NEW YORK CITY: I know what you are probably thinking. Look at this year-in-review list; Randy did so many things. Check out the variety of activities he took on; he is all over the place. You have a point, I suppose, for I did have a lot of different things going on in 2011. In a deeper sense though, this first impression doesn't match my own perception of reality. To be honest, 2011 had but one theme: I worked to advance the creativity of artists. I tried, in my own busy way, to Occupy American Theater. Looking back, I see I failed to change my world. And I don't think I did enough.
Professions matter because, well, they profess things. They legitimate themselves around a commitment to the public interest and democratic values. All of us come to our professions because we want to make a difference. If the professions are not serving the public as well as they might — if the professions face severe obstacles that prevent them from renewing their commitment to the common good (such as unemployment or sucky employers or the tragically expanding low-wage sector or the giant sucking sound of jobs moving to so-called "citizen journalism" or whatever new ails cling to excellence in journalism these days) — then taking real action is the only way to go. What does civic purpose mean in arts journalism? What is the best way for this profession to serve democracy? How can critics and journalists of the arts exercise civic leadership? What is the political role of a theater critic, an arts writer or a cultural journalist?
Critics and art journalists have no choice but to move with the times, since what we need to survive will change as our problems alter and grow. If you call for an experimental spirit in any public sphere, there is always the chance that trying new "stuff" may be the boldest action. To experiment might mean coming up with fresh ways to combat calcified or slumbering institutions, to disrupt predictable patterns, and to dismiss the reflexive narrow-mindedness of those who cling to position and power.
Recently my way has been to move into the public and declare something larger than the latest arts controversy or missed story or consumer review. If that attitude seems overly grandiose or self-serving, you are doing me or the profession no favors by calling it sham. Not only have I paid my dues, I have also paid dearly for my convictions — in personal ways even I have not begun to fathom. For as long as I can remember, I have never had the backing of any institution, for-profit or non-, that supported my idea of arts criticism as a public service. Today's mainstream publications, print or digital, more or less mimic the dinosaur 20th-century media's dependency on celebrity and fame. Media execs claim their practice is called vetting. The more my ideas get turned down, I am beginning to wonder if they should really call it news suppression.
Such fault lines reveal why change has not happened. Even the supposed last bastions of arts journalism don't truly serve the journalistic profession either. At a majority of non-profit arts magazines I am aware of, the reporters simply write down what the arts administrators and exec directors say to them at press conferences or media interviews. What these reporters are doing isn't journalism — it's stenography. Worse, your own colleagues are frequently the first ones who will work to bring you down in the profession — who will resist or oppose your transparent attempts to rethink how best to achieve a better global dialogue about arts and culture.
So here is how my 2011 went — the year I put on a new coat of optimism and went all out to try new stuff. —
RG
DECEMBER 2010
Speaker | “Solutions of Culture and Education: Concerning
Second Generation Filipinos Rooted in Philippine Culture”
“Vision 2020: Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development”
Commission on Filipinos Overseas | Manila (Philippines)
Delivered a presentation outlining “solutions that address the culture of
migration, keep overseas Filipinos rooted in Filipino culture, and promote
education reform given the perspective that whether we like it or not,
Filipinos would become global citizens and that the entire globe will be a
mobile one.”
The Commission on Filipinos Overseas is an agency of the Philippine government
under the Office of the President, which was established on June 16, 1980
through the enactment of Republic Act 79.
Selected Artist | Playwriting/Screenwriting
NYFA Immigrant Artists Project
New York Foundation for the Arts | New York City (USA)
For a period of six months, artists selected for the NYFA Immigrant Artists’
Project are guided in achieving specific goals and provided broader access to
the New York cultural world through an exchange of ideas, resources and
experiences. This program helps
immigrant artists build some necessary skills to fairly compete as professional
artists in New York.
Curator and Editor | “Approaches to Training: The Articulate Body”
American Theatre magazine
Theatre Communications Group | New York City (USA)
The biggest issue ever published by
American Theatre in terms of page
count and advertising sales.
The first issue in its 25-year-old history to be
devoted to movement and physical-theatre training for actors in the U.S. and
internationally.
“The Articulate Body” (January 2011) is my follow-up to
“
Approaches to Training: Pillars of Voice Work” (January 2010) which I also
conceived, curated and edited. "Pillars of Voice Work" reached out directly to luminaries and innovators in the field of
voice training in both the U.S. and abroad.
“The Articulate Body” includes a
virtual history of U.S. movement training and my posthumously published
interview with the late French mime Marcel Marceau. Read
my introduction:
http://periodicals.faqs.org/201101/2242573491.html#ixzz1hPUpGuIv
Moderator | "Being Harold Pinter" post-performance discussion
Under the Radar Festival presentation of Belarus Free Theatre
The Public Theater and La MaMa E.T.C. | New York City (USA)
Belarus Free Theatre is an underground theatre group that began in Minsk during
the second term of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. It was an
artistic means of resisting Belarusian government pressure and censorship. Our
discussion focused on the company’s artistic meetings with Harold Pinter and on
the current repressive political system in which Free Theatre members have been
persecuted and imprisoned.
My Name on Stage | My signature inscribed on a play’s set design
Director Loy Arcenas’s design for Ralph Pena’s Flipzoids
Ma-Yi Theatre Company at Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre | New York
City (USA)
My name appeared in Arcenas’s 42nd Street revival of
Flipzoids, Peña’s Obie
Award–winning play about immigration and exile. A beautiful element of Arcenas’s undulating sandy-beach
scenery, which he designed, is the rear wall on which are written the
signatures of dozens of well-known Filipino actors, writers and artists—all
immigrants.
On closer inspection, I realized that my name was inscribed among
the signatures, with mine placed right above the shoulder of the formidable
actor Ching Valdes-Aran, who plays the lead part. Both Peña and Arcenas said that the production “is our love
letter to the Filipino community.” I was honored and very touched to be
included.
Participant (15 seconds) | My name flashes on Australian Museum’s Williams Street façade
“Your Names in Lights” | A Project by John Baldessari
Kaldor Public Art Projects and Sydney Festival | Sydney (Australia)
My name appeared in lights—for 15 seconds—in front of the Australian Museum’s
William Street façade. The
American conceptual artist John Baldessari (recipient of the Golden Lion Award
for lifetime achievement at the 2009 Venice Biennale) looked for people who
wanted their name in lights—but for 15 glittering seconds. “Your Name in Lights” reflects the
changing cult of celebrity in modern society and recalls Andy Warhol’s
prediction that in the future everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame.
Moderator | “Writing as Metamorphosis”
NoPassport Conference | "Dreaming the Americas: Global Change in Performance"
NoPassport and Nuyorican Poets Café | New York City (USA)
A conversation about the global voice in the age of
globalization with writers who have newly available play collections: Migdalia
Cruz, Karen Hartman, Chiori Miyagawa, Kia Corthron, Linda Faigao-Hall,
Catherine Filloux, Carson Kreitzer and Ruth Margraff. Dramaturg Otis-Ramsey Zoe served as co-moderator.
Editor and Author | “Viva La MaMa”
American Theatre magazine
Theatre Communications Group | New York City (USA)
For the March 2011 issue of
American Theatre, I wrote
a tribute to the late Ellen Stewart, the legendary founder of LaMaMa
E.T.C. I also compiled and edited, "
Viva La Mama," a collection of tributes from Stewart’s friends, collaborators, admirers and
“babies” who remembered her as an inventor of the American alternative theatre
— who had changed the face of world theater.
Panelist | “Gender-Neutral Casting”
Panel Discussion | “Limitless Casting: Could the Best Man for the Part Be a Woman?"
Actors’ Equity Association | New York City (USA)
In an age when men in drag are commonplace on Broadway, why
are women playing male roles so rare? The Women‘s Committee of Actor Equity’s
Eastern Equal Employment Committee hosted a panel discussion on gender-neutral
casting, moderated by Gael Schaefer. My fellow panelists were Deborah Wright Houston (Kings
Country Shakespeare Company), Richard Schechner (NYU), Rebecca Patterson
(Queen’s Company), Joanne Zipay (Judith Shakespeare Company) and Terry Berliner
(Director).
Read Backstage's report about this panel, entitled "
It's a Drag for Women."
Book Publication | “About the Phenomenon of Theatre” | published in English, Persian and French languages
Namayesh Publishing
The Fajr International Theatre Festival | Tehran (Iran)
“Re-Orientalism,” my critical essay on the emergence of an Arab-American
theater, was published in this book of critical essays and scholarly
articles from the annual international festival held in the Iranian capital
city of Tehran. Released in three languages, the book was compiled
by Nasrollah Ghaderi, in cooperation with Katayoon Hussein
zadeh and Ali Najafi.
Dramaturg
Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's NewWorks Festival 2011
Chen Dance Center Theatre | New York (USA)
USA Participant
The 10th Swedish Theatre Biennial
Svenska Teaterunion and Swedish Institute | Stockholm and
Gavlé
(Sweden)
Moderator | Panel Discussion | “Theatre and Democracy”
Led a seminar featuring Vanessa Cook, artistic leader of Market Theatre Lab of
South Africa; Jessica Kaahwa, an actress and writer from Uganda who gave the
message of the World Theatre Day 2011; Ambroise Mbia, an actor and director who
heads the Cameroon Center of International Theatre Institute; and Alexander
Kryzhanivskyi of the New Drama Theatre on Pechersk in the Ukraine.
Speaker | “Global Sweden: Swedish Theatre in the World”
In a seminar of international critics, I surveyed the evolution of contemporary
Swedish drama, dance and circus in the U.S. and abroad.
JUNE 2011
U.S.A. Participant
2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space
Editor-in-Chief | PQ MAG
The official broadsheet publication of the 2011 Prague Quadrennial
Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic and the Arts–Theatre Institute | Prague (Czech Republic)
Edited
PQ MAG, the official broadsheet publication of the
2011 Prague Quadrennial. It
published interviews with artists, photo reports, critical commentary and much
more. It was widely available at
major venues in Prague’s city center: Veletržní Palace - National Gallery,
Prague Crossroads - St. Anne's Church, the Piazzeta and the New Stage of the
National Theatre, and DAMU (The Academy of Performing Arts Prague).
Curatorial Advisor and Co-Creator | “From the Edge”
The USITT-USA National Exposition at 2011 Prague Quadrennial
USITT, the US association of design, production and
technology professionals for the entertainment industry | Veletržní Palace
(National Gallery) | Prague
Taking the architectural form of a beat-up performing garage with graffiti of
President Barack Obama on the wall (designed by William Bloodgood), the
USITT-USA PQ national exhibition mirrors the socio-political issues consuming
American performance makers today.
My volunteer work on this project spanned four years.
I also led a series of daily gallery
talks (with artistic director Susan Tsu) featuring renowned U.S. directors and
designers whose works were exhibited in
From the Edge.
Postcards from the Inge, a blog about the William Inge Center of Independence, Kansas, posted a
three-part interview with me about the four-year process of curating and creating a USA national exposition in Prague:
- Interview – Part 1: "From the Edge"
- Interview – Part 2: "Active Searching & The Value of the Prague Quadrennial"
- Interview – Part 3: "A Ripple Effect."
Web Launch | theaterofOneWorld.org
Facebook Page | www.facebook.com/gener.randy
La Biennale de Venezia
The Arsenale and the Giardinni | San Marco, Venice (Italy)
At the Venice Biennale, I launched a new magazine, in the theater of One World, and my new Facebook Page. I filed art criticism
and journalistic reports about the Biennale.
Featured Television Guest | “Conversations with William M. Hoffman”
CUNY-TV Cable
Part 1 and Part 2 aired on Channel 75 | New York (USA)
CUNY-TV 75 aired my two-part guest appearances on its cable
TV show, “Conversations with William H. Hoffman,” which bills itself as a
“television series of discussions with major theatre and musical figures of our
times.”
Book Publication | “The World of Theatre” | published in English,
French and Arabic languages
Bangladesh Center of the International Theatre Institute (Bangladesh) and
Peter Lang Editions (Paris, France)
33rd ITI World Congress | Xiamen (China)
The U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute (ITI)
invited me to write a critical essay on the state of USA theatre, summarizing
the 2007–2010 seasons. That essay was published in this newest edition of The
World of Theatre, an anthology published every two years. This major biennial ITI publication
contains articles by ITI National Centers and provides a vast panorama of
theatre productions and recent developments in each country over the past two
theatre seasons.
U.S.A. Jury Member
51st International Theater Festival MESS Sarajevo
Međunarodni teatarski festival MESS | Sarajevo and Zenica
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Established
in 1960 by Jurislav Korenic as the Festival of Small and Experimental Stages,
MESS Sarajevo is one of the best theatre events promoting modern theatre
expression in the former Yugoslavia.
Moderator | “Advancing the Creativity of Artists”
"Dialogues Across Cultures: A Model for Building Enduring Partnerships" | Symposium on Contemporary African Performing Arts
MAPP International Productions and the Africa Arts
Consortium in partnership with Museum of African Art, The African Center for
Education at Teachers College and the Institute of African Studies at Columbia
University | New York City (USA)
Led a public conversation with Faustin Linyekula,
choreographer from Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ralph Lemon, artistic
director of Cross Performance of NYC
This two-day symposium was designed to open up conversations around
international cultural exchange; to share lessons learned through case studies;
and to build understanding and connections between artists, organizations and
public communities in the United States and on the African continent.
Moderator | “Ivo van Hove with Randy Gener”
BAM Next Wave Festival | Artist Talk: Movies and Theater
BAM Rose Cinemas | Brooklyn Academy of Music | Brooklyn,
N.Y. (USA)
A conversation with acclaimed Flemish director Ivo
van Hove, whose work Cate Blanchett describes as “stunning with a capital ‘S’ —
returns to BAM with a stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s heartrending film Cries
and Whispers, performed by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the flagship theater of the
Netherlands.
Emcee
NoPassport Press Book Launch Party and Salon
New Dramatists | New York City (USA)
Celebrated the publication of Carson Kreitzer’s collection, Self-Defense and
Other Plays, and Chiori Miyawa’s upcoming collection America Dreaming and Other
Plays. In addition to Kreitzer and
Miyagawa, authors Susana Cook, Kia Corthron, Migdalia Cruz, Christine Evans,
Linda Faigo-Hall, Catherine Filloux, David Greenspan, Matthew Maguire, Saviana
Stanescu and Caridad Svich read and performed from their works.
U.S.A. Media Representative
German and American Media Dialogue
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in cooperation
with Goethe Institute Washington and the Studio Theatre | Washington, D.C.
(USA)
Organizer and Moderator | A Broadway Panel Discussion
“Anatomy of Breakout”
The Drama Desk and Fordham University Theater Program | New
York (USA)
Led a star-packed Broadway panel discussion reflecting the remarkable trend of
breakthrough productions and breakout performances on New York’s commercial
stages in the fall 2011.
Featured Broadway panelists were actor Samuel L. Jackson and director
Kenny Leon of
The Mountaintop; playwright David Henry Hwang, actor Jennifer Lim
and director Leigh Silverman of
Chinglish; playwright David Ives of
Venus in
Fur; actor Liz Mikel, book writer Douglas Carter Beane, composer Lewis Flinn
and director Dan Knechtges of
Lysistrata Jones.
Theatremania writer Leslie (Hoban) Blake served as co-moderator.
U.S.A. Artist
The International Festival for Musical Performing Arts “Life is Beautiful!”
Teatrul National de Operetta “Ion Dacian” and Teatrul
Metropolis | Bucharest (Romania)
Producer and Book Writer | “A Medley of Sondheim”
Performed at the Metropolis Theater, this concert production celebrated the iconic
musicals of Stephen Sondheim (
Anyone Can Whistle, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd,
Sunday in the Park With George).
This sexy Sondheim tribute featured an
impressive cast of Broadway’s top musical talents and Sondheim specialists:
Joan Almedilla (
Miss Saigon,
Les Miserables); Angel Desai (Sondheim’s
Company);
Ali Ewoldt (
West Side Story); Jose Llana (
The King & I,
The Flower Drum
Song, Wonderland); and Orville Mendoza (Sondheim’s
Road Show). Albin Konopka
was the musical director.
Lecturer and Moderator | “Sondheim and After: A Listening Party on America’s
Greatest Living Composer”
Sondheim considers himself “a playwright in song.” How he arrived at this
unique description was the subject of my lecture, conference and listening
party.
My presentation pulled aside the curtain on Sondheim’s creative
universe: “Sondheim’s creative journey,” my thesis stated, “strives to reach
the heights of a total and cinematic dramaturgy within musical structures.”
Video Interviewer | Japan Society’s YouTube channel featuring "The Bee"
Conversation with Japanese theatermaker Hideko Noda
Japan Society and Under the Radar Festival | New York (USA)
Interviewed Hideki Noda, director and co-author of
The Bee, (Soho Theatre of
London), one of two Under the Radar Festival programs produced by the Japan
Society. Noda is one of the most
popular director–playwrights in Japan.
Posted on January 20, 2012, the news story, entitled "Színház és politika," appears in 168 ora, a Hungarian weekly review created in 1988. Presented in the Hungarian language, 168 Ora is an independent publication providing articles on the social, political and economic situation in Hungary.
