetics that please them and their target age group. After all, to put in THAT much hard work and make that many sacrifices, you surely are going to want the messages and the work to be something you care about artistically. Makes total sense.

But oddly, while plays used to feature a range of characters of different ages, there now seems to be an overabundance of plays with "twenty-somethings" as the only characters--and as the sole target audience. (Even "thirty-something characters" are having a harder time.) And when festivals of one-acts, etc., come along, any plays with "mature" characters get swept under the rug, and if these plays do appear, they get buried while plays about "coming of age" and "getting laid" seem to sweep. (Or as a fellow middle-aged theater artist said to me recently, "If I have to watch one more f%&-ing coming of age play, I'm gonna yell 'fire" in the theater!") Again, I guess understandable--but a little sad. (Which? The old fogey reaction or the youth bias? Um, I'm not quite sure!)

Understand, I KNOW that I'm getting older. There is definitely a new generation in charge. And no one wants to spend their 20s in their parents' basements--it is time to get out there and explore! It is your right, as it has been EVERY generation's right. This is finally a time when your opinion matters MORE than the heavy-handed authority figure who's been ruining you life for . . . okay, see, I do understand and if you don't deal with it NOW, you never will!

But when you don't include a mix in your mix, you lose out in several ways. You lose out because middle-aged audiences still DO like to see theater, and not just conservative "Broadway" fare. Older audiences have needs to see their lives and interactions explored, too--and they will pay cold hard cash to see it! And just as we are reminded about youth as we watch the stories you crave, so might you learn a few things in preparation for your middle years--not to mention that it might help you connect with a whole other generation that you will be entering sooner than you think! By doing plays with older artists also involved (yes, we write, direct, act, design and even sweep floors!), you set up connections that may serve you when other projects, sometimes decently funded, come along. Doing plays with mixed age groups really does reflect life--and might do something for yours. And finally, though not guaranteed, older audiences may have some disposable income that can be sent your way--but they want to feel that at least sometimes they get to see themselves in those plays, and not just as the rotten parent!

To put it another way: you know how much you hate it when older software can't read documents created in the newest version? Like a document created in Word 2007 or higher can't be read in earlier versions of Word? UNLESS YOU SAVE IT AS A WORD 97-2003 VERSION?! You'd like there to be backward reciprocity, right? A document is a document is a document and you don't want your creations excluded!

I am trying (humorously, I hope) to make a point: Real artists are ultimately ageless, and the sharing of ideas, passions and dreams are what make us all related, all part of this really odd and neurotic species called human beings. No one ever said older people are necessarily smarter--they just have more experiences to share. By interweaving generations, stories get passed along. Lore is shared. Rituals are handed down, developed and embellished, each generation adding their own embroidery to the tapestry. And, yes, understanding each other paves the way in BOTH directions for the future.

So . . . let's open up the doors a little, people? (Pretty please . . . !)


Paid for by FART (Fostering Artist Relations in Theater)!