This…was quite the mad dash to the finish, now wasn’t it?

Let’s go through these one-by-one. Firstly, theater history in NYC is both eccentric and concentrated. mostly around Downtown and eventually migrating upward like a very hungry, if artistic, beast. Very few cities have reconstructed theater houses turned into cafes, cafes modeled after theaters, and former banks turned into opera houses (there’s one such place in Union Square). It’s such a strange dichotomy, having a Starbucks by a vaudeville house which is now, inexplicably, yet another Starbucks. However, it’s vibrant. It’s an amazing history that allows you to really experience New York’s theater scene, a scene with no curtain call.

Most interesting? Hmmm, definitely the Actor’s Temple is one. This is a currently active synagogue that used to host a lot of the Jewish actors in New York City, including the Three Stooges! First of all, not a literal temple of actors. You can’t walk in and find statuettes of Groucho Marx with a little brazier for offerings. However, the idea of there being a community is fascinating, a tapestry that worked itself into every fabric of life (see what I did there?). Second one, and this annoys me for reasons to be explained, Tin Pan Alley. Tin Pan Alley is famous for music history, forming a great deal of American pop in the 50s and 60s. HOWEVER. When we went to search for it, we messed up. Royally.

Upon completion, I realized two things – one, I was wet like a dog in a lake, and two, it’s ridiculous how in-plain-sight some of the theater history of NYC is.  It’s one of those experiences you look out for afterwards just to see what you can catch. And, if you are completely clueless without coffee like I am, you may just miss it.

You know what’s the funniest part of A Dolls’ House? Nothing, because this play is ridiculously depressing. I still contend that you could give AP Lit students this play, tell them it was a short story, and they’d completely believe it based on the literary nature of the subject.

The literal translation of “avant-garde” is “ahead of it’s time” – how can we interpret what may today be seen as Avant-Garde? Is it just something weird and difficult to understand, or is there an underlying essence that makes it ahead of its time?

If art is universal, then is the art of an idea universal? The power to bring cultural consciousness across an art form is fascinating, so is the theatre one of these odd cultural universals like language?

Melodrama, being the strong appeal to emotions through character, has been almost satirized by the modern usage of the word melodramatic. Why is that? Does the use of an art form in such a banal phrase shift the meaning of a legitimate art form?

My favorite piece wasn’t really a piece, but in fact the old Yiddish films that played in one part of the exhibit. It’s such a great insight into not only old movies but the interesting ways these plays translated on screen. The Dybbuk in particular is one I was actually familiar with – boy is that a fairly creepy film.

Let me get the obvious out of the way – wow. This was a great experience, and it far more useful as a lesson on how to use archives than most of the ways schools teach it. I wish we got to see touch some of the artifacts though…

So, this form of a theatre is very different from Western styles, with one elaborate performance taking center stage with minimalistic background aspects (the percussion, singing, etc). I wonder how Western audiences might react to something like this – stories like these often require quite a bit of audience foreknowledge. Could there be a similar type of story/theatre in Western lore?

With the Bacchae in mind, I wonder today – who are our new gods that we revere and imitate? Are modern examples like Peter Pan the new deities we worship through theatre? Or are they simply odd transmutations of older beings?

As we move closer towards what may be seen as the “birth” (using this term of lightly) of more organized civilization – what would these civilizations resemble without Theatre? Is there an inherent benefit to their longer cultural legacy, or is it just a convenient natural outgrowth by which we may examine that civilization?