Mainly found in our non-profit theatres are the sincerest narcissists. They believe in the theatre and want to do _________ play because it is "so great, and ahead of its time, and misunderstood..." Oh. "And there's a great role for me!" Win/Win!
99% of the seeming benevolence in the theatre is actually a case of vanity. (Easiest case, see how many 'artistic directors' are ALWAYS the lead, even if horribly miscast, in EVERY show.) Their pleading claims of serving the theatre start with serving themselves.
Trying to claim fake importance by getting your hands on a rare title and milking it for all its worth is again quite understandable. There are many neglected works that deserve their due - but most of these cases seem to be an issue of graffiti or dirty fingerprints. Lots of people look at this bridge, so let me spraypaint my name all over it. Or a child sees something getting attention, so he smears his muddy fingers and boogers on it. He just one upped it, and became part of the pieces legacy. (Keep checking Wikipedia - sooner or later you will see, "_____ made a name for himself by scrawling his name on Michelangelo's David.") Take a look at the marquees, see how many directors' names precede the playwright. And often, it's true, it's not the play they are doing, it's the Mona Lisa obscured by their greasy fingerprints.
It's easiest to smoke these 'artistes' out in their constant 'talk-backs', -"Watch us tell you how much we know and praise us." I've never been to a single talk-back where it wasn't a pure pissing contest. Even the rare time the artists weren't showing off, someone in the audience feels the need to show off their own presumed literary prowess. (And 9 times out of 10, they are wrong.) I wish I were naming names, only to make this more specific, but I'm trying to keep this as universal as possible, as I think you know the type I mean.
Though I sat through a talk-back recently, where the director, a self-proclaimed "EXPERT" on ____, a neglected writer, announced that she was so dumbstruck with finding this extremely rare play. As an expert, she thought she knew everything on this playwright, until she happened to stumble across this very rare play. The audience cooed and applauded, unaware that copies have always been available to check-out at the NY Public Library, on the shelf at Drama Books and has never ever been out of print.
As this is to be a teaching/open discussion blog - what can we learn from these posts?
1) Do your own homework. If you are a part of the theatre, READ plays. While meant to be performed, all stories have a spine. The story of Hansel & Gretel is very straightforward. Yet if you hadn't read/heard it before, and were told it was full of incest and nudity, as reprinted in the 'anniversary production' you'd probably believe it. It's the same kind of thing when seeing a play. People can and often will, under the guise of benevolance, distort the story so far out of shape that it will become an abomination. This serves them, and sullies the play. Don't blame the author automatically - get informed.
2) When you do experience plays like this, PLEASE don't feel the need to be polite. The 'artist' surely weren't. David, Starry Night, My Funny Valentine all have concrete qualities to them. If you smear them with shit or change the words around, you are distorting the work. Though it's not easy to do - Those who bastardize work need to be called out. Speak up! Hold people responsible for molesting the artwork for commercial or vanity means. (Ok, sometimes, it's just out of plain stupidity, but ignorance of the law will still land you behind bars.) If someone 'artiste' took a huge SHIT on the Last Supper, do you think people would be silent, and criticize Da Vinci? NO! They would rightfully attack the 'faux' artiste. Where is our audiences power? The AUDIENCE makes the theatre.
3) BRING TOMATOES Don't EVER be a passive audience!
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