… @ the Rogue Festival… I’m there… usually. Yep. the festival got underway last night… and got underway quite well for me with what I caught at the Starline.
The shows were Shadows in Bloom & Burning Man & the Reverend Nuge. Both solo performer shows and each with their own distinct styles. I liked them both. If you are expecting any more of a review from me on any of the shows I experience during the festival… don’t hold your breath. Generally, I will either “like a show” or “find it interesting”. And don’t try to read any more into it (for instance, qualify “like” as a rave and “interesting” as a dud) because I can like a show that misses its mark or find an interesting show that engages me. Besides, I’m not going to blog about every show over the next week.
They were both new and original… which is the point of this post… sort of. Now lets qualify new and original to mean not published nor previously produced… in this town. Though even with that, I prefer the former to the latter where a festival like the Rogue or it’s ilk are concerned. There was a bit of a discussion about this several days ago on the Beehive. As I stated in part of that discussion, I thought that years 6 & 7 of the Rogue were banner years (with original pieces) where local theatre folk were concerned. Yes, there are some this year too so, catch them if you can.
Whenever I have engaged in this topic of discussion with some of my local theatre friends they never fail to point out that “this isn’t New York, Chicago or San Francisco.” To that I say that even in those cities… all theatre is local… by the very fact that it is performed live. By that reasoning why shouldn’t new works be developed here as well? And what better place to start than the Rogue?
I’ve expressed my opinions in this subject before just thought this post could serve as a reminder. My hope is there will be more (“newness”) for year 10.
In the meantime… here are some Rogue related pics I snapped. Oh, and if you are in da Big NO… Go Rogue!
