Carey Perloff: Why It’s Worth It To Know Who She Is.
Article by Kristen Schweizer
It surprises even native San Diegans to discover they live in one of the best theatre towns in America. Certainly we have the beaches, the craft beer, the biotech titans and two(ish?) professional sports teams but we are also home to more than a handful of regional theatres.
In 2014 alone San Diego not only hosted the national Theatre Communication Group conference at our Downtown Hyatt, but also sent two musicals to Broadway – the new Tony Award winning best musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (The Old Globe) and a haunting revival of Side Show (La Jolla Playhouse). In May 2015, the San Diego REPertory Theatre is opening a brand new work, Everybody’s Talkin’, starring Tony Award winners Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) and Greg Jbara (Billy Elliot, Blue Bloods). We have an exponentially growing San Diego International Fringe Festival that draws audiences from Southern California and beyond.
Why San Diego? My personal theory is that talented actors, designers, and the like enjoy the idea of a 10-week run in America’s Finest City, and a chance to work with some of the nation’s most talented Artistic Directors. These Artistic Directors are the integrity and pacemaker of an arts organization; talented directors with innate leadership skills who step up with high knees, out of the nomadic life of moving from theater to theater with every new project. Let me put it this way…if all the theaters in America were high school drama clubs, the artistic directors would be the cool seniors who got cast as Danny Zuko in Grease. These leaders helm the future of American theater.
Will theater go the way of opera?
Is there a big enough audience to fund new and diverse works? Or will multiple runs of ticket-selling Caucasian character plays like Death of a Salesmen simply atrophy interest in new works?
Will cutting edge, current, provocative issue plays disappear like Willy Loman? (Shout out to San Diego REP for their edgy production of HONKY, a present-day dark comedy about how difficult it is to even talk about race; later filmed as the pilot for the potential OnStage in America series).
Are there enough minorities and women in artistic leadership to ensure that programming more closely reflects our changing population?
The conversation has so many places to go, and while we laymen may debate it over a second glass of wine at dinner, we have the privilege of listening in on the educated, charming, and articulate thoughts of two people who are often the smartest people in a room. Let me tell you about them.
The Old Globe’s Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, widely recognized as one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare, is incredible. At The Public in Manhattan he staged Julius Caesar, starring Jeffrey Wright, for Shakespeare in the Park and The Merchant of Venice featuring Ron Leibman’s Obie Award-winning portrayal of Shylock. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare (called by New York Magazine “a must-read for actors”) was published in 2007 and is now the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author Thinking Shakespeare, called by New York Magazine “a must-read for actors.”
Barry Edelstein will sit down on Sunday, March 15 at 4 p.m with the Artistic Director of the celebrated American Conservatory Theater, Carey Perloff. These two will explore the state of American theatre, the future of the country’s regional theatres, and Perloff’s new memoir Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theatre. After the event she will sign copies of her book, which will be for sale at the event.
Who wants to read this woman’s book?
ME.
You can choose to read it, and here is why you should:
At age 27, Carey Perloff was hired to run Classic Stage Company, which she saved from financial ruin by staging impactful productions of classics and new work with major actors, including the world premiere of Ezra Pound’s Elektra.
Did you catch that? Perloff saved Classic Stage Company and kept doing world premiere works in her season. I do not know if people outside the theatrical marketing world know this, but it is easier to get an average San Diegan to help their neighbor move for free at 6 a.m. on a Sunday than it is to get them to pay $45 to attend a play they have never heard of.
Note: I do not have scientific proof that this is the norm, but I have three test cases living next door to me. The point is, new works are rarely done without a financial loss. Only the really good ones stay in the black. She saved a theatre company with new work in her season at age 27. I am going to be 27 this year and I still have to hum the alphabet when I’m filing.
After this, Perloff was the youngest person – not woman, not ‘adjusted for inflation’ – just the youngest person ever to be hired to run a major LORT theatre. American Conservatory Theater chose her in 1992 to become its third Artistic Director; that is crucial and respectful trust in a deserving leader. When the past has insisted competence that is routinely measured in years-on-the-job, Carey Perloff reminded us that some are “born with greatness.”
Perloff has written a number of award-winning plays. She has taught for many years in A.C.T.’s acclaimed M.F.A. program and at universities around the country. She has also directed dozens of major reinterpretations of classical plays, from Hecuba (really smart) to ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (like Snakes on a Plane, the plot is in the title), as well as world premieres of the new work America desperately craves (even if they don’t know it yet).
Oh, one more thing. She helped rebuild A.C.T.’s Geary Theater after it suffered massive damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I know that the earthquake is not super relevant, but I think it is a powerful mental tableau of strength. Look at the years, in 1989 she was literally working from the ground up. Three short years later, 1992, she became the youngest person to ever be hired to run a major LORT theatre. What?! Where is this woman’s documentary?!
These two are titans of this industry. If you care about theater, exceptional leadership, a San Diego industry ripe with opportunity, hearing a woman who has shattered a sexist and ageist ceiling, hearing a man who is revolutionizing classical theatre outreach (Google Assignment: Globe for All), or just enjoy making people think you are smart by checking at cultural events on Facebook – this is the event for you.
Barry Edelstein In Conversation with Carey Perloff will take place in Hattox Hall, part of the Karen and Donald Cohn Education Center. This special presentation is FREE to the public, though reservations are recommended. Plus, let’s be honest, making a reservation will make you more likely to actually go.
Reservations can be made by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way. I have clearly already made mine. If you come, you can sit with me and help me take subtle selfies with Carey Perloff in the background that I can send to my jealous friends in Midwestern theatre graduate programs via SnapChat.
“More than a cherished friend of two decades, Carey Perloff is an inspiration to me,” said Edelstein. “When I took over Classic Stage Company I worked hard to emulate her successes there, and when I took over the Globe, I phoned her desk at A.C.T. in search of advice. She is a national leader in American theatre, an artist of nuance and insight, and a warm, funny, and humane spirit. She’s also a very gifted writer, and I look forward to sharing her wonderful new memoir with San Diego.”
So do we Barry, so do we.
LOCATION and PARKING INFORMATION:
The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. The Balboa Park valet is also available during performances ($12), located in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.TheOldGlobe.org/Directions.
