Let's have a quick poll

Can Hillary win the Presidency?

An interview with nytheatre.com

nytheatre.com posted an interview with me about "The Most Wonderful Love" today on their site.

It should be linked to their main page today, but the interview can be directly linked to, and read, here.

Any thoughts about it? Let me know.

More from the Wonderful

Back from a wedding in Sonoma, and it was gorgeous out there, and I feel great. It was a Quaker Wedding between James Yeargain (fine actor) and Suzannah Murray (jeweler and artistic soul). Great people bot and I wish them happiness. Had a great time on the plane with this kid, as I always do. She's a goofball and pretty.

Think I'll go see X-Men 3. Yeah. Fun.

Season 2 Finale of Lost was cool. Weird. Can't tell if they have ANY idea what they're doing. Michael Emerson is king of all media.

Either way, happy as a clam, looking forward to a little time spent in rehearsals to see where we are, and tomorrow we all have the day off. Lovely, lovely.

The postcard art for Most Wonderful Love is live on the site, and I think it's very "Old Broadway" and I sort of love it. Here it is.

Turns out Scott Walters is back and George Hunka wants to take a break. Either way, let's everyone be nice to each other. I have to agree with Isaac...this isn't a contest. We are here to celebrate our mutual love of a unique art form.

I'm working on an interview for nytheatre.com... harder to write these than it used to be. When it's up, I'll be sure to send a link.

A few thoughts

As I attend rehearsals for "The Most Wonderful Love," scribbling down line changes and lying on my back, I find myself thinking a lot more about what's next. Blue Coyote is producing an evening of FCC challengers called "Standards of Decency" so I figure that'll be next on the plate. Then, I want to finish up this new adaptation I'm working on, and get back to writing "The Lower River" which is a sort of follow-up to "The Americans" in style. I've also recently been enamored of "If on a winter's night a traveler..." and I've been batting around an homage to that in my head a bit too.

It's been a bit of a funky career (I'll call it that) stylistically for me. Two verse plays (Arthur and Genesis), a short (465), three full length plays about suburban ennui (Reasons for Moving, The Great Escape, the Americans), and one play that is a three monologues in tandem (The Americans). All of them with very, very different tones, structures and subject matters. I've never really settled on a voice for myself, which I'm going to abitrarily view as healthy. I've almost made it a point to write the next play in stylistic opposition to the last one.

That's why it's hard for me to defend an aethetic. I don't feel any aesthetic is superior to any other. An aesthetic, a structure, a narrative...these are tools through which a writer expresses whatever it is that amuses or exposes him or her. The current play (which I hope many who read this blog will come drink with me after checking out) is a comedy in its bones, and ends with pairings, and talks a lot about marriage and religion. It's main character is a woman in her late 50s or early 60s. It was written by accident, like all good things, and it's taken time to give it real shape. What you'll see is the result of intuition more than planning, at least on my part.

Anyhow, I've been thrilled by the creativity of the cast and the oddball nature of the entire endeavour and the dilligence of skill of Kyle, the director. When it's on stage, costumed, with the songs written and the teddy bear props in the right hands and the stage blood ready for its close-up, I'm sure it will delight and frustrate more than it's share. I am, though, already sort of moving out of the comedy mode in my brain, and already sort of doddling with this new play about water and healing and resentment and fatherhood.

Onwards and upwards.

I'll be in San Francisco from Tuesday-Saturday attending (what else) a wedding. If I don't blog before I leave, best thoughts to all.

A question to leave you with: "Is being a playwright the same thing as being a storyteller?"

Show Dates for "The Most Wonderful Love"

Here are the performance dates of "The Most Wonderful Love." (There are three previews the weekend prior to the 12th. All show times are at 8pm.)

June 12th
June 14th
June 16th
June 17th
June 21st
June 22nd
June 23rd
June 24th
June 27th
June 28th
June 29th
June 30th
July 1st

Jot it down in your Outlook, or Calendars, or Cell Phones or Palm Pilots. Let me know when you're coming, and I'll try to make myself easy to find that night.

I'm off to rehearsals! Have a great weekend.

Small Donors and a Culture of Giving

My current job is working in Annual and Planned Giving for a non-profit organization. Obviously, all non-profits are familiar with the idea grant writing, gifts, donors and fundraising. But recently, it occured to me that the mantra of most large gift organizations is that Planned Giving and donation come exclusively from elderly donors or wealthy patrons.

Part of this is practical: Most of the more complex and large gifts are designed to benefit the very wealthy or the very old. A Charitable Gift Annuity, which is a popular type of Split Interest Gift, or a Charitable Remainder Trust, is useless to a small donor who will receive an annuity for years. Even if you don't know precisely what those things are, suffice to say, they are popular at the Metropolitan Opera, and in Churches, and for Universities. They are donations of generally large amounts, with tax benefits. And they are not available to those of us who are under 60.

So most of the fundraising done by Indie Theatres, Off-Off Broadway Theaters, or small theaters, especially in NYC, is rather rudimentary. It includes labor exhaustive grant writing, events that are intended to raise a certain amount of money by almost fooling the small donors into thinking they're paying for free booze (this happens a great deal), or simply doing some sort of calculus on ticket sales that, god help me, no one seems able to make work.

Even Awards are small and unfulfilling for small theater. The Obie Awards (bless them, this is not a complaint) offer what amounts to a pat on the back for a job well done. I wouldn't send back $1000.00... but I make more in one month at my relatively low paying day job than I would for winning an Emerging Playwrights Obie Award.

So I think it's time to reimagine the donor base for small theater and speak about how we can create a culture that encourages small, consistent annual donations from the base that we already have access to. I have proposals on this...but I wanted to put those terms out there and see if they get any response.

What do you think about small donations and a New Culture of Giving?

Tonight

Bush speaks from the actual White House, not in jeans behind a podium with some invited well-wishers. He's coming to us from the Oval Office, like in the olden days after radio but before Karl Rove.

National Guardsmen as the Border Patrol? A disgusting way to appease his base...aim weapons at Mexico.

I haven't said a word about the NSA scandal yet. Somewhere in my heart, I wish no one would have to say another word. It is so clearly illegal and Orwellian that anything less than impeachment is an acceptance of the logic of dictatorship.

So tune in...and have your favorite bottle of booze at the ready.

Actor's Equity Reform, Continued

The discussion started about Actor's Equity Reform has grown a bit. Playgoer linked to a discussion I have been hosting here, which I invite and encourage you to join.

Furthermore is John Clancy's own blog, which he's using as a sort of rallying point for organization and ideas. I suggest anyone who's interested in the nuts and bolts of producing in New York (whose name isn't Arielle Tepper), to take a look at what John wants to make possible for more of us.

Big Day Today! Shout Outs!

Mother's Day and my Mother's birthday. She has officially turned 30 twice! Wow. Who else can brag of such accomplishments?

I love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Hip Hop shout outs to Big D, Lady Trippa, Warfield's Mom with the Mostest, Izzo's Momma, Matty B's Mom, David Del and the Trumbinator's Mommas, My Own Beautiful Momma, All the Italians in House, Any Mom With Her Hands in the Air and is Wavin' 'Em Like She Just Don't Care, Those That Created Devore, General Zod and His Posse, Phantasmaphile's Bee; and all the Moms, all over the world, who are in the Middle of Almost Being Second Moms (I got the hot pads, ladies!)

...and of course...Hunka!

More shout outs? Comment below!

The Future

Looks like I'll be finished the next play before Labor Day. Hence a recent e-mail. I can do it. I know I can.

I have a "final"-ish draft due today, er, yesterday.

I sat at a table reading and watched Kyle and the actors slowly work their ways through the eccentricities of the play. They were able to make observations that were absolutely supported by the text, made perfect crystal sense, were utterly motivated, and that I was completely surprised by. That's why this sort of thing is an art, and not a science.

I've become obsessed with The Hanso Foundation. It's like tailor made for geeks like me.

Question for all of you that love the future: What will it be like?

More Rewrites and Some Other Guy

Went to Kyle's birthday party on Friday night and met this guy.

After the initial moments of "He looks so young" (meaning me, because I do) and "Who's Taller?" (me) and "Who has more impressive facial hair? (him) We had a very nice chat about this and that. Things like books and where we live and what's it like to get instruction from Christopher Durang (he knows, I don't.)

His girlfriend is a playwright named Kristin Palmer and they live together. Two playwrights in a railroad apartment. That made everyone say things like "That Must Be Interesting" and raise their eyebrows. Love it. It's the kind of story that winds up looking good in interviews years later.

In one of those moments I always appreciate, I said "You know how it is when your play is about to go up." His response was, quite correctly, "It's awful."

My girlfriend worked with me on the play yesterday, because I just needed a little boost. That was fun. She objected to the use of the word "pickle" but I stood my ground.

It's still my play.

(I did, of course, listen to her regarding things like plot and character.)

Rehearsals Begin

Wednesday was our first rehearsal and read-through of MWL, and it went swimmingly. Of course, I still feel like certain things aren't clear enough, even in this shorter draft. So it's back to the desk to work on it. Can't be handing them a rewritten script any later than this... after the beginning of a four week rehearsal schedule.

Right now the rewrites are focused on Mother's arc throughout the play. What's odd about her is that her motivation is ambiguous. As the center of the play, that makes the rest of the action hard to nail down. Ambiguity is a good thing, of course, but right now it's just making the other characters much more vividly "of their mind." So the next draft should hopefully remedy that.

On my comments section someone asked why white playwrights rarely write about black characters. I'm not sure. Anyone have a thought about this, I'd love to hear it. Maybe there's a big obvious exception. And don't include Genet's "The Blacks." I think that's not really what Kyle was talking about.

A little less from me

Hey everyone,

In the coming months, I'll be using this blog to update more about what's happening in terms of my work and to perhaps link to interesting discussions. As for my own comments (here and on other blogs) I've decided to pull back for the time being. I've gotten feedback of late that indicates that the direction of the blogosphere isn't all that welcoming to my particular sensiblity and that's ok. It just might not be my medium. Better to do it with plays. I certainly don't want to be viewed as anti-intellectual or combative. I don't view myself as a cultural critic: I'm a playwright. Better to express myself with plays. My time is more productively spent mailing drafts and working with other artists in person.

So, feel free to refer to my blog roll for blogs that have more to say about theory, and to keep an eye on this space if you'd like to know my next step is professionally. Otherwise, enjoy the ever expanding theatrical blogosphere and the community that it can create.

Onwards and upwards.

Friday Mishmash

- Over on Theatre Notes, Alison Croggon brings up a Corrie-esque issue. Worth your time.

- John Clancy comments below on the Showcase Code and Actor's Equity Reform issue. Let's keep that conversation going. How can we reform Equity? How can we come together to change the Showcase Code in Manhattan?

- We're 90% cast for "The Most Wonderful Love." Lovely!

- Lucas Krech, John Clancy and Ian W. Hill are added to the recently reordered and updated Blog Roll to your left.

- Looking forward to seeing a few unfamiliar faces tonight.

- I suggest, whenever I get a chance, you check out Phantasmaphile because the stuff she's posting is really awesome, contemporary, punchy and creepy.

- My friend Vince Gatton (who performed in my play "The Americans") was recently nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Candy & Dorothy! GO VINCE!

- Don't do drugs kids.

- Isaac Butler talks Process. Check it out.

- My new favorite DVD is Season 1 of Wonder Showzen. The commentary track for the first episode is "Screamin'" Stephen Hawking, who tells us why he couldn't use the nickname he wanted ("Fireblood") and why being a genius is an agonizing pain we could never comprehend and also about the little tidbits we might miss if we don't watch carefully. Also, he talks about the tattoo on his thigh ("I like what you're doing girl") his left nut ("Keep going") and his right nut ("See other nut.") It's sick. This show gives me a tumor of joy. Also, it answers the question where do babies come from..."Unanswered Prayers."

Actor's Equity Reform

One of the unspoken things about the majority of hard-working American actors and producers that I see, is that they have a love-hate relationship with AEA. It's a long-standing problem of a union that is intended to protect actors, filter out the casual from the professional, and to provide union members with benefits.

It also, unfortunately, creates a series of barriers between producers on a smaller scale and the actors that work on that scale.

I know of many producers that aren't able to rehearse their plays at length or develop the audience for a play because Equity imposes a rehearsal limit and performance limit on "Showcases." Showcases are the standard production agreement for most Off-Off Broadway shows...it allows actors to still be working within the union rules but not have to be paid far more than most companies can afford.

So... does Equity need to take another look at how it approaches the rules for smaller scale and independent theaters?

Talk to me about your experiences with Actor's Equity and what you love about it and what you think could be improved.

PLUG YOUR STUFF!

I think I'm going to make this a weekly thing. Today, in this post, PLUG your STUFF. Got a show coming up or getting published somewhere or having a reading upcoming? Plug here. Even if it's weeks away. The only way to get people to remember stuff is plug early and plug often.

Plug! Plug! Plug!

I want to hear what's up and when!

Isaac, tell us about Amulet! Josh...got a reading? Alison, have a book to sell?

Anyone else? Talk to me! COMMENT! PLUG! PLUG! PLUG!

DO IT!

Behold Thy Graphics!

For all you fans of Zork, and the Infocom classics, herein lies a great tribute from the ubiquitous Homestarrunner.

I have gotten as far as getting killed by a Troll so far. (Do not type "Kill Troll." It doesn't work.)

Croggon, this is made for people like you.

A Fair and Balanced Human Punching Bag

I, for one, am thrilled to see Fox Commentator and ultra conservative Tony Snow replace Scott McClellan as the White House Press Secretary. For one, we all know that with a President whose poll numbers are hovering in the low 30s, the Press Secretary is essentially someone who exists to take regular beatings for his Master's Sake.

Beyond that, it puts a rather large nail in the "Fair and Balanced" coffin of Fox News, which has now served as a recruiting pool for the White House's own staff. You don't get that job if you're, shall we say, objective.

For a few thoughts about what Tony Snow will face, enjoy this little write-up from Media Matters.

What is "The Problem?"

In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything just happens to be 42. The problem, of course, is that this answer is useless without a real sense of the question.

Over on Parabasis yesterday, Isaac posted a question about the "ideal solution" and a few of us posted our thoughts. It occurred to me that the essential assumption of that question is that there is a universally acknowleged Problem and that we must work together to solve it.

The essential conflict becomes...just what is this "Problem" and can it be solved and does it actually exist? Is it a universal problem, or is it regionally specific? Are the problems facing theatre in Australia, or Africa or London the same ones faced by New York artists? Are the problems of a playwright in Los Angeles the same as those of a director in Chicago?

Are we, on the blogosphere, each universalizing our personal taste, in an effort to unwittingly (or knowingly) promote change that matches our taste?

Is there a Universal Problem to which there is a Hidden Solution?

Rain is SO not Smurfy

Yes, it's true. Endless buckets of soul-crushing rain were falling on us in Manhattan yesterday. Somewhere else, maybe, there wasn't rain. Here...there was.

Auditions were held for the play this weekend, and we still have more to do. But I think I've had it up to my chin with theatre for at least the afternoon. Last night, Phantasmaphile and I went to the 92nd Street Y to see a lecture on Jungian readings of Fairy Tales. Twas fun and illuminating.

So, in the meantime, considering my brain is full of headshots and the gray day... I think I'd like to talk about something entirely different... entirely unrelated.

Smurfette.

Smurfette was created by Gargamel (the Smurf's arch-nemesis) to destroy the Smurfs. Before her, there were only male smurfs, and everyone had adventures, but no one was full of sexual jealousy. Sexual jealousy is really un-Smurfy.

Anyhow... Gargamel creates this little temptress to infiltrate the Smurf's little all-male community and create havoc by doing stuff like bending over to pick up a leaf and expecting the Smurfs to kill themselves carrying her bags and singing really out of key. She was a pill, basically. She also had black hair...a problem that would quickly be rectified.

Her ingredients (which I just Googled) included "The chatter of a magpie, the guile of a vixen and the disposition of a shrew...an adder's tongue...a peck of a bird's brain...the hardest stone for a heart." Gargamel called the introduction of a girl smurf "A ruthless curse that will make them beg for mercy."

Gargamel was going through a really painful divorce at the time.

Papa Smurf (who is apparently completely uninterested in girls) decides to make a real Smurf of her, a good Smurf.

I don't remember what magical brew does it (probably Bacardi) but she is transformed into a vapid Blonde who is permanently attached to a mirror. Sure, the Smurfs still fancy her well-enough, but they also sort of have disdain for her because she's completely self-obsessed and blonde. She's essentially made harmless by being given a frontal lobotomy, otherwise known as "blonde hair on tv."

Now what sort of message did this send to the people of my generation? I beg you to tell me.