#kendavenport

[danielleandjennifer]

Huge congratulations to @kendavenportbway for winning Best Revival of a Musical last night at @thetonyawards! Thank you, Ken for all you have done for us to help jumpstart our career! Wishing you continued success! #2018tonyawards #tonyawards #kendavenport

[agrrlcalledlize]

I think this is a rebuttal to @kendavenport, although I agree with him:

So the next time you find yourself saying "Theater tickets are too expensive," stop yourself.  Man up and admit it.  Say, "I don't find enough value in going to the theater."

(via The Producer's Perspective: 'Stop Telling Me You Can't Afford Theater Tickets!')

I am totally guilty of this. But this week I actually am paying to go to the theater - twice.  Paying more than I usually pay.  And right now I am making less than I need to live on at my "survival" job, so $20/week to see theater is $20/week I don't have to do something else, like, say, buy groceries or keep the electricity on in my apartment.

I wanted to see 'American Idiot' before it closed. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I think it was an important piece of theater that will change the American stage? No. Did I think the aerial dream ballet featuring a woman in a burqa was ridiculous? Absolutely. Do I think Jesse was smarter than me by rushing the show and saving $30? Yes, but sometimes you (and by that I mean I) pay for the convenience of not busting my ass to get to Midtown to wait in line and then hang around for a couple of hours instead of going to the gym.

I also just got a ticket to see Lynn Nottage's latest 'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark' at 2nd Stage thanks to the Works By Women Meet Up group.  I work all day Sunday in Brooklyn, so I am not looking forward to rushing over to Manhattan after work, but I love Nottage's work, and a $32.50 is probably the best deal I am likely to get, particularly if the reviews are good.  Nottage is one of my favorite living playwrights right now, and I feel confident that this new production, directed by Jo Bonney, will be engaging, smart, poignant and enjoyable.  I was really glad I got to see 'Ruined' at MTC. It is a performance that has stayed with me, and I regret that I have not had the opportunity to see 'Intimate Apparel' or 'Fabulation' on stage because they literally leaped into my mind when I read them on the page.

So I am going to woman/cowgirl up (btw I have to say I hate the phrase "man up". To me it just sounds so. very. sexist. And I envision that when you "man up" you have to cup your privates and adjust which is just gross. I am willing to accept "cowboy up" because it invokes the Marlboro Man and I think it requires a flannel shirt and a big mustache, at least mentally).  I can't really afford to pay to see theater.  Yet it is my profession, and I have to see the work of my supporters, friends, and people whose work I admire.  And even then there is just too much to see.  I pass up free events all the time, and I know how much effort and money goes into even the "smallest" event, so I appreciate the producer & creators' sacrifice when they offer me a freebie or a discount (a lot of people don't but that's another blog post).

I make a mental calculation, "is this worth my money and my time, including the rsvping/reserving, additional ticket service fees which offend me, planning my schedule and transportation to & from, and giving up spending time with friends or just being home cooking & chilling in sweatpants?".  Often it really isn't.   And the easy cliche is I'm too busy, or I can't afford to go.  Because in this business of fragile egos and near-constant rejection, isn't that nicer, a kind of professional "it's not you, it's me" instead of the honesty of "your work isn't important/interesting enough for me to find the time and money to see it"?

Maybe we'd all be better off just acknowledging that we all set our own priorities, and we should feel flattered when our peers make the time and effort to see our work, instead of being insulted when they don't.  Remind me I wrote that, especially when I can't manage to get butts in seats, except for my friends who all want comps.  Except that the work I produce is always brilliant, so of course you're coming.