Why I haven’t voted in this week’s poll
I'm hesitant to declare my opinion (once one votes on an online poll, there's no going back, of course). I would adore seeing more theatre about teenagers... as long as it's good theatre, of course. I've seen a few productions about teenagers magnificently fail, and "Sitting through a night of bad theatre about teenagers" is on the list of things I don't care to do again. Theatre about teenagers can flop in a way that I've never experienced with theatre about adults. If it's uncomfortable to watch a poorly-executed production about adults, it's almost painful to watch a poorly-executed production about teenagers. Why, though? What's the difference between stories about adults and stories about teens that causes the difference in reaction?I think it is that most productions about teenagers have an adult cast. (Please bear with me as I overgeneralize and take on a tone that may suggest that I am no longer a teenager... I'm fighting it, I swear.) Teenagers are at a strange, strange place, and I believe that's difficult to recreate onstage, especially for people who have moved on from this place. I think we experience things in a way that's completely different from the way adults do. Things are newer. We feel things pretty intensely, and sometimes our emotions and reactions seem irrational. An adult can have a fundamentally different emotional response than a teenager will have to a given situation, which may create an extreme challenge for an adult actor. It's easier to approach theatre about teenagers like one would approach theatre about adults... but it's incorrect. Teenagers' different-from-adult experience makes theatre about teenagers different from theatre about adults.
On the other hand, when done well, theatre about teenagers is a unique, meaningful, and (arguably most importantly) believable experience. Because of the weird place that teenagers are in, theatre about teenagers is interesting. It invents an entirely new space for art--one which is as earnest as our experience is. Am I writing in circles? I think so. My point is, Teenagers ≠ Adults ; therefore, Theatre about Teenagers ≠ Theatre about Adults. And that's a good thing.
On the other hand, when done well, theatre about teenagers is a unique, meaningful, and (arguably most importantly) believable experience. Because of the weird place that teenagers are in, theatre about teenagers is interesting. It invents an entirely new space for art--one which is as earnest as our experience is. Am I writing in circles? I think so. My point is, Teenagers ≠ Adults ; therefore, Theatre about Teenagers ≠ Theatre about Adults. And that's a good thing.
I'd love to see more theatre about teenagers... but I want it to be good.
