The Octoroon kerfuffle

Okay so this post at the Village Voice and the thread below are fucking hilarious.

Isaac writes about it.

George writes about it.

Helen Shaw writes about it.

My thoughts? This sucks for the actor involved and sucks for the production. I don't know if the e-mail was actually sent to the press or to friends and acquaintances. Either way, its gossip-mongering and that's a shame. But come off it. Is this a "leak?" Is this a national security scoop worthy of getting a piece of the shrinking newshole? The question, for me, isn't whether or not the Voice has a right to publish it, or if it's ethical...but is it worth anyone's time? I mean, look at all the comments. It's insane. The Voice just published a personal grievance by an actor who copied the wrong person or some crap like that. Do we think it's news that people occasionally don't get along in New York City theater? Arguments like these happen every 30 seconds. There are plenty of burned bridges all over the city. So...what?

I'll tell you what. People love this stuff. Theater is boring to talk about. Try to get through the sentence "American theater needs to re-examine it's approach to..." without falling asleep.

People want a little blood in the water. I've had this blog for more than five years. Trust me. I could ask questions about political theater all day. I could write about the nature of theatrical marketing. I could write about decentralization or ticket prices or Peter Brook. I could post my own unfinished work online and ask for feedback.

But if I wrote a post called "[Insert fellow playwright's name] is an untalented, useless jerk and here's why..." I would have about 152 comments in a few hours.

So Karl Allen... take heart. This too shall pass. In fact, it's the day after. You're half way to this being just a funny story you tell at bars.