Following the passing of Playwright Edward Albee on September 16, It's hard not to reflect on the entire theatre community and where we are today. Albee was an extremely successful, award-winning playwright, responsible for writing well-known plays such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Zoo Story". As we reflect on the brilliance of Albee's work and are able to recollect other brilliant plays from his era, such as works of Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, we must stop and ask ourselves one question: Where are all of the plays of this era? The answer? Not on Broadway.
How many musicals could you name on the spot if asked what Broadway musicals were currently open? Probably a lot, especially if you watch the Tony Awards every year, which are chalked full of musical performances and dance numbers. But we are forgetting that the Tony Awards is not an award show for Broadway musicals, but all live Broadway theatre. Though plays are always being written and some are to be on Broadway on announced point in the future, the truth of the matter is there are over 20 musicals on Broadway right now and the only play on Broadway... yes, the ONLY play on Broadway right now is "The Humans".
What I find interesting is, when I've brought up this topic in conversation, often people's first question is "What play it is?" referring to that one play, and when I say "The Humans" they'll more often than not respond with "Never heard of it." What happened that created this imbalance? Most likely the consumer market in New York City consisting of tourists who figure they haven't really "seen" New York City until they've seen a Broadway musical.
Look, I get it. Musicals are fun and all that jazz (no pun intended) and I'm a huge fan of them and definitely fall into the category of having seen more musicals than plays. However, I am fully aware of all that I am missing out on having been part of this statistic. Because of this high demand for musical theatre, there have been genius concepts for plays coming out, but in musical form, which I believe doesn't carry as much weight on an audience as a play would. I'm not saying that every play should be inducing some sort of social change, but some musicals try to bring attention to the issues in masterful ways, and unfortunately their ideas are overshadowed with all of the "pretty music".
We live in a time when people want their entertainment and they want it now. We are among a generation who avoids, quite bluntly, thinking. Mindless entertainment is dominating the consumer market and this is why people refuse to see a play unless they can sing along to it. Some people don't even know that Broadway isn't just musicals, and this is sad. People need to realize that plays are a beautiful piece of art and they are not just musicals without the music and dancing... they are their own complete art form and can do things that musicals can't. They don't have to be serious or boring, we aren't in Shakespearean times here. They can be funny, and heartwarming and beautiful... They can be like whatever you like watching on TV except it's better because nothing beats live performance.
I think the time for playwrights is now. We should not be discouraged by the unfortunate statistic but should use it to motivate us. There is so much that we haven't done yet in theatre and should in no way believe the theatre culture is dying. I believe we need a theatre revolution right now, and I'm hoping for one powerful piece to make it to Broadway to get people to say "An American in Where?" "Hamilton, Who?" Because honestly, who can even name a handful of successful and well-acknowledged playwrights of this era, following Albee? Tough to follow, sure, but not impossible.
