June 22nd, 2010 Tucson Borderlands
This coming year is a very important mark in the history of theater in the Southwest, with a silver anniversary pending. There’s little doubt that they’ll make it to 2011, even though it’s a time when a lot of theaters are forced to close their doors forever. Borderlands Theater will survive at an unusual time, because it’s an unusual place. By recognizing their geography, demographic, and history, they’ve been able to construct art forms that speak to the place, people, and moment. That’s one of the tricky things about a theater, but the founders of Borderlands had an idea that happened to mesh with all of the right conditions to make it work.
It hasn’t been an easy time, and there’s never been a season without its enormous challenges, and concerns about survival. That’s part of the whole plan, however, and doing work that’s challenging and provocative always means there’s going to be difficulties. It’s one of the most remarkable things about the company, and Barclay Goldsmith, one of its founders and the artistic director, is himself a kind of metaphor for the company. One would never expect that the mild-mannered, thoughtful, and kind leader would also be up for a fight of any kind. But real artistic vision needs to be able to challenge and push through to get to the gold, and he’s got vision.
Here the gold is a metaphor, and at Borderlands , one gets the sense that it’s related to identities, to living in a place where there are multiple identities, and learning how to take them all in. Here, right action is engaged with the community, and there are historical precedents for everything, and it’s theater’s mission to keep people from forgetting. Tucson is a favorite spot for visiting the Old West and hiding out from the world. With its exciting downtown scene, and luxury Tucson hotels , there are splendid distractions from the world at large. But this theater is a place that provides brilliant entertainment, and when one leaves the theater, a way to recognize that the world at large is indeed right here.
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