Thesis Research

While I've been experiencing the exciting world of theatre in the south, I have been continuously thinking about my thesis: new topics to look in to, new angles to take, people to talk to, etc.

Two things that have come up in the past few days:

1. People consistently show up nearly 45 minutes late to shows. We'll be sitting on headset and the stage manager will give warnings for light bleed because so many people just walked in to the theater. In the north, the show starts at 7, house opens at 6:30, people usually start arriving at 6:15 to get their tickets and get in line. We might hold the house if there is a big crowd to make sure everyone gets seated, but we'll pretty much start on time at 7.

This doesn't happen in the south. In the south, the show starred at 7, doors open at 6:30. People trickle in at 6:30. We hold the house because so many tickets are unaccounted for and the house is empty. We start the show 15 minutes late. At 7:45, there is an influx of people. The don't care that they missed half the show, they don't care that they're late. They take their time, and they work on their own time, not your time.

It's interesting. I've talked a lot about Spain and the show time being at 7 but them not starting until 8 because the theatre and the poeple are taking their time. Everyone relaxes. Here it seems the theatre keeps its time and the events keep their time and the people just happen to be there...or not. It's a very..."stumble upon it" type of business and society down here.

I difinitely want to talk to more of the Spoletians about what they've notoced and experienced about the differences down here.

2. It came up at lunch that there isn't really "real theatre" in Charleston. Katie and Chris have both worked in New York and they knew exactly what each other was saying. Working at Spoleto is my only real "professional" theare work, so I don't really have a comparrison and needed an explanation. Neither could really give a great description of it...it's more something you have to experience (and I hope I do soon!). For the most part, they said people in the south are a little behind in what's available. It probably goes hand in hand with the take it as it comes slow going life style down here. Katie, being a painter, used the example that there are better paints to use in a space with so little climate control, and that they wont go bad as fast. Or there were different types of paints and coatings that the charges didn't know about. She told Chris if he started working down here that he would question a lot of their methods and materials, because they'd found different, better ways of doing things in New York. I'm curious to work more in the north and experience this difference for myself.

I'm getting more confident with my thesis topic the more I talk to people around here, and I know I am making positive connections that I can easily contact and interview and use for my research. It's great to see the project coming alive.