Radar Redux.com is expanding the traditional concept of journalism, to cover a wide array of Baltimore Arts and Culture.
After seeing 14Karat Cabaret’s presentation of “Feeling It,” I got the opportunity to interview curator/performance artist Ric Royer about his work and the arts in Baltimore. The evening included performances by Martin & Lawrence, Doctors Corrigan & Benson, and Double Date.
RADAR REDUX: Where did your interest in the performing arts begin?
Ric Royer: Forced into it by starstruck mother at age 5. Didn’t mind much, as people paid attention to me.
RADAR REDUX: Do you consider yourself a theatre artist and why/why not?
Ric Royer: Sure. I like to consider myself a performer, but I occasionally throw around the word “theatre” from time to time, if only to attempt to reclaim the word as something other than staid American realism.
RADAR REDUX: How is performance different from theatre?
Ric Royer: Performance is a broader word, which implies other disciplines outside of theatre. What comes to mind when someone says “Performance”? How about “Theatre”? The difference between that which comes to mind is the difference between performance and theatre. The word “performance” conjures something a little blurrier, and within such blurred boundaries is where I like to exist when making work.
RADAR REDUX: Do you have a favorite playwright?
Ric Royer: oh. hmm. Alfred Jarry? Samuel Beckett? Brecht is quite influential to me as a theorist, but not as much as a playwright.
RADAR REDUX: How do you chose performers when you curate something like the piece at 14Karat Cabaret?
Ric Royer: I’ve always taken more of a relational approach to curation/organization. I tend to choose people I trust to show up on time, people I trust to put on a good show, and people I trust are more popular than I am so they can bring a crowd.
RADAR REDUX: You are contemplating going to Brown to get a a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies. How do you think this might change your perspective on the art and on what you do?
Ric Royer: I hope it doesn’t change it at all. I’m not heading back to the academy at this point to develop my work. That should have been done grades K through MFA. I’m hoping to just have some time and resources to get more work done and to write about it.
RADAR REDUX: Do you think the audience needs to understand the work being performed in order for it to be successful?
Ric Royer: No. Sometimes the thrill of seeing something different is based on the feeling of mystery, disorientation or the unexpected. Some audience members are going to be up for the challenge of newness, others not so much. I personally like work that confuses me! But I’m also a sucker for narrative and tight stories, so I tend to put a little of both in my work, the bait and hook.
RADAR REDUX: Baltimore is known for its performance art scene. Why do you think it thrives here? Please give us some examples of artists past and present you particularly admire or are influenced by?
Ric Royer: No, I wouldn’t actually say it thrives here. There is an emphasis on performance that extends from the music scene, but not one that extends from the theatre scene. What I mean by that is this: one of the many qualities of the Baltimore art scene that makes it unique is the allowance of artists to get away with anything. There are no pressures of the art market (because nothing sells here) and no pressures of a competitive art circle (because the city isn’t NY or LA etc). So there is a great sense of freedom, and with this freedom comes the impulse to experiment. So many visual artists, musicians, and writers tend to dip into other disciplines, quite often performance. But there is not a huge audience, nor base of practitioners, who are focused primarily on performance/theatre. So although, yes, performance is a staple in the arts diet here, I think performance itself as a discipline, is lagging behind where it should be in relation to other art forms.
RADAR REDUX: In your time here, have you found the audience for such work changing?
Ric Royer: Changing in face, yes. But the age seems to stay relatively fixed. Thank god for MICA.
RADAR REDUX: How do you think the present economy influences the arts in Baltimore?
Ric Royer: Strangely enough, there are actually some positive effects that this economy has on some sectors of the arts scene. For one, space is cheap (both living environments and places to rent), and once the housing market picks up in a growing city like Baltimore, those places might not exist anymore, especially in places like Station North, where art is a potential commodity. The Copy Cat building could disappear, the arts organizations that are renting their places might be removed in favor of condos etc, and rents can increase (cheap rent is what has attracted so many artists to this city- myself included- in the past several years). The other positive phenomenon related to the bad economy is that people are tightening up their entertainment budgets, meaning instead of the Opera, people are going to smaller theatres, in other words, larger institutions suffer more than smaller ones. It’s an interesting effect I like to call a Levelution.
RADAR REDUX: What advice can you give to aspiring performance artists?
Ric Royer: Open up a venue! Or move!
Tags: 14Karat Cabaret, Alfred Jarry, Bertolt Brecht, Doctors Corrigan & Benson, Double Date, Feeling It, Martin & Lawrence, MICA, Ric Royer, Samuel Beckett
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