RAT Re: "Dancing Bear" posts

[NOMADMONAD@aol.com]

At 12:23 PM 11/1/99 -0800, William Houts wrote:
>
>Personally, --and I'm certainly guided by my current frustration in this-- 
the Archives should be guided by an allegiance to real and immediate rats 
rather than to a vague and hypothetical posterity.  
>For the record, I heartily recommend a restoration of the ability to search 
for posts by particular persons by name.  I'm very interested in reading past 
posts by such rat luminaries  as Chris Jeffries, Allison Narver,  John 
Sylvain andd...well, modesty forbids.
>
>  
 
Bill,

Who are the real and immediate rats?  For me they are at least as vague and 
hypothetical as posterity is.  I can only say who are real and immediate to 
me. Those with whom I work and laugh and those with whom I hope to work and 
laugh sometime in the future.  I assume we all are "the real thing, baby" and 
I actively promote our ideas and work into the Icons that we will present to 
posterity.  Same same.

The mechanical archiving of the rat-list began in '99, so the RatBase is the 
only way at the Web site to find pre-1999 posts.  But not all the posts from 
the WildHistory of the rat-list are archived there, only the ones that are 
sources for the "idea quotes" used in the database.  

Part of the philosophy in creating the RatBase was to subvert the paradigm of 
author/authority. Its prejudice is that RAT and RAT ideas have multiple 
authors and that a good idea is a good idea regardless of whether the source 
is an email listserv or prestigious theater journal or newsletter or zine.  
If the author's name search was enabled, the Wizard of Oz would be visible 
behind the curtain; i.e., the choices of the Editor would be revealed.  Ideas 
generated by Erik and Nick dominate.  So instead of idea land, the RatBase 
would center us in guru land with the paradigm of author/authority 
reinforced. 

The Editor immerses herself into the disguise of ideas. Wise Guise.

The Web and Internet with its multiple digital databases such as the RatBase 
excite me because of its challenge to the old authorities, especially those 
of print and publishing.  These authorities are of course quick to adapt and 
reassert their power, but now more than ever rebels seem able to set up 
Hakim's Temporary Autonomous Zones at will.  Over the five years RAT and RAT 
ideas have represented such a zone for me. The anarch's responsibility to the 
anarchy is completely different than the monarch's responsibility to the 
monarchy, but both are equally selfish/selfless. So no apologies for the 
author's name search being disabled.  

Under various pseudonyms, I have written endlessly on all this, here on the 
rat-list and elsewhere. Most recently I have been interested in fame and its 
relationship to identity and image.  Specifically, is there a way to attain 
the power of the Icon elsewhere than in that so boring realm of Blockbuster 
and Brand Name?   

Theater is one place to initiate such an exploration.  But dramaturgy needs 
to examine every aspect of production and the cultural ramifications of 
theater to be effective, not just the specific aesthetics of a certain 
script. For some the rat-list, the Web site, RatBase, the Conferences, and 
RAT itself has been both the medium and reality of this examination. A way to 
contextualize the struggles of one's individual theater and lives into the 
Big Picture. 

The ongoing <www.undermain.com> Web project is now exploring many of these 
same ideas. This is the posterity of RAT for those involved.  It is real and 
immediate.  For others BCT in Los Angeles is the posterity of RAT.  The 
<www.edgeoftheworld.org> Fest is real and immediate.  I believe other real 
and immediate RAT progeny exist, are ready to exist.  The authors are various 
and multiple.  A seedy, ratty lot to be sure.  But if I had to name names, I 
couldn't. 

--nick