Shoe Strings & Timing Part Deux: The Reckoning

Quick recap from the earlier post - are "shorties" (groupings of short plays) of less value than full-length plays? At the end, big questions were asked - what is the value of art? Is it tied to length of the performance? Ultimately, does bang + buck = time + quality?

Last weekend I had an opportunity to view Andras Schiff perform a number of Beethoven's Sonatas. The performance consisted of 3 pieces and an encore performance of Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor. The central performance was, at most, eighty minutes long - not much "value" for the insane cost of Carnegie Hall tickets, no? But such a statement discounts the value of experiencing one of the greatest pianists tackle Beethoven. Absolutely breathtaking. I want to also note that the man did all the pieces from memory - which, I'm sure you can agree, is totally insane.

After the performance, I thought about my earlier questions. Did I get what I paid for? Was it worth it? Ultimately, I decided that, despite the "short" time I was in the theater, the experience was more than worth the dollars paid. The experience wasn't tied to the time spent in the hall, it was tied to the performance itself. I would have liked it to be longer, but I certainly didn't feel short-changed just because it didn't last another hour. As for the idea that "short"performances are less worthwhile than full length one? Preposterous. To my mind, Schiff's performance was as "valuable" as watching one of Beethoven's symphonies - probably more so, considering how often those symphonies are performed.

I'm going to have to abandon my rapidly collapsing comparative analysis - to continue to compare Schiff's performance to our "shorties" would entail us putting our work on the level of Schiff's - not something I'm willing to assert under any circumstances.

In the end, I feel value isn't tied to time but to quality. If you'll allow me another poor comparison, a 1940s Loony Toon short is better than a full-length late-70s Disney feature, right? Of course, now I'm just digging a deeper hole by breaking my own Granny Smith Apples to Golden Delicious Apples rule. A better example - a tight one-disc OutKast album versus the terrible Speakerboxx/Love Below.

So length doesn't necessarily equal value. Rather, quality is value. "Of course!" you say, "I didn't need to read all that to realize this! I knew that all along!" But what if that OutKast album was only 5 (the best 5) songs long, instead of 14? Would it still be worth your money? Or would you hold out for the "full" album even though you know the content isn't as strong as the already-released 5 songs?

BOOM - Do people have certain preconceptions regarding length regardless of value? Stay tuned to part 3!

Wednesday Whimsey

Wither would William wander
When wife Wendy whines?
To the Ten Tramps Tavern
Tripping toward titillating times.

- BOOM; A Nate Root original

A Theater for the Hungry Birds

Hey All,

So, in between the throes of fever and the sound of rain today I was forwarded the obituary of Ronald Tavel, the founder of first what he called the Playhouse of the Ridiculous which eventually, of course, led to the Theater of the Ridiculous. What a wonderful, egotistical thought that somehow we might be able to do something similar, perhaps encourage A Theater of the Democratic or a Theater of the Anarchic, I'm not sure quite yet, but just think of all those birds flying out, perhaps we can migrate and create A Theater of the Tropics. The possibilities are both patently wonderful and, of course, ridiculous.

Anyway, you may have noticed a new voice on the page. Currently Nate is locked up in a room coming up with suitably englightening, awesomely brilliant sign off lines, but in the future (and the present) he'll be here with us.

Another thing we've been discussing is the possibility of staged or unstaged full length readings for some of our playwrighting friends. Most of what we're committed to performing and premiering is collections of shorter works, but there is certainly a place for this kind of thing as well. If this is something that interests you, let us know and we'd be happy to work with you in making it happen.

Mahalo,
Spencer Soloway
Artistic Director
Feed the Bird

Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights

What I'm thinking about today (with respects to Gertrude Stein):

Doctor Faustus sitting alone surrounded by electric lights.
His dog comes in and says
Thank you.
One of the electric lights goes out and again the dog says
Thank you.
The electric light that went out is replaced by a glow.
The dog murmurs.
My my what a sky.
And then he says
Thank you.

All the Best,
Spencer Soloway
Artistic Director
Feed the Bird