Exciting Plays, Themes Can Save Theater

“The Play Is Still the Thing” by Paul Silva (Calendar, June 3) is an interesting article, expressing a viewpoint on theater, particularly regional theater, which is quite prevalent but not necessarily valid.

Silva writes: “[Mark Taper Forum Artistic Director Gordon] Davidson talks about an ‘informed audience,’ but many people believe that they are informed enough by the morning newspaper and the TV news, and that when they go out to the theater, they want to be entertained. They say that they go to the theater to forget their troubles momentarily, but often end up leaving the theater frustrated and emotionally drained.” In other words, Paul Silva sees theater in terms of entertainment.

I believe that theater is more than entertainment, more than escape from daily problems. Theater is not a drug, a tranquilizer or hallucinogen, allowing us to enter the world of dreams and illusions. On the contrary, theater clears our minds from hate, prejudices and misconceptions, thus educating us and making us better human beings.

Certainly, it cannot be done in an obvious way and we cannot be saturated with the same message from the same people all the time, for that would create hostility and indifference. The messages should be entertaining, and that is called art. But the message or messages should be there.

If theater is boring and frustrating and not entertaining enough, the fault lies mostly in literary managers who choose plays for production and producers who produce those plays.

Neil Simon is not the answer. New, more exciting plays with challenging new themes and new forms is the only answer.

ADOLPH DONINS

Oxnard