Sunday, January 22, 2006
Dramatis Personae
I'm thinking more about the Cast of Characters for this Omnibus...there needs to be a Who's Who in the Cast in the back because the sheer number of people mentioned in the Durfee Transcripts is making me confused. Who was Patty? How long was James Bundy there? What about folks not in LA (and not part of my experiece of the company)?
Maybe also a list of past administrators, even Boards?
I just read the individual interviews of a couple of people I've never met: Anne Beresford Clark and David Reifel. Ann had an interesting comment about the "non-petty" nature of arguments in the company. In her experience, there were almost never turf fights or such--any argument was likely to concern methods..."Things would be better if we did it THIS way, not THAT," for example. I have to say that turf and/or hierarchy is usually absent from the dealings I've had with Cornerstone. It's there, but very much in the background.
David actually says (though not, I think, in response to Anne) that those conflicts were there but buried deep. Sonja brought this out in her book: that was one of the reasons he left. I think this is also linked to a perception that maybe the company got good at smoothing things over, "ignoring the warts" is how he put it. Again, as in my last post, the tension between accepting something the community is putting out as a value and challenging it.
There is a constant thread in the company's past: gay men in small town America. It's a deep subject...Cornerstone's been looking at it 20 years before Ang Lee got to it. There's a entire story right there...a whole article all by itself, if not a book. I've heard and read stories from pretty much all of the early company members who are gay: what it's like to walk into a real cowboy bar, to deal with a religious group, etc. Interesting: nothing from the women's perspective, straight or gay. David mentions Paulina at the end of WINTER'S TALE...but that's it.
One key line from David, "It seemed like the show was only about what everybody could agree to have it about."
Maybe also a list of past administrators, even Boards?
I just read the individual interviews of a couple of people I've never met: Anne Beresford Clark and David Reifel. Ann had an interesting comment about the "non-petty" nature of arguments in the company. In her experience, there were almost never turf fights or such--any argument was likely to concern methods..."Things would be better if we did it THIS way, not THAT," for example. I have to say that turf and/or hierarchy is usually absent from the dealings I've had with Cornerstone. It's there, but very much in the background.
David actually says (though not, I think, in response to Anne) that those conflicts were there but buried deep. Sonja brought this out in her book: that was one of the reasons he left. I think this is also linked to a perception that maybe the company got good at smoothing things over, "ignoring the warts" is how he put it. Again, as in my last post, the tension between accepting something the community is putting out as a value and challenging it.
There is a constant thread in the company's past: gay men in small town America. It's a deep subject...Cornerstone's been looking at it 20 years before Ang Lee got to it. There's a entire story right there...a whole article all by itself, if not a book. I've heard and read stories from pretty much all of the early company members who are gay: what it's like to walk into a real cowboy bar, to deal with a religious group, etc. Interesting: nothing from the women's perspective, straight or gay. David mentions Paulina at the end of WINTER'S TALE...but that's it.
One key line from David, "It seemed like the show was only about what everybody could agree to have it about."
# posted by John J. Flynn, Ph.D. @ 12:13 PM 
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What sort of women's perspective are you looking for? We didn't have any lesbians in the company in the rural years. We did met some lesbians in communities. Or do you mean, did we encounter any particular sort of sexism in the rural towns? I did occasionally, but I wouldn't say it was any more prevalent or intense than it is in urban areas.
# posted by 
: 10:07 PM
: 10:07 PM
I guess I was thinking more of a lesbian perspective, which is not really voiced as such in my experience of the past or present of the company.
I'm also interested in the issues of sexism and even attitudes about sexuality. As a theater person who grew up around farmers from Utah and cowboys from Wyoming, I'm very aware of the super-charged identity that theater people of all persuasions bring with them into the country. After all, it wasn't so long ago that NO DOGS OR ACTORS ALLOWED was all over America.
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I'm also interested in the issues of sexism and even attitudes about sexuality. As a theater person who grew up around farmers from Utah and cowboys from Wyoming, I'm very aware of the super-charged identity that theater people of all persuasions bring with them into the country. After all, it wasn't so long ago that NO DOGS OR ACTORS ALLOWED was all over America.
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