Cliché Watch: Cliché Watch

Taking a break from Cliché Watch this week, but check out The New Colony for lots of info on Tupperware: An American Musical Fable opening next week.

Theater People

A new Cliché Watch is up at The New Colony, this one's on the phrase "theater people."  What I'm really trying to get at in the post is that, as long as being a "theater person" means something sort of nebulous we hold out the possibility that when asked "are you a theater person?" a regular theatergoer, a subscriber, or a donor could feel forced to answer "no."  Our utopia, I believe, is for everyone to like theater, to attend theater, and putting up more barriers, adding more cliquishness to an already rarified event, will not help.

While you're at The New Colony, check out two songs from the upcoming musical Tupperware: "Just Two Hours" and "Everything I Wanted." 

Perfect Intention

The newest Cliché Watch is up at The New Colony.  This one continues last week's general idea about why so many great plays aren't done more often, and continues to worry about why so many plays can't break through the barrier from good to classics.  

Macbeth

A new Cliché Watch is up, this one on Shakespeare's Macbeth. There's been a lot of coverage of the multiplicity of productions of this play going on right now.  And I think it raises a lot of interesting questions about the purpose of theater and of a "theater community."  Comments already!

Cliché Watch Up

Due to a small technological snafu, the Cliché Watch for this week just got posted. Check it out here. The comments in the past few weeks have been really fantastic. So whether agreeing or disagreeing be sure to join the conversation over there.

Theater Companies

A new Cliché Watch on Theater Companies is up at The New Colony.  This doesn't mean, however, that we need to stop the conversation on Intermissions, which is still going strong.

Intermissions

This week's Cliché Watch is up at The New Colony.  It's on Intermissions this week, and already a conversation has started.  Join on in.  

The Most Thorough Cliché Watch, Ever

I guess I can skip all the ones I had brewing about story structure...

See more from this artist here.  Check on this week's cliché watch on political theater here.


(Hat Tip: James Asmus)

Political Theater is the Best Theater

This week Anne Nicholson Weber and I discuss the cliché that Theater is only achieving its highest form when it is overtly political. There's a lot going on in this one.  My weakness for the old stuff confronts the laziness of hierarchies, and Anne finds the error in embodied discussion with evident partisanship.  Enjoy.

This Play Isn't For Everybody

Another Cliché Watch up at The New Colony, this one takes aim at a critical cliché and features Christopher Shea, a critic at TimeOut.  We agree on the cliché but disagree on why it's bad: pick a side!

Dead Relatives

The Cliché Watch this week is with Zev Valancy talking about the preponderance of dead relatives onstage in new plays.  Should be an active one.

The Return of Cliché Watch

I forgot to mention last week that the New Colony was on a brief sabbatical from webtopia, but they are back with a bang now, especially with the new Cliché Watch posting.  A conversation between Scott Ferguson and me about Children's Theater.  Check it out.

Cliché Watch (Bonus Edition!): Acting Out Indirect Discourse

One of the challenges of acting is not working too hard.  What I mean is, as an actor you're stuck with a certain limited amount of text and months to deal with it, analyze it, embellish it, and it can be very tempting to take every opportunity to endow your allotment with interest.

An instance of this occurs far too often with indirect discourse and it is so profoundly unnatural and uncomfortable I can't believe actors get away with it so often.  It's acting out indirect discourse.  In a scene a character says "Jimmy told me that he wasn't going up there no matter what."  An actor will want to change voices half way through and say, "Jimmy told me that, 'he wasn't going up there no matter what'" or if a little more clever the actor will at least say, "Jimmy told me that he, 'wasn't going up there no matter what.'"  

This is ridiculous.  If you were supposed to act out that part of the story it would be in direct discourse, "Jimmy told me, 'I ain't goin up there no matter what.'"  That's how it works.  Listen to someone tell a story, ever, and you'll know this.

I suppose the reason this gets me so excited is that I've been able to identify it as part of what forms the line between acting and making faces.  I've been thinking about this a lot recently.  I have a real preference for acting that shares--one of my favorite film performances is probably Jack Lemmon in The Apartment--but there really is a difference between big hearted, demonstrative acting (I'm really thinking of comedy here) and making faces--empty expressiveness.  That is, I feel like there's a big difference, but I can't pin it down.  Miranda says that I better not be able to pin it down--that there must be magic--and god know she's right. But this sounds like a dare to me.  I'll keep working on it.

P.S. In the link, check out the way he tilts his head when he takes his hat off.  

Faithful Adaptations

Ok, the new cliché watch is up now at the New Colony, and both sides are actually up already.  My co-debater is Crystal Skillman, a playwright working out of New York.  Should make for a fun time!

Ironic Musicals

The new Cliché Watch debate is up at The New Colony.  My co-debater is John Pinckard, a producer of musicals and theater in general in both Chicago and nationally.  Should be fun.  Do add your own two cents, anyone can comment!

The Debate Rages!

Keep Checking The New Colony as the debate grows throughout the week...and beyond!

Theater Company Blogs: Discuss

The new Cliché Watch in the new open format is up at The New Colony, with Special Guest Star Nick Keenan. Enjoy!

Cliché Watch?

As you might have noticed there's no Cliché Watch this week. We're gearing up for turning them into debates with guests in different positions in the theater world.  Should be a lot of fun!  

New Cliché Watch

I've got a new one on what I call Half-Abstraction up this week.  I'm not sure though that I ever really spell out what I mean, which is naturalist plays with abstract sets.  The recent Desire Under The Elms at the Goodman for instance, or last year's Uncle Vanya by the Court Theatre are good examples.  

There are going to be some exciting changes to my column over at the New Colony in the coming weeks: we're going to have guest dissenters and debaters to open up the conversation more, should be a lot of fun.  I'll keep you posted on the developments.  Till then, enjoy this post.

Like clockwork...

Another Cliché Watch at The New Colony.  Also, their new play FRAT, a world premiere, is now running at the Dank Haus.  Check out their website for more info.