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Wednesday, December 7, 2005

New Faces in the Arts (or: I Like David, I Disagree with David)

Posted by on December 7 at 12:53 PM

Last night I watched Misha Berson of the Seattle Times publicly interview “New Faces in the Artsā€¯: Peter Boal (new artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet), David Esbjornson (new artistic director of the Rep), and Jim Tune (new president of ArtsFund).

It was better than I expected. At times.

Mr. Tune (jacket and tie) was articulate and friendly. Mr. Boal (I don’t remember, but I have the impression it was suitably semi-formal dancer chic) was sunny and pleasant without saying anything substantial or illuminating.

Mr. Esbjornson (collarless shirt and jacket) was smart and engaged, giving good answers to stupid audience questions and unafraid to spar a bit with Ms. Berson. He talked about hiring local vs. out-of-town actors, whether Seattle is a risk-averse town, and other hot topics.

He was also visibly defensive—probably because the last Rep play, an Ariel Dorfman world premiere that Esbjornson directed, got mixed (and a couple of savage) reviews. He seemed a little embarrassed (“it’s a great privilege when a writer decides to share new work with an audience and they have a responsibility to protect itā€¯), a little scoldy (“the variety of reviews in New York reflect the complexity of the showā€¯), and refreshingly defiant (“I’m surprised by the expectation among so many people in this city that our job at the Rep is to protect the status quoā€¯).

Yes, theaters, audiences, and writers need incentives to produce new work; and yes, perhaps we should be more tolerant of their "beautiful imperfections,ā€¯ but I utterly reject the idea that artists are delicate creatures who need velvet treatment, that we should abdicate our critical faculties so they'll deign to gift us with their precious genius. We need artists who reject flattery and suffer no fools, be they high-rolling halfwit donors or silly fuckwads in the press. If you can't take criticism, leave your writing in the drawer. More to the point: If regional theaters are doomed to either do hackneyed work or cajole and shame audiences into pretending they've enjoyed flabby new work, maybe the regional theater system is fucked and it's time to go back to the garage, where we can at least be honest about what we like.

Further (annotated and approximated) excerpts follow:

Berson: What's one thing you'd like to keep about your organization and one thing you'd like to change?
Peter Boal: PNB has a great sense of adventure... I'd like to make it my sense of adventure.

Berson: Do large, flagship organizations have a responsibility to the mid-sized and fringe arts institutions?
Boal and Esbjornson dodged this question with a vague "yesā€¯ before plunging into anecdotes about their salad days and how much they love attending work in smaller houses. Esbjornson's story was the best: He was working as a small-time director and waiter in NYC, throwing his tips at a production of Fefu and Her Friends, which required a dead rabbit. He bought one at a market with his tip money, brought it home, and was distraught, the next day, to find the cat had gotten at it. He had to buy another.

Berson: Is this a risk-averse city?
Peter Boal: You can fill a 400-seat seat house with people who want risk, but not the 4,000-seat house.
David Esbjornson: I've had no problems alienating my audience (laughs). I don't want Seattle to judge me too soon and I'll return the favor... The pool of risk-lovers is too small... We need to exercise our new-work muscles, we need rigor.

Stupid audience question: Have you thought about producing work that reflects the changes in our lives after 9/11?
David Esbjornson: It takes time to digest these kinds of major events and immediate-reaction work usually isn't any good. It feels exploitative: "Let's take this and make theater!ā€¯ And it feels self-serving.

Another audience question: How about hiring local actors and artists instead of importing from outside?
David Esbjornson: That's always a frustration of new artists. I had to leave Minnesota to get hired in Minnesota. That's just the way it is—you have to leave and grow and get talent and craft and experience. It's always frustrating to be young and knocking on the door.

And a bit of sparring:

Berson: [in the midst of another discussion about flagship organizations' responsibility to smaller-time artists] Sharon Ott [former Rep artistic director] was really interested in local artists.
David Esbjornson: Was there ever a time that the Rep wasn't interested in local artists?
Berson: Yes. [Chuckles grimly.]
Esbjornson: A time I could remember?
Berson: Daniel Sullivan—
Esbjornson: [cuts her off]
Berson: [cutting him off] There were times when the Rep wasn't so interested—
Esbjornson: [cutting her off] That's just a growing pain. That's just what happens.

I like David. I disagree with David. I think Purgatorio was the very definition of pretentious ("making claim to great merit or importance, esp. when unwarrantedā€¯), but I can't wait to see what he does next.


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