Walking the Talk: Castillo Theatre of 2002

There are many reasons I almost didn't write this essay: (1) The Castillo Cultural Center¹ has been denounced as a cult by both the Village Voice and the Anti-Defamation League; (2) the three productions I have seen at the Castillo Theatre were consistently deadening and hermetic; and (3) although Castillo's leaders preach socialism, antiracism, anticlassism, and the fundamental importance of empowering every member of their large and growing community to "develop," an overwhelming percentage of Castillo's theatre work is written and directed by one white male, Fred Newman, and acted by the same handful of actors.

So why did I write it? Or, more to the point, why should you read it? First, flaws notwithstanding, Castillo comes incredibly close to successfully creating superb community-oriented developmental theatre. Second, my misgivings were ill-founded: all claims that Castillo is a cult can be readily dismissed (see box: "Is Castillo a Cult?"). And the other two "drawbacks" to writing this essay, upon a closer examination, paradoxically are its raison d'être. The presence of deadening theatre in a room with so much potential for vibrant bidirectional exchange, along with the tremendous gap between the inclusivity of Castillo's rhetoric and the exclusivity of its practice, clearly illustrate a larger-scale necessity: eradicating the prevalent split between theatrical theory and theatrical practice. Alienation between theorists and practitioners is a familiar blight on the theatre world, fuelling the love-hate relationship between (and I do not condone the separation here) "artists," on the one hand, and "scholars" or "critics," on the other. However, the scope of this essay is primarily concerned with examining this breakdown within one organization. Castillo makes a particularly fruitful object for study because of its penchant for publishing its ideas.

I am not alone in my attraction/repulsion to Castillo. Robert Wilson, Richard Schechner, Bill T. Jones, and Judith Malina have all had associations with the CCC. Wilson appeared in the sold-out, Castillo-produced "Robert Wilson and Fred Newman: A Talk with 2 Directors" in early 2002 [excerpts are printed in this issue]. Malina and Schechner are both quoted on the jacket of Newman's book of plays (Still on the Corner and Other Postmodern Political Plays, Community Literacy Research Project, 1998), and Schechner, in 2000, accepted Castillo's OTTO award, recognizing his achievement in political theatre. Bill T. Jones collaborated with Newman on Castillo's Requiem for Communism. However, when contacted for this article, both Wilson and Jones made an effort to place distance between themselves and the organization. I was told by a representative of Wilson that "there is no relationship whatsoever between Robert Wilson and the Castillo Theatre. Bob was asked to speak and he did" (Wexler 2002). Bill T. Jones writes, "While I applaud their forward-thinking vision where politics, culture, and human development meet [...] I would not call myself an active supporter of the center" (Jones 2002). Schechner commissioned me to write this article for TDR asking me to "let the chips fall where they may."

But something must be attracting these artists to the organization. What is it? I believe the answer came when I asked Schechner about his association with Castillo. He replied, "It's the audience. Any director would drool over the audiences they get. You don't see audiences with that mixed race and class composition in other theatres today" (Schechner 2002). Castillo has worked hard for the audience to which Schechner is referring. In fact, you might say they have built it one person at a time, using methods ranging from the conventional (e.g., posters, postcards, subscription drives) to the borderline evangelical (stopping strangers on the street, knocking on doors, phone solicitation). As managing director Diane Stiles puts it, "It's still the case that most of the people who come here come because someone called them, because they know someone, and I think that will always be true to some degree" (Stiles 2002a). Stiles's assertion is echoed by the results of an audience survey I conducted at the end of the 2002 season, which revealed that 52 percent...