Helen Shaw writes about Mat Smart in Upstaged

Helen Shaw, theater critic and writer at Time Out New York, weighs in on the Mat Smart cross-posting flurry. (She uses the word "kerfuffle" - which should be put alongside the word "kabuki" as things we now say all the time that we didn't used to say all the time.)

From her post:

"But faster than you can say, "Mat, I think you might be blaming the victim a smidge," playwrights started to leap for Smart's throat. Some of it was quasihysterical, dismissive and emblematic of the kind of vanity Smart was attacking. Josh Conkel jumped to the conclusion that Smart is saying, "Minorities are poor because of LAZINESS," and he does this in a post titled "The Wisdom of Straight White Dudes." I have loved Conkel's work (like MilkMilkLemonade), but his posts on the Youngblood blog tend to elide real inequalities with the difficulties of getting a play produced. There's a mare's nest of interrelated injustice in theatrical production, but fairness is a slippery—sometimes aesthetically dangerous—concept in the arts."

I think Shaw's post is typical of her: clear-eyed, smart, formidable. I do think, though, that she sort of gives Smart a pass ("a smidge") for being provocative, but doesn't give those who he has actively provoked the same benefit of the doubt. They're no less outraged than Smart is, and, I would argue, for far more complex reasons.

I'm also skeptical of the idea that highlighting inequalities is the same thing as demanding fairness. I've never heard anyone seriously make a good case that people should ignore aesthetics in favor of some imaginary system of doling out productions by group or by quota. Does the fact that production opportunities will never be "fair" (whatever that means) mean that artists like Conkel should stifle their full-throated truth-telling about the importance of access? (I got all sorts of complicated feedback when I told a little truth about the wall between the un-Agented and the larger institutions, despite their public policies.) Is the answer, really, that everyone should shut up, get in line, and write better plays?

I think that saying "hey, it's more complicated than that" is not an argument that aesthetics don't matter. Acknowledging class is not an argument that fairness should trump talent. In fact, the people who care most about the quality of the work they see are often the same people who are decrying the challenges of the theatrical caste system. Conkel, himself, has loads of talent and works his ass off. If Smart is right...why does Conkel care so much?

It seems that all everyone wants is the best and hardest working artists to get opportunities. The question is: do we get to that goal by treating class and access as if they are just background noise, another part of the laundry list? Or by engaging with those issues with passion and intelligence?

Mat Smart versus your excuses

If you're looking to read something that is delicious blog-fodder...you could try reading Mat Smart's post: The Real Reasons Playwrights Fail.

To quote:

"However, this is what I believe, with all due respect to my peers:

our general laziness,
inability to commit,
defeatist attitude,
lack of talent,
and unwillingness to truly listen and change—
are the real reasons we—the “emerging” playwright—fail."

I love the "with all due respect" line. That makes it more respectful.

I actually find the post, to say the least, ham-fisted and frustrating.

Smart takes the stance that writers who complain about the obstacles they face should hold up a mirror to their own failings. Fair enough, I guess. I'd agree that talent and elbow grease are key components to a successful career, as well as a certain mental toughness. I'd also agree that in the social world of playwrights (such as it is) talent can often be the elephant in the room. It's a messy and subjective and weird and lends itself to tactlessness. People don't like to talk about it.

The essay, though, ignores the very real class issues involved in, oh, every aspect of American life. Smart also overplays the provocateur. Referring to his list as the "real reasons" implies that other, systemic complains are imaginary, excuses. He is saying that writers who do not submit to criticism easily, who protect their work too closely, who don't "fix" their plays, or whatever else...are artistically failing and it translates into failure professionally. It is, in short, a reassertion of the idea of a meritocracy.

Frankly, I don't see why there cannot be both lazy writers (I'm sure there are, but most of the one's I've met work pretty hard) and systemic roadblocks. I don't see why these notions need to compete with each other. One is no less real than the other. The work habits of individual writers seems to be an entirely different issue than whether or not racism or commercialism can frustrate people.

I imagine, reading this essay, that Smart has had long nights of merciless editing and on those nights, he feels a lack of sympathy for those recite a litany of external torments for their lack of success. He seems more intent on blowing off steam than constructing a careful argument. (What, for example, does the label "emerging" have to do with a willingness to be a ruthless editor of one's own work? Is he really intending to say that people who complain about racism should just work harder? Really?) I wonder if the real issue here is just tone. If he'd said "sure there are systemic problems, but you can also get in your own way if you don't look in the mirror," I think I'd object less. Regardless, give it a read. Love to hear what you think.

link: Don't Blame (Only) The Artists

From the terrific "You've Cott Mail" list, a great blog post from Linda Essig at Creative Infrastructure. Read it all here.

From the post:

"What I agree with

1. There is too little attention paid to actual costs at every level of the “food chain.” Funders, presenters, generative artists, collaborators and audience members need to acknowledge the real cost of making art.
2. The people in the production stream “at the bottom of the food chain,” in this case the artists, have a lot of latent power. [but see below: control of production is only one source of power]
3. Artists – and their collaborators — should be paid a living wage by arts organizations.
4. Artists should view themselves as entrepreneurs, and develop a business plan accordingly. A plan that considers all revenue sources, all budget expenditures, and realistically addresses the potentialities for the future is a necessity, even for artists who are full time employees of arts organizations. By thinking of it s a business plan rather than a personal budget, the artist professionalizes their activities. Which brings me to what I question…

What I question

1. “artists who do not get paid are not professionals. Period.” CATT’s criterion seems arbitrary. Why measure one’s status as a professional by money, especially when money is so hard to come by. Let’s say, for example, that you are a painter. Eight hours a day are spent in the studio painting, eights hours a week spent on visiting galleries. Your professional business plan calls for diversified income streams that include a freelance graphic design business and the ubiquitous food service industry job on weekends. Your income stream is not generated from painting, but you enter the studio every single day and create art. You consider yourself a professional artist. Why should CATT say you aren’t? Was Van Gogh a professional artist? Even though he didn’t sell a painting in his lifetime? [I do agree, however, that there are instances in which incorrect notions of professionalism have been used as a veil for the exploitation of artists]
2. Although artists have latent power in the production stream, control of the means of production is one of only several bases of power over supply. Others include control of information and control of resources. The artist controls neither of these.

Two other thoughts

1. We can’t really talk about the oversupply of artists, arts organizations, or artistic product without talking about the oversupply of training programs. Why are there so many MFA programs training theatre artists, dancers, and even arts administrators, if there is not viable employment for them? What are we [i.e. the academic arts community] teaching our students to do when they get out of graduate school?
2. A performing arts ecosystem is a local ecosystem. It involves artists creating in a specific location for live audience in a specific location, often with locally or regionally generated funding. The CATT members write from a specific New York-centric perspective. (Since I once had that perspective myself, I readily recognize its presence.) There are people making interesting work in urban — and rural — enclaves throughout the country, but in each region or city, the arts “food chain” is unique. Artists who choose to live in a city like Phoenix, for example, must create a portfolio career to sustain their work, even when they are fortunate and talented enough to have part of their income derived from that work (CATT’s definition of a professional artist)."

Ken Davenport's take on the press and Spider-Man

Give this post a read. I'm continuing to be skeptical of the idea that Spider-Man The Musical - which is an inherently commercial property - has anything, really, to do with artistic pursuits as I understand them. Still, I like what Ken Davenport is saying here from, ahem, a Producer's Perspective.

"Yes, I am getting a bit bored by article after article about the injuries, and who is really in charge, and what the cast had for breakfast the day they found out Julie Taymor was out.

But the real reason I'm over it is that many members of the press (not all, mind you) and the public are constantly calling for Producers to risk more on Broadway . . . to push the boundaries of what Broadway is about . . . to stop thinking about budgets and pursue excellence, instead of just excellent economics.

Has anyone actually realized what just went down on 42nd St?

The Producers of a $70+ million dollar musical that has been plagued with issues since its inception, but has been grossing 1 million plus per week just said, "We're shutting the show down, because we think we can make it better."

From my new play

Working on Traveling to Montpelier, my newest play. Thought it might be fun to share a bit of it with you, as I work on it. A bit of a teaser, maybe. Maybe just to remind you guys and myself that what I'm up to is really just writing, first and foremost.

These are the opening lines of the play, from the current draft.

DANIEL

Even though the world is a great stone that no one can lift, I believe in Jesus Christ. There never was an Atlas. Gravity is not alive. Nothing is alive. Still, there is and always was the Lord. We are far away from everything. We recycle air, we die. Then, we’re born. Nothing is made and nothing disappears. Stasis. Ice. Water freezes solid. The sun expands. Eventually, this will be the end. But still, I know that Jesus is my Savior. This whole world is just a shell, and when it burns away, what’s left, will be the Spirit.

Question: what new plays should be taught in high schools?

I recently received news that Ray Fulmer passed away. He was a tremendously influential teacher at the high school I attended. He was a local poet and actor, a man who had a great passion for writing and drama. He directed me in Spoon River Anthology in high school. We all can probably think of a few teachers that we had growing up that we felt really "got it." That were inspirational and exciting and made us feel like words were beautiful and important.

He'll be missed. I hope he knew that I wandered off to write plays and live out some of the values that I saw him express.

It got me thinking: much of the general public appreciation for theater comes from public school. The high school musical. The production of Our Town or Arsenic and Old Lace. Whatever it is. And of course the high school curriculum includes some drama as well.

So...are there plays written in the last 20 years... meaning from 1990 - 2010 or so, that you feel should be added to the mix for high school students? (Maybe there are some that are already being include of which I am unaware...?) Obviously the challenge is not only what stands the test of time, but what is appropriate for that age group. Should Tracy Letts be taught alongside Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neil, for example? Should David Lindsay-Abaire? Should Sarah Ruhl?

Proof?
Wit?
Doubt?

Another play that has only one word as it's theme and title?

What do you think?

Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster

What was originally produced as Trayf is now published in Great Short Comedies: Vol. 5 from Playscripts as Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster. It's a play about a giant lobster that wants to convert to Judaism. Originally directed by Kyle Ancowitz and featuring David DelGrosso (the most blonde Rabbi of all time) and Matthew Trumbull as a man in a big lobster suit.

Order it today.

It's really not that complicated

Listen.

Not all things are properly valued by the market, therefore we should not let market principles dictate the behavior of all things. It's not that complicated. Economics is a single lens through which to view the world, and it's a lens based on efficiency and production. It's central principles are not beauty or truthfulness or even, necessarily, usefulness.

Could we please, then, discuss journalism and government and the arts on their own terms - in terms of what they exist for, which is not, at their core, to turn a profit? It should be our goal to try to remove or reduce, as best we can, market influences on those things so that they can more closely align with their central tenets; not to move them as much as possible into the private sector, simply to avoid paying taxes.

Trying to read more blogs

Added some blogs to the blogroll

Leigh Hile

Swollen Foot

2amtheatre

Hey! Wait a minute!

Maybe...it's not Julie Taymor's fault! Maybe it's not Bono's fault. Why is everyone overlooking the culpability of that charlatan...the Edge?

Solo Shows

So, as I'm working with a friend on his upcoming solo show, I'd like to ask...what are some of the things you have seen in solo performances that have worked for you, and some of the pitfalls you'd advise us to avoid? Just curious.

Repost: Rules for the Naming of Plays

Since people seem to like my dating tips, thought I'd repost some of my other pieces of useful advice. That's the nice thing about having had this blog since 2005. I can offer you reruns!

These are Rules for the Naming of Plays from 2007.

King of Limbs

So...what do you all think of Radiohead's new album? To me, it's sort to In Rainbows what Amnesiac was the Kid A. I honestly like the songs, but it's not grabbing me like In Rainbows did.

Buy My Plays!

If you like my blog and want to support my work (or you just want to buy a new play or two!) order these plays of mine today!

The Death of King Arthur

Glee Club

When Is A Clock -(Make sure you read the really funny one-star "I threw this play in the trash" review on Amazon. I love that review!)

and stay tuned for

Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster (formerly known as "Trayf")

Dainty Cadaver published in the Midway Journal

I participated in Piper McKenzie's Dainty Cadaver just a short while ago, and now the three texts that were generated can be found in the February 2011 issue of the Midway Journal. My script, for the record, is a part of Team B: January 29th, 1993. Give it a look. Very cool. Congrats to all involved for getting the texts out there.

Totally great

Posts referenced and discussed here.

How To Be Better At Dating Actors (Because You Are Not Blameless)

On Facebook, a friend of mine recently linked to 9 Reasons Why Dating Actors is a Bad Idea. It reminds us that actors can be insecure, self-centered and financially unstable. Which is, you know unique to them. People who sell real estate are known to be remarkably stable, personally confident, and giving.

To be fair, articles like the aforementioned are really just a part of the perpetual random content generator necessary to run sites that are all about ad sales and traffic. (11 ways to teach a cat to use the toilet. Five ways you'll know if your girlfriend has recently had a third nipple removed. Six uses for the common household house.) Still, though, I am not immune. I know that you want to read these little goddamn lists and chuckle to your impressive self about the foibles of others bipeds.

So, with an eye on content that leads to traffic, and also an eye on your endless need for simple advice, and an eye on the mirror (always) I shall provide you with...

7 Ways To Be Better At Dating Actors (Because You Are Not Blameless)

1. Praise Your Actor.

You know what people like (even people who aren't constantly judged on their looks and way of speaking)? To be told they don't suck. So if Your Actor says "Do I suck at acting?" or "Am I pretty?" very quickly just say "You are a good actor and you are good looking." Did that cause you irreparable harm? Did it take up time that you intended to use watching The Bachelor? Just get over yourself and be decent, you Martyr. Hint: This works for everyone all the time.

2. Stop treating Your Actor as if his or her career is unique and strange.

It is not some unique life goal to be an actor. There are millions of actors. Some of them become really famous and successful. Some of them achieve a moderate but impressive level of success and are extremely happy with that. (Not every financial wizard becomes Warren Buffett, but that doesn't mean they don't make a cent.) Regardless, if you would just stop rolling your eyes every time Your Actor tries to rehearse a monologue from Agnes of God, maybe you'd both get along a bit better. The same thing is happening just two apartments down. Trust me.

3. If Your Actor is in a play, and you don't like the play, it is not Your Actor's fault.

Before you met Your Actor on Match.com, maybe you never trucked your ass out to a black box theater far out on the elevated train to see people in all-white clothes enact Medea with no budget. Okay, fine. Maybe, even, seeing that particular version of Medea gives you a goddamned headache. Fair enough. Your Actor, though, did not write Medea or direct himself or herself to put on the duck mask and would also probably prefer to be in the latest Tony Kushner in Minneapolis. Just buy Your Actor a drink and be nice about it.

4. If Your Actor has a weird schedule, spend time with other people for a change.

So if Your Actor has a few weeks of rehearsal and it's hard to see Your Actor as much as you want. Maybe you should call up your pals and go have a drink and reconnect and stop being so needy all the time. Didn't you have more than one friend in college? Live it up. Your Dad would probably give his little finger if your Mother would just take a sewing class and let him watch TV a couple of nights a week, right? Could we get a little glass half full here?

5. Don't be such a @$$hole about Your Actor not being rich.

Is it possible that just because Your Actor cannot afford to take you to the nicest restaurant in town, that does not mean that Your Actor has made bad chocies? You know who else probably can't afford to take you to Chez Maxout CreditCard? School teachers. Social workers. People that work with the poor. If you want so much to have $18 cocktails on the Upper East Side before you drop a $100 each on a meal that is made up largely of lamb medallions, maybe you can pay for it yourself with your big fat wallet.

6. If Your Actor decries the aging process, remember that life is unfair.

Guess why Your Actor is constantly worried about turning 30? Or why he or she points at each wrinkle and/or gray hair and pouts. Because he or she will, more than likely, be punished for being normal and growing up. They are in a field where being young and pretty helps and being older does not. Maybe at your job, when you hit 35, you just get a raise or some shit. That is unlikely to be true for Your Actor, especially if Your Actor is a woman. Don't like it? Neither does Your Actor. Be sympathetic, for the love of God.

7. Stop judging Your Actor for being an actor.

There are lots of perfectly nice, sane, well-meaning, rational, totally great people who are actors. They are not nuts, they just want to meet a nice person (maybe you) and go out to the movies and have a laugh. Perhaps this is Your Actor. You'll never know if you keep behaving like such a square.

----

You're welcome.

Quick Thought: New plays versus New films

In the world of films, the new film is a commercially viable prospect (See it on opening weekend! The hottest young stars and directors!) and the older films are pretty much immediately viewed as classics, Netflix fodder, stuff for Criterion, or trucked out by film societies. You'll undoubtedly find more non-profit foundations dedicated to the preservation of old French black and white films by obscure directors than non-profits dedicated to new filmmakers. New filmmakers are out there hustling to connect to studios and producers and market their work. They are the lifeblood of an industry that wants to always make new stars, new movies, churns out what's next all the time.

But in theater, old workhorses are largely seen as the only truly commercially viable prospect, and new plays are largely (not entirely, but largely) a non-profit proposition. New Play Development is somehow viewed as a grant-worthy public works project, and a re-imagined Our Town is more likely to be $65 a ticket.

In short:

New Movie = Run Out And See It Before Your Friends Do
New Play = A Solemn Public Good, Please Donate
Old Movie = Something That Needs To Be Preserved And Discussed In Graduate Programs
Old Play = Perhaps A Broadway Revival?

To say nothing of old TV shows, which disappear from the public mind with haste.

Certainly, one can find examples of why this is true. (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson was put forth as hot and young and got swallowed, largely, but a commercial run. Chicago will never disappear.) Still, hard not to wonder how theater evolved to embrace the non-profit model so completely, that it's best prospects for exciting young audiences are largely supported by taxes and charitable giving.

Returned!

I have returned from Guatemala, rested! Pam and I went to Antigua, Tikal, Chichicastenengo and Lake Atitlan. Beautiful. Now, ready for more blogging.

Away!

Hey everyone -

I'm away on vacation in Guatemala for the next week. Whatever I hoped to post before then will have to wait until I return. In the meantime, I hope you all will enjoy this.

Electronic Playscripts

I just bought Infectious Opportunity, by James Comtois for my Kindle. Martin Denton has also entered the eBook market, putting one of his many anthologies in the format.

Right now, as far as I know, neither of the publishers that carry my work offer eBooks. Curious what you all think of the prospect. It seems like it would be extremely useful for play publishers, but it's also a very new market, and perhaps there are challenges to the licensing model that works with this format.

Would you buy a play for the Kindle? Are you just basically opposed to the format? Do you see reasons why this isn't going to work for the stage? Or do you think it's just inevitable that digital publishing comes to Drama?

Blog = Empty Hole of Nothingness?

No, no. Not yet. Just doing all sorts of exciting other things that are requiring my attention. Which means you, blog readers, keep getting me posting "Oh SO sorry I'm not blogging so much." Like some jerk.

Example: tomorrow is my wife's birthday and also Valentine's Day. Requires focus! (This is her awesome blog, which is a lot more awesome than mine. Read it, subscribe to it, learn to love it.)

On February 17th, we are honeymooning in Guatemala for 9 days. I will not be blogging from there, but I promise to have a great time.

You are still my favorite blog readers. I find you strangely compelling. I will return a guns a-blazin' soon enough.

Here. A video.

For all of you playing at home

In terms of my own work, I just got the proofs from Playscripts for a new short play for an anthology (fun, fun!) and just finished the first draft of my new play Traveling to Montpelier. Which is, in it's current form, quite the weird little wind-up doll.

Can I also add...

Spider Man in the comics? Endless hours of amazing stories in that boring old paper format. (Now available for the iPad!)

Spider Man in the movies? A blockbuster franchise!

Spider Man on stage? A G(r)eek Chorus, a Spider Goddess, and acrobatics.

*Slaps Forehead*

Broadway, will you please stop embarrassing me in front of my friends?

Ben Brantley vs Spider Man

At last! Ring the Bell!

Landesman on Supply and Demand

I'll be posting some thoughts about this soon, even if I'm a bit late to the dance. As a bit of teaser, I guess I'll say that I'm finding it increasingly worrisome that the language of economics has become the default "language of the reasonable" in our public discourse.

More soon.

A quiet week

Lots going on, and a little under the weather, so am I blogging lots? No, no I'm not. But I still love you, blog people. I still think about you. I still wonder if you're happy in your lives, if you feel fulfilled. I still stare out my Brooklyn window, at the roof of the next door building, and think "How can I make the blog readers more satisfied with me?"

Here's what I thought of.

Daniel Kitson

Not so much blogging this week, folks. Busy bee, I am.

Pam took me to see The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church at St. Ann's Warehouse. Absolutely terrific piece of work. Loved how it played with the notion of fiction, and how the layers of the play sort of grew on me as I sat with it.

It looks like it closes shortly, but if you can get in, I'd heartily recommend it. Kitson is really someone to keep an eye on.

Mad Libs

Dainty Cadaver Mad Libs...Freeman style.

Miscellaneous

• I am involved in this evening called Dainty Cadaver. It will be popular, as there are lots of folks involved. So tickets in advance? Smart. My evening is Team B: January 29th, 8pm. What I wrote was less weird than what came before me, but not so completely un-weird as most normal things are wont to be.
• Jeff Lewonczyk is interviewed about the Comic Book Theater Festival.
• My next play reading (did you know that people do play readings?) will be on February 7th. It will be the first reading of my newest play (writing it as we speak I tell you) Traveling to Montpelier. For those of you who read or remember When Is A Clock, Traveling to Montpelier is the title of a very important book within that story. This new play's lead character was the person who wrote the fictional book Traveling to Monpelier, fictional author Daniel Wallers. Looking forward to hearing it. More details as they arise.
• Actor Matthew Trumbull, with whom I share a friendship that goes back to freshman year of college, is now working on a solo show. I'm helping him with dramaturgy and things like that. The script, as it stands, is terrific. We'll be doing a public reading of the play in late February, early March. I'll let you know.
• Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark is still open, even though now they have to say they're in previews.
• I'm been offered the gig to host this upcoming podcast series: New Books In Theatre. A part of the newly planned New Books Network. Very exciting. The planning is being done, and soon, you'll all get to hear me ask people about their books and stuff.
• Finally: Liam Neeson on a Cartoon Show that I like. Hooray, says I.
• Have a wonderful weekend!

In case you hadn't heard

Play readings are used to develop new work.

The Brick's Summer Festival Theme for 2011 is...

The Comic Book Theater Festival.

Which joins the auspicious ranks of the $ellout Festival, Film Festival: A Theater Festival, The Hell Festival, The Pretentious Festival, The Antidepressant Festival and The Too Soon Festival.

And so...what do we think?

What to do today

You should buy a copy of Glee Club.

Or a copy of When Is A Clock.

Or a copy of The Death of King Arthur.

Because you like my blog and you like me. Oh, and they're good plays. Good to add to your extensive collection.

Thought of the day

Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark has already opened.

Hmmm

An "unofficial" Turn Off The Dark blog. But who is this anonymous webmaster?

Frankly, this seems like the sort of thing a sophisticated marketing firm would do in order to establish a counter-presence in the blogosphere without going on the record.

I mean, right?

Obama's remarks from Tuscon

Posted here.

I think this is worth reading

TPM's guide to violent rhetoric.

Glee Club is now available for purchase and licensing

My play GLEE CLUB is now available for purchase and licensing on Playscripts.com. Order yourself a steaming hot copy today.

For the sake of argument

A pro Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, outside-the-theater-world rave from geek central.

The Completed Vision

Charles Isherwood dives into the "to review or not to review Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark in previews" discussion with this blog post on the New York Times.

He writes a defense of the practice of withholding reviews of Broadway previews in this way:

"...if a critic’s job is to assess the total merits of a work of art – or at least a gaudy chunk of entertainment – reason also argues that the entertainment should be allowed to achieve the completed form its creators had envisioned before judgment is rendered. Painters do not show their work until they have deemed it finished, although the undiscerning eye (and even discerning ones) might not be able to tell the difference between a finished Jackson Pollock and an unfinished one. Film companies run test screenings of uncompleted films to see how they fare with the public.

Works of theater are, thanks to the preview process, vulnerable to early public assessment. But if anything they are more in need of extended gestation. They don’t properly live until their metabolism has been tested, and almost always tweaked, by interaction with a live audience. Lines of dialogue, bits of business, even whole scenes that seem surefire in rehearsal can fall flat when they meet the objective eye of an impartial audience. For this reason the preview period can be viewed, at least from an aesthetic perspective, as the crucial fine-tuning process that can sometimes make or break a new play or musical. And with the price tag of production a musical on Broadway now in the tens of millions of dollars – “Spider-Man” has set a new record at $65 million – the possibility of employing the once-standard out-of-town tryout to work out the kinks in a show is rarely financially viable."

Isherwood notes that with price tags this high, producers who hope to recoup their investment must get Broadway priced tickets sold as quickly as possible - a dubious defense of charging over $100 a ticket for a show that is (by his own words) unfinished and not open to the press. In short, investors won't spend top dollar on a musical if unwitting or curious consumers can't be charged early and often.

The primary reason that Isherwood cites for not reviewing a production, though, (and I suspect he's ambivalent about it from the tone of the piece) is that theatrical performances need a chance to breathe and grow and find their footing in front of a live audience. "Reason argues" that a play should achieve the "completed form the creators had envisioned" before it is ethical to judge the work. The work, in essence, must be judged on it's best day, all the kinks worked out. A 'painting' should not be shown before the 'painter' deems it worthy.

His arguments are pretty straightforward and sound. All this hoopla about previews shouldn't be that remarkable. It is, after all, about an outlier: Spider-Man's producers are pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable to demand from the press and from audiences.

But, Mr. Isherwood's standard for when a play should be reviewed made my eyebrows go up. For hundreds of plays produced under the guidelines of the Showcase or Seasonal Codes all over New York City...the small, uncommercial works, the weird stuff, the "Indie" theater... that standard does not apply.

Plays with budgets as low as $20,000 can scant afford more than sets and a publicist and stipends for their Equity performers and rental costs. (For example, my production of Brandywine Distillery Fire at Incubator Arts Project cost around $12,000 for a two week run.) With that budget, they might even squeeze out some decent production values. They will receive a run of ... 25 performances? At their longest. If the New York Times or Time Out New York go to see them and review them, it is likely they will come to the very first or second public performance. Whatever benefit that these small productions might receive from months of extra work, whatever "completeness" they have yet to achieve before a reviewer check them out, is not in the budget.

The reason is just as financial for small producers as it is for Broadway producers. Smaller producers raise as much money as they can, use much of their own money as well, and they can't afford even a week of "previews" for a four week run. Instead, they get their plays up as quickly and cheaply as possible, trusting in their luck, in their perseverance and in the talent of those involved. They hope that a few good reviews will garner enough interest and paying customers to either broaden their industry profile or break even, or both.

These practitioners, I think it's safe to say, largely create works that can rival the artistic mert (if not the scale) of superhero musicals or dancing versions of feature films. Still, they are rarely reviewed at all, and when they are, they're given scant time to "achieve the completed form their creators [have] envisioned."

This isn't an argument that the New York Times, or any other major press, shouldn't come down below 34th Street or past 9th Avenue and see what there is to see. I'm glad they do, and I think they have shown they care a great deal for the theater created beyond the limits of Broadway. (I won't, though, go so far as to treat these Off-Off Broadway reviews as community service. A part of covering the arts is covering the arts.)

I'm also not arguing that a reviewers should use kid gloves with a production because it is making due with less. If a production is set before an audience for their time and attention, it should be judged as complete. Caveats in this area help no one, not the artist who is struggling to be heard, nor the critic who is making an assessment.

In short, I'm not decrying the treatment that Off-Off Broadway productions receive. I am highlighting this disparity to challenge the notion that those in previews have an unassailable right to create their "art" unmolested by the judgment of the press In fact, they have purchased that "right."

One could produce more than 3000 showcase code productions with the entire budget of the Turn Off The Dark. That doesn't mean people shouldn't spend money on Broadway- I honestly don't mind if a commercial producer raises funds for a commercial production and then tries to make that production a commercial success. What I object to is treating expensive public rehearsals as untouchable and holy, even as those of us who are making cultural artifacts for breadcrumbs are given far less time and room to breathe. If those of us with light wallets are expected to withstand the creaky process of a single dress rehearsal before a major reviewer stops by; I think a $65 million musical about a Marvel Comic book character directed by Julie Taymor with songs by Bono and the Edge...can withstand a few blog posts after several months of performances.

I think we all realize that these things are not equivalent, and that's the nature of the marketplace. All of us whose budgets consist of next-to-nothing still work overnight to bang sets together and throw our best at the critics, firm in the belief that they will see us on a good night, with generous hearts, and give us the legitimacy that won't come from pay. Heck, even if the New York Times shows up and gives us a swift kick in the ass, small productions know that we will have risen above the noise for a moment, and we're grateful for the amplification. If we fail to live up to our "ideal," sometimes it's a failure of imagination, sometimes of will, sometimes of resources. The preview option, though, is simply not in a tool in our toolbox.

That's why, I guess, I'm skeptical of the argument that defends previews as a way to serve Art with a capital "A." It feels more like an elaborate game of "Mother May I?" The standard mapped out ("never review the play until it's completed to the producer's satisfaction") is neither universally applied, nor could it be feasibly - at least not until the Showcase Code is adequately reformed. In the end, there's a brilliance to the profit model of charging your audience to watch you develop a show and keeping the press at bay as long as possible. Let's just not pretend that, in all cases, it's in service of more than protecting an investment. The rest of us aren't given such generous allowances.

The things you need to write a play

So you want to write a play. You love drama. You've read American Buffalo and Art and Happy Days and The Clean House. You know what a play should look like. You have a great idea for a terrific story with a quirky premise that employs magical realism and gritty real realism. You have a great title. You've even read a book about it. You know your unities.

But...that's all up in your head.

What do you need, what actual stuff, do you need to make this happen? Sure, you think ... a computer with a word processor. But your simple thinking on this subject is what separates you from a professional. Playwriting is an act that takes place in the real world, often over a course of weeks or months. You must be provisioned. You wouldn't play football with a soccer ball would you? Unless you were from Brazil.

So, for your benefit, I offer you the following inventory:

1. A computer with a word processor.

You need to write and store your work and this how to get it done. One might say "pen and paper" but one might also say "gold standard."

Preferably this computer should be a laptop, so you can bring it with you to a local coffee shop and make a show of having something to do with your Saturday afternoons. If this computer is an Apple Computer, that is even better. There is no advantage in word processing power, it's just fashionable and fashion is how we project confidence. I learned that from Project Runway.

Oh and for all you people who were born in the goddamn 90s, please at a bare minimum grant yourself a QWERTY keyboard.

2. A cup.

Do I care what is in the cup? I do not. Many will say "coffee" but ... who gives a shit really? Drinking while writing is a time-honored tradition, and it has largely replaced the pack of cigarettes that once fueled good work. If you want fruit juice, that's really your call, wimp.

Regardless of your choice between tea, water or whiskey, you will be drinking something and so you will need a container for it. To save others the burden of your filth, carry your own cup with you and wash it yourself, like a grown-up. A mug is the best choice, because it will largely cover up whatever you're drinking if you're a lush, or keep things warm if you are not.

The cup should have an Apple logo on it. That's fashionable.

For you people born in the goddamn 90s, there is no App that replaces the cup yet. Get a real cup.

3. Pants.

You cannot write well without pants. Sitting at a computer with only undergarments will inevitably lead to reading through pornographic websites and losing your literary mojo. Wearing a skirt to write is not restrictive enough. Restriction breeds creativity. Even the most comfortable pants will breed more creativity than a flowing skirt.

Sexist, you say? No one forced you to read this, so stuff it.

4. A rock.

Get a small, smooth stone and place it on the left side of your computer. Name the rock. Try putting the rock in your pocket. Take it out of your pocket. Put it on the right side of your computer. How does it compare to the left side? Do you feel less or more balanced when the small, smooth rock is on the right or left side? Hard to say? Repeat the process. Once this is determined, say the name of your rock aloud (example: "Rock.") The rock will not respond.

The play will finish itself.

5. A photograph of your Dad.

This is universal inspiration.

Your Dad isn't so sure that you've made good choices, even though he's always been there for you, supporting you financially and emotionally. Even if he's passed away, you can still tell that he's watching you and occasionally getting disappointed by you. Let that disappointment wash over you. Then, write dialogue that is, really, to him.

If your Dad was never overtly supportive, try imagining that deep down, it was because he was never able to achieve his own goals and sacrificed everything for his ungrateful, indulgent children. A sense that your parents blame you for their own unhappiness is like a video game power up for drama.

For advanced writers: If the picture begins to fail to inspire you, write the word "Future" on the photo in lipstick. Problem solved.

6. An empty manila folder.

Oh what will soon fill this folder?

Mystery!

7. Red Yeast Rice

A natural supplement that can help reduce cholesterol. People like you, people who want to write plays, have high cholesterol. Take it twice a day with meals. Make oatmeal a part of your breakfast too. This way, as you sit there writing, shiftless and pudgy, you can defend against heart disease and gall stones.

8. A totem

How else will you be able to tell the difference between The Dream and Reality? Don't let anyone else touch your totem. Also, don't make your totem something you can eat, like a sandwich, because you can really only use that once.

9. Balloons.

Always remember that writing a play is fun. Nothing tells us we're having fun like a mess o' colorful balloons. Before writing, make sure you have some helium filled balloons that will float gently and kindly above your screen at all times. You'll feel content, you'll smile, and you'll know that no matter the subject of your play ("the tyranny of the ignorant majority") or the state of your characters ("abject misery"), you're throwing a birthday party for your new Art.

10. A mirror

Listen, writing can be lonely. Especially writing plays, because when you're done, you still have to shop around what is essentially a blueprint for a live production to a bunch of people who, while ostensibly looking for new work, will look at your masterpiece as one more thing to add to their list of obligations. So... writing a play requires a boost. Look at yourself while you write. I know we're told to look inside ourselves, but instead, look at yourself in the gray light of your apartment, nakedly starring at the pimples and weird teeth and crooked nose that you inflict on everyone all the time. Smile at that thing you see. That's you, a playwright.

Despite your instinct towards revulsion, love that playwright. That playwright needs all the love you can spare.

-----


You're welcome!

Isaac Butler vs Spider Man: The Musical

Yeowch, says I. Quite a review. Oh and so unethical, because the production is still in previews.

If you would like to purchase two orchestra seats for this show at nearly $180 dollars a piece (if tickets are available!) try Broadway.com.

Looking back on 2010

So it goes. Another year ends. I've read other places that 2010 was a tough year for lots of people. I have to say, though, that this was one hell of a busy and exciting year for me.

First of all, personally... I got married to this lovely lady, and I couldn't be happier. We were engaged in Burlington, Vermont in May and married only months later, October 16th, in New Hope, Pennsylvania. October 16th just happens to be our six year anniversary of being a couple, so the stars were aligned. I can't say enough about the wedding...it was the best day of my life. So many friends and family there, too many to try to remember in this post. But the ceremony, the reception, all of it, were absolutely magical.

Also, several of my closest friends had children this year. Dave and Erica welcomed the beautiful Emma Marie DelGrosso into our big New York family. Also, my friends Michael Colby Jones and Stephanie Fagin-Jones now have twin boys, Alex and Zachary. Future Yankees fans, to be sure.

Professionally, I had a solid year.

Glee Club was produced at the Access Theater early in the year, and it will soon by available from Playscripts, Inc.

Trayf (under the title Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster) was also picked up by Playscripts.

That Old Soft Shoe was performed as a part of the Too Soon Festival at the beginning of the summer, and it's a production I was extremely proud of and felt was a bit overlooked frankly.

Almost concurrently with that production was the production of Denouement, and then in September, Michael Gardner and I co-produced Brandywine Distillery Fire (which grew from the work done on Denouement and the prior year's Exposition) at St. Mark's Church as a part of the Incubator Arts Project. It was a real honor for me to work in that space for the first time. It was a fruitful collaboration with Michael and the entire cast. It was good stretch stylistically, and we had some thoughtful press.

Finally, a worked for the second year on the Worldwide Webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve (which was fun, yet again) and have begun working on new projects for 2011 already.

New friends, new opportunities, new works, new members of the family, and getting married. I challenge 2011 to be just as good at 2010. We'll see!

What happens as you get older

I'm 35, so I'm hardly dying of old age, but I have noticed that I am increasingly prone to feeling like crying. Watching True Grit (even better the second time), or listening to When The Ship Comes In by Bob Dylan (for example[s]), I have to keep myself from tearing up.

I was not always like this. This happened to my Dad around 50. Now, if one of us sends him a card, he goes "You guys...are all...grown up..." and holds the phone away from his face.

This will be my fate.

And so it is a new year

And we continue onwards. Ever onwards. To glory. New Year's Resolutions? Get more sleep. Eat carefully. Things like that.

Glee Club will soon be available for purchase from Playscripts. You can, though, already license performance rights.

What's up with me in the world of theater?

Well, I'm working with a good friend on a solo piece that I think is going to be tremendous. This time, I'm more of a director/advisor, which is a lot of fun.

I'm also on the prowl to bring back The Great Escape, a play of mine first produced in 2004. I've always loved the play, it's a deeply personal one, and it's my hope that it'll see new stages and audiences this year.

I'm currently writing Traveling to Montpelier which is a companion play to When Is A Clock. I'm feeling good about how it's going, and I'll keep you up to date as I work my way through it.

For those of you unfamiliar with When Is A Clock, "Traveling to Montpelier" is the name of a book that incites the action in that story. The new play is the story of the book's author, Daniel Wallers. It's my The Magician's Nephew, or something along those lines. I like the idea of a fictional world that can support the weight of several narratives and characters. Can you think of some examples of this type of storytelling you'd recommend to me, as reference? Or some cautionary tales?

Either way, I hope you're starting your year off right. More to come, as always.

John Simon

Continues to write here.

Webcast from New Year's Eve Times Square 2011

Watch live streaming video from 2011 at livestream.com

I'm the Assistant Producer and Script guy for this. So watch it and stuff. Stream begins just before 6pm and goes until 12:15am.

New Paradise brings Freedom Club to NYC

New Paradise Laboratories is coming to New York City. Based primarily in Philadelphia, they’ve won numerous prizes and garnered national praise.

Now, New Paradise will be performing its piece Freedom Club in NYC at the Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4th Street, NYC, January 6-15.. The piece was created with Adriano Shaplin and the Riot Group who brought their show Pugilist Specialist through NYC a few years ago.

The artistic director of New Paradise is Whit McLaughlin. On a personal note, Whit was a teach of mine at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts in 1992. He was a big influence on me as a young artist, and I’ve always been incredibly pleased to see how his work has evolved and become nationally recognized.

I got a chance to ask Whit a few questions about the show and about the companies involved. Read on!

Has New Paradise come to New York City before?

We were in NYC in 1998 at the Ontological Theatre with GOLD RUSSIAN FINGER LOVE, a sort of epistemological James Bond epic. We returned in 2002 with THE FAB 4 REACH THE PEARLY GATES, which brought us the OBIE Award--we owe everything to the Beatles and to their lawyers.

Could you describe what New Paradise Laboratories is?

New Paradise Laboratories was founded in 1996 by Lee Etzold, Rene Hartl, Jeb Kreager, Mary McCool, Aaron Mumaw, Matt Saunders, and me. McKenna Kerrigan joined us a bit later. It was their first theatre company, my second, having also co-founded the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble back in 1978. We set out to create a style of physical theatre that I might describe as based in “rapturous physical presence”. The work has changed over the years, but the attention on the expressive power of the body has endured. Our first piece eventually became STUPOR, which was very popular with audiences, but both adored and reviled in the press. It was based on a bunch of Goya etchings. Arty but nasty.

What would you say are the main influences?

Early Playboy magazines, Artaud, a love affair with alcohol (now ended), and the sculptor Giacommetti.

Tell me about Freedom Club. What is the Riot Group’s association with New Paradise Laboratories?

Adriano Shaplin (the Artistic Director of the Riot Group) and I began to lurk around each other. He saw New Paradise—DON JUAN IN NIRVANA was his first piece, I think--which was full of fucking, hallucinations, and fake spirituality; I saw his work with Pig Iron Theatre and thought his writing was impressive: very present and aggressive. He approached me and we decided to cook something up.

I started by re-directing a couple of the Riot Group pieces that were great but that we thought could be spruced up a bit: VICTORY AT THE DIRT PALACE and HEARTS OF MAN. We had a blast. I got to know the Riot Group actors in the rehearsal hall, which was a good introduction. Then we jammed our companies into some workshops and began to work up material.

Adriano had become fascinated with demagogic talk shows and so I started paying attention too. We began to wonder if there was a way to fabricate a sort of really true history piece and then he proposed a Booth/Lincoln mash-up and FREEDOM CLUB started to come into being.

You’re based in Philadelphia. What do you like about working there? What do you see as differences between doing work in that area, and in New York?

In Philadelphia, I get to live in an under-rated paradise. I get to own a home and send my kids to private school on a theatre experimentalist’s salary.

I don’t think that happens everyday, though. I’ve been incredibly lucky and have very good friends.

How is your work generated?

An idea spends a lot of time in my head and then a lot of time in the studio. Everyone makes proposals--actors, designers, stage managers, dramaturges, web designers. I have to open my mind pretty wide. Then it all gets mashed together.

Could you tell me about the ensemble? Have the company members remained consistent?

The members of the Ensemble come and go and then come back again. They do a lot of other work and are developing their artistic lives in a number of interesting and challenging ways. Several of them are designers now as well. Writers. They have their own companies. I like that aspect of things. It’s a real treat when we get back in the room together.

We’re in the process of moving New Paradise Laboratories into cyberspace. What happens to physical presence when it’s dislocated and 24/7? We have started working with a number of new performers. And some company members are part of the creative team now.

We’re thinking of reviving a couple of the old pieces, which will be challenging and inspiring. What happens to movement actors as they move through their thirties? Their bodies begin to carry more and more wisdom. And they manage their injuries.

I’d like to ask you a bit about PGSA. Governor’s School was a fantastic experience for me, formative and extremely valuable. Recently, the program was defunded by the state. What do you think of the loss of the program and what was it like teaching us back then?

The Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts was built on a utopian notion. Give 200 high school students a free ride for five weeks during the summer and make them think and breath an art form twenty-four hours a day. I created the theatre curriculum there starting in 1985. It was a blast.

New Paradise’s work came out of PGSA, actually. I worked with students there to invent 40-minute pieces that were very dense, inscrutable, and beautiful. I decided to do that full time and thus my company was born.

It was a sad day when the plug got pulled on PGSA. People fought hard to save it, but in hard economic times it seemed unnecessary. It was easy for the Pennsylvania State Legislature and Governor Rendell to throw it on the fire (ironically Rendell has been a big supporter of the arts). It didn’t cost a lot of money, but it couldn’t garner the necessary support to survive. A symbolic burning at the stake. I feel the loss very acutely.

How can people see Freedom Club?

January 6 through the 15th at the Connelly Theatre at 220 East 4th Street in Manhattan. Go to http://freedomclubtheshow.com/ for ticket information. A sweet little microsite.

---

Honestly, Whit's the real deal and I really can't recommend New Paradise more highly. Plus, company member McKenna Kerrigan graced a few readings of mine a few years back. One of the best actresses out there.

Buried in the snow

I know my last blog post was about a week ago, but it's the holidays and all that jazz. Plus, I'm the Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the New Year's Eve World Wide Webcast and that is taking up most of my free time at the moment. Never fear, writing about the trials of Spider Man will resume.

You can get some detail about that here.

Also, the Times Square Ball app for the webcast was chosen at the Time "App of the Week." So if you're on the go, and you want to check it out, just download it.

If you're a fellow blogger and you want easy content on December 31st...embed! Embed us! I mean, you have other things to do?

Holy Moses

In about a month, I will have had this blog for six years. I spent less time in college.

My behavior is about to become a lot more fear based.

What unions are for

Equity steps in to ensure safety for the cast of Spider Man.

Thanks for the heads up Hester.

UPDATE: Not so fast!

Thanks for the heads up Ian.

Spider Man keeps falling

Okay, so no one told Bono you had to say "The Scottish Play." What gives?

God knows no one wants to be on the record insulting Julie Taymor and U2, major and successful artists, and this does sound like piling on, but what, exactly, is the point?

First you have Spider Man, a big time commercial Marvel property that has had his chance to shine and tell his story everywhere you can imagine (movies, comic books, cartoons, TV shows). Then you have Julie Taymor, who has already had her Tony for commercial work, and has a full career of films and spectacles. Then you have U2, which has already created incredibly successful and ubiquitous music for decades.

What here is so new and powerful and artistically potent that it's worth risking the safety of the actors? Or sending them to the hospital? Or risking the audience's safety?

Also...

Have I mentioned (wow, late to the dance) how amazing and great the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was?

I hope my progressive pals will be just as excited about that great news as they were pissed about the tax compromise.

iPhone, Droid and iPad New Year's Eve

If you have a moment, and you have an iPhone or iPad or Droid phone... it would be great if you'd download the app for the webcast live from Times Square on New Year's Eve. I'm the Assistant Producer/Senior Writer on the webcast. It will let you watch the livestream (and my handiwork within it) from any of those devices, starting around 6pm and going until fifteen minutes after midnight. You can also upload pictures through the app that have the chance to be shown voted on and shown on the huge sign in Times Square on the night of. Pretty cool.

Here's where you can find info about the app. You can also just look it up in the Droid market place or Apple app store.

Webcast Live from Times Square on New Year's Eve

As with last year, I'm working on the webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve. Nick Micozzi, as many of you know from the NYIT Awards, is heading up the live blog. Pam, my lovely wife, will be one of the live bloggers.

So... embed it! Watch it!

Tatooine

Mine is Pennsylvania. Where's yours?

Colbert does Pinter

Because he's just that awesome.

Moth Student Stories

Downtown theater mainstay (and cast member in Brandywine Distillery Fire/Exposition/Denouement) Maggie Cino works over at the Moth and gave her time and attention to this very cool project.

You should check it out.

Tis the Season for Giving

As I do every year, I'd like to remind you to give to your favorite indie theater or theater artist this year. Charitable contributions to smaller theater companies make a huge impact not only on their bottom line, but their desire to continue to climb uphill in a world that's increasingly screen-based, mobile, mechanized and shiny.

Let's face the facts, when people talk about a mobile device on stage, they mean a body mic or a van. Very few play publishers have their books available for eReaders like the Kindle, Nook or even the iPad. You can't watch a play streaming on Netflix or have it delivered to your door. Theater continues to be a communal, intentional experience. It always will be. That means, though, as the economics of the world increasingly become based on ease of use and attractiveness, theater has to work much harder to find it's audience and keep it's artists tethered to the stage.

So... why not help? It doesn't have to be a lot of help. It can be a little help. $10, $25, $50, $100. If each of us gave just a little bit, it would add up to real financial support for companies with relatively low overhead, and a passing of a sort of energy. You're saying "You matter to me." There's very little that a theater company needs to hear more.

Now, I don't want to sound too gloomy. The reason to support theaters is not only to keep them alive (for God's sake) but also because they do exceptional work that you find inspiring, pleasurable and fun. There are loads of terrific artists out there putting on fine work. If you read this blog, you're definitely someone who can think of a few productions this year that made them very happy that they bought that ticket. We love theater, right? So we need to show it.

I'm going to highlight five companies that I think deserve your support. This is not a Top Five list...it's just the companies that come to mind in this moment. I certainly hope that other theater bloggers out there will highlight companies as well that they think need some support as well.

But if you're reading this, take one minute and give one of these companies a holiday gift. You'll be happy you did, and you'll have made a real difference with your money. I mean, what do you work so hard for anyway? You have economic power in each dollar bill. Express your values through giving.

Here's a few

Blue Coyote Theater Group - my home for years. Last year, they produced not only Glee Club (soon to be published by Playscripts, Inc.) but David Foley's Nance O'Neil. We're looking to bring Glee Club to Edinburgh in 2012, so every dollar helps.

Donate here.

The Brick - Always in motion, the Brick is. Festivals galore (ClownFest, FightFest, the Too Soon Festival). This is a staple of the Off-Off Broadway world, and a collection of wild and dedicated artists that just keep cranking out unique work. For example: the upcoming Iranian Theater Festival. Timely? Oh yes indeed.

Give online here!

Incubator Arts Project - What's old is new again. This new theater company rose up to replace the Ontological-Hysteric when Richard Foreman decided he'd made enough plays (only about 2,000) and would like to make some films or something like that. With young leadership, they've remained a vital force downtown, but to remain so, they'll need more than moral support.

Support them financially here.

The Management - Joshua Conkel, who wrote the terrific MilkMilkLemonade and is just an all-around great guy to boot, is currently fundraising for his company The Management. Their goal is $5,500 20 days from now. Well, heck, that can totally be done. It just needs a few readers like you to help.

Support them on IndieGoGo today.

NYTE - The Family Denton continues to support you, so maybe you should support them too. From publications to podcasts to nytheatre.com, Martin and Rochelle Denton's work has become invaluable to not only supporting but preserving this generation of theater artists work in New York.

Support them here.

Feel free to promote and support any other artists in my comment section. Again, there are lots more worthy companies out there! Give to who you love!

Happy Holidays! Remember, even if you give a little, it means a lot!

It is as you feared

To get the best press of your career...quit the theater.

I kid. This sounds like a very engaging evening of watching another human being suffer. My Last Play tickets can be found here.

Because it's pointless folks. Don't you want to watch someone else tell you that and THEN give you a little bit of his hopes and dreams at the end?

The GOP

Just filibustered the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. A majority of Americans, service members and, yes, Senators all support repeal. So does the President. But because of the continued abuse of the filibuster, a prejudiced, cynical minority has an outsized voice.

This is not what the filibuster is for. This is not what representative government is intended to look like. This is a shameful moment.

For all the Democrats that took a few hours over the last week to complain about Obama's inability to get their agenda passed...this is what his opposition looks like. As Andrew Sullivan says, they're basically just nihilists. Their goal is power for it's own sake, not good government.

Wait, wait, wait...

Joss Whedon wrote the script for Alien: Resurrection? How come I'm just finding this out?

New Look for nytheatre.com

As they're calling it...3.0.

So...what do you think?

What She Knew

Original blogging gangsta George Hunka's play What She Knew has only four performances left. It runs tonight through Saturday, starting at 8pm. Definitely check it out.

From the press release:

Drawing on the Sophoclean and Senecan versions of the Oedipus story, George Hunka's What She Knew is a contemporary meditation on the role Jocasta plays in the tragedy: a woman whose willful participation in Oedipus' guilt reveals an extraordinary capacity for erotic and sexual transgression as a means to freedom, as an avenue to outwit time, place and her own desiring and desirous body. She strides through centuries, balancing between the ecstasy of loss in another's body and the agony of moral criminality.

Tickets here.

35 years old

Finally, I can run for President. Also, I think I just left a demographic. For a guy that occasionally can't sleep imagining what death won't feel like, birthdays are becoming a little more spine-tingling.

New life question: How many of my friends are going to have kids before my first invasive medical procedure?

34? Good year. Got married to the amazing Pam. Remember one-third of my bachelor party. Emma Marie DelGrosso born. Had plays performed. Got reviewed by the Times. Got stuff published. Happiness and health. Cats still seem to like me, despite my surliness. Read that Franzen book and those books about Lisbeth Salander and a book about probability and stuff like that. Wrote that blog post about what writing a play is like. (People liked that one.) You know, good stuff like that.

But that's all for the 2010 year in review post that I'll inevitably write.

In the meantime...

Here's to me, Matt Freeman, still alive. I would like my goddamn tiara.

Two shows to check out

Two shows that you should make time for in the midst of holiday madness.

First is Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? This is Edward Einhorn's production, based on the Philip K. Dick story that famously inspired Blade Runner. I saw this production last weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A game troupe of downtown darlings all put on a terrific show, especially Moira Stone (who I had the pleasure of working with only very recently). Einhorn does many difficult things at once here, with original music, video that is both stock footage and live feed, and carefully adapting a well-worn story. Oh and directing the actors and stuff like that. He juggles it all with some serious skill, and the result is resonant and impressive.

Don't just take my word for it.

I have it on good authority that it's nearly sold out, except for Wednesday and Thursday. Check it out.

The other is one I haven't yet seen, but hope to. Emancipatory Politics by Eric Bland, currently running at Incubator Arts. Eric's a great guy, and his writing is exuberant and thoughtful. (Read Martin Denton's rave here about the show here.) Great cast (including Alexis Soittle who was great in Brandywine Distillery Fire), great space, great writer.

It runs only until December 11th.

So...what are you waiting for?

So few blog posts this week

I must be a total jerk!

But still, I love you blog readers. I love you so much it makes my pants glow bright red.

New York Times coverage of Spider Man

The New York Times coverage of the recent Spider Man preview brings up some interesting issues. Playgoer calls it this way:

"The truth is, what you see here is a blatant move by the Times to get in on the action. The action of All That Chat, specifically. Notice how they have their gossipy story online already, probably just a few hours after the firstSpidey chatroom post. No doubt the Times also assumed that Riedel would have a story in the Post--and he does."

I don't know. I think there's a lot of smoke here and no fire. Patrick Healy's job is to cover the goings on in theater business, but he's a bit handcuffed by the reputation of the paper. Should he not cover this much anticipated and discussed preview out of sense of decorum? Or should he and risk the derision of artists who feel that it's wrong to expose a work-in-progress to the public eye? He appears to have chosen to cover his story, which is all that can be expected of him. He's written an article about what actually happened and then interviewed the crowd about their responses. Is it entirely without opinion? No, but then again, I think there's something sort of old fashioned and odd about how theater journalists and producers have these tacit agreements about what is and isn't out of bounds, even as the public pays for the privilege of being patient.

This "work in progress" is, in fact, charging people upwards of $100 to attend it. I can get a whole lot of Spider Man comics and the entire Spider Man movie trilogy on DVD for less. If you're going to take a superhero property, outspend every Broadway show in history, use big names to create and (let's face it) sell your show, then you have to live with the downside of fame and glory, too. It's unreasonable to expect the public to wait reverently and quietly without any information, to spend their money, and for the press to treat this incredibly newsworthy show as if it they can't cover it until the producers give them the "go-ahead." I mean, the show is called Turn Off The Dark, after all. Isn't that what Patrick Healy is, in a limited way, trying to do?

Previews are lightly abused by Broadway producers, I think. If the previews are really dress rehearsals that are performed in front the public, why aren't the tickets free?Would a film producer say "Hey, I've got about 80% of this movie done, the special effects aren't complete, and I'm working out the story. I'd love to see what you think. That'll be $10!"

Obviously, that's a massive oversimplification and previews have a purpose. I don't see, though, how the audience (isn't that what it's all about) has an advocate if the press is careful not to piss off the producers and the producers are charging for an unfinished product. I can accept that it's a good idea not to review the show until it's officially ready to be opened (otherwise, you're not reviewing the actual vision and finished product) but... is all press coverage that isn't a fawning interview with the creative team akin to a review? I don't think so.

I do, though, sympathize with the actors. As a friend of mine said, the actors must be in a hell of a miserable working environment right now, and advanced coverage that exposes their foibles and pain can't help. The creative team can't be having any fun at the moment, and no one likes that sort of thing exposed to the public. Still...isn't that just show biz?

So...what do you think?

Do you think the Times coverage crosses an imaginary line? Do you think that Previews should be out of bounds and that Healy is, essentially, breaking a trust by writing about an unfinished work? Do you think too much emphasis is being placed on the business and not enough of the show's artistic ambitions? Or do you find yourself a bit skeptical when you hear Spider Man On Broadway and Artistic Ambitions in the same paragraph?

RIP Irvin Kershner

Thanks for making The Empire Strikes Back.

Upstaged

Thanks for the link Time Out!

For Thanksgiving

I know everyone on the Earth has linked to this, but I have to say that I can't imagine anything more in the spirit of Thanksgiving than the It Gets Better Project. If you want to have a good cry, watch just a few of these videos. Here's one recently posted by the employees at Pixar.

For the record

I love that the only thing that seems to make right-wingnuts act like the ACLU is the idea that someone might feel them up at an airport. As opposed to, say, torture or illegal wiretapping. Thou Shall Not Touch My Junk beats all.

Thoughts on Gatz

Last weekend, Pam and I had the opportunity to see Elevator Repair Service's production of Gatz at the Public. (Thanks to a few good friends who got us ticket as a wedding present.) It's one of those productions that "everyone is talking about," as they say. I don't need to tell most readers of this much about it: they perform the entire book, word for word, on stage.

Of course, there's a reason it's called Gatz and not Elevator Repair Service's The Great Gatsby. The production is not a reenactment of the novel; it's a celebration of the experience of reading a book. Housed in a dreary office space that might as well have been designed by Vogons, the company slowly emerges from this environment to embody Fitzgerald's characters. We see the "real world" slowly move to the background, and is eventually entirely supplanted by the reality of the theatrical experience.

I thought the production was exceptional, not exactly an insight. Nonetheless, it was a privilege to watch performers that are at the top of their game, who earned the right to be where they are, using all their available tools to create something pleasurable and insightful and ambitious.

I loved the length, which was about 7 hours including three intermissions and a dinner break. I loved it because a "full length evening" has gotten shorter and shorter. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. An hour and fifteen minutes with no intermission is becoming increasingly common, and I think it's a bit of a cancerous trend. One can tell a story in less time, always. Editing down to the bone has is the curse of Microsoft Word, I think. I could type out the story of Star Wars in a paragraph. The passage of time, though, is literally impossible to replicate. To feel yourself come to the end of a long story, especially one this well told, is uniquely satisfying.

I think we've mistaken spending time on things that aren't absolutely indefensibly necessary as wasting time. What is so wrong with the possibility of a moment of boredom, even if that moment buys you a far richer experience?

Any reservations I have about the evening were really a matter of personal taste, and not the level of competence on display. The Great Gatsby has never been a novel that I deeply connect to, and even as I found new appreciation for it by watching Gatz, I still wouldn't count it as novel I'm aching to revisit or spend more time with.

Furthermore, there is a pervasive sense of geniality throughout the performance, and that's not really my style. Elevator Repair Service is charming, winning. There is, though, not much danger to be found. I never felt scared or unsettled. That's not what was being sold, so I can't fault them for not providing it. I'm just someone who likes a little more bite overall, and Gatz is a lot more like a hug than a fist fight, even in its most dramatic moments.

Finally, as I watched, it occurred to me that Gatz is a director's piece, even as the actors are performing career-best level work. In fact, a lot of my favorite work is the product of strong directors (Ivo Van Hove, Robert Wilson). As a writer, it's probably worthwhile for me to explore exactly what that means to me. Not that I want to direct, but what it is about these pieces that excite me, and what about that excitement can I channel into my own work and working relationships.

Stage Matters

Stage Matters from Theatre Communications Group on Vimeo.

Produced by TCG. What do you think?

GreyZelda

This post, about the end of a storefront theater company in Chicago, is very raw. I'm sure there are others out there that relate to this feeling, this sentiment. Take a look.

Wasserstein Playwrighting Prize

I'm sure you know about this, but if not, the Times has a nice summation.

Wonder what Wendy Wasserstein would have thought of this mess. Also... this award is four years old. Four. Has it really exhausted the list of possible winners?

Update: Adam Feldman and Time Out New York carefully demonstrate the difference between blogs, open letters and journalism. Essential reading on the subject.

Swiss Miss

Really? Photos from Turn Off The Dark.

This is...

goddamn it.

Why isn't all this money being spent on 60 good plays on Broadway?

Whoops

Tried to post something and then the video wouldn't work so I took it down.

In short...I will have to buy this, and it means rearranging my living room.

Brandywine Distillery Fire text online

I've decided to post the entire text of Brandywine Distillery Fire online for a while, for public consumption. It includes the monologues published earlier this week, of course.

Click here to find the entire text, or the link in the sidebar.

If you're reading it and want to get an e-mailed version, obviously, let me know. mattfr - at - gmail.com.

Keeping Up With Two More Joneses

Huge congratulations to Michael Colby Jones and Stephanie Fagin-Jones! Welcome to Alexander and Zachary, their new twin sons!

You two are fated to be exceptionally good looking, enthusiastic, loyal baseball fans!

For Colored Girls

I just realized that a film adaptation of a very influential play is currently running in movie theaters and very few members of the NYC blogosphere seem to have written about it, seen it, or noted it with much interest.

Is it because of the reviews? Tyler Perry snobbery? Is marketing sooo segregated that we're all more interested in The Walking Dead than this film of a famous play?

I'm not an exception. I haven't seen it either. This post isn't some veiled way to take the high road on the issue. I'm just curious why we've largely skipped this, even just weighed in on it? Unless there's some blog post I missed about this somewhere?

Monologue from Brandywine Distillery Fire - Opening

Also in Brandywine Distillery Fire ...

I've always been fond of the speech that opened that play. I figure why not share it here too? This was written for Moira Stone (and so it bears her name), and it borrows largely from improvisational material generated by the cast of Exposition.

On a side note: it's nice to share some of my creative work in this space. I don't do it that often, and I hope to remedy that.

Enjoy.

Moira

She asked me if I would zip it up for her. I said I would. She turned around. I zipped her up. I don’t know. It could have been the way she turned around that made me start crying. But it was only a little bit of crying, and she didn’t notice it. Or she did notice it, and she didn’t say anything about it. She does that. She actively says nothing. Chooses zero.

Pause.

She’s cheerful. She’s stuffed into this turquoise and coral dress like it’s a pig’s mouth and she’s an apple. Years ago, she was sitting in a pair of beige pants and only her bra sobbing into an ashtray. I was, what? Ten? Younger? She asked me to open a box of cigarettes because she couldn’t. Now, here we are. Here she is. I work somewhere, I do something, I’m married, I don’t think about being married. It’s all she thinks about. Being married.

Pause.

When she dies… I wonder if she even will die. Will she? She could. She’s supposed to I guess. If she does, when she does, I’m going to just watch television and wear jeans. I’m going to flop down on a couch and watch TV until I just flick it off and then I’ll stare at the black screen and wait. Did you know that when the TV is off…it’s dreaming? Of Sanford and Sons and Car 54 Where Are You and waves and pixels and light trapped in tombs. Of light trapped underground in Paris. When it closes its eyes, it’s dreaming.