Speaking of Frank Rich

He probably bought Charles Isherwood a Coke when he read this.

Love this Frank Rich

Great stuff.

The NY Times video game coverage occasionally drives me nuts

The photo in this article says "An FBI profiler, left, and Ethan Mars, a father, in Heavy Rain."

Neither of the two characters there are the FBI profiler or Ethan Mars.

Sigh.

Special "Behind The Scenes" Web Video!

I put together this web video so that you could take a look at the goings-on Behind the Scenes at Glee Club!

Just be aware, it's a bunch of guys in rehearsal, so the language isn't for kids!





Get your tickets for Glee Club right away!

And check us out on Facebook too!

Update: Thanks Time Out!

Speaking of which...

I love it when the Republicans say "The American people told us that they want..." even though the polls directly contradict their claims. It's funny because it's a largely conservative christian group, and growing up defensively Christian, there is a similar Christian fallback argument when you're totally out of your depth. That argument is "God says" or "God told me" or "I have a personal relationship with the Almighty and he says that we should..."

Same basic idea. Invoke Invisible Voice of the Important Other. Strangely enough, that Important Other totally backs you up.

Why would people...

...who believe that it is either socialism or unconstitutional for the Federal Government to create laws, policies and regulations that affect States or citizens...become members of Congress?

Seems like an odd career choice. Like a Christian Scientist going into pharmacology.

Writing

Lately, I keep starting blog posts and then going "naw" and starting over and then deleting them. I apologize.

Someday, I will have my groove back, like Stella.

In the meantime, read this post I wrote in 2007: Rules for the Writing of Plays. It should placate you. It's also absolutely true, all of it.

Wrote this yesterday

I asked Pam to e-mail me a poem, so I could write a short play about it. Just something to do. Here's what I came up with.

The poem she chose was The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel

Here's the play.

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN

A play in exactly one hundred and sixty seven words

A

You can look at me.

B

I know. I’m sorry.

A

Don’t apologize.

B

I’m sorry.

A

What’s the good word?

B

Water.

A

Water?

B

I’m sorry, yes. Yes. Water.

A

What about water?

B

It can suffocate you. It can bury you.

A

Drown you.

B

That’s what they call it.

A

What made you think about that?

B

Something about sea levels. We’re going to drown.

A

I like the idea of that. If I had to die, just seeing a coral reef and some schools of fish and blue and green and salt. Silver fish. Tuna. Starfish. Sea horses. Light.

B

We’re nowhere near that sort of water. That kind of climate. Anyway, the coral reef is being destroyed.

A

We should move then. We can get near what’s left of it. Then, when it happens, it’ll be warm, clear water. I’d like that.

B

You think you’re making me feel better, but all I hear from you is suicide.

A

Suicide is a strong word.

B

I know

A

I don’t think of it as suicide.

B

I know.

A

It’s raining.

B

I know.

END

Gotta say

I'm playing this PS3 game called Heavy Rain and it's really, really good. Sort of a combination procedural/choose-your-own-adventure/adventure game. Full of odd and impressive moments that I think move the whole genre forward.

Trust me, in 10 years, there'll be game directors that get awards the way theater and film directors do.

Nifty

May it be profitable or useful or both.

Blue Coyote Theater Group website

Up and running after being revamped recently. On it, you can find out how to get tickets for...GLEE CLUB. My new play. Which begins next week. You should see it.


If you purchase a Wednesday night ticket *any time before March 3rd* and use the code WEDS10, you can get a $10 ticket.

That's a $15 discount. C'mon crew. Good deal, that one. Get your ticket right away.

NewsFlash: Human Beings Think Other Human Beings Lie

No, seriously.

Also, half of those responding really were sick last week, and that's why they couldn't come into work. *cough*

People of Earth

I would like to find a copy of Psychoville and also The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse that I can watch without living in England or on a grainy streaming website.

If you know how I can accomplish these simple goals, tell me. Tell me, People of Earth.

Flip Video Thingy

I went with a pal to check some top-secret Xbox Contraption, and he tossed me some sweet swag: Flip Video Thingy.

I am now even more of a little content generator. The future! I'm in the future!

The results: I have shot footage of my girlfriend talking to the cat, and videos of my friends telling me to stop pointing the camera at them.

The Future! THE FUTURE!

This weekend

Saw The Wolfman.

Anthony Hopkins was...fantastic. I could just imagine him saying, on set, "I would like to wear those weird sunglasses in two scenes. Okay?" And everyone saying "What? Argue with him?"

Like Brando was when he reached critical mass.

Yes, he's still that cool

Shamanic Ritual tonight

My lovely and talented girlfriend is hosting an event tonight at Observatory, on Union and Nevins in Brooklyn. Come and check it out. Inexpensive, unique, fun.

Shamanic Ritual with Itzhak Beery

Date: Wednesday, February 17th
Time: 7:30pm
Admission: $8

Phantasmaphile is honored to present an evening ritual with Shaman Itzhak Beery, co-founder of the NY Shamanic Circle.

This ceremony will focus on Meeting Power Animal Spirits: The Journey to Non-Ordinary Realities

Participants will be introduced to the principles of the shamanic belief system. The workshop teaches the techniques of shamanic journeying which is used by shamans to enter non-ordinary realities. Participants will learn to travel to the other worlds to obtain personal Power animal spirits, to connect with these spirits, and to retrieve specific knowledge. This knowledge can be used in our world to heal, to settle disputes, to communicate between the living and the dead, to create abundance, and to pray for the well-being of the environment, for others and ourselves.

Accompanied by drumbeat, participants learn to journey to the animal energies and shape-shift into them, allowing each person to merge with their animal nature—a reflection of our innermost self that represent those qualities we need most in this world, but which are often hidden, or repressed.

***Please bring a pillow, towel, or cushion to sit on.

Bio

Israeli born Itzhak, was initiated into the family tradition of a powerful Quechuan Yachak from Ecuador. He also studied with Ipupiara a Brazilian elder and Cleicha, a Peruvian curandera (healer).

Additionally, since 1994, Itzhak has studied the shamanic path and healing ways with indigenous shamans from Hawaii, Ecuador, Peru, Greenland, Native American and the United States.

He is a founding member of the NY Shamanic Circle, and the NY Annual Shamanic Gathering in Central Park. He is a member of the Dream Change and the Society for Shamanic Practitioners. He is the founder and publisher of the leading shamanic global resource web site www.shamanportal.org.

Itzhak has a private shamanic ceremonial healing practice in New York City (For adults, children, animals, & house cleansing) and conducts workshops for adolescents, adults, and senior citizens in Europe, Israel, Hawaii, and the US.

Itzhak also developed and facilitates a special program geared to high school students, called The Bridge.

This evening is offered in conjunction with OBSERVATORY’s current exhibition, VISION QUEST, a group show of neo-shamanic art, up through February 21st.

Stimulus Bill article in the NY Times

Does a very nice job of presenting, you know, reasoned argument based on information. As opposed to covering the horse race.

Glee Club Tickets are Now On Sale

First of all... I'm aware that whenever I have a show coming up, my blog feels like pledge drive season on PBS.

Still, I love to keep you informed!

Tickets for GLEE CLUB are now on sale.

Here's the deal:

The show runs Wednesday, March 3rd - Saturday, April 3rd.

Tickets are $25.

Of course, there are special discounts for people like you. Insiders. Pals. Onlookers.

The first three performances are previews, and tickets are $15 each. Definitely take advantage of that.

Also... if your purchase a Wednesday night ticket *any time before March 3rd* and use the code WEDS10, you can get a $10 ticket.

Get all that?

Great.

Go get yourself some tickets now!

President's Day

Which President do you honor on this day of all days?

Also

Here's something I never do, and that's largely out of fashion!

Friday Random 10!

1. Tryin' To Get To Heaven - Bob Dylan, Tell Tale Signs
2. You're Gonna Quit Me - Bob Dylan, Good As I Been To You
3. Impossible Germany - Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
4. Sleeper Hold - No Age, Nouns
5. Lovers From The Moon - Magnetic Fields, The Wayward Bus
6. The Past and The Pending - The Shins, Oh Inverted World
7. Dialog Box - David Byrne, Grown Backwards
8. Sacrificial Bonfire - XTC, Skylarking
9. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds, Way To Normal
10. Overlap - Ani DiFranco, Out of Range

Yes, I do have an iPod filled with music you liked in college. Live with it!

Question for the readers of this blog

If you read this blog, and you're not a member of my family, has it inspired you to come to one of my productions or read any of my plays? I'm curious if reading my blog actually translates into getting readers curious about or involved in my work. I suspect that, largely, those who read it enjoy it for its own sake. But I don't honestly know.

Indulge me. Even if the answer is "I like your blog but I've never read any of your plays and probably won't" that's grand. I'm just curious.

Might I direct your attention

To the blog of one Mr. Ken Davenport. Good stuff, definitely. A very entrepreneurial tone on his site. Worth a read.

It has been added to my blogroll, as well!

Glee Club Postcard Art

Here's the postcard art for GLEE CLUB, including details. If you feel like posting it to your own site, of course, I will give you a bit blog-hug.

The Kindle

Okay. Every damn podcast I listen to is about the Kindle. About, more specifically, Amazon selling eBooks at a lower price point and taking a loss in order to sell Kindles ($9.99) and how iBooks from Apple has made a deal with much of the publishing industry to sell eBooks at a higher price, but not to purchase the books at the standard market discount.

So interesting.

I know not one person who owns a Kindle. Do you have a Kindle?

Buried in the snow

So besides Glee Club writing and the occasional quick link or post lately, I've been on the quiet side. No harm, no foul. I've been working hard, I've got the new play opening, and some other great things in the works. Playscripts has offered to publish Trayf in a collection of short plays, Bluebeard is finding some interest, etc.

All in all, I'm happy, I'm focused, and it's frickin' winter. I'm not feeling terribly social, and the result is the blog is light on content. At this point, I've been writing this blog for a while, so I know that it comes in waves and I'm not about to declare that I am no longer blogging forever or some such hyperbole. I'm just letting you know that I'm not feeling all that interested in writing about the overall state of the American Theatre right now; or about the ads in the Superbowl; or do battle over racial/gender/class politics.

I will say that it's funny to me that I live in a world where the New Orleans Saints, representing a city in need of good news, wins its first Superbowl ever, in its first ever appearance, after years of being just awful...and all I'm hearing about is that the ads were sexist. Sigh. I thought it was a really awesome game, for the record. Onside kick at the top of the half? I blew a gasket! Let's talk about how f*cking awesome that was!

I've been watching the Final Season of Lost, which has made me happy so far. Rehearsals are in full swing. I'm reading Game Change (ohhh dish!). I'm, well, going about my business. Oh, and I'm playing Dragons Age: Origins on PS3. I'm hanging out with my girlfriend.

This is my life folks. And you, yes you, get to hear about it.

Glee Club details

GLEE CLUB Returns!

We'll be running for five weeks, beginning March 3rd, 2010, at the Access Theater, produced by Blue Coyote Theater Group.

Our cast is largely the same as it was at the Brick last summer: Stephen Speights, Tom Staggs, Bruce Barton, David DelGrosso, Matthew Trumbull, Bob Buckwalter and Carter Jackson. Gary Shrader, who kicked ass as "Paul" in the original production, has unfortunately found himself unable to perform the role in our remount. Performing the role in his stead will be Steve Burns.

Kyle Ancowitz, perpetual partner-in-crime, directs.

Designing Glee Club are Robert Monaco (set design), Wheeler Kincaid (lighting design) and Jonna McElrath (costume design).

You can read our press release on Playbill here.

We also got this very strange write-up on the Joyride Blog at Time Out. It will likely be the only time a play of mine is sold to parents. But you know what? We welcome any and all that want to see the production, for whatever reason they choose!

There's lots more information to come, and I'll be certainly filling this blog with it as we approach opening. I'll let you know when tickets go on sale, if we'll be offering special discounts, and all that fun stuff!

Onwards!

Glee Club coming soon!

Happy Birthday Dad

It's my Dad's birthday today! Happy Birthday, Reverend.

Community Board 4 Meeting Last Night

I attended the meeting for Community Board 4 last night on 17th and 9th Ave. Saw representatives from the Lark, Community Dish, Abingdon, A.R.T/New York, LIT and NYIT Foundation and many others. They were there, along with David Gruber from Community Board 2 and David Pincus, to promote consideration for a proposal to create tax incentives to landlords who discount rental spaces to theaters.

CB4 passed the proposal unanimously.

It was instructive and inspiring. It's been wonderful to watch the community of New York theaters reach out to the community itself and those who care about it most. It was also interesting to learn that the efforts that the Community Boards are making to pass this proposal is actually bring the usually segregated Boards themselves together. The effort is serving two purposes, in that sense. It's helping theater reach out to the community, and building bridges too.

I was also inspired by those citizens who were there for entirely different reasons. There were two guys who showed up to thank the Board for moving traffic off of their block. A passionate guy who showed up to talk about the Transit Authority. A state senator made an appearance (and name dropped Karen Finley). An Assemblywoman. Passionate words were spoken about the financial crisis at St. Vincent's Hospital. A powerpoint was shown about protecting Manhattan from the effects of a hurricane. A local spoke about the school production of Peter Pan.

Most of these people didn't come in an organized group, like we did. They came as individuals, and they spoke up out of a sense of civic duty. Remember: unlike theater folks, most people are terrified of a live microphone. These people overcame whatever standard anxiety might come from public speaking, just to have their say for less than 2 minutes on local issues. They're heroes for their own causes, and I really wanted to cheer for them.

I didn't stay for the entire meeting, but I was mightily moved. I was not not only by the outpouring of effort from our own community - but how our community action fits into a larger context.

Thanks to all who attended.

Food for Thought

I received the following e-mail from the League of Independent Theater. If you're free tonight, you should attend.

Dear Friends of LIT, There is an important event happening tomorrow and we are calling on all the friends of Independent Theater to come and raise your voices in support of a new tax credit initiative that has been spearheaded by David Pincus and the Workshop Theater. The basic idea of the proposal is for landlords to give non-profit cultural institutions below market rates on real estate in exchange for tax credits and other incentives from the City. This could have a great effect on keeping the theaters we work in viable. So please come out tomorrow - Wednesday 6:30pm 119 Ninth Avenue (between 17th and 18th Streets) - and show your support. For more information on this issue: The Clyde Fitch Report <http://www.clydefitchreport.com/?p=5691 > IT Awards http://nyitawards.blogspot.com > WHERE AND WHEN: This Wednesday, February 3rd, at the Fulton Center Auditorium, 119 Ninth Avenue (between 17th and 18th Streets), Manhattan Community Board 4 is going to consider a letter written by its Theater Task Force for passage. At 6:30, on that evening, members of the public are invited to sign-up for a public session at which they will be given two minutes to speak on any topic that interests them. Any member of the public, who resides or works (or performs) within the confines of Community District 4, 14th Street to 59th, 8th Avenue to the Hudson River, is invited to attend. If you are a theater artist, who supports the tax credit initiative that the unprecedented alliance of Community Board Arts related committees are developing, we need your support at that meeting.

Sincerely, Paul Bargetto Managing Director of Public Affairs League of Independent Theater

LOST

Yeah, the Lost Season Six Premiere was awesome.

That is all.