STREET THEATRE

Joseph Tiraco

Street Theater; What Is It?

Street Theater can best be explained as an intellectual game played for a crowd on a city street. It is played once and video taped. In the game, the street crowd are onlookers witnessing an event in the present. The video camera is viewing for a larger audience in infinity.

The script is written by the participants without restriction. All subjects and styles are eligible. Music is a vital element and provides a wide range for artistic expression. Costumes, props and sets enhance the game. Programs detailing the event bring both understanding and interaction between the players and crowd.

Who Can Play?

This complex program can be understood better by drawing an analogy between the summertime games of Baseball and Street Theater. As games, they are similar in structure but unlike in substance. Most Americans know the national sport of Baseball and this will help them understand parallel situations in Street Theater.

Learning how to throw, catch and bat requires very little formal training. However, acquiring the smooth motion of a professional ball player demands hours of practice. Most people have the basic skills to play the game of Street Theater. The ability to act out a role thru motion, language and song is common and deep rooted. Cave dwellers, jungle tribesmen and city school children practice such skills naturally. When the first stone was tossed up in the air and swing at with a stick, is unknown; but it was probably about the same time that a hunter came back to his tribe and danced around the campfire, acting out his extraordinary adventure. Like the primitive batsman, the first actor followed a creative instinct, and enriched his daily life with a game.

Responsibilities.

People planning a street project must know all the rules and responsibilities of the game. Everyone playing a part has a responsibility to the street director. (This role is explained in detail latter.) The street director coordinates the energy and activity of each participant. This does not mean that the street director supervises everyone. In a street project, there is no formal supervision; each participant is expected to work by the rules and guidelines set at the beginning. Discipline is self-regulated, and not imposed by an authority higher then each participants personal standards and determination. Intense practice and long hours are expected from all participants.

The Participants

. In Street Theater, the participants consist of two groups; the Performers or Players Group (in Baseball, the players on the field) and the Technical Group (like a Baseball team's manager, coach, trainer, etc.) In both games, only the players on the field are necessary. They can share the responsibilities of off the field players, as in amateur Baseball when a player serves as a manager or coach as his team comes off the field to bat. In Street Theater, a player may be a writer, costumer or production assistant while the team is rehearsing, and a performer during the game. The more highly organized and professional a team is, in either game, the greater number of experienced off the field coaches exist.

The Technical Group

The Playwright for a street project must sense the mood of a newly formed group, propose subject matter in a workshop format, receive feedback, reshape it, toss it back and work in this manner until characters emerge. While the characters are being molded, a plot is constructed. The script is written as a musical teleplay. It will be a video taped street opera, performed for a crowd but staged with video audiences in mind.

The Composer will write original music for the project and collaborate with the musical director for instrument arrangements. The composer can also be the musical director.

The Lyricist is a person of poetic insight and expression chosen by the composer and playwright to write the words of the songs.

The Musical Director's role is interpreting and teaching the composers music to musicians and performers. A genuine love of music, great energy and the ability to inspire high performance are the credentials for this important role.

The Street Director is the absolute center of each project and is responsible for artistic, technical and administrative decisions. These include, scheduling the participants, planning the sets, costumes, script rewrites, programs, flyers, equipment deliveries; in sum, the coordination of all activities. This role requires previous experience in Street Theater. Not every ambitious, energetic amateur should undertake this demanding task. Being able to work in a crisis situation, recovering quickly from severe setbacks, and bringing into play the creative energies of amateur players are helpful abilities for a street director. These traits are acquired thru experience and experience thru practice. If the street director proves to be unequal to the task, the participants will perform below their full potential. This can cause the project to fail.

Here a Baseball story is appropriate; Babe Ruth, the legendary home run king, was also the greatest strike out victim of all time. Babe was never afraid to swing at the ball.

Designer. Sets, props and costumes are designed by an artist to stylize the production. Each player is responsible for a personal costume, but constructing the sets and props is a community effort. Remember, everything designed will have to be constructed, transported and set up at the playing site.

Coaches. Instruction in dance and chorus are special skills and experienced coaches should be used if available.

The Production Assistant is a jack of all trades, helping the street director with script rewrites, assembling the programs, acquiring materials and attending to problems. More then one production assistant can participate.

The Players Group acts in the musical teleplay for the street crowd. They can be musicians, or members of the technical group. Everyone in the players group sings. Performers who sing alone are "Soloists," those in a group are "The Chorus." Actors with dialogue in the script have "Principal Parts."

Remember, acting is a craft; read at least one book about acting before beginning the game.

Roles; How Many Can One Person Play?

One role for each participant is usual, however, in Street Theater almost anything goes. Some projects have been successful using one person as playwright, composer and street director. This is quite a feat but an inspired artist can close off the outside world and go beyond normal working limits until the project is finished.

Attracting Talented People.

The group should consider how to attract experienced people to participate as players in the game. This is similar to a Baseball manager scouting for an experienced pitcher, catcher or slugger to raise the quality of the team. A performance is heightened by a strong, confident professional figure; each player is anxious to play with a star. The same is true in Street Theater. The appearance of a confident professional actor or singer poses a challenge to each player to rise to a higher personal standard.

The Printed Program.

Everyone participating in the project must have name and title placed in the program; all contributions are credited in this playbill. A chronological list of songs along with the name of each singer and a short biography about each participant is included. Well written information about the group makes everyone appear more professional.

Independent Outside Participants.

Video Technician. Street Theater is video art and theater art combined. The video technician creates a taped record of the performance. The actors are staged by the street director for the video camera to record while the crowd watches.

Sound Technician. Sound equipment is needed so the street crowd may hear the performance. This requires an experienced sound technician.

Considerations.

Those who find it difficult to imagine a score with original songs and a story plot extemporaneously worked out in a few short days, must understand that this procedure, while far from an exact science, is an art requiring a group of interacting inspired artists. Consequently, risk of failure exists and is greatest at the inception of a project. A group must overcome disorder by organizing, and bringing about the structure necessary to function as a team. Without teamwork, the final product cannot emerge. However, a hard working group will almost always overcome adversity. On a fine summers day, they will give one performance before a street crowd and a video camera.

What Is A Successful Project?

The size of the street crowd, or loud applause, are not the measures of a project. New ideas and honest points of view are vital parts of Street Theater. These are not always accepted at the beginning.

Here we depart from the Baseball analogy with a story from musical history; Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived in great poverty, was sneered at by his contemporaries. When he died, creditors sold for scrap paper all the manuscripts composed by him during his lifetime. Only a few outraged admirers, who bought their fish wrapped in those manuscripts, saved what they could for future generations.

A successful project is one that generates a clear video tape for future audiences to judge.

People Performing Inc.

Our company, founded over a decade ago by playwright Peter Copani, provides an organized formal structure for Street Theater projects. It supplies rules and uniform guidelines to create projects of high standards, often using beginners mixed with professionals. At People Performing, we are trying to improve the quality of Street Theater by establishing formal rules and encouraging a variety of organizations to participate.

Summertime sports and games are important human diversions that have been practiced for centuries to keep the body fit. Street Theater adds an intellectual alternative complementing the outdoor activities of ordinary people, sharpening the mind and keeping it fit.