Theatre and the Good: The Value of Collaborative Play By Mark Fe ...

Theatre and Identity with a Group

“Theatre is a collaborative art.” This I have glibly told my students for twenty-five years without thinking too deeply about it. I said it because my teachers said it to me. We did not, it seems, analyze the state­ment. It seemed self-evident in the sense that there is rarely such a thing as a literal “one-person show.” My teachers and I used the word theatre to refer to the amalgam of activities of playwright(s), actor(s), director(s), designer(s), and in many cases an additional host of artists, craftspersons, technicians and administrative staff who cooperate to create a stage production or, potentially, to sustain a continuing organization which has the creation and promotion of stage productions as its primary purpose. The homey model I sometimes presented to students was of a potluck dinner. Under the coordina­tion of a host and with the common goal of assembling a balanced and good-tasting meal, each guest contributes a food that he or she prepares competently and for which there is a need. The process might allow me to shine in the reflected light of the wonderful dish that I have made regularly for years. Or the process might involve sac­rifice or the discomfort of change. I may be asked to bring a dessert when I only know how to make a salad. But my contribution is in service to a greater good (a satisfying meal) and I will do my part. I am engaged, after all, voluntarily, and the success of the event depends to this extent upon me.

But the reality that I have been living as a participant in such an organization is more profound than suggested by my superficial metaphor. Like other theatre people, I have been in rehearsal for some kind of play or musical at least five nights per week for most of my life since I was fourteen years old. During summers, when school was out, I was constantly reading plays and listening to albums, imagining pro­ductions that might be. I spent my happiest hours during these “off” periods in sharing these imaginings with my theatre friends and in listening to their ideas for plays and productions.