Check out this article over at the Conservative site NewsMax. Entitled “Theatre of the Absurd”, the author, Paul Bond, laments the dearth of the Conservative plays and explores the reason that so much American Theatre (approx. 80% by certain calculations) tends to lean to the Liberal Left.
Although Isaac Butler over at his Parabasis site gets all riled up and tends to pooh-pooh (I’ve been tending to my new son’s diapers this past week so if there’s an abundance of baby references in here I hope you understand) the article as just another right wing song and dance, I on the other hand find it to be both an intriguing and worthwhile discussion.
I explored the topic in an earlier post here and don’t have a tremendous amount to add, but this part of the article struck me:
Jeffrey Tangeman, a professional play director who teaches script analysis at Ithaca College in New York, says he reads 200 plays a year, and about 80 percent lean left.
“Conservatives don’t explore the arts as much as do liberals,” he conveys. “Certainly they appreciate them, but beyond that, they don’t see as much value.” Regardless of the dearth of right-leaning plays, conservative playwrights get no special consideration akin to affirmative action. In fact, Tangeman says that, if he were confronted with two scripts equally entertaining but with opposite political messages, he’d opt for the one he agreed with. The one on the left, he admits.
I find that a bit disturbing and incredibly anti-thetical to not only the essence of theatre, but also to the essence of education. Certainly there will always be agenda and yes obviously people will go with what they are impassioned about. Nevertheless, it’s problematic, in my opinion, to the broadening of American Theatre’s horizons.
I am always looking to explore those ideas that challenge me, engage with those who disagree with me, write about the subjects that baffle me or enrage me, either because I don’t understand them or because they provoke something inside me that I don’t want to deal with. Seems like this Tangerman fellow just wants to promote his agenda.
Wait, isn’t that what Isaac was accusing this Newsmax site of doing?
It appears bias lives in every political spectrum especially in those Liberal Ivory Towers known as Universities.
