Conversation with Nature Theatre of Oklahoma

SHANE: In an interview, Kelly, you mention the difference between American and European art. Do you feel like you’re making one or the other? Some sort of hybrid? And what’s the difference of reception from one side of the pond to the other?

KELLY: We were talking about this the other day in Vienna where there are these giant edifices of art, with its swirling architecture. And here, in Europe, there is art, there’s junk art, like reality TV, and then there’s daily life, and none of them intersect. And so you have all these Europeans that came to America, like Duchamp and Warhol, who were the ones examining the boundaries between these things. I feel like American art offers a continuum between high art, junk art and daily life. The boundaries are porous. Overlapping. It’s much more fluid. That would be the tangible difference for me. Some of the things we do are offensive here in Europe and I don’t feel like that’s the same in America. And perhaps that’s why it’s good for us to be working in Europe. There’s much more to react to.

PAVOL: We just love bad television. We haven’t encountered that in Europe, they don’t watch enough television. I love reality TV. The worse the television is, the better. To me a reality TV show like Survivor is no different than Faust. I don’t make any qualitative differences –

KELLY: Or Survivor and Faust are in dialogue –

PAVOL: They are talking to each other in a more inclusive way than I think they do in Europe. That’s the big difference, from my perspective.

KELLY: In America theater isn’t accorded an important place, whereas here it’s a given. And this was the biggest idealogical difference between our actors and the guys from Burgtheater, when we started to work with them. They really feel deep in their hearts that what they’re doing is important and worthy and should be celebrated, that it should be attended. Whereas I think we doubt that what we’re doing is important.

http://shane-anderson.blogspot.com/2010/05/we-want-people-to-eat-more-vegetables.html