Monday Night

Days off make Travis something something...

It also gives some space to think about what ArtSpark is and what ArtSpark could become.

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ArtSpark now functions as a small, almost improvisational, incubator. The restrictions in place to make sure that you are starting your process in conjunction with the festival, and that you not use props or set in order to keep focused on the story and the telling of it are useful. The time restrictions add a sense of urgency. I think it's a very solid concept.

But what COULD it be in five years?

In his goodbye post Scott Walters over at Theatre Ideas in the course of summing up his theatre manifesto states:

"That theatre is a local, not a national experience, and so there should be a difference between theatre in different parts of the country. Artists should be a part of the community in which they live, and create theatre that speaks to the people in their theatres, not some imagined "national audience."

I think this is exceptionally true (that's right - I'm ignoring truth's binary nature).

Too often in creating a work we deal in its imagined Greatest State. It's going to be produced in all the Regionals and get sent up to Broadway (or juuuust Off). We're afraid that in making something relevant to our smaller community we are limiting its Greatest State. Which is just silly. The Greatest State of most scripts is mailbox hopper, or workshop warrior. The percentage of scripts that make it so far as even a rigorous workshop is very low. So why begin the process by worrying about it's National Marketablility? I don't know.

Here's where something like ArtSpark (or its descendants) could readily step in. A Room of Ones' Own and a group of dedicated fellow travelers are a huge jump over the baby stumbling blocks that derail most fledgling writers (or even more advanced writers) - Separation from Real Life, and an outside sense of urgency to keep it moving. Writing for yourself in your spare time is one thing, writing for a group on a deadline (no matter what that deadline is) is a completely different kettle of fish.

It also means that you (the writer) have to rely on your voice, and your team's voice rather than trying to build a more synthetically complex intellectualized voice.

If you take a team of 6 from Austin and lock them in a room you are going to get an Austin play, with an Austin voice. Even with a team comprised of folks from New England, Australia, and South Dakota along with your Austin-ites, after all nothing is more Austin than an artistic leaning transplant. Extend the time limit to 6 months with a public workshop production at the halfway mark and you have a full fledged local talent incubator. Something that could ensure the focus on truth-in-process that is important to Mr. Zarate while hatching a polished product.