![\"colin-sargent-final-xs\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Colin-Sargent-final-xs-300x261.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
W<\/span>elcome to our Maine! Live! issue. I\u2019m glad to see you have your tickets. Just follow this flashlight beam, a<\/span>nd we\u2019ll find a seat for you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I was in a theater recently and saw Fun Home<\/em>, the musical featuring \u201cnon-linear vignettes\u201d from the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. I couldn\u2019t wait to get a look at who\u2019d be sitting in that darkness. You don\u2019t get nominated for 12 Tony Awards if your musical doesn\u2019t connect with issues that are in play. I expected the show to be packed with theater fans, including young theater fans. The show has the courage to explore LGBTQ issues. There are even special effects\u2014a dreamy mist rises from the stage to suggest time travel. It was a terrific live-performance event\u2014a Sunday matinee with reduced-rate tickets, easy to attend\u2014but wait, what? The demographics of the audience were still skewing in, shall we say, a more mature direction. I heard a whisper in the crowd: I thought we\u2019d see many more of the younger set here. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s just say it out loud: Many members of the younger generations don\u2019t attend theater\u2014bad news for theaters, writers, and actors. They\u2019ll go to beer tastings, concerts, and so many<\/i> weddings (is this the new theater?). But before I get too peevish, let\u2019s step off the print stage and onto the internet\u2014an anonymous meet-up in the darkness\u2014so we can engage in a roundtable discussion. Topic? What will it take to draw the next generations into theaters to promote edgy, provocative shows, both new and classic? <\/strong>And if someone comments, \u201cWell, old shows are not edgy,\u201d maybe he or she could revisit any number of standards, including Carousel<\/em> (the movie based on the show was filmed in Maine). Let\u2019s all help dispel the urban legend that young fans can\u2019t sit still for two hours. Is maybe part of the key, \u201cInstead of waiting for the audience to come to the theater, take the theater to the audience\u201d? Look for a story in our next issue featuring a Maine theater doing just that. Let\u2019s tease the beast. <\/span><\/p>\n A recent fad rescues old glass keys from antique Underwood typewriters (many used to hammer out the plots to endangered plays such as Strange Interlude<\/em>, written by Eugene O\u2019Neill in Maine in 1927) to make jewelry so the wearer can self-identify as thoughtful and literary. The necklace in this picture costs $65 (how many theater admissions is that?). These dangling modifiers seem to be catching on. Maybe this is a beam of hope. See you out there in the darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n
![\"signatureforweb\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/signatureforweb.jpg\")
<\/p>\n