Very few things annoy me enough to write more than 140 characters on the topic, occasionally 280 if I’m feeling particularly ranty, but this week the news that there will no longer be a Tony Award for best sound design in a musical or a play has caused me to put pen to paper, or at least electrons to LCD.
I work backstage on shows, normally in lighting and so, while this doesn’t affect me directly, especially as I doubt I will ever be on Boradway or betray my lampie roots, I feel that as a member of the production industry I should speak out. Many already have; there is an especially good open letter by the creator of QLab, the program that has been used by no less than 12 of the 14 winners of Tony sound awards. I’m not even a noise boy and I’m angry about this decision. Where will it end? Is lighting next? At a time when so many technological advances are being made I would be adding to the awards rather than taking away. It astounds me very year and every time I see a show using video that there isn’t an award for Outstanding Achievement in AV. Technology is being used in astounding ways by people who are off the creative scale and yet they get nothing.
Previously I have written two blog posts on life as a techie (a word I love to use, and enjoy other techies using, but cringe when a non-techie uses it); one was about simply wanting a thanks and the other about the importance of creatives to the whole show. I think this post perhaps combines the two. Technicians don’t want a clap, a bow or even to be seen during the production. That is not for us, audiences applaud the phenomenal talent they see on stage, and we applaud it too. I couldn’t do that and nor do I have any desire to. If our job is done well, then their clap will be all the louder for it. Personally I am content with a billing in the program, maybe a special thanks and for someone to say ‘Thanks for tonight, the show was boss, lets get a drink’. It follows on that to not get a mention in a program would be hugely insulting and would imply that my contribution to the show is so minimal it isn’t worth writing down. Translating this up and you see my problem with the Tonys, by not rewarding excellence in one area, you imply that it is an area that doesn’t make a difference, something that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I should at this point like to clarify how I feel about big awards in the arts, specifically theatre as that’s what I know. I don’t like them. As artists we seek to understand the world around us and present work through which others might do the same. We seek to find something, anything new and interesting. We seek to put a spark of imagination in someone else. We seek to create a community and ultimately we seek to have fun and allow others to do so too. But these are all subjective things. You can’t put a value on them, arbaterially say someone’s work is better or worse, that it has higher value as its ‘High art’ (the worst phrase ever coined) and so to me I think it’s wrong to award things that a select (and often not very diverse) group of people think should be valued. However I am very aware that much like capitalism theatre awards are something that exist, are here to stay and cannot be opted out of. We need people (and money) to come to the shows so more work can be made. The awards are huge marketing events in themselves for specific shows and for theatre generally. Producers need quotes from critics yes, but they know putting ‘Best new musical’ across a billboard will sell tickets. Still I don’t like them. They don’t reward the excellent work outside The West End or Broadway (mainly, I know WOS have regional awards), they don’t reward the smaller, more intimate shows that often make the biggest impact. And as I said the panel is normally a bunch of old, white, middle class men. And theatre is so so much more than that.
Surely then given this view I should be shouting for the dismantlement of the awards, not calling for one to be reinstated? Like I said I hate them, but if they exist they should be as inclusive as possible. The awards may create a hierarchy in the arts but worse than that would be increased hierarchy on show teams. Technicians being relegated or even forgotten. I believe that would not only be damaging for those techies, but for the entire industry.