Writing in the Dallas Morning News earlier this week, Lawson Taitte featured four Dallas area theatre companies that are producing in spaces that are or were once churches.
I found his lead particularly intriguing: “Churches and theaters have been at odds for most of the last 500 years.”
While there are probably countless examples of efforts by religious institutions to silence creative voices, I leave both the politics and history of such struggles to those better versed in the subject than I am.
But the fact is, in my own experience of decidedly less than 500 years, the physical bond between houses of worship and theatre (as well as other performing arts) is rather prevalent, even if it is perhaps new to Dallas. Having grown up in New Haven, some of my earliest theatregoing took place at the Yale Repertory Theatre, housed in a converted church that, from the outside, still looks ready for worship (save for the marketing banners of course) and is a warm and welcoming home for performances, without the formality of a Broadway house nor the modernity of a facility newly built for theatrical performance. The avant-garde set in Brooklyn has long benefited from the work presented by the Arts at St. Ann’s, and in Manhattan, those who go to the Atlantic Theater Company cannot miss the original purpose of its 20th Street home base. These are but three off the cuff examples.
I happen to think there’s a lot in common between going to the theatre and going to a house of worship, since in each case those who go to either (or both) go seeking a a community experience that takes them beyond their everyday lives and offers them illumination and even transcendence. I am not the first to note the link, nor will I be the last. I think it is a long-standing trend to re-purpose religious facilities for public performance, and its not solely a one-way street: let’s remember that the Mark Hellinger Theatre is now the Times Square Church.
One small personal anecdote on this theme: one of my elementary school friends is a Protestant Evangelical minister, who spent many years doing missionary work in Africa. During one of his visits home during that time, we found ourselves discussing our chosen professions. For him, when he was born again in college, there was no question is his mind that he would dedicate his life to religious service. For me, after I got over the idea that I couldn’t make a living working in theatre, there was never any question that I would pursue it professionally. We were both called, and we both answered. And as a footnote, my minister friend just finished a five-week run in a non-Equity California production of Kiss Me Kate. He’s sending me the DVD.
Posted on Friday, August 24th, 2007 at 9:31 am
by
Howard Sherman
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