Art at 3am

Ladies and gentlemen

Esteemed assorted objects in my bedroom

Pillows, pillowcases, and you, Madame Comforter

Thank you for being here tonight

I've been asked to give a speech
Regarding art

Specifically art in a fame-activated world

I'm not entirely sure
What that means...

I, personally, took it to mean
That we now live in a world
Where art, at least the sort of art I--

Oh God, I should start over

Hi, I'm Jessica Donnelly
I am the Artistic Director
Of the Peyton Theatre
Here, downtown

One of the oldest theaters in the country
Committed to producing new and--

God, now I sound like a commercial

Okay, let's--

Art in a Culture
Where fame is a second away

Theater in a Culture
Where fame is a second away

Theater is distant

What I mean is--

You go to the theater
And the actors are 'up there'
Up onstage
They're separate from  you
They're distant

You're watching art being created
You're not necessarily a part of it
At least not part of the actual creation
You're a part of the experience
Whereas, with fame
You are a part of the creation
You are the creation
You create the fame
And hand it to someone

You say 'Here.  This is fame'

There's a great quote someone once said--

'Fame is something other people give you.  Success is something you give yourself.'

So how does that relate to art?

Well, it's the distance

The distance helps create a mystery
And the mystery
That lack of understanding
About how art is created
Helps us to, actually, enjoy it more, which is--

Kind of weird, I guess

But then again, maybe not

And art...

Okay

So...

People now have an understanding of fame
They get it
They get how it works
They even get HOW to get it


Youtube videos
Bad behavior
Sex tapes

It used to be this idea
Of moving to New York with a suitcase
Going to an open call
And singing your heart out
Until Jerome Robbins yells from the back of the theater--

'That's it! That's who I want!'

We've gone from that
To uploading a video of yourself
In your bedroom
Lip synching a pop song

Has the accessibility of fame
Damaged the capacity to make art?

It's a little bit like believe in fairies, I guess

When people stop believing
When they truly stop believing
That the man onstage
Really IS a Roman warrior
Or a traveling salesman
Or Hamlet

Is that the death of art?

Of the art I do?

Or is it a good thing
That people now understand
The nuts and bolts
Of the--

Martin?

MARTIN?

Honey, could you make me some tea?
I have to have this speech done by the end of the night
And be able to speak it without sounding
Like I'm testifying for the defense

Tea would be good
A bagel would be great
If we have any cocaine lying around...

I...

I...should not be doing this...at 3am

Hmm...

Right now
They are filming a movie
Downtown

A few blocks
From where I am

They're doing...night shoots

Right now
My city
Is littered
With movie stars

With fame

It's...interesting

Tonight, I heard a lecture
From Ellen King
The chess prodigy

I then took in a late-night drag show
Where my husband was kissed on the mouth
By a lovely gentleman
Named Miss July

We also met one of the guys on tourWith, uh, whatever's playing at PPAC now
Probably 'The Lion King' for the thirty-seventh time

On the news, they're interviewing some kid
Who works at a movie theater
Because he waited on Nikao Brody
Yet another movie star

Apparently one skipping out
On the night shoots

My cousin, Paul
Is currently acting in a small production of "Hair"
That I saw last weekend
In this little folding-chair-and-two-lights kinda theater
And it was one of the best shows
I have ever seen

This is where I live

This, I believe, is art

Art is what is made
In a community like this

And, I'll add
To be fair
That I feel like what hurts us here
Is not our lack of fame
But our dissatisfaction with art and art alone

I feel like what hurts us
Is our insatiable desire
To break out of art

To become famous

And it doesn't help
That every once in awhile
Movie stars get shipped in
To give us a taste
Of what we're not

And we go a little crazy

We're not famous
We're artists

We have created a beautiful community
Where people can do art

And...fame...

Has very little to do with that

We don't know how to interact with fame
We don't know how to be famous
We're not good at fame

But art...

God, damn, ugh
We're good at it

I'll just say it

We're good at art

And I want that to be enough here

I want people to look around
And see art
And say--

That's enough

That's all we need

That's my 3am speech

Thank you, pillowcases

Good night