Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2013 - 13

photos courtesy of richard finkelstein

a risk is always dangerous and always a
possibility. It's always a hazard and always
an opportunity. It's always a threat and yet
always, always a doorway into creativity.

elcome to Milwaukee. You may not be
aware that in 2008, the magazine Marie
Claire named Milwaukee "the sexiest city in America." The
publisher said that the Milwaukee entry on the list drew tons
of attention from Marie Claire's readers and others, and he
was asked, "Did that make the magazine staff think twice about
choosing Milwaukee? "No," he said, "it made us feel like we
had pioneered something. It's sort of like when you find a cool
bar before anyone else finds it, you pioneer it, and we think
Milwaukee may be that bar. The place might be the nation's best
kept secret." And this year, 2013, Milwaukee was named one of
America's top twelve art places, by Art Place the public/private
coalition of major foundations and the National Endowment for
the Arts.
So, again, welcome to Milwaukee. Thank you for taking the
risk of coming to Milwaukee on the first day of spring. I hope
that Milwaukee will do everything it can to be responsible so
that all that you do will be wonderful and that your conference
will be a huge success and that your personal time here will be
filled with engaging and exciting activities.
I'm very pleased to be here with you today and to share
a few thoughts, a few reflections on risks and responsibility. A
long time ago, I had girlfriend, her family was Irish Catholic,
and I went over to her house. My name is Goodman, as you
know, and her father assumed I was Jewish. The mother had
a little more tact, and she asked me, "So what church do you
go to?" At the time, I didn't go to any church at all, so I took a
risk, and I told her the truth. I said the theatre is my church. The
theatre is my temple.
I naively believed that then, and I naively believe that today.
In my college years, at the University of Minnesota, I was a Viet

Nam War protester, burnt my draft card proudly at a Judy Collins concert, and spent four years majoring in physiology. They
drafted me anyway. But rather than go to Berlin or Canada, I
took the risk and went to Viet Nam. Thank God, I'm here today.
And then, after I got back, I took a huge risk, one of the
largest risks of my life, and I decided to change my major to
theatre. I said why should I spend all my afternoons in the chem
lab, when what I really want to do is theatre. Then nine years
later after working for a couple of years at Playmakers Repertory Theatre in North Carolina, I took another big risk. I was
married, had two kids, and we moved to Milwaukee sight unseen. Never been here before. But that's what unemployment
and needing a job will do to you; you tend to go where it is.
Then after eight years at the Milwaukee Rep, I was asked to
leave the Rep and start a new theatre in town, a professional
theatre for young people, a TYA theatre, a theatre for young audiences, a children's theatre.
You have to understand, I had absolutely no experience
in children's theatre. I had never directed a children's theatre
piece. I had never read a children's theatre play. That wasn't
where I expected my career path to go. It was not my intention. However, I did always have this dream of having my own
theatre, and here was this opportunity. So, twenty-six years ago
I took the risk, and First Stage was born.
Boy, did I have so much to learn; not only about children's
theatre, but about theatre itself, about myself, about audiences,
about institutions, about community, about art, and about life.
But it seems to me now, after all these years, the best way to learn
about those things is by taking risks. The kind of risks I'm talking
about, you know, are the kind we hope will turn out positively, not
the other kind that we've all taken and we know will have a negative outcome, especially when we're caught.
These are the kinds of risks that seem to call us from
across a precipice, and we know that if we dare to cross over,

s u m m e r 2013

theatre design

& technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2013