{"id":1937,"date":"2011-11-08T14:46:48","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T18:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=1937"},"modified":"2011-11-08T14:46:48","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T18:46:48","slug":"challenging-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2011\/11\/08\/challenging-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

The statement:<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a theatre major.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 The common responses:<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh fun!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like gonna be on Broadway or something?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That must be like not even being in school!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 What I want to say back:<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also hard work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Absolutely not.\u00c2\u00a0 Even performance majors have to work very hard to get to that point.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

An issue that has come up in many of my classes and conversations with friends lately has been this idea of the easy major, the non-serious major, the idea that having fun and making a life are completely separate things.\u00c2\u00a0 Honestly, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m offended, as are many of the others engaged in this constant struggle for legitimacy.\u00c2\u00a0 Our gut response tends to be, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be fun?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to dig a little deeper than that.<\/p>\n

Chances are, if someone asked why go to the theatre, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say to be entertained or something along those lines.\u00c2\u00a0 Good, great, wonderful.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope that the shows you see succeed.\u00c2\u00a0 However, there are millions of ways to be entertained.\u00c2\u00a0 The means by which The Phantom of the Opera<\/em>, Endgame<\/em>, and The Odd Couple <\/em>entertain you are entirely different.\u00c2\u00a0 So let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s change up our word choice a little.\u00c2\u00a0 Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say that you go to the theatre to be fulfilled. Oo, things just got a little more serious.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a contract between you as an audience member and the production that you will get something out of the show.<\/p>\n

As a theatrical company, then, we have an obligation to make sure that you leave with something new.\u00c2\u00a0 What that thing is differs from production to production\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlaughing harder than you have in years, realizing that your relationship with your parents was way more complicated than you thought, a new perspective on race in the 1960s\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhatever it is, we are providing a service.\u00c2\u00a0 That is what you pay for.\u00c2\u00a0 Now how many people are involved in achieving this goal?\u00c2\u00a0 That varies from theatre to theatre, but let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say we have actors, a director, designers, a stage manager, a backstage crew, a writer, a producer, a marketing team, a literary office, a development office, an artistic director, and a managing director.\u00c2\u00a0 Wow.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of people.<\/p>\n

Now these people have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fun\u00e2\u20ac\u009d jobs.\u00c2\u00a0 They enjoy what they do.\u00c2\u00a0 Good for them.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enjoy your job, you might want to reevaluate your choices.\u00c2\u00a0 Why is me having fun at my work any different than you having fun at yours?\u00c2\u00a0 All of these people have to work together to achieve this goal of giving you, the audience, something new to carry with you as you exit the theatre.\u00c2\u00a0 This begins in planning a season, and goes all the way to selling tickets and striking the set after the final curtain.\u00c2\u00a0 There are so many steps in that process, and they are not always fun.\u00c2\u00a0 They are challenging and stimulating, and sometimes they involve fights and hard-fought compromises.<\/p>\n

Right now, I am finishing my second play.\u00c2\u00a0 It is driving me to the brink of insanity.\u00c2\u00a0 I sit staring at the blinking cursor wondering how the hell I am going to wrap this thing up.\u00c2\u00a0 What am I trying to say?\u00c2\u00a0 Who am I trying to reach?\u00c2\u00a0 What is propelling the plot forward?\u00c2\u00a0 At the same time, I am working on Beaux\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Stratagem<\/em>, watching actors struggle through comedic timing while still dissecting their characters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 intentions.\u00c2\u00a0 My theatre back home is producing my first play, and the director is taking on the task of getting the play on its feet and staying true to my vision with practical space concerns.\u00c2\u00a0 Each member of each team is busting their ass making sure that the product that you finally see is outstanding.\u00c2\u00a0 We might not work nine to five, but there is no way you can say we are not working.<\/p>\n

So yes.\u00c2\u00a0 We get to do what we love, and for that we are grateful.\u00c2\u00a0 There are incredibly rewarding moments sometimes, the eruption of laughter when you hit a joke just right or hearing our words come to life or seeing our renderings materialized on stage.\u00c2\u00a0 But along the way, as with any job, there are challenges.\u00c2\u00a0 There are tear-filled nights and hours of thought.<\/p>\n

So sure.\u00c2\u00a0 My job is fun, but that is only the beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The statement: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a theatre major.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 The common responses: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh fun!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like gonna be on Broadway or something?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That must be like not even being in school!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 What I want to say back: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also hard work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Absolutely not.\u00c2\u00a0 Even performance majors have to work very hard to get to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}