Anne Bogart told me that it's every young theatre person's responsibility to attend the Humana Festival. So, if you're planning to fulfill that responsibility, whether you're young or old, here are a few resources that could make your visit to the Festival more fun.
The list of every Humana Festival play ever.
The list of every Humana Festival playwright ever.
The Courier-Journal has the best Humana Festival coverage every year, hands-down. Here's their page for this year. Check out the new video features!
Here's ATL's Humana Festival page. (Particularly interesting is the "CD-ROM" section. They put together a CD-ROM with neat goodies for the 30th fest, and now they've put most of it online. If you click over to "Perspectives" in that section, you can read some reminiscences and remarks from people like Jordan Harrison, Anne Bogart, Paul Owen, Naomi Iizuka, Tony Kushner, Michael Bigelow Dixon, plus some critics, actors, and staff whose names you wouldn't recognize.
Lastly, here's Jon Jory's list of "what else about this off-gated, mistake prone, stubborn survivor of a theatrical critter inclined it to make it an indelible mark on the late twentieth century American theatre (and beyond):"
It has an amusement-park-ride nature, and nobody (and I mean no sane anybody) sees seven to ten plays in three days as a matter of simple, common sense. It's a theatergoing Everest.
Groups of plays create a synergy that no single play can provide. This is the secret lure of the Shakespeare Festival, only here we aren't marveling at the breadth of a single mind but unraveling an identifying the animating threads of our American culture.
It's the perfect professional convention, low on speakers, high on entertainment, with a bar on the premises in an odd geographical cranny.
It offers the "Aha!" experience, which has gotten hard to come by in our lightning-quick media culture, and a delicious one-upmanship on those who didn't make the trip.
It's extremely comforting to see so many theatre people from around the world in one place at one time - sort of like a gathering of the triceratops. People in our profession very seldom get to feel the reassuring buzz of strength in numbers.
Cheering. Most of us haven't rooted for anything since middle school and have completely forgotten how good that feels. Plus, who could be jealous of playwrights, the poor sods.
Selling and buying. The urgency and competitive hubbub of the bazaar. Taking meetings. Feeling like a player. Hey, it's an illusion in this business, where there's seldom money at stake, but it still has the tacky glamour of the nickel slots.
Exclusivity. I'm here and you're not. What's not to like about that? Pluus, so many have come for so long that it's like the annual meeting at the Elks Club.
Weird place. A German critic wrote that my father came down the river on a raft and started the theatre. I mean, it's exotic - "You went where to what??"
The pleasure of feeling amazed by good work. It's like finding out at the wedding that your cousin-once-removed can really sing.
Hallelujah! Too bad he's not there any more. Anyway. I'm gonna have lots more Humana junk to post from past and present, so stick around if you're into that. And if you're going to the Festival, be sure to let me know. I'd welcome guest posts. I'm gonna be there March 27-30, I'd love to meet-up with anyone who's there.
