Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1971 - 21

Comment: May I answer the question? I
own three buildings in the Bronx and that is
why I can afford to work in the theatre.
Other buildings in the Bronx are being
abandoned thousands a week, and the
neighborhood is unbelieveable. I invite you
to come up to 160th Street and Tinton
Avenue in the Bronx and put on your plays
at midnight. I want to see you live to get
out of there. I really mean it. I'm talking to
these people who are interested in the
Portobello Road type of atmosphere. I really
want to see you get out alive.

Mr. McClintock: I will get out alive.
Comment: I will too because I know the
neighborhood and I know the people in the
neighborhood. My superintendent will come
over and he will escort me out of there,
but otherwise, how do you do it?

Comment: Buildings don't make theatre.
Comment: But you people want things that
cannot exist in these neighborhoods. You
want productions under bridges. You can't
get what you want because people are
afraid.

Comment: It seems to me that we have
come to the conclusion that, for the people
on a residential block, the street is a theatrical setting. For a white man in a ghetto,
it is not a theatrical setting. It doesn't work
very well for him. In a block where there
are no people at all, the street is not a
theatrical setting. But for the people who
live there and who can communicate, the
block is a theatrical setting. A residential

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THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

block has theatrical qualities that can be
used very readily.

Comment: Touring theatre in New York has
always traveled with fear. If you went to
certain neighborhoods, you got stones
tossed at you. So the fear element of theatre touring is part of our job.
Mr. McClintock: That depends on what you
call the theatrical experience. I will admit I
opened our production in the street right in
front of our studio for two reasons; (1) to
be safe and get my feet wet out in the
street and (2) because the people in the
neighborhood didn't come in to see what we
did. And it just so happened that the Honorable John Lindsay came by and checked
us out that evening. Now he is white and
that was 126th Street, and if you ask
him about that night he will tell you he had
a theatrical experience because of what they
said to him and the way they reacted to
him. A lot of the people went up and shook
his hand; they knew that somehow he was
involved in this theatre and they thanked
him for being there. Some other people
didn't like it and they called him "whitey"
and asked him what he was doing up there.
But that was a theatrical experience, too.
If you only think of the theatrical experience
as being those things that are rehearsed and
performed, then I think you don't understand what a theatrical experience is. To
me, it is the total environment.

Comment: But who would say to you, if
you brought your instrument into that area,
"Give the money to us instead of to the

OCTOBER ,1971

other people around." They would want it
in terms of their welfare, et cetera, et cetera. Am I right?

Mr. McClintock: In some cases, yes. Some
people would. It depends on who you are
and where you go.

Mrs. Cortesi: I think your remark, Ernie,
was a lovely note to wrap this evening up
on.

Mr. Munn: I feel this evening has been a
mish-mash in which everybody told us what
they are. We have no goal. We set no goal.
We achieved absolutely nothi ng.

Comment: We started the creation of a
street theatre with us as the residential
community stacked up along the side.
Comment: But nobody listened to each
other.

Mrs. Cortesi: Do you know how very little
is known about street theatre and about environmental design? The people have been
invited here this evening, just to find out
what somebody else knows.

Mr. Munn: I did expect the group to function more productively.

Mrs. Cortesi: But the interesting thing is
that half the people don't know what the
other half is doing. We found out what
other people are doing.

Mr. Munn: I will not accept the fact that
nobody listens to one another.

Mrs. Cortesi: On that happy note, thank
you.

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