Today I attended a wonderful panel discussion between Donald Margulies, John Patrick Shanley and Beth Henley, three of my favorite playwrights. The conversation touched on many topics, but I found one moment in particular quite powerful.
The moderator, Robin Pogrebin of The New York Times, asked the discussants whether the theatre is dying out. John Patrick Shanley (the writer of “Moonstruck” and “Doubt”, to name just two of his many great works) mentioned the various new information technologies that are now all the rage, and then said (I’m paraphrasing from memory here) that “after the movies, after the internet, when the lights go out we will still have the theatre. And one day the lights will go out.”
He went on to observe that theatre — arguably the oldest of the performing arts — requires no technology other than one’s fellow human beings. Theater literally cannot die. If all else fails, you can gather your friends in a living room to perform a play. He went on to point out, rather cheerfully, that “It’s actually every one in this room who is in danger of dying out. But the theatre will continue.”
I found this to be a very profound observation. Particularly given his answer to a later question from an aspiring young writer in the audience, asking how, as a playwright, you can avoid selling out your principles. With a broad grin, Mr. Shanley gave a very compelling reason why unlike, say, Hollywood screenwriters, playwrights are never really tempted to betray their principles. His exact words were, if I recall, “The beautiful thing about the theatre is that there’s no money in it.”