Comments on: Is the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company going into artistic seclusion?

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:29:04 +0000

Aaron,

Im glad you made this comment, because it gives me the opportunity to make this point:

Unlike the purpose of a corporation, whose purpose is to create a profit, the purpose of a theatre company is to create great art. In the corporate world, you are right, “deals go south”. No hard feelings, lets move on. In the art making world, when a production falls apart because a BOARD MEMBER (not the Artistic Director) decides to cancel a show weeks from opening for IDEOLOGICAL reasons, that’s called abandoning your community, your mandate, and the artists whose stories you are meant to serve.

This is a very good example of what happens when business people have inappropriate power and control of an artistic organization. A board is there to raise money and ensure financial stability of the organization. Curating the season is NOWHERE on their list of responsibilities. If they want to do that they should start their own theatre company. Period. End of story.

I love my board, but if they told me what to program, there would be an immediate conversation about which of us is resigning, because you cannot function as an artistic director with integrity or vision with that kind of oversight.

To speak to your other point, come on dude, putting on a play that has already been nominated for a GG and has already played Winnipeg is neither “Groundbreaking or Challenging”. (Other than that putting on any theatre is quite challenging)

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:57:46 +0000

I’ve read many articles regarding this situation and I have one question: Why is it that in every other area of human endeavor money talks, yet in the theatre world, people are expected to fork over cash and sit back? If this type of thing happened in the business world, the response would be “Well sometimes deals go south.” If Harold Green Jewish Theatre decides that the material can be misconstrued then there probably IS some material that can be misconstrued. Unless they signed contacts, and since there has been no mention of legal issues they probably didn’t, they should be allowed to pull out whenever they want.

By the way, the play they replaced it with is about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and was nominated for the Governor General’s award. I think I would consider that to be “Groundbreaking and Challenging.”

By: Laurence

Laurence — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:21:21 +0000

In light of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre’s recent flight from and abandonment of Yichud, for fear that “the material might be miscontrued” their statement of goals (listed below from their web site) seems rather hollow and ironic if not shameful.

From the Website of Harold Green Jewish Theatre

Some of our mid-range goals…

* To deepen students understanding of themselves and the world through the medium of Jewish theatre. * To help develop a knowledgeable, perceptive new audience for Jewish theatre and for the arts in general. * To stimulate participants’ imagination, creativity, and critical thinking skills through active engagement with challenging new Jewish theatre works. * To improve the ability of classroom teachers to teach the arts and to incorporate Jewish arts education into the curriculum.

Supporting New Jewish Plays The untold story is the one that needs to be heard. Through readings, workshops and commissions it is our goal to foster the writers of the Jewish community. Our goal is to one day have a vibrant playwright in our residency program and to contribute regularly to the Toronto Jewish canon of plays.

Indeed!

Laurence

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:44:25 +0000

Thanks for the clarification Shira.

Certainly that isn’t clear from the page about the festival on the HGJTC website which states, “Our primary goal is to further the development of pieces from In the Beginning and potentially move them forward to a full Mainstage production at the Harold Green Jewish Theater Company.”

Also good to note on a separate unrelated topic that again it is indie unaffiliated artists that are the energy and motivation behind creating new work.

By: Shira

Shira — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:26:07 +0000

The decision that the HGJTC made about Yichud was terrible terrible terrible, and is the kind of thing I’ve come across quite often when I’ve worked for the Jewish community in Toronto.

I just wanted to clarify that the Jewish Playwrights Festival is an initiative that began outside of the HGJTC by a fantastic local Jewish actor. She brought it to the theatre company in hopes of helping them find a way to be relevant to Jewish artists in Toronto. She is looking for new and innovative work, and has been trying to fill a void that the company was not filling on their own.

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:17:55 +0000

I heard rumours about this before it came out in the media, and frankly, I didn’t believe them because the idea that anyone would find the material in this play offensive was laughable to me. We are not talking about My Name is Rachel Corrie here. I’m still just a little bit aghast that this has happened for this reason. People are going to see this play and be like, “How on earth is this controversial?”

But okay fine, I’m not an Orthodox Jew, so maybe I have a different perspective on these matters. The point is – the real damage here is about WHEN the funds got pulled. If you don’t want to support this work, don’t – go do other incredibly boring things work that ask no questions – but don’t psyche artists out by saying yes and then back out when they don’t have time to raise the resources they need to succeed. That is mean and frankly sabotaging someone else’s work.

By: Megan Mooney

Megan Mooney — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:28:55 +0000

I’m so glad they’re able to go ahead, I’m really excited about the production.

I can’t just stop shaking my head at the seemingly terrible decision by HGJTC to pull the funding. God forbid anyone question anything, ever. sigh.