The Day of the [Theatre] Amateur

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In 2007, Gary Garrison, executive director~creative affairs of the Dramatists Guild of America, wrote:

Most of our countries greatest dramatists, lyricists, composers, and librettists never had a formal education in their discipline. \\ The Dramatist, July/August 2007:G2 (GuildWorks)

What a fascinating observation and confession by a theatre professional!—especially in this world that seems obsessed with certifying capability by way of university degrees and specializations. But it brings to mind the 1971 essay by Hugh Nibley entitled “The Day of the Amateur”:

… Someone (this writer, in fact) has said that anyone can become a dean, a professor, a department head, a chancellor, or a custodian by appointment—it has happened thousands of times; but since the world began, no one has ever become an artist, a scientist, or a scholar by appointment. The professional may be a dud, but to get any recognition, the amateur has to be good. To maintain his amateur status, moreover, he has to be dedicated, honest, and incorruptible—from which irksome necessity the professional, unless he cares otherwise, is freed by an official certificate.

Do Americans have to apologize for generations of ingenious amateurs from Franklin to Ford, who fathered their modern technology? Or for Ives and Carpenter, their best composers? [etc, etc.] ...

Of course there has always been protest from the professional side: ... Emerson, "the wisest American," was banned from the campus of Harvard for his famous "American Scholar" address, which proclaimed that one did not have to be a professional to be a true thinker and scholar. ...

Not long ago one of the world’s greatest violinists was barred from the music faculty of a west-coast university solely because he did not have a degree, ...

(Hugh Nibley, “The Day of the Amateur,” New Era, Jan. 1971, 42-44. Reprinted in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, edited by Don E. Norton and Shirley S. Ricks [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1994], 303-304.)

Which brings us back to the h.o.p.e. and vision of NPForum. Sometimes we amateur dramatists, lyricists, composers, and librettists think our helpmates in theatre production need to be professionals in order to give our works the best possible presentation/production. Then, because the access to and cost of those professionals is beyond our means, we waste energy and years in frustrated non-production. But artistic gifts are not doled out with BFA or MFA degrees, so perhaps it is a form of denying the gifts of God when we overlook or discount the talent of local amateurs (actors, directors, designers, etc.) as we wait for artistic professionals to “bless” our works. That is not to say that many professionals are not gifted, or that “amateur” gifts cannot be immeasurably improved with education, study, and training. But, it is to say, that in our local communities, we may have amateurs who gifts are equal to, perhaps even surpassing, those of the highly trained.

Thus, the hope is that local amateurs on every level will feel inspired by the mission of NPForum to develop, express, and honor their gifts and that playwrights will have confidence to look to the gifts of God in others, whether designated amateur or professional.