From the Toyota Yaris, which makes you want to step on bugs, to the Ford Fusion, which looks like an excuse to finally use that excess chrome Ford had laying around since the failure of the ’59 Edsel, to the entire line of Dodge Trucks which strives to tell the whole world that the owner wants to drive a Tonka 18 Wheeler when he grows up, the Oughts have presented us with a dizzying aray of quickly forgettable cars. This is not to say that there haven’t been a few exceptions: The Jaguar XKR Convertible, the Infinity G37 or the Mercedes SLS AMG. But none of these have been cars built for the common person for whom car payments have meanings, who don’t have a servant called Otto bringing the car around to the front, or whose schedule includes trips to the day care and grocery store. (The one true exception is the Mazda 3. The 2010 design is a jaunty little car, reasonably priced, which tools around town with a headlight to headlight idiot smile on its grill that proclaims ” Hey, the world is going to hell, lets have some FUN!”)
Where the car is concerned, the modernist Bauhaus ideal of design for the masses seems to be slipping away along with 21st century optimism.
Be that as it may, what, you may ask, has this got to do with Theater Schmeater? Or with The Theater?
To which I could easily answer, “Not a hell of a lot.” I’m just saying….
Except…
We here at the Schmee are trying to buck this trend. We are trying to provide good designs in all aspects of our productions: Sets Lights Costumes, Sound… all within the confines of a reasonably priced entertainment experience. This isn’t easy, but it is part of our job. Our real reason, our over riding goal, is to create a theater experience for our audience that reminds them why they choose to see live theater over movies, over TV, over video games. To share a moment in time and space with live actors is great… to share a moment in time and space with live actors in a designed environment, well that’s Theater.
So here’s to our resident designers, who over the last couple three years have made so many of our shows glisten. You don’t get to face the audience very much in one on one fashion, arent in curtain calls, don’t always get mentioned in reviews. To our guest designers, who have brought in so many new ideas, and have helped the Schmee become more than the sum of our parts. To all the others who have helped paint a set, found a prop, or filed a color gel. Our audiences seem to appreciate your work—our audience is growing, many return show after show. So something must be working.
Did I say thanks?
OK, my favorite car is the Cooper Mini, but it’s a ‘90’s design and is due to be “redesigned” in a couple of years, which means its already on the drawing boards. Heres hoping it stays unique.
D Staley
Resident Schmee Curmudgeon