Rachel Grossman

One.
​​While working at Round House Theatre, the Education & Outreach staff and I created an introductory activity: “What is theatre?” We employed it with participants up and down the age range, in one-off workshops and to launch semester-long residencies. The activity: in small groups participants were assigned two tasks 1) write a definition of theatre; 2) make it. Or, in other words: script, then show.

It never ceased to amaze me how much theater was defined by location and the titles of the makers: theater occurs on a stage and is a written script, performed by actors, with a director who tells them what to do; the actors wear costumes and perform on a set.

We would amaze participants back by proposing a much broader definition: “theatre is a live performance in front of an audience.” Participants even railed against it; it would mean a rock concert was theatre, right? a church pageant? youths, sitting on a street corner pounding out a Go-Go beat on buckets?

?
…Yes…
?

Two.
At TCG's 2012 National Conference, Seth Godin proclaimed “One hundred years ago everyone who mattered went to the theatre a lot. Often. There were theatres everywhere because there was nothing else to do. Because there was nothing else to do. There was no TV; there was no radio; there was no Facebook; there was no Twitter. You just got up and you went to the theatre. And then that ended.”

Now we have a host of other recreations, entertainments, and gatherings to participate in; many of which are more readily available and less structured experiences, more obviously social, with mass appeal, and a smaller price tag.

But what is theatre... that is something which is more and less than these other options?

Three.
My husband, DC lighting designer Colin K. Bills, took to proclaiming last year that “theatre is ritual interrupted.” When I asked after the source of this quote, he shared an essay by playwright Duncan Macmillian (whose Lungs was produced at Studio Theatre in 2011-12). As it turns out, Macmillian was referring to Keith Johnstone’s quote “Action begins with the disruption of a routine” or as Macmillian paraphrases “stories are disrupted rituals.” What I extrapolate from Colin via Macmillian via Johnstone: theatre takes the expected and, at some point, flips it. The understood takes a sharp turn to the left and our world is rocked.

But does this help determine what is theatre?

Four.
In 2012, dog & pony dc was honored to be the first ensemble-based devised company to receive a Helen Hayes Award nomination for outstanding new play for Beertown. Initially, though, we were floored; we didn’t consider Beertown a “play.” But we came to understand that the acknowledgement of a high level of “excellence” for Beertown as a “play” was actually an acknowledgement of its “excellence” as “theatre.” The two were just not synonymous. The play itself was quite lifeless; the script fairly boring to read. The play in production was the opposite: immersive, complex, and 100% dependent on and exploitive of the live event. It typified theatre.

Five.
The preceding four “acts” led me to approach theatreWashington in search of a platform in which to explore with the Washington area: What is theatre? We are a relatively young but rapidly growing community; we are surrounded by diverse artists of all forms and nationalities, closely situated to a vibrant and concentrated theatre city (yup: New York), and yet are fairly homogeneous in the work we’re creating and the approaches we use to produce. Or at least that is my perception. And I believe that it’s possible my perception is actually incorrect. So I want to face it head on.

In the spirit of playfully-provocative yet serious inquiry I ask myself and you: What is theatre, for us, for our community?

Over the upcoming year, I will be interrogating “What is theatre?” with theatre makers up and down the age, experience and aesthetic range. Just as importantly, I will be asking after the experiences of theatre-goers. This is my attempt to wrestle with the identity of “Washington theatre” and, as an end product, create a rubric of sorts defining what is theatre, and what isn’t, according to us.

I invite you to quest with me: create your own rubric and share it in the comments following this post or subsequent ones. As I explore creating rubrics with those whom I am interviewing, I encourage you to test those rubrics for yourself. Take the rubric for a walk into a show produced by that group of makers or by another one; and see what resonates and what doesn’t.

You are always welcome to pose questions over email or respond in the twitterverse. I know theatreWashington would love the conversation.

And let’s make a pact: in a year we’ll meet back here and compare notes. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. Who knows what theatre that will be?

- rg Sept 2012

Wanna answer the question right now?: What is theatre?

Wanna tell me where to start?: Who should be the first person I talk to?

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