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December 8, 2010
When News Events Are Retold Onstage
The New York Times
by Jason Zinoman
The Times, which has failed in its coverage of Atlantic Yards in so many ways, thinks The Civilians should be more "balanced" in their staging of In the Footprint. Say what?
If the company uses tools of journalism and benefits from the authority of real reporting, does it have an increased responsibility to journalistic standards? Is it enough to aim for the essence of truth, or should its artists also be concerned about conflicts of interest or that famously elusive virtue, balance?
...In reviving the debates over a plan to reconfigure 22 acres of urban landscape in Brooklyn, displacing residents and small businesses in the process, “In the Footprint” expresses a range of viewpoints, but make no mistake: the way its material is edited, expressed and contextualized belies a passionate perspective.
“In my work, I don’t think about balance,” Steve Cosson, who wrote and directed “In the Footprint,” said in an interview. “I think more about conflict. To have a good conflict in a real-life story, the opposing perspective needs to be equally strong. I try to make that conflict as difficult to solve as it is in real life.”
Judged by these standards, the show succeeds much more often than most examples of its genre, but not as much as it could. The arguments by those opposed to the Atlantic Yards are more fleshed out than those in support of the project, partly because they are based on actual interviews, while major players on the other side, like the developer Bruce Ratner and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, did not agree to talk. Their lines were taken from public events, making them seem remote. Instead of being played by actors, they are represented by symbolic props. (Mr. Bloomberg is an empty suit.) In a show that humanizes a wide range of real people, they are figures from a morality tale.
Atlantic Yards supporters generally come off as defensive, while the opponents are reasonable and endearingly ordinary.
NoLandGrab: Gee, could that possibly be because we're right, and they're all in on the fix? Get back to us when you run a story on Bruce's magical mystery EB-5 China tour.
Posted by eric at December 8, 2010 10:09 AM