Thursday

THEY ALREADY HAVE THEIR REWARD...

I wrote this letter-to-the-editor to the OC Metro in 2004 in response to an article on Paul Folino's fund-raising endeavors to benefit the South Coast Repertory Theatre.


small theatres2


The letter, in retrospect, was probably too snarky and certainly too bitchy. But the point was (and is) valid.

Theatres like the SCR will survive. They have the support of the community bigwigs who will always give to "The Arts" because they want to appear cultured and refined, even when they're not.

But the struggling small theatrical entities will always remain under your basic OC billionaire's radar. I'm talking about the theatres that operate out of storefronts in the inner city. Theatres where the members of the company work for no pay.

These are the ones who take the risks and carry on for the love of the art. But nothing is forever. And sadly, when one of them gives up the ghost, nobody seems to notice, or care.

We have maybe eleven theatres that do live stage in the OC. We used to have twelve, but the Rude Guerrilla just shut its doors. The landlord raised the rent and...well, you get the picture.

It happens. It's too bad when it does. I'll miss it. RIP, RG.


Add to Technorati Favorites



AddThis Social Bookmark Button

,

2 comments:

Dave Barton said...

Thanks for mentioning us, Dale, but our landlord didn't raise the rent and force us out.
Because we didn't have a high number of subscribers, our financial status depended on ticket sales.
After a series of low performing shows late last year, the faultering economy and people's tightening dollars, we just got tired of scrambling all the time.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Dave. It's good to see you back out there with the Monkey Wrench... http://monkeywrenchcollective.org/