The grammatical ambiguity of the question tantalizes. A first interpretation—“What are the criteria we apply in concluding a piece of theatre is good?”—is the one that occupies much of my time. At Steppenwolf, I sit in reluctant judgment of some 500 plays each year, a few of which will be allowed to become theatre. I‘d better have some reasonable and fair method for deciding what is good and what is not. I find myself guided by admittedly subjective principles, which—given Performink‘s Season Preview issue—I‘ll call Graneyisms. These include:

Good theatre raises more important questions than it answers, but satisfies nonetheless.

Good theatre happens only with a group of people in the same room, and therefore makes us more human than we were before we came in.

Good theatre entertains, enlightens and elevates.

Good theatre presents actors as acrobats of the heart.

Good theatre privileges the imagination.

Good theatre makes me want to have sex with everyone in the room.

Good theatre recognizes its responsibility as a social activity, creating a more compassionate, imaginative and engaged citizenry.

Good theatre demonstrates something to an audience so as to make it appear as new.

I try to remember that there is theatre I like, and theatre that is good. Only sometimes are those the same thing. So in addition to this platitudinous list, I rationalize that over time I‘ve constructed some relatively objective criteria. To name a few:

To what extent is the play employing a distinct use of language, portraying characters with strong needs and obstacles to those needs, soundly constructed, and ambitious of idea?

To be of true use, criteria must be constantly evolving. Particularly when one spends a great deal of time with new work, one must be prepared to examine and challenge assumptions about what makes something good. I often wonder what a 19th or mid-20th century director of new play development would have thought the first time a play by Chekhov, Beckett, or some other innovator came across his or her desk. I have a responsibility to recognize something good but unfamiliar when it comes across mine.

My second reading of the question is a slight grammatical perversion but, as a practicing director, very pertinent to me. “What elements are necessary or sufficient to creating good theatre?” This is equally vexing.

A trusting collaborative process? Hardly. I‘ve been witness or party to theatre-making processes filled with tension, and even animosity, producing truly excellent work; and supportive, even loving processes leading to a final result that was dreck.

Talented collaborators? Not a guarantee. We all think we have some measure of ability, or we wouldn‘t be doing this. But at times we have all made theatre that is not good. We were working with someone when that happened.

A good script? Laughable. Skillfully written plays are ravaged by poor, careless or passionless productions all the time; just as some of the most arresting theatre experiences arise from at best moderately skillful plays.

Passion and imagination? Sadly, no. If it were, the vain scribblings of every lunatic and three-year-old would fill our subscription seasons.

The fact is, we can work diligently toward a satisfying process, inspiring people of ability with material that matches their talents, and still the product of our efforts can lie on the stage as flat and lifeless as this newspaper, week-old and soggy.

Good theatre results from a mysterious and powerful alchemy of elements, some of which I mention and others for which I have, as yet, no name. I don‘t know precisely how it happens and probably never will. Knowing is not the point. To live an artful life is to joyfully embrace the unknown; knowing it is unknowable. Searching is the point: to love wondering in the storm hoping lightning will strike, devoting our whole hearts openly in endless pursuit.

Edward Sobel is the Director of New Play Development at Steppenwolf, and a freelance director whose production of A Man for All Seasons opens at TimeLine Theatre on Nov.5.

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