Insert sloppy phoenix analagy here
I've been working at the Renaissance Festival for a long time now. In fact, I just finished my 27th season.
The festival isn't for everyone. In fact, it isn't for most people. Anyone who has been there for years has an unavoidable love/hate relationship with the place.
I think for me, I love the potential of the festival and I love the fact that it sometimes realizes that potentail. I hate the fact that it so frequently falls short in ways that are remarkably easy to fix.
As is always the case, the end of a festival season brings about conversations about what we'd all do to make the festival better. Typically, it ends there.
This year, I'm going to write down those thoughts. I know a lot of people who work out there read this blog from time to time and let me be clear - I'm not in charge. I absolutely appreciate everything the people in charge do and by writing down these ideas, I'm not trying to say they are failures or that I could do it better. I'm saying "I have some ideas and if you like any of them, I'm willing to help."
So here it goes:
New People make us ALL Better
I don't have a problem with the idea of a smaller, better cast but I think we desperately need new blood and a lot of it. When we brought in 100 new people, we'd probably only have about 10 good ones left in 3-5 years. When we bring in five, we are lucky if we have one. Very few people are great right out of the gate. But if you are watching them, you can find the ones who are fearless and have the potential to be great. So let's push new people to try out and take every one except the people who are clearly going to have a negative impact on the festival. Tell them "in two years, we are going to be keeping the ten of you who are the best" and look for the ones who WANT it. If it ends up that there are 25 who are fearless and hungry, how is that anything but amazing?
When I was one of the people who taught academy and it was filled with energetic new faces who desperately wanted to be part of our cast, it scared me a little. I was a better performer than them because I had experience on my side. But they were hungry. They were fearless. They wanted to do anything and everything to become a member of our cast because for some strange reason, it was cool.
Which brings me to point number 2 - We all need to stop apologizing for the Festival
I look at what I've accomplished theatrically in my life and I realize it is all because of the festival. Yeah, I have a theatre degree and I have a decent sense of humor but ultimately, the festival provided a stage where I could literally try anything and see if it worked.
The festival taught me that the audience is an integral part of any theatrical experience and my comedy writing reflects that. I don't write material that ignores the audience because I've spent too much of my life well aware that the audience was there. Right in front of me.
I've written about this a bit before and typically get the "I don't apologize for working out there" as if what I'm saying is to be taken literally.
What I'm saying is that we live in a thriving theatre community and that community doesn't take performing at the festival even a little bit seriously.
Now I'll grant, there are a lot of amateurs at the festival who will never be great actors. There are a great many, however, who are great and the point is that there are things you can learn as a festival performer that will absolutely make you a better performer anywhere else.
The festival rarely turns bad actors into good ones but it sure can turn good actors into great ones. It can also bring the potential out in people who would never have thought of themselves as performers. The festival stage can and should be someplace young performers are encouraged to explore.
It won't be something for all of them but it will make a difference to many of them and the more people who say "I got better because of my experiences as a street performer at the Renaissance Festival," the fewer people who will view working there as a joke.
Stop Making excuses and spend money
The festival needs new stages.
The festival needs a rebuilt hall of masters.
The festival needs new, popular out of town acts to draw in the people who rightly wonder why they should go every year when it is the "same show" every time.
All this stuff costs money.
I know that attendance was way up this year. I fully expect that the result of the recent fire will be a rebuilt food area in the Narrows and little else.
There are contractors out there who need work. If you don't have a crew that can rebuild the Hall of Masters, hire a contractor to do it for you. I know it'll cost a little extra but it'll get done and a building that is gated off and falling apart right in the middle of the busiest intersection at the festival looks like shit. Attendance this year was way up. There is no excuse. Get it done.
The same for the long overdue rebuild on the Blue Lion Tavern - or whatever you want to call it. A bunch of white tents that gradually turn rust colored because of all the dust are cheap and ugly. If you honestly give a damn about the festival and about the music at the festival, build a stage for musicians. Get input from the musicians out there about how to make that stage and - this is the tricky part - do what they tell you.
I am 100% postive if you had a music stage with seating for 100, there are 3-5 current music acts that could fill those seats. Yes, this is self serving but the point is - there is an audience out there you aren't serving and that audience could get bigger if only you did something about it.
New stages? Well yeah. Right now, we have two stages that are single act stages. Bakery is the Danger Committee Stage and The Legend is home to Puke & Snot. If you want to create a dynamic set of acts out at the festival, you need places to put them.
And by places to put them, I mean stages that look amazing, have shade for the audience and are packed with great acts.
How about some water to keep down the dust
Look, I know that a lot of the dust comes from the quarry encroaching on the property.
But not all of it.
As a singer, I can't tell you how bad the dust is for my performance. The difference between the shops that actually sprayed down the dust in front of their booths and the shops that didn't was obvious.
Not every year is as dry as this but when they are, do your cast and your audience a favor and get some crews out there watering down the lanes so the dust isn't as bad.
I know you can't keep it down completely but a little help? Please?
Mentoring, mentoring, mentoring
New people get better when they have experience people giving them advice. The vets have no idea who the new folks are so they have no idea who to advise.
And in all honesty, some of the people giving advice are people who shouldn't be giving advice.
As tough as it can be sometimes, the folks in charge need to point to specific people and say "this person is a great performer and is willing to give you advice. Be smart and listen." Some people will be annoyed that they aren't on that list.
Well you know what? Too bad. Do a better job as a performer and make them put you on that list.
As veteran performers, we all have a responsibility to the newer performers to help them thrive, not just survive. That means challenging them and interacting with them on the street. Find the ones who are fearless and creative and then let others know about those kids.
I don't think you can really teach someone how to be a great street performer. What I think you can do is recognize the potential in people and teach them how to explore that potential.
Every person I know who has gotten good at this got good because they were surrounded by people who encouraged them to try things and who told them "I don't know if it'll work but let's give it a shot."
I keep using the word "fearless" because it is the most important word for a street performer. The people who thrive are the people who aren't afraid to try anything but are also smart enough to recognize what they need to change once they've tried something.
And those people need people just like them to push them, encourage them and show them the way.
All sorts of other stuff I haven't mentioned yet
Some of this stuff will never change. Some of it might. I know that. It is part of the bargain I make with myself every year I work out there.
But I don't stop wanting these things and I will always be willing to help make some of them happen.
Virtually every good thing I've learned as an actor is because of the years I spent working at the Festival. I think it is extremely valuable as a theatrical environment and I guess the reason I think about all of this so much is not because I think that the Festival is a failure but because I see so much unrealized potential and at times it just frustrates the shit out of me.
Peace out, yo.