What is wrong with this world?
I read the blog of Hodgeman ya know, the PC guy on the Mac commercials. Well, today he mentions an incident that occurred to a fellow performer who does monologues at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA. Mike Daisey has a You Tube video of the incident that occurred at his show on his blog.
The guy was doing his performance when about 87 members of the audience got up and walked out. These 87 people were all members of a Christian group, they were all together, they were not strangers walking out en masse, they were organized. One of the group walked up to his table on stage and poured water over his hand written outline for his show, completely destroying his work. No one said a word as to why they were walking out, or what it was that Mike Daisey said that offended them so much.
Knowing what I know about theatre performances (which I admit isn’t a lot), if I was someone who found vulgar language so offensive, if that is what they were so upset about, I would call the box office and discuss the show with them before I purchase tickets. I’d find out what the show is about before I’d spend my money on it. I wouldn’t blindly by tickets to a performance at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge without knowing what I was going to see. Although the theatre does do productions of major plays that I’m familiar with, they also have some pretty artsy, oddball stuff. If it is something I haven’t heard of, I’d ask what it’s about, or do some online research before I spent a dime. If the performer or the performance offended me, I wouldn’t boldly walk out in the middle of the show. I’d quietly wait until the intermission (if there is one) or I’d sneak out if the show as unobtrusively as possible if it was that bad. Every performer deserves respect, even if he is crass and offensive. It’s not easy to get up on stage and talk to a room full of strangers. As Mike Daisey says in his blog, there is a certain amount of trust between performer and audience. I have been on stage, I have been a “performer” on the radio, although being on the radio is WAAAY easier than being on stage and my stage days were when was in high school, I’ve still been there, I know it isn’t easy.
I wish I lived near Cambridge so that I could attend his show and show him my support. I’ll be reading his blog regularly now, waiting for him to come to Chicago.
