Waiting for
Righty
POLITICAL PLAYS - by G.L. Horton (3/28/03)
In the March 23rd NY Times article on Political Plays,
playwright Richard Greenberg says:
"You do see American theater that by default, by what
it accepts, promotes conservative thinking." [Editor's
note: Mr. Greenberg's "Take Me Out" does no such thing.]
"But activist to the right? Theater doesn't seem to be
the medium for that. Maybe it's not the right place for demagoguery.
Nobody ever wrote `Waiting for Righty,' did they?"
Greenberg thinks there is no activist conservative theatre because
he has a definition of theatre that omits popular productions
such as Evangelical and African American morality plays, which
are produced and performed below the radar of Variety and the
TCG. These out-of-the-mainstream Christian productions are the
heirs of the venues that made Abolition possible. These performances
train values and change lives--- though they are no where near
as influential as TV and movies, of course.
Additionally, I would categorize 90% of mass market "entertainment"
as "Waiting for Righty"-- the hero who is strong and brave enough
to win through to a goal, with the people who are opposed to his
goal reduced to mere obstacles. The audience is encouraged to
admire and assent to this win.
The "Art for Art's Sake" American theatre, the MFA'd practioners
who are taken seriously by critics and their colleagues, drawn
by the European model of public subsidy and repelled by the discomfort
of Jews and gays in Christian spaces, have broken off theatre's
once vigorous moral dialogue with and within churches, where it
was sometimes encouraged to function as a powerful voice for the
dignity and worth of losers. I'm the only white theatre practicioner
in my circle who is a regular church-goer (There is a large community
of African American actors and musicians for whom performance
is a spiritual practice.) My church has been actively but kindly
and gently working for all sorts of "leftist" causes since Abolition
and the Mexican War, under the banner of Universalism (God loves
all his/her children, not a particular set of the Chosen. Killing
sinners is a sin.) Most of my political plays were written for
and produced in church basements-- as were many of the anti-war
pieces of the '60s. The Pope is rightist in sexual morality and
hierarchical practice, but far left on war and capital punishment
and anti-capitalism (Mammon, remember?) and church basements could
once again serve as a haven for theatre opposed to The Corporate
System-- if more actors and writers and directors were among the
80% of the population that identifies with some church.
Nicole Mattson comments:
"Greenberg is cutting out theater as a tool for right
activism? I think that if plays with a pro-choice message can
be done, plays with a pro-life message can be done. Originally,
theater was a venue for upholding the status quo. Tragedies
were told to the Greeks, showing the consequences of wrong actions.
Medieval morality plays taught lessons in behavior, and mysteries
explained what to believe.
GERALYN: Yes-- but as performed, they extended empathy to the
oppressed and ascribed madness and tyranny to those at the top
of the Great Chain of Being, the kings God set over the people.
(Like Herod.)
NICOLE: "I just can't believe that theater won't work
for the right as well as it can for the left. I mean, what is
theater? Sharing an experience, whether historical or fictional,
sending a message. Conservatives have experiences to share,
conservatives can build a case for their opinions and beliefs
through the medium of a play. It's just a tool, no political/ideological
group has a monopoly on the effectiveness of the theater.
"Maybe it's not the right place for demagoguery." Last
time I checked, a charismatic leader with a crowd of the "little
people" behind him didn't necessarily have to be conservative.
Nothing suggests that right activism is "demagoguery." A liberal
can't be a demagogue? That's news to me.
In the article, A.R. Gurney says:
"I've gotten increasingly steamed up by what I feel
is a rightist turn in our country's political picture," he said,
"and as a playwright I wanted to speak to the community about
that. There's something very creepy about the fact that the
president, who some people would argue wasn't elected at all,
is taking steps that are so uncompromising toward the right.
There's no attempt to recognize that more people voted against
him than for him. The tax plan, his attitudes toward our international
obligations, toward the environment—these things are outrageous
to me."
GERALYN: Thing is, Gurney is -- or was-- a Republican, from an
Old Guard GOP that founded the NEA and was active in the internationalist
civil libertarian wing of the party. "Creepy" is his reaction
to the Neos.
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