It's wonderful when I get emails like this:
Gosh. I'm thrilled to have risen so high in the esteem of my colleagues. 'Course, this rings with all the flair of writing to Haing S. Ngor to tell him they're about to make The Killing Fields into a musical.
But then, having spent decades writing about the game in a meaningful way, as a rich, immersive experience, perhaps I shouldn't see this as a little shallow... or insulting. After all, why not be proud of the vague "D&D Influencer" moniker, even though in this case it hasn't quite shown enough influence to encourage these improve actors to read a single post from my blog.
After all, they're only trying to co-opt the D&D brand without respecting the first thing about it, that brand having become significant enough to justify its blatant exploitation. Why would that bother me?
More importantly, why should it bother any of you, dear readers? Most of you aren't invested in this game all that much, yes? I mean, you don't care if they shit all over your last Friday night by putting a paycheque in their pockets. Just imagine the blast you'd have seeing this... if you lived anywhere near Walnut Creek, California, that is. Damn near the centre of the universe. On the other hand, if you happen to live in Basingstoke, Timmins or Chongju, at least you can feel a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that scores of people are laughing themselves silly between shouting "orc!" or "burn down the tavern!"
Entertainment at its finest.
So sure, c'mon, listen to your influencer here. Clap your hands loud enough to make yourself heard in Gralnut Wove, it's the least you can do.
But then, having spent decades writing about the game in a meaningful way, as a rich, immersive experience, perhaps I shouldn't see this as a little shallow... or insulting. After all, why not be proud of the vague "D&D Influencer" moniker, even though in this case it hasn't quite shown enough influence to encourage these improve actors to read a single post from my blog.
After all, they're only trying to co-opt the D&D brand without respecting the first thing about it, that brand having become significant enough to justify its blatant exploitation. Why would that bother me?
More importantly, why should it bother any of you, dear readers? Most of you aren't invested in this game all that much, yes? I mean, you don't care if they shit all over your last Friday night by putting a paycheque in their pockets. Just imagine the blast you'd have seeing this... if you lived anywhere near Walnut Creek, California, that is. Damn near the centre of the universe. On the other hand, if you happen to live in Basingstoke, Timmins or Chongju, at least you can feel a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that scores of people are laughing themselves silly between shouting "orc!" or "burn down the tavern!"
Entertainment at its finest.
So sure, c'mon, listen to your influencer here. Clap your hands loud enough to make yourself heard in Gralnut Wove, it's the least you can do.
Bleak
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm spitting distance from that and... well it's nowhere.
ReplyDeleteHello Alex, I'm sorry to have offended you. I appreciate the decades that you've spent writing about the game and exploring the rich world of Dungeons and Dragons. Synergy Theater is a professional improvisational theater company and we take our art very seriously, too. I've been teaching, directing and performing improvisational theater for thirty-five years. I'm the author of the book, How to Improvise a Full-Length Play: The Art of Spontaneous Theater and I'm the creator of the Story Spine, a respected tool for learning and practicing story structure that has been embraced by teachers, writers and performers the world over. (Please google Kenn Adams Story Spine.) Improvisational theater is my art, my love and my life as Dungeons and Dragons is yours. My company, Synergy Theater routinely improvises in style and genres that we love and respect. Our shows include Improvised Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens, and Agatha Christie. In each case, we study the source material, discover what makes it unique, special and brilliant and then seek to emulate the author as we create a new story in their style. We don't disrepect the genres, we love them. We don't shit on the authors, we pay our respect to them. We don't take a shallow approach, we discover what makes them meaningful to us and recast their vision through our modern sensibilities in order to create relevant, vibrant and exciting theater. We are really good at what we do and it's very important to us. We chose to improvise in the style of Dungeons and Dragons because our show's creator and director is a fan who regularly plays Dungeons and Dragons and loves it. As part of our process, we're reading related literature, learinging about the culture of the game, and getting together as a cast, outside of rehearsal, to play. Yes, our shows our very funny but that's not because we're disrespecting the style. It's because we love it so much and understand it so well that we can have fun with it. And as a nonprofit charitable arts organization, in trying time, I assure you that we're not doing this for the money. Again, I'm sorry that I offended you. But please don't take it out on the city in which our theater happens to be located. Gralnut Wove is a nice place filled with lovely people. I believe that you and I have more in common than might be apparent. For one thing, we're both writers and storytellers who love the world of fantasy, myth and magic. I think that's a great place to start and as part of my research for the show, I promise to read several of your blog posts. Yours, Kenn
ReplyDeleteI respect your guts, Kenn. It goes a long way towards justifying your commitment and sincerity.
DeleteThanks, Alexis. Same.
ReplyDeleteI live an hour from Walnut Creek, but I don't tend to travel for comedy when I don't know the people involved. I think we all know that a thing, even a thing based on a game, can be fun without being funny.
ReplyDelete