I reviewed the questions we raised at the beginning of class that Amy posted on the blog very early in the semester. After considering all of the questions, I think the hardest one to think about was:
"How are our skills/techniques/goals as actors and theatre artists enhanced or challenged by contact with artists from other cultures and vice versa?"
This question is very hard to answer, and I think we could spend an entire semester doing so. However, here are the most pertinent things I came up with.
As Americans, I don't think we think of our own country as a very culturally diverse place. Japan is about 146,000 square miles, Mexico is about 762,000 square miles, the US takes up almost 4 million square miles. On a very elementary level I don't think we consider how very culturally different our own country is region to region....and that's not considering Alaska or Hawaii.
So to engage the idea of 'contact with other artists from other cultures,' I considered my daily life. ow many different walks of life do you see on a University campus? at the store?...I think I do every day. It's apparent to me that Americans in general are able to select many different methods of training from many different cultures - a privilege that is not afforded in other cultures. I think we constantly discuss the idea in class that America as a nation is still trying to define its own cultural image. Perhaps America represents the first of a cultural anomaly in anthropological history.
Despite the inability to distinguish my country's own cultural identity, I think it is the personal connections that define my own process, and its value. I think my interactions with other artists also challenges my own process by illustrating the differences in process and results...sort of like a deconstructive way of looking at my own process.
I also think that we should consider the field of theatre which we represent - there is also commercial theatre, not for profit, community, regional. I think if one's ultimate goal is to work than one would eventually allow the trends of that work environment to influence them (like wearing a suit and tie in an office). Regardless of the genre, I sometimes think trying to itemize my own techniques is dangerous. The world is constantly moving and changing, so committing an idea to paper prevents it from growing and changing. In terms of cultural experience, I don't think we have to look much further than our own front yard.
1 comment:
Wow Erik.... I never really thought about "cross-cultural" pertaining to different cultures within the United States. But this is extremely true. Carpetbag Theatre is completely different than Shakespeare and Company. We have a plethora of cultures within America that we tend to ignore just as much as cultures across national bounderies. Do Americans negate or neglect southern style theatre (Dixie Stampede) because it is below the Broadway style? Absolutely.
It raises another great question... "if we cannot even acknowledge the multiple facets of our American Theatre culture, how can we even begin to note the similarities and differences with other cultures?"
or
"Should one attempt to understand their own culture in its complete complexity before analyzing another culture? Does that change your perception of that culture?"
Because America is so diverse I do no think we will ever be able to put a "label" on our theatre culture, however I do think it is imperitive to look at other theatre cultures. We may never be able to fully understand or experience the other culture, but the need to define yourself in the global context is imperitive to growth. How can you grow as a theatre artist until you know what is out there to be explored?
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