Voices: Hold the Hairspray

The hype is all about Hairspray. After a successful run in Seattle the musical theatre adaptation of the John Waters film will opening in New York on August 15.

Articles about the production have rekindled a debate on a regional e-mail discussion list to which I subscribe. Striving to be "socially enlightened and educated artists and activists" the other list members and I have been groaning for months about this self-destructive trend of reproducing movies for the stage. I call them mooplays. Sure it's a dumb word, but so is the concept it describes. I'm sure people will love "Hairspray "and it will make lots of money. But is this mooplay, or any other, good for the health of theatre in the long-term?

Theatre companies have struggled since the advent of motion pictures to create art that not only inspires but also sells tickets. The name recognition of classic musicals and works by Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwrights is no longer enough, though revivals are certainly still prevalent. Producers are turning television into movies and movies into theatre and while tickets are selling, artistic integrity has become a bi-product.

I've got no problem with artists stealing from pop culture to create new art that actually means something. I am opposed, however, to a loss of faith in creativity. Say my friend, the "adaptationalist" is right and there are no more new ideas to be had - does that mean we should be exposed to travesties such as "The Graduate?" Starring Jason Biggs, Alicia Silverstone and Kathleen Turner, the still-running Broadway production was described by a New York Times critic as carefully recreating specific film shots.

Shakespeare ripped everyone off and we are still producing his plays 400 years later. If you can tell the tale better, go for it. But the key word here is better. Mooplays may be a quick fix to solving the financial challenge of keeping theatre doors open, but they're not going to cultivate future generations of theatre goers. Theatrical productions must display the magic specific to collective live performance and make it irresistibly moving. If the unique charms of theatre are not utilized, audiences will inevitably prefer Hollywood and they will continue to stay at home, alone and isolated from one another, staring at two-dimensional screens.

I sold my soul to the theatrical arts a long time ago, so I like to prophesize that there will be a revolution. That people will wake up and smell the theatre. This revolution will not take place in New York City. It will not even happen in San Francisco or Chicago, I've said. It will happen on a smaller grassroots level, in cities like Scranton and in regions like Northeastern Pennsylvania where the commercial risks of production are less inhibiting.

I know - we've got a loooong way to go. For every complaint that musicians have placed about the region's "cover band mentality," theatre artists striving to create something new can justifiably place five more. New plays by local playwrights have been produced and some have been well-received, but they have been the rare exception.

A collaborative project between the Mulberry Poets and Writers Association and Actor's Circle just staged six "new" one act plays by regional playwrights. Mark Zdancewicz of WATE staged a wickedly funny original work titled "Cubes" last winter and has just finished a new script that's even better. Singer/songwriter and playwright Tom Flannery has had three of his plays produced in the last two years and will see the world premiere "God and the Ghost of Woody Guthie" at Tunkhannock's Dietrich Theater this winter. In October, K.K. Gordon's adaptation of Frankenstein will rock the Diva Theater.

Will these works incite a revolution? Probably not. But if we can't muster an interest in the artistic voices speaking out in own community then perhaps we deserve the mooplays. Perhaps we deserve the commute to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (www.pafringe.org) and the New York International Fringe Festival (www.fringenyc.com) to see that new performance ideas not only exist, but emit enough energy to both entertain and change the world.

-- alicia grega-pikul, 18 August 2002