Gwydion Suilebhan - Latest Comments

Re: Revision

Gwydion Suilebhan — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 21:04:02 -0000

That's BRILLIANT. You're hired!

Re: Revision

David J. Loehr — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 20:53:08 -0000

Looking forward to your new logo.

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Thembi Duncan

Catherine Aselford — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:46:24 -0000

Really? Is Tana Hicken (Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage) an out of town actor? Is Colleen Delany (Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth)? Is Floyd King? (actually, he might be) You know I love you Kim, but I am SO SICK of people painting DC theatre as Mickey Mouse.

I remember when Marcia Gay Harden was at the Source, New Playwrights and Olney. I remember when Mike Mayer was local. I even remember Phill Lewis' debut at Ford's -- I was in High School, he was about 9 years old, and he brought the cast and musicians Christmas cookies!

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Thembi Duncan

Kim Curtis — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 19:44:59 -0000

I really appreciate your thoughtful comments.But what occurs to me is that we already have a two tier system. What I mean is that most of the actors in the larger theatres are out of town actors. The competition has always between out of towners and local actors.

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Thembi Duncan

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:58:46 -0000

Great write up.
D. Audain

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Hannah Hessel

Kim Curtis — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:49:08 -0000

I've always felt that as much fun as the party is,it would serve the theatre community more if the party was downsized. The money saved could be awarded in way that could do some real good to an emerging theatre or eveneven an older,more established one. How can we continue this discussion with the Helens?

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Lee Liebeskind

Gwydion Suilebhan — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:12:26 -0000

You're welcome, my friend!

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Lee Liebeskind

Toni Rae Salmi — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 10:54:49 -0000

Great post! I remember when HHA used to feature nominated musicals & plays--I always enjoyed that and wondered why they stopped doing it.

Gwydion: each of the posts in this series is giving the community lots to consider. Thanks for that!

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Kevin Finkelstein

Mginno — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 11:14:55 -0000

I agree with this post in a lot of ways. One correction I would like to point out is that there is a current rule on the books that states:

"Judges’ scores will be considered in relation to the full breadth of work they have seen in Washington area theatre over multiple years, and not strictly in relation to the work seen in the current year."

I don't understand this. I am possibly reading this wrong, but I assume this means judges can score a show based on what they have seen in the past? If so, that should change to say that they should score a show based on the production they are seeing in front of them and not against past memories.

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Hannah Hessel

Hannah Hessel — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:28:51 -0000

Agree! It would be great if the Helen Hayes could target and aid exciting talent.

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Hannah Hessel

Gwydion Suilebhan — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 14:21:10 -0000

Yes, I think it would!

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Kim Curtis — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 13:33:40 -0000

What about a monetary award to a young actor or writer? How much money is spent on the party? Does anyboby know?

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards: Hannah Hessel

Kim Curtis — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 13:26:39 -0000

I think you have some wonderful ideas.What I would really like to see is less money spent on the party more on the theatre community. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a scholarship awarded to a young actor or writer?

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards

Gwydion Suilebhan — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 16:24:00 -0000

That's very much the sort of thing I was going for, with a bit more of an intellectual flavor. The Nobel Prizes + the Obies... which would give us, as I cannot resist saying, the Nobies.

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards

Deb — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 15:11:58 -0000

Thanks so much for this. You make many wonderful points. At its very best the awards articulate to a general public what we, as artistic directors, cannot convey on our own. A few years back all Artistic Directors were given the American Express Award. I have that award in the front window of my theatre. I can tell you that without language it clarifies what I am doing on a tributary street just off of Main between Baltimore and Washington DC. Not having to explain that this isn't a community theatre but a small professional storefront blackbox, frees up my time to do the important artistic work and maintain and cultivate the vision. So, at their best the awards serve in terms of cultural and societal clarity. They say, this is professional, this is reputable, this is connected to an artistic community of vision. I'd encourage defining and celebrating that membership. It has meant so much to me both personally and professionally. In terms of the awards themselves, the work that I do never seems to truly qualify so I don't think I can speak to that without sounding oppressed. We have a diverse group of theatres in Washington, DC. And, as I've tried to convey in past meetings, we need to define what theatre is with clarity in this organization. Is it musical? Is it classical? Is it contemporary? Because that's a bowl of apples, oranges, and banana's right there. Throw in new works and the up and coming trend of work for young audiences and you've got a bowl of competing objects competing for best value. This is determined by the very subjective opinions of people who spend much of their evening lifetime going to the theatre. No offense, because that is an insane commitment. But finding a reflective demographic to represent the work that's really going on is a seemingly impossible task in and of itself. Listen, we need cohesion. We need support. We need to respect one another and to understand there simply cannot be enough theatrical expression in this world right now. On every level. But this is a professional level so there are qualifiers for that. The problem is it quickly turns into a strange classist structure devoid of diversity and clinging to the known elements. In my view, that's just not what theatre serves to do best. The awards give us a nonverbal signal that we are on the warpath of expression. That we value process, collaboration, and diversity should be at the center of this. In my world, I question the Charles McArthur Award in terms of it's process and structure as well as the perception that world premieres are so significant but second and third productions are not. We are on our 45th script on C Street, mostly all new plays, and only one has ever been considered for a McArthur. I have a peeve with this because if you read Helen's bio you'll see that when he went out the Hollywood he specifically researched strong female characters and had scripts written around them for her to play. She just didn't like the way she looked of film. So, I think when we invoke a name we have to take that very seriously. It takes three productions to find a work. We need language around what this means, about what we are creating. I think sharing our ideas and accomplishments could go a long way. We don't need administrators, we need creators. Talking to each other openly and respectfully. The problem is there is so little resource and it's becoming less and less. It would be hard for me to find a day to spend talking about what I do because I am too busy doing it. So, the people who have time to talk about it are the ones that likely aren't being ignored. Now, you gift my company an amount of money that frees me up to have more time and I will gladly share some of that time with my artistic peers. I've watched this strange class structure arise over the years, to secure funding. So, that the big houses get the big awards because they need the big money. The new works, the companies in existence 5-10 years and producing regularly are given lipservice/pats on the head for trying. The paradigm is a structured classist, sexist, racist one. It doesn't mean to be. It just is. And, the key to fixing it is growing through it. Laying down the hostility and resentment and talking about who we are now and how we can all thrive best as the beautiful and necessary diverse collection of companies that we are. We could all use money. So, I say you choose 40 of the 80 companies, Gift them $5,000 each and hold a weekend retreat of which we must attend to receive the gift. Then, next year, flip the group and do it all over again. If I had my druthers...(;

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards

Ty — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:54:02 -0000

I love it. You leave the best part in, communing with other practitioners and members of our community that work in theatres of all sizes and production value. I've always yawned my way through the awards ceremony anyway. It's the people at the after party that I want to see, talk to and celebrate with. Just a bunch of happy .... :)

Re: My Helen Hayes Awards

Howard Sherman — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 14:49:34 -0000

Obviously I'm not party to these awards and have my own history with another set of theatre awards, but I'll note that your suggestion bears some similarities to the Village Voice's Obie Awards. They don't have any set categories though, and no specific limit on the number of awards in any given category, although they've always kept it within reason. Oh yeah, and no public nominees there either: just winners. Just FYI.

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

babelwright — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 15:31:41 -0000

I personally wholeheartedly agree, but

(for good or ill) I think a lot of this debate is about defining an "us" and a "them" and just who "we" are. For everyone involved on every side. It's about various theatre folks wanting to clarify their identity as being either the same or different as 'those other folks' in certain critical ways. It's a question of whether the folks (at both big and small theatres) want to be identified as nothing more or less than theatre-makers and thus all 'the same' as each other, or whether they want to be differentiated via other, externally-validated aspects of who they (as artists) are.

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Gwydion Suilebhan — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 14:37:14 -0000

I've heard that sentiment from some Big Theater folks. I think that in the rush to demonize them, we forget that a) Those are PEOPLE, and b) They aren't evil, even if they might be wrong, and c) They mean well, and d) They do good things, too, and e) Most importantly, they are US. There is no us vs. them; there is only, really, a "we."

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

babelwright — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 14:19:06 -0000

What I want to know in this whole discussion, and which I've yet to see even brought up (maybe I'm not looking in the right place), is any sort of question of what's best for *the audience.* Are the Helen Hayes just about the theatre folk appreciating themselves? Or are they not a marketing tool, intended to have some meaning for the average theatregoer?

If the latter, I'd love to see some sort of non-anecdotal research (from other cities or local surveys or something) about whether splitting leads to more theatre being seen and appreciated, or whether it leads to the devaluing of the smaller theaters - or SOMETHING about the actual impact on anything besides theatre-makers' self-esteem.

(Disclaimer: esteem is not an unimportant thing - artists are people and the artist's self-esteem affects the art being made - it's just not EVERYthing.)

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

babelwright — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 14:15:41 -0000

I get the impression that there's this constant, on-edge fear amongst the Big Theater folks that anytime they interact with the Non-big Theater folks, they'll be grabbed at, complained to, etc. They seem to feel that the Non-big folks are bitter, jealous and eager to blame the Big folks for all of the theatre world's problems, and that any open conversation will devolve into a "why-won't-you-share-with-us!" snipe fest.

Maybe someone else can speak to whether this is true - by which I mean whether 1) it's true that the Big Theater folk feel that way, or 2) it's true that the Less-big folk have acted that way and 'deserved' that reputaton?

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Mginno — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 13:00:36 -0000

Karen, I agree with you wholeheartedly with you on that. They should have gone to the meeting and voiced their opinions instead of a letter sent in secret. If anything, it just shows that they are highly aware of the talent and abilities on display and we are nipping at their heels.

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Klange — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 12:52:06 -0000

Our main objection is secrecy. As I say in the article, we might even *like* their ideas and rationale, if only we knew what they were. We just want them to engage with us. The whole "tarred and feathered" thing is just plain weird. If we don't know what they wrote, why would we attack them? We all expressed our opinions professionally and rationally during the summit meeting - kudos to HHAs for a great structure to the event. It makes us sound like an angry mob.

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Mginno — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 12:02:39 -0000

Harry's passion is wonderful and a boon to the conversation. However, his thoughts about, specifically, the design categories don't match up with reality. Since the inception of the awards in 1989, there have only been about 8 or 9 smaller companies (New Playwrights, Source, Washington Stage Guild...) that have won in the design categories. In the area of set design, in the last 10 years, The Shakespeare Theatre has won 7 times. In the area of costume design, the award has been won only 3 times by smaller companies. I don't understand how this doesn't point to either an issue in judging or in how things are grouped. I do feel that performance, musical direction, and even direction should stay combined as a great individual performance is great no matter the setting.

So what's the solution? How to do you train judges to look past the polish and judge based on how the design concept supports or elevates the story? So if a small company has an excellent design and a large theatre has an excellent design, is it so far fetched to believe that execution of the design is not coming into play with the judges?

With all the talk about how this will rip the community apart, the point that gets lost, is that it already has. A change should be made to reflect the diversity of product in DC. I work for a small company and I in no way feel that if we were competing against only other theatres of our size as a demeaning act. In fact, you could say that the point this article and the below comment are making, in a way, is that simply competing amongst the other small theatre is not ideal, which is insulting. Let the big guys have their awards and we will show them the originality and resourcefulness or our own.

If there is a small theatre Artistic Director out there who says that they do not wish to spilt, you are doing a diservice to the health of your company. When wanting exposure, or access to donors, or filling out grant applications, how is it worse to be nominated or win in a small theatre category, then not even being mentioned in an all for one system? A general audience member will not parse between what category you are placed in. All they will see is that you have been honored for excellent work. Why is that so bad?

Re: The Secret Letter and the Helen Hayes Awards

Harry M. Bagdasian — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:32:56 -0000

This potential split of the Helen Hayes Awards would be a
bad thing for Washington Theatre though it certainly reflects what’s happening in our country – the growing divide between the wealthy and the not so wealthy. Economics aside, the once upon a time
wonderful thing about the Awards was the level playing field. All the judges saw all the plays to which the nominators sent them. As I understand it, nowadays different judges see different productions. How can true objective choices be made? I very strongly believe that the problem with the awards is that the playing field needs to be leveled not carved up.
When we started the awards (God, I feel old – it was before many
of you adventurous, brave and courageous theatre practitioners were born!) …when we a started the awards, there was discussion
about the wealthier theatres having an edge over the “small theatres” but
primarily in the design categories … but who won the first set design
award? Lewis Folden for LYDIE BREEZE at little New Playwrights’
Theatre.
I remember talking with Helen (way back when) about how wonderful
it was that 21 Washington area theatre companies were participating in the first year. And we were bringing them all together with this new program! The Awards were created to solidify the theatre community. They should not now be used to fracture it.