What are you, cowards?

Can't take a little GLEE CLUB?

Glee Club closes on Saturday

Tix.

TCG Blog

Find it here.

Kyle and I play Hamm and Clov

While shooting a video last night for GLEE CLUB. It was our finest hour. Finest. Hour.

Live in the Minneapolis area?

My Dad and Stepmother are doing a book signing in Wazata, near Minneapolis. They collectively have 30 meditations in this book. Leonard and Lindsey Freeman. Lovely people. Say hi for me.

At the Bookcase in Wayzata next Tuesday night, March 30th from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Forward Day by Day has recently released Praying Day by Day: A Year of Meditations, commissioned in honor of its 75th anniversary.

Date:

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Time:

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:

The Bookcase

Street:

607 East Lake Street

City/Town:

Wayzata, MN

Tracey!

Tracey Gilbert (who played Bronwyn in the original production of When is a Clock) appears in this wonderfully wicked Onion News Network video. She's the Stouffer's Exec. Congrats Tracey!



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Playgoer talks about Mass Produced Culture

Read his terrific post here.

It reminds me a bit of a discussion we had in 2007, when the Sopranos Series Finale went up against the Tony Awards. I'd recommend a look back.

Roundabout revises subsidiary rights policy

Playwrights, take note.

Certainly an improvement. Still, I'd love to know how much actual money is generated for institutions like the Roundabout by subsequent productions? Especially considering how little playwrights make generally as it is. If the Roundabout, or any other company like it, took exactly zero dollars from playwrights, would that significantly reduce their bottom line?

I'm curious, that's all. I acknowledge that large theatrical institutions help establish plays and therefore often create the subsequent productions by the very act of producing them. Still, playwrights do not, as a rule, earn a living from their work as a rule at this point. Is there some better way for companies to generate operating budget? Or are subsidiary rights a larger piece of the pie than I realize?

Anyone out there have numbers on this?

GLEE CLUB offers Thursday "Date Night"

"How lucky we are to have frankly immoral plays about morbidly unhappy people...witty, consistently well-paced, superbly acted and directed and sardonically amusing."
- EDGE NEW YORK

"It’s chock-full of comedic twists and snappy plays on stereotypes of life
outside the big city, flannel shirts and all."
- FLAVORPILL

"It's a black-hearted laugh riot, full of surprise and the curdled milk of human kindness."
- 99 SEATS

"Date Night" Thursday Discounts!

No matter how loathsome you are, our GLEE CLUB will make you look like a gentleman by comparison. Buy two tickets for the price of one at the door on Thursday nights!
RSVP at bluecoyote@bluecoyote.org!

Flashmobs for World Theater Day! March 27th! Get Involved!

Check this awesomesauce out.

____

The New York City World Theatre Day Coalition will be producing a series of FLASH MOBS to celebrate World Theatre Day on Saturday, March 27th. A flash mob (or flashmob) is defined as a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, and then quickly disperse.

There will be seven separate flash mobs from 11am - 5pm. We've designed the event like a "pub crawl" so performers can go from one mob scene to another. Performers are welcome to participate in all of them or only one or two.

Email us at info@nycwtd.com to get involved. Upon receipt of ones email, we will send out SECRET INSTRUCTIONS on when and where to report for each spectacle. We are trying to gather hundreds of people so forward this invitation to your theatre companies, your friends, and families, you do not need to be a theater artist to participate.

The descriptions of the flash mobs are as follows:

* The Message Reading
directed by Amanda Feldman
A poetic reading of the International Theatre Messages.

* Join Us In Song
directed by Kyle Ancowitz
Performed by the cast of Glee Club a Matt Freeman play currently being produced by Blue Coyote Theatre Company at the Access Theater, everyone will sing the chorus together with one united voice.

* All the World's a Stage
directed by Alex Mallory
A play on Shakespeare's famous phrase the mob will split up and encourage everyone to take part in a simple call and response.

* Zip Zap Zop
directed by Tom Wojtunik
We will storm a NYC park to play everyone's favorite theatre game, with a crowd this big; it should be quite a sight.

* [UNTITLED]
directed by Amanda Joshi
It's so awesome; we can't even describe it.

* Cheers to You
directed by Morgan Gould
Just what it sounds like, a thunderous round of applauds.

* The Kiss
directed by Isaac Byrne
We will recreate the famous photo of a nurse kissing a sailor times one hundred.

After the Flash Mobs there will be a Celebration and Networking Event from 5:00pm - 8:00pm at The Houndstooth Pub, located at SE corner of 37th Street & 8th Avenue.

For more information about World Theatre Day and the NYC World Theatre Day Coalition visit the website www.nycwtd.com.

Flavorpill on GLEE CLUB

"Thoroughly enjoyable... Chock full of comedic twists!"

Only two more weeks of GLEE CLUB

GLEE CLUB has been getting full houses and extremely happy audiences. Saturday's performance was SRO. Definitely get your tickets in advance.

I'd also like to remind those of you that have seen the show to vote for us at the NYIT Awards. I'd urge you to consider the exceptional performances of Stephen Speights (who plays Ben the choir director) and Tom Staggs (who plays the soloist, Hank.) They richly deserve the few minutes of your time it will take to log onto the site and vote.

You can also vote for "The World Will Make You Smile" - that cruelly catchy song.

If you've already seen the play: Thank you for coming!

Homestarrunner

Jesus! I'd completely forgotten about this.

Still True

James Comtois revists GLEE CLUB

It's a show that is very funny, grim and original. I honestly can't think of any other show I've seen like it.

Protest Coverage

We're probably an hour or so away from the House of Representatives passing the Senate Bill and reconciliation, and finally passing Health Care Reform. Thank. God.

What I find interesting in the coverage is the amount of credence the press is giving to the Tea Party protesters, who seem to be maybe 300 people.

I remember when we protested the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Millions of people all over the world, protested. The media treated it as a bit of curiosity. George Bush referred to the protest as a "focus group" and went unchallenged.

300 people yelling racial slurs? The country is angry. There's a growing movement against the Progressive Agenda. Millions protest against illegal war? Fringe.

99 seats on Glee Club

Thanks 99 seats, for the good word below. He discusses our play, and also three others he saw and enjoyed this week. Thanks!

A lot of folks have said good things about Glee Club and all of them are more than deserved. It's a black-hearted laugh riot, full of surprise and the curdled milk of human kindness. There were two specific things I liked about it. One, "downtown" indie theatre is generally thought to be avant-garde, formally experimenting, non-linear or twee and full of whimsy. Glee Club is very, very much not. It's practically Aristotelian: one place, one course of action, it all happens in real time. It's a recognizable place, in the "real" world and presented without frippery or embellishment. The other thing I like about it is its point of view on art. Or Art. Often plays about art focus on the uplifting, soul-stirring aspects, even if they dig into the glorious monsters artists can be sometimes. But it's rare to see a show that says "Being an artist practically requires that you destroy yourself and quite possibly others." It was a thrill to be there.

7 years

Today is the 7th Anniversary of our criminal invasion of Iraq. We are still there. We are still at war. We have always been at war with Eurasia.

Have a great day.

"Finished."

I had a chat with my pal Marshall a few weeks ago about his poetry and the group of poets he meets with to hash out work, give each other notes, and generally encourage one another. One thing that struck me was how he termed a poem that was viewed universally as working well and accomplishing its goals. He would say "Everyone agreed that that poem is finished."

Finished.

That's not a phrase I hear very often, in the collaboration heavy/development happy world of theater. A playscript can often feel, unless it is published, in a constant state of flux. During any production of a play of mine (I don't mean workshop, I mean production) I will receive unsolicited advice quite often on what the next draft of the play should look like, what could or should be changed. The assumption is, I believe, that a play is a moving target, and is never truly finished. I think playwrights have, more often than not, accepted that view of their work.

I'd love to see the term "finished" used more by writers and by those who work in development. There is no piece of work that can satisfy all eyes, all audiences, all metrics. But a writer, and those that he or she trusts, can find a point where they say...not "this is good" but "this is finished."

I also think it's healthy for playwrights to say "this is a finished work." Then, the discussion can evolve. The lectures and lessons from laypersons and professionals alike can end, and a discussion of each play as a fully formed piece of art can emerge.

Do you think this is feasible? To move towards this sort of language? Or do you believe that because of the collaborative nature of theatre, there is no such thing as a "finished" play.

Furthermore, as a playwright, when do you look a script and say "I am not changing this any more. It is finished." Or have you never said that?

This poem

...is so fantastic.

LITANY
by Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,

The crystal goblet and the wine...

-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,

the crystal goblet and the wine.

You are the dew on the morning grass

and the burning wheel of the sun.

You are the white apron of the baker,

and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,

the plums on the counter,

or the house of cards.

And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.

There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,

maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,

but you are not even close

to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show

that you are neither the boots in the corner

nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,

speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,

that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,

the evening paper blowing down an alley

and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees

and the blind woman's tea cup.

But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.

You are still the bread and the knife.

You will always be the bread and the knife,

not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.

Always appreciate

Aaron Riccio's posts about criticism. Here's a good one.

Congratulations to George Hunka and Marilyn Nonken

Congratulations and much love to George and Marilyn as you welcome your second child, Billie Swift Hunka, into the world.

"Good Fences Make Good Neighbors"

What does this phrase mean in the age of the Internet?

David Johnston gives us the thumbs up

Thanks David!

Discount Code: A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick

Playwrights Horizons has kindly offered theatrosphere followers like you a discount code to use for tickets to A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick. Awfully generous of them! I'm happy to pass the code along.

A COOL DIP IN THE BARREN SAHARAN CRICK

By Kia Corthron

Directed by Chay Yew

Blog reader DISCOUNT! Use code “CDGR”

Limit 4 tickets per order. Subject to availability.

Order by March 28 with code CDGR and tickets are only

· $30 (reg. $50) for all performances through March 21st

· $40 (reg. $50) for all performances March 23 – April 11

HOW TO ORDER: Order online at www.playwrightshorizons.org Use code CDGR.

Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily)

For Christ's Sake

Finally!

New Title for Trayf

Sometime later this year, Trayf (pictured above) which appeared at the Second Coming of the Baby Jesus One-Act Jubilee at few years ago, will be published by Playscripts, Inc. In order to make it a bit more producible, it shall be called Rabbi Hersh and The Talking Lobster.

This is also a funny title. I insist that it is.

William F. Pewen's Op-Ed

One of the things that drives me most crazy in the world of political punditry, is the idea that Republicans - who have not argued in good faith, who have spread lies about reform in order to kill it, and whose arguments amount to "ways not to reform the healthcare system and kill the Obama Presidency" - share equal blame with Democrats for a lack of bi-partisanship.

For example, this idiotic Op-Ed.

"Republican cries for fiscal responsibility also ring hollow when you consider the party’s record of establishing higher-cost private Medicare plans and enacting a drug benefit that wasn’t paid for. The fact is that under the Republicans’ watch, critical problems of escalating health costs and access to affordable coverage were largely ignored.

Yet Democratic leadership worsened the erosion of bipartisanship. With dissonant voices excluded, too many Democrats failed to recognize that most Americans, who already have health insurance, wanted the assurance of continued, affordable coverage. Health security, especially in a severe recession, should have been the central concern."

This is a central message the Democrats have addressed. Quite officially.

The fact is, Obama has done more than pay lip service to the idea of bipartisanship. The Democrats included Republican ideas publicly and purposefully. But when you reach across the aisle only to get your hand bitten over and over, eventually you are forced to stop. Otherwise, shame on you.

GLEE CLUB is not for kids!

Strange thing happened at GLEE CLUB the other night: a couple of teen-aged girls and their mothers showed up at the Access Theater to see our little play. They had seen a listing mislabeling our show as about high school kids - it is, of course, about miserable middle-aged men.

While I understand we have this guy in the play, and while I did see those teen aged girls laugh quite a bit at all the awful pain they were witnessing, and while I do not want to dissuade any person who would like to pick up tickets to see our "deeply offensive" play, I believe it is a very bad idea to bring anyone under 17 to see it.

Thank you for your time and attention.

2 am Theatre

Delicious, delicious content and linking.

Matt Freeman, writer

I would like to send, in solidarity, my support to Matt Freeman, Freelance Writer.

I hope you have great success Matt. I hope you are hired forever and ever.

Amen.

Great Moments in Freeman History: How to Write a Manifesto about the State of the American Theatre on your own Blog!

Almost a year ago, I wrote this blog post. Why write a new one?

How to Write a Manifesto about the State of the American Theatre on your own Blog!

Too Soon Festival

I'm submitting my application to the TOO SOON FESTIVAL at the Brick Theater today. Hopefully, I will not let everyone down. I will try not to, but let's face it, I have only these rudimentary tools.

(Hits piece of paper with a rock.)

Christ Almighty

It is Monday, and rainy, and because we just "sprang forward" it's 7 am at 8 am. Tell me a joke or something.

Thanks to

Community Dish for hosting a fun event this evening.

Tonight see Glee Club

And get a free car! I have lied to you, yet again.

Test

Posting blog to twitter. See?

There are not two ways to look at all things

It's funny, I've been reading reviews of THE GREEN ZONE and they all note that there is this liberal streak in it, that questions the reasons for going to war in Iraq. That it's got a political "point of view."

This is not a point of view. This is a fact. We went into Iraq under false pretenses and were directly lied to by people in power. That's not leftist. That's history.

Very, very bad

Very. Bad.

Remember to mention the good news

Like this review of Next Fall. Success stories are just as important to highlight as challenges.

Tonight

Get tickets. Tomorrow too.

Advertising

Dirty word, I know. But look at this:



That is DISNEY, folks.

Now look at this.




That ad isn't even like...all that great. It's just a car commercial.

Why are we so very, very bad at this? I mean, I don't even mean we need to spend millions and hire David Fincher to direct our commercials.

Anyone have an example of theater or arts companies that are using viral video or other types of commercials that seem to actually work? And can someone explain to me why we are, by and large, so incredibly awful at using technology (video!) that's not even, ya know, new?

You think theatre can't get any more culturally irrelevant?

Name the Boxing Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Who won the Stanley Cup last year?

David Rooney talks to Time Out

Variety lets staff go. People become, suitably, concerned.

Here's David Rooney talking to Time Out NY.

• On media and the arts: “As you said in your blog, we all have reason to be concerned about this ongoing erosion of arts coverage. In every way the critical voice is being undervalued. And if people feel they can take away editorial supervision and replace it with random freelancers filing to a copy desk where whoever happens to be there is editing that copy with no expertise and no experience in that field—you know, you start to wonder, Where is the authority in this coverage? What is there to set any paper apart as the paper of record? How is it different from people just filing random articles on blogs?”

Clyde Fitch Report: 5 questions

An interview at Clyde Fitch Report with Me.

And yes, I do remember that conversation. I think it was Astor Place? Thanks so much for the kinds words, Mr. Leonard Jacobs. Very much appreciated.

Twitter

Damn it. I'm on Twitter now. You can follow me. This is me.

Daily Plays

Might I mention that one of the very best theater blogs currently being quietly maintained is Kristen Palmer's blog? Where she actually reads lots of plays and responds to them?

Read it. It is thusly added to my sidebar.

Question

What is the most contemporary play that is currently a part of the public school curriculum? I mean, I know this changes from state to state, but generally... what would it be? The Zoo Story?

Glee Club!

Tickets here.

Vote for GLEE CLUB for the NYIT Awards

After you see GLEE CLUB, make sure you log in to the New York Innovative Theatre Awards and vote for our show!

It will ask you to go through a simple sign-up process.

Then you choose our show from a drop down menu, and rate our production from 1-10 in various categories.

There is a sizable audience component to receiving these awards, so please take the time to do this. It would help a great deal.

Thanks!

Sold Out Preview! Woot!

Glee Club's first preview last night sold out. Excellent! You know what that means? Get tickets early and often!

Also...thanks David Johnston!

Glee Club is Back!

Glee Club's first preview/public performance is tonight!

Get a ticket!

Check out the rehearsal video!

Have a dead loved one turned into a stone!

If you are in NYC and able to come to the show tonight, I would be deeply appreciative. Tickets for tonight, tomorrow and Friday's performances are all $15 ($10 off!)

We've got a great idea... do it again!

I simply love the new GOP talking point of "start over again." Health care reform didn't actually start a year ago. People have been trying to get some version of health care reform passed for over 50 years. The idea that there are issues that just haven't been taken into account is just hilarious on its face.

It would be wonderful if the press would cover the GOP arguments as what they are - stalling tactics with no factual merit. Then we could discuss what's happening (the Democrats are trying to get enough votes to overcome the abuse of the filibuster in order to enact necessary reforms of a broken system, and the GOP is attempting to protect the status quo and win a cynical political fight); as opposed to discussing the relative merits of the theatrics.

Wait...wait!

WHAT?!

J. Holtham's reading

Looks like fellow blogger and playwright J. Holtham has a reading coming up next week and I'm happy to encourage everyone to go check it out.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre presents
As a part of Memberfest

a reading of
MANIFESTO
a comedy by J. Holtham

Directed by Kareem Fahmy

Tuesday, March 16th at 7:30 p.m.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre
549 West 52nd St.

FREE!

For more information, call (212) 247-4982

Read Game Change

I definitely enjoyed it. But I can't say there was a single line in it that actually...surprised me. It's pretty much what I expected, based on my own obsessive interest in the election. It's a fun read, and a great little hardcover artifact, but I can't say I walked away enlightened.

Write It Yourself

Not to put too fine a point on it, but my response to posts like these is "Then, write your own plays." There's no use scolding artists when their experiments don't connect with you. They're going to experiment anyway. Those same experiments do connect with someone, I'll bet. Maybe not you all the time. Luckily, there are lots and lots of plays. Go read a different one.

Heck, maybe go read an older one. I don't know why anyone needs to write some new version of Death of a Salesman, for example. That play is already written. It reminds me of an interview I saw once with Bob Dylan. The interviewer asked him if he felt like he could write songs these days that were as important and defining as Blowin' In The Wind or The Times They Are A-Changin'. His answer?

"No. But I did it once."

If you don't see something to enjoy in the plays being written today, that doesn't mean you are excluded. It just means that today's playwrights don't speak to you. There are lots and lots of plays that will, or have, I'm sure. Be patient, read the things you love, and stop prescribing your taste to other people.

Plays aren't written to order. I read the frustration in posts like these, and I understand it. But there's only really one solution if you feel that a certain play that should exist that does not already. Write it.

Glee Club Discount Code Expires on Wednesday

The first performance of GLEE CLUB in Wednesday. If you'd like to use our special discount code for tickets, you have only today and tomorrow left to do it. The code expires on Wednesday.

Use the code WEDS10, before March 3rd, you can get a $10 ticket for any Wednesday performance!

Definitely take advantage of it. It's a $15 discount on $25 tickets. Very good deal.

Also, our first three preview performances are being sold at a special discount as well. I certainly want to fill the houses those nights, so if you're able to come then, please do! I'll be very happy to see you, and you'll get inexpensive tickets to boot.