Cornerstone Theater - Bri Pattillo

“Any theater that has a result in mind is not having a conversation.” – Michael John Garcés, Artistic Director

- Wow, I have to say this spoke to me very deeply. I think we are often goal or outcome oriented. It is easy to forget that theater can just be seen, or spark a conversation, or create a space. It doesn’t have to be the end goal but the beginning of the road.

“Our plays celebrate many voices, and are staged in theaters and in parking lots, in factories, schools and subway stations. We strive to include people who have not been on stage or even seen theater. We’ve taken up residence in small towns and urban neighborhoods, collaborating with locals from start to finish to tell their unique stories through theater.”

- What is it like trying to engage with people who aren’t used to participating in art and theatre?

“Fellowship” was a performance from 2016 where the audience becomes the performer and the action they perform is making sandwiches for hungry people in LA. I remember hearing about this performance when it was running and was really sad I wasn’t able to see it before it closed. I would be interested in hearing Michael elaborate on how this engagement of the audience is still performance/performative.

What are they working on next?!

How do they keep it all up and running? How do they find funding? How do they get everyone paid? How many people even get paid? What are their operations like?

Comments

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Assignment: Aesthetic Evangelists - Due 1/30 Three key ideas in the text that resonate with me: The first is the idea of the "new public art," or what we would call "community engaged art." The article discusses the transition from art displayed in public sites to community based projects that have the goal of collaboration and focus more on the process than the end result/outcome. This intrigues me because before this class I was honestly very unaware of this form of art-making and its growing prevalence. Another idea that resonates with me is when the author talked about community based public art of today drawing on the urban reform rhetoric of the past both consciously and subconsciously. This stood out because it's an old adage that history repeats itself and I think it's interesting that the times we live in now call for a callback to this type of work and a more curious examination of what this can do for people and their communities. Th...

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