writing The Bull Crime

I'm in the midst of writing a new play called The Bull Crime. It's a fun piece of trickery, full of hogwash and weirdness and scenes about the removal of body hair. I hope to see it born shortly.

For all you structure-happy process fetishists, it's a two act play that's set almost entirely in a single conference room. I've been futzing with my plan of attack. When certain pieces of information appear, how to slowly ratchet up the dilemmas of the characters, who tells the truth, who lies. It's probably closest in spirit to The Most Wonderful Love or The Great Escape. Certainly more outlandish than Glee Club, but less moody or novelistic than When is a Clock.

I shared a bit of it on the blog not long ago here.

I find it sort of fun to share things in process with you guys. Hopefully, this stuff is fun for you to read as well.

Here's another little tidbit.

MAGNUS

Profit margin zed nine alpha oversight committee fifty three means the equation of selflessness and altruism is as good as makes no odds. Graph 32, here shown as exhibit B, ruins all hope for a mortal life. Vampirism and overhead compartments are mandatory under the rules of Section 3(d) of the California Department of Regulated Insurance properties. As such, we maintain reserve requirements in excess of the amount of blood it would take to replace the Indian Ocean. Keep it up mister, and this slide will call forth a flurry of beetles. Note here the fish again, the Bull Crime, its almost softer than a feather and twice as thick. Must add underlying principles of laws for cripples to five to the power of twelve against before committing to the better nature of all horticulturalists. What is this slide? Hope. Don’t fail me now algorithm, because advertisement depends on a willing suspension of certain underground factions of the shadow anarchy. All charts say yes, up, higher, more, bigger, best, confirmation, affirmative, seek, Shakespeare and a bellyful of scratch tickets. In short, to sum up, in closing: extinct the fish.

3rd Annual One-Minute Play Festival

This year, the 3rd, there are two must-see evening, Saturday and Sunday, at HERE.

Read all about it on Broadway World, find it on the HERE calendar, or find details on Facebook.

Saturday is Program A with plays by Program A (Sat Sept 12th): plays by: Ashlin Halfnight, Emily Conbere, Bixby Elliot, John Devore, Michael John Garces, Jakob Holder, Jessica Litwak, Matt Olmos, Saviana Stanescu, Kyle Jarrow, Ken Urban, David Zellnik, Lanna Joffrey, Megan Mostyn-Brown, Liz Meriwether, Mat Smart, Mac Rogers, Andrea Thome, Matt Freeman, James Comtois, anton dudley, Christine Evans, Robert Kerr, Callie Kimball, Sam Forman, Rajiv Joseph, Padraic Lillis, Trav SD & more!

Sunday is Program B with plays by Callie Kimball, Clay Mcleod Chapman, Dave Anzuelo, Bixby Elliot, Kris Diaz, Christine Evans, Jeff Lewonczyk, J Julian Christopher, Courtney Brook Lauria, Adam Szymkowicz, Migdalia Cruz, Chiori Miyagawa, Ian Cohen, anton dudley, Michael John Garces, Matt Olmos, Saviana Stanescu, Crystal Skillman, Liz Meriwether, Matt Freeman, Matt Schatz, Caridad Svich, August Schulenburg, Chris Harcum, Daniel Talbott, Trav SD & more!

I have plays in both evening: Saturday is Carbon Footprint, from last year's festival, back by popular demand. Sunday is the new one: Good Advice.

This. Will. Sell. Out. It has a billion writers. Not buying a ticket now is basically not getting in.

See you there!

"You lie!"

I get the impression that this is the GOPs version of the Howard Dean scream moment. Wilson will be hung around the Republican's neck as an example of what they've become.

Something biblical applies here, no? Reaping and sowing?

Effie Jean in Tahiti

I went to see the new family-friendly musical Effie Jean in Tahiti this past week. It's written by David Johnston and Stephen Speights, and features a fantastic cast.

If you have children, you really have to see it. My friend's six year old has already seen it twice. It's got fun performances, hilarious dances, colorful costumes, and a plucky leading lady (played with aplomb my Laura Desmond) and her awesome brother (played by Matt Trumbull.)

But as an adult, childless and, in fact, without even so much as my own womb, I sat there laughing my butt off, delighted by the whole thing. David Johnston is easily one of the best writers working in New York today, and in a way that is entirely satisfying. He's clever without grandstanding, heartwarming without a hint of sucrose, is a master of the turn of phrase and, yes, an expert joker. He's definitely stretching by writing family friendly work (most of his work will make you cry laughing) but it feels as if he's been doing it for years.

It runs until September 20th. So get your tickets. Bring the kids.

The most useful fall preview I've seen yet

Arranged by author.

How great is that?

September 1st

How the hell did that happen?

It's clear that, as the summer ends, I'm doing this and that and not blogging very hard and fast. I'm sure that will change at some point. In the meantime, prepare to be linked to stuff more often than not.

I'm excited to be writing the presenters' text for the 5th Annual NYIT Awards, by the way. It's certainly a challenge.

They must really want a piece of the Spider Man musical

This sucks. Disney to buy Marvel.

Nytheatrecast interview with J. Scott Reynolds

I recently recorded a new interview with J. Scott Reynolds, artistic director of Handcart Ensemble.

This is another Playwrights in Conversation nytheatrecast. My fourth. You can find a link to the item here, or directly download the MP3 here.

Scott has some very interesting things to say about how he views theatrical language, adaptations, and Samuel Beckett. His company is producing a new version of The Odyssey.

Now that you've seen Viral

I hope you'll revisit my interview with Mac Rogers on the nytheatrecast.

Will Ted Kennedy...

...be the Obi-Wan Kenobi to Barack Obama's Luke Skywalker?

I'll be involved

With this. Lots of people involved, of course. So getting tickets now is likely good.

I've been...

...out of town, celebrating my mother's retirement from more than a quarter century of teaching high school English. It was a very nice trip, got to see my brother and sister (who live in Lake Tahoe and St. Paul, MN, respectively) and their charming significant others. Hoorah for my amazing Mom.

Now, I have a slight headcold. I think I'll also remain vaguely hungover for a few days.

Blue Coyote Theater Group has something new - in many ways - coming up shortly. It features music by Stephen Speights (who wrote the music for Glee Club and did tremendous work as an actor in it as well), is written by David Johnston, features a terrific cast, and is appropriate for children and their parents.

So get your tickets immediately.

Effie Jean In Tahiti

The Blue Coyote event you
should bring kids to!

For ages 7-77!

Book by David Johnston
Music and Lyrics by
Stephen Speights
Directed by Gary Shrader
Choreography by Jonathan Hollander

Featuring: Bruce Barton*, Laura Desmond*, Brian Fuqua*, Katy Garceau, Katie Hayes, Lynda Kennedy*, Tom Staggs*, Jane Titus*, Matthew Trumbull*, F. Dash Vata.

Princess Effie Jean has made a bargain with Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, and now she’s stuck in Tahiti guarding his jewels. Boring! Even worse, she’s supposed to kill any strangers that land on the island, and the first one who shows up is her own brother. Can the wily brother-sister duo find a way to trick Proteus? With the help of vain Cassiopeia (Queen of the Night Sky), a school of flounder, and some good old-fashioned song and dance, YOU BET THEY CAN!

All these dire predictions

...about Obama being one-term and blah, blah, blah are horseshit inspired by a never-ending news cycle. Fact is, in December, we'll be like "Remember all that hoopla about health care reform?"

People have a memory of about twenty minutes.

For example, remember this?

Not really? Not until just now? Right.

The fact is Democrats have been trying to complete some form of health care reform for a very long time. Everyone takes a crack at it, and it always fails. Obama, even if the bill is nowhere near as comprehensive as we'd like it to be, will probably actually wind up passing comprehensive reforms of some sort. And if he does that, it will be a major accomplishment. Period.

But besides that, I'm a bit weary of the news about this. Frankly, it reminds of the Democratic primary. If you were to watch this from afar, and describe what actually is going to happen, it pretty much always does. False drama drives ratings and spikes hit counts. But you could draw a map of how this will all play out from now until November, and have an 80% of nailing it.

Health Care Reform was always going to be 1) done early 2) resisted by Republicans 3) complicated to negotiate 4) attacked by various lobbyists 5) a legislative slog 6) tough on Obama's ratings. That's why he did it now. First thing. So he had some room to fall. Also, it's clear that with the majorities the Democrats have, something will pass. And once it passes, that'll be that. Everyone will be taking CREDIT for it. Republicans will say they are proud of the bill because they kept costs under control and still got good reform. Democrats will say they fulfilled their campaign promises. We'll continue to have an imperfect system, but it'll have some practical improvements. That, as they say, is that.

The rest is window dressing.

Remember the Clinton - Obama primary that lasted forever? Obama had won the nomination something like 5 months before Clinton conceded. There were no actual surprises. He won where he was expected to win. She won where she was expected to win. He got the nomination. Everything that happened was evidence that maybe he couldn't win the Presidency. Now, he's President. Christ, when I saw him speak in 2004 at Kerry's convention I said aloud "That guy is going to be President." Everyone did. And so it came to pass.

I'm not saying there isn't such a thing as surprises. But there is a reason that's what they're called: they are rare. They are a surprise. Generally, if it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, and it acts like a duck, it's a duck.

Unless you're CNN, Fox or MSNBC. Then, it's a Rasmussen Poll showing 51% of Americans didn't understand the question.

One Minute Play Festival

The One-Minute Play Festival is back this year, coming next month. More details as they become available.

My contribution (unless I write another) is called GOOD ADVICE.

More David Pogue fun

This time with Tracey Gilbert (When is a Clock) and of course David DelGrosso. Check it out.

Dear those who support my blog and therefore - I would assume -me

Have you purchased a copy of When is a Clock? If not, I'd really appreciate it.

It's a good play, and its a way to directly support me. Available directly through Samuel French and also Amazon.com.

If you saw it, read it, liked it...you could post a short review on Amazon. That, too, I would appreciate.

If you're thinking "That's nice, I hope someone buys his book or reviews his book on Amazon..." I mean you.

To consider

A theater bloggers association?

That is...

Harsh. HARSH.

Harsh!

Wow

This is beautiful. From Will Hoffman, on WNYC's Radiolab.

"Moments"

Pigf*cker

Why are we bothering again?

To try to compromise with the GOP if they are, in fact, just going to vote against any bill that is put forth?

The crazy meter is turned up to 11

What I found truly amazing about what the right wing has been able to do in this country over the last 10 years, is to move the goal posts entirely about what is considered debatable.

Here are the debates in which the country has debated as of late:

1. Should we commit more deeply to a war that was entered into under false pretenses?
2. Is it okay to torture people?
3. Should the people who have, in power, lied to the American public be held accountable or even prosecuted?
4. Is it reasonable to arrest a man in his own home who is doing nothing wrong, if you are a cop?
5. Is it a constitutional right to bring a gun to a protest of health care reform?
6. Is health care reform a bad thing?

These are, on their faces, absolutely absurd questions. But once you get the debate into "Are you sure it's not okay to torture people?" country, all bets are off. Instead of simply declaring that everyone who tortured, justified torture, promoted torture, and tried to worm torture into law are criminals and subject to international law; we have discussed it as if there is a question. All things have become a matter of relative principle, all things are debatable, everything becomes a question of political persuasion and, in the end, there is no functional meter by which we judge right and wrong. We've lost the ability to distinguish the quality of an argument.

The insurance industry is simply trying to stop the government from becoming competition. They want to remain profitable, and in the business of sickness. We (paralyzed by a bemused, wealthy media without a point of view) are now debating on its terms.

We are actually hearing public officials...elected representatives of the law and the people...defending the bringing of assault rifles to protest rallies.

Do the math

The peaceful protests in New York City of the Republican National Convention in 2004 resulted in hundreds of arrests; but bringing an assault rifle to a protest near President Obama results in a sideways glance from the Phoenix police?

Protecting President George W. Bush in 2004 was a matter of national security, and protecting President Barack Obama in 2009 is, it seems, a matter of debate.

Or maybe the Second Amendment has finally become more important to law enforcement than the First Amendment.

Or, better still, they want to send a clear message: if you want the cops to respect your rights, bring a gun.

David DelGrosso is punched in the face by David Pogue

Pogue's Twitter-Book Signing Day from david pogue on Vimeo.

Capt. Matthew Freeman

According to my sitemeter, there are a large number of people finding this blog because they're looking for information about Capt. Matthew Freeman, who was killed in Afghanistan on August 7th, 2009 at the age of 29. That is not me, clearly. But I'd like to send anyone who finds this blog looking for information about him my sincere condolences. According to what I've read, he was an exceptional person from a long military family. The fact that he was married only three weeks before he passed away is absolutely tragic.

To find information about him, you could look here, here, here or here.

Break a leg

Viral!

Now that's more like it

An article that actually called the death panel rumor "false" in its headline. Thank you, New York Times.

Boycott Whole Foods

Get this...all you upscale, well-meaning kids who love Whole Foods. John Mackey, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal that quotes Margaret Thatcher on "socialism," refers to "Obamacare" and says that there is no intrinsic right to health care.

He says:

"Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?"

So assisting the homeless find shelter, or food stamps... bad ideas? I'm sure that the poor often choose to shop at Whole Foods.

His solution to the health care crisis? Um...

"Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat. We should be able to live largely disease-free lives until we are well into our 90s and even past 100 years of age."

He thinks that if we all shopped at Whole Foods, we wouldn't need this "socialist" public option for health care reform. I'm sure he'll give up some of his own salary, or pay more in taxes, to subsidize the prices at Whole Foods so shopping there is affordable for those who are on the margins.

Wait... that's socialism.

In short, if you can afford to be healthy, you can be healthy. That's his philosophy.

Boycott Whole Foods.

Let Whole Foods what you think of Mackey here.

I traffic in End of Life Care

At my job, we publish a booklet called Planning for the End of Life. In fact, my entire day job is essentially about creating life income gift, end of life issues, establishing bequests, and considering your legacy when making certain kinds of gifts. In short: end of life issues, at least from a charitable perspective. We advise people about sample bequest language, but also about how to create a medical directive and things of that nature.

When people are educated about their options, they tend to find ways to supplement their retirement income, avoid capital gains and gift taxes, and also financially take care of their family and themselves as they move into a phase of their lives where their medical costs will skyrocket.

When the insurance lobbyists and conservatives refer to "end of life care consultations" in dire terms, they make me laugh out loud. All day, every day, I work in the world of "end of life." I see more death certificates cross my desk every week than most people see in their entire lives.

Powerful people are trying to terrify the poor and the elderly into protesting against their own interests. And the media is helping them do it by not treating any scare tactics relating to end of life care with the chuckle they deserve.

This "issue" is less than legitimate: it doesn't exist.

Articles like this one are a fine example of how the media is failing to do its job. Lies, not fears, are driving the political protesters. If the media doesn't exist to expose lies, what use is it, except to serve as a mouthpiece for the loudest?

The best thing about Mamet writing Anne Frank

...is that he can finally bring his well-documented love of women and women's issues to this weighty subject.

Another addition to the blogroll

Zack Calhoon, who I thought was there already. He's been blogging for a long time, and is in the midst of a series of excellent interviews.

Ian W. Hill

Gets a rockin' review from the Times.

As it should be. Carry on.

Sean Williams speaks about his collaborator

Mac Rogers. I really enjoyed reading this.

I've added Seanrants to my totally chaotic blogroll, because he's been absolutely on a tear lately.

How does this make you feel?

I found it on the internet.

Question

It's not like anyone ever doubted that Rove was an unethical pigf*cker while in power. But now that the documents are showing his abuse of power...what happens to him? I mean, can he be prosecuted?

Rove, Bush, Cheney...they cannot be shamed or publicly humiliated. It doesn't affect them. They're emotionless and shameless. They need to be fined, locked up, barred for public office. Something has to happen. What can happen? What will happen?

Anything?

For the record

Yes, I did watch G.I. Joe. I'm not above it. I loved those cartoons when I was a kid.

Some health care silliness via Boing Boing

Anti-health-care loon says Stephen Hawking wouldn't stand a chance under British health care system.

This is why it's not worth a respectful debate, crew.

Health Care Reform made simple

President Obama wants

1. People to have access to a doctor without going broke
2. Better competition with health insurance companies and more choice for consumers
3. To make it illegal health "insurers" to deny coverage to people that pay for it.

What about that makes people carry guns to rallies, exactly? What exactly are they protesting for or against?

It's never ceased to amaze me...

...just how absolutely ignorant and disgusting segments of the Republican Party have become.

I also continue, despite myself, to be sickened by how the Republican politicians seem completely fine with it. Leading a pack of lonely, misinformed, violent, racists away from getting better health care and towards the behavior of a threatening mob... is what they want to do.

Fatebook the Show

Intriguing project by New Paradise in Philadelphia. Fatebook. The fictional characters there have corresponding Facebook profiles that you can learn about and follow it seems. I'll be messing around with it. I'm curious how this will culminate in a theatrical event of some sort. But all the same, it's worth a look.

You can never get enough

Of me! Zack Calhoon posted an interview with me on his blog this morning. Thanks Zack!

Some thoughts on the Rebeck and structure

Theresa Rebeck continues to stand up for her own brand of orthodoxy in a comment called CAN CRAFT AND CREATIVITY LIVE ON THE SAME STAGE?

You might recall this isn't a new subject for her.

Upstaged chimed in here.

To throw in my two cents:

I think we need to toss out the word "experimental" when we mean "not structured like Ibsen." How many "experimental" plays have we all seen at this point that seem to draw for the same playbook? Why do we continue to pretend that most of the "experimental work" we see isn't the same sort of work that's been around for decades? Close your eyes and imagine an "experimental" play. Do you see four actors in white, standing in front of a rear projected image, moving in unison, speaking in odd patterns? You do? Me too.

I also find it just plain bizarre that someone should bother to stand up for conventional structure. For example, let's look at the last 10 years of winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

2009 - Ruined
2008 - August: Osage County
2007 - Rabbit Hole
2006 - No Award! (Not given to Durang, Rapp or Rolin Jones)
2005 - Doubt
2004 - I am my own Wife
2003 - Anna in the Tropics
2002 - TopDog/Underdog
2001 - Proof
2000 - Dinner with Friends
1999 - Wit

I don't see how convention is being shown the door. What exactly, in the list above, is so incredibly experimental? Maybe Topdog/Underdog. But Proof? August: Osage County? Doubt? Wit? Rabbit Hole? We're not exactly turning up our noses to conventionally structured plays in favor of these kooky kids with their nutso ideas. I mean, sure, Sarah Ruhl asked everyone to speak in the language of stones or something, but other than that... what shows on major stages are spitting in the eye of long held traditions? Jack Goes Boating? Back Back Back? Something by Richard Greenburg? 100 Saints You Should Know? Mauritius? The Scene?

For that matter, if you want structure, it's not like you have to go far to find it. Turn on the TV. You will find structure, perfect beautiful structure, for miles and miles. Characters. Conflicts. Structures. Forms. Perfect act breaks. We are all born and raised on structure, we bathe in it from when we're little kids. I'm sure it's annoying to be conventional and be treated as conventional...but sometimes the majority has to push back against a rowdy minority I guess. Just to remind everywhere who's in charge.

And no, I'm not against structure as a concept, or smart plotting, or characters. I just don't see what, frankly, all the complaining is about. Structure, order, neatness: they're doing just fine. They really, really are.

The only thing that I really don't honestly buy is this part of Rebeck's statement:

"Recently, John Eisner asked me how, as a playwright, I reconciled my passion for structure and historically more traditional elements of craft with fidelity to the inchoate and poetic essence of the creative impulse.

I was honestly startled by the question. John is smart and reasonable and he spends a lot of time thinking about theater and theater artists and questions of how theater can remain a lively and important element of the American culture. So when he wondered how I reconciled craft and creativity I had to take it seriously even though the question kind of made my head want to explode. It has always seemed to me that the instigating impulse is something messy and internal and that a playwright’s job is to take that messy internal moment and build it into a stronger and more complex and dynamic version of itself so that it can sustain itself, on a stage, with actors, in the light of day. It’s like being a gardener: You have a seed; you add water and dirt and light, and you have a plant. You have an idea, you add structure, and you have a play. That’s not reconciling a conflict, that’s art."

What a shock! Someone asked her, in 2009, if it's hard to shoehorn those poetic impulses into a structure as old as the hills. Doesn't everyone know what "art" is? To take something messy and human and build a little cage around it, so everyone can get a better look at it! Startled, she was, by such a question. Startled!

Protest coverage

When the left protests the war in Iraq, in the largest anti-war rally in history, we are covered as a bit of unwelcome dissent against a generally unstoppable and popular war. The President at the time, unchallenged, calls it a "focus group."

When right wing insurance company operatives send people to scream at town meetings to try to kill health care reform, they are covered as a groundswell of populist anger against the President's agenda. The President is asked if he made a mistake in allowing for town halls at all. As if the fault lies with the individual who encourages open discussion.

On a different, but related, note...I was actually listening to a podcast from the New York Times political team, and there was a bit of back and forth that started with "Did Obama wait too long to go after health care reform?" (He just passed his 200th day in office, of course.) Then, after that was decided not to be case, they posed a different question: "Did he try to do it too quickly?"

a bit from my new play "The Bull Crime"

Not even a finished play yet, and this scene may or may not wind up in whatever I call a first draft. But I've gotten bored of talking about talking about blogging and thought I'd post a little of what I'm writing lately. This is from the current opening scene. Gene is interviewing for a job at a pharmaceutical company.

HARRIET

What makes you so certain that drugs help people?

GENE

My father.

HARRIET

Was he a chemist?

GENE

No, he was a miserable bastard.

(Pause.)

Pardon my French.

HARRIET

Go on.

GENE

He…well…I prayed at night for the fucker to die, excuse my French. He was the sort of OCD old crazy person that would scream his head off if he came home and everyone else wasn’t upstairs.

HARRIET

I see.

GENE

I don’t usually talk about it. I’m sorry to curse. This isn’t going well.

HARRIET

My father died when I was six years old. He killed himself.

GENE

Oh.

HARRIET

Do you know how I feel about that?

GENE

I wouldn’t presume to…

HARRIET

He was a coward. A god damned coward. I mean, he didn’t even kill himself like a man with a gun. Turned on the car. Went to sleep. A fucking pussy, if you ask me.

(Pause.)

So… your father was depressed?

(Pause.)

GENE

In a way. I think so, yes. He had a weird way of repeating himself that made him seem dangerous. Like every time he said something, the subtext would change from insinuation, to sarcasm, to threat. We were all afraid of him.

HARRIET

Brothers and sisters?

GENE

Me, my foster brother, and the dogs.

HARRIET

You were adopted?

GENE

No, they took in an orphan in order to get a check from the government.

HARRIET

The dirty, swindling government.

GENE

Exactly. But me, and my foster brother and the dogs…we were sure he was going to kill Mom. I think a few times he did try to actually poison her. She would get sick and take to her bed and not move for what felt like weeks. She wouldn’t cry, she just had red crusty eyes. I was sure he was mixing chemicals into her food. But I never called the police. I was terrified. I was sure I was next. My foster brother did, for his part, actually die. So did the oldest dog, Helga. But that was a bus accident, so I was never able to tie her death directly to Dad’s personality disorders.

HARRIET

Correlation and causation and that nonsense.

GENE

Still…our house, my entire life until I left home, and then for years after; everything was surrounded by his miserable nature, his cruelty, his small mindedness.

(Pause.)

Then, a few years before his death, I got the money together to put him into a nursing home. And the nurse gave him a pill. And even though he could never, ever undo years of being a fucking asshole, he seemed, in a day or two, like this different man entirely. He smiled at kids. He became patient. He actually wrote me a letter apologizing for about a third of what he’d done. Which, for him, was like everything.

(Pause.)

That drug made it possible for me to watch him die without completely hating him forever. It is, and was, a miracle. And I want, more than anything, to help other people. However I can. That’s why I believe in drugs. I believe they’re good, and that the people who toil in their creation and marketing are doing good.

Don't you forget about me

John Hughes dies at 59.

Sotomayor is

confirmed by the Senate 68-31!

Quick movie reviews

I've seen a few flicks lately. Thought I'd share some thoughts

The Hurt Locker - This movie was thrilling, harrowing, and by avoiding the overt discussion of politics, actually says something interesting about the war in Iraq, and why human beings put themselves repeated in harms way. Plus, it's just a very well directed action picture. Why this isn't playing on 3000 screens, and being treated like a huge hit, is mystifying. I can't imagine anyone that enjoys, at the very basic level, suspenseful action films not really enjoying this movie. It's being marketed like a little indie feature. It's just not one.

Bruno - Just like everyone else said: I laughed really hard, but not because it was about anything. Bruno, unlike Borat, doesn't really have anything to contribute to the dialogue about homophobia. Bruno is a repugnant stereotype, and doesn't really show how people respond to real gay men and gay women. It just shows how people respond under duress to a strange (sometimes staged) situation.

It honestly is more akin to watching Extreme Sports than social commentary. You laugh because you're watching an shock junkie go for broke.

If there is something from Borat that remains embedded in Bruno, it's just how long most people try, very hard, to be polite and tolerant.

The major flaw, really, is that he often aims his "gotcha" cannon on people who aren't particularly powerful. People who attend TV show tapings. Hunters from Alabama. Hotel attendants. People who are trying to get their kids work. It's not that funny, at the end of the day, to use power to make powerless people seem like fools.

Public Enemies - I don't get the love this picture got in some circles. It's a perfectly acceptable movie in every way, which is why it was disappointing. There's little flourish in it. The love story (where the movie spends most of its time) is unaffecting. Bale and Depp never have that moment of real confrontation that movies like this one need (think the best movies of John Woo for the dynamic I wish I'd seen). There are a few moments I enjoyed, and some well composed action scenes. Beyond that, a minor effort.

Heat, which a lot of people (myself included) love...has an element of almost camp to it. Pacino is so quotable in it because he's just *this* close to being too big. It's what makes the movie...fun. Memorable. Watchable. There's an element of audaciousness in Heat that Public Enemies lacks. The latter tries to be understated, and just feels tuned down.

Moon - Wow. What a great movie. I don't know if it's still out in the theaters, but if you can find it, you really should see it. It takes scenarios that seem so played out, and just keeps making surprising choices with them. Smart, so well acted by Sam Rockwell (Oscar?) and really, really moving

Question

Is there a new play you've read or seen in the last, say, 5 years that has, in it, a hero? Clearly, unequivocally, a heroic leading character?

If so, what was it?

A poll I'd like to see

The number of people polled that actually know exactly what Obama's health care plan is.

I am not a journalist

I've never pretended to be. I'm a playwright who writes a blog. I've been pretty clear and honest with whomever reads this. So, it's not my inclination to respond to Thomas Garvey's post with something like this (at Parabasis). I'll link to it for the interested, though.

Many of the people who would like me to use this space in a way that suits them, for their entertainment or enlightenment or because they want me to be a more vocal advocate on some issue or another, don't have any personal stake in my growth or success as an artist. I do different math about my decisions, because they directly affect me. I earn nothing here. I just do this because I enjoy it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. If you don't, and my hit count drops to zero, that won't get me fired or anything.

I do look for ways to substantively contribute. I do my best. If you'd like a blog that rakes non-profit theaters over hot coals for their sins or takes artists to task for their inadequacies, there's something wonderful you can do: write it yourself.

Things that health care protestors should cry

"We love illness!"

"I love Big Brother!"

"Premiums are high because you make Jesus cry!"

"The president wasn't born in America so I don't want my kids to have medicine!"

"Debt is the new baseball!"

"Only liberals get cancer!"

Theater blogs I'm checking out

A blog about the theater scene in Indianapolis, Indiana.

A blog about the Austin, TX scene.

Running Lines - a theater blog from the Denver Post written by John Moore.

Even Bill Clinton

...looks sad in North Korea.

Have a blog that's not on my blogroll? Let me know!

It occurs to me that there are probably tons of blogs I either don't read, should read, or have simply overlooked. I'm not someone that scans the internet looking for new stuff all the time. I'm not very organized or adventurous in that respect.

But I think there must be a bunch of playwrights, actors, designers and directors out there with blogs that I simply don't know about.

So...if you're reading this, have something theatre-related to say, and you want to be linked to, read, and put on my blogroll, let me know. From anywhere in the country of course.

E-mail me at mattfr - at - gmail.com

For those that loved that whole mercury debacle

Jeremy Piven will be "hosting" pro wrestling tonight.

Interview Feedback

So I've done three nytheatrecasts over the past few months, with Adam Szymkowicz, James Comtois and Mac Rogers. While all three talked a bit about the shows that they were working on, I've endeavored to make sure we discussed subjects related to the work, and had conversations that were, in the limited time, a bit larger in scope that just the plugging of a show.

I'm hoping to do these for a while, and talk to as many writers as I'm able. I've seen that since we did the first one, there have been quite a few other Playwrights in Conversation chats and they're all a lot of fun, and extremely varied in tone.

I'm curious how these are striking people. Love to get some feedback.

Have you listened to them?

What prompted you to hear them (do you subscribe on iTunes? Was it this blog? Did I interview a friend?)

What works and what doesn't?

Any subjects that we brought up that struck a chord with you?

Do you generally listen to the nytheatrecast? Why or why not?

Harder to put out a fire than start one

Apparently, there are a huge number of Americans that don't believe Obama was born in the US. Also, apparently, there are a huge number of Americans that don't believe in evolution or climate change.

This begs the question: if the news, a source of "information," is now on 24 hours a day and seven days a week in a variety of easy to reach platforms such as the internet, mobile devices, oh and newspapers and television...why are people believing things that are patently false? Shouldn't, with the stunning growth of (what once could be unironically called) "information technology," idiotic rumors be more quickly squelched? Not confirmed, debated, stoked and even spread?

Fringe Festival!

Are you involved in a show at the Fringe Festival this year? Are you excited about one?

My comments section is for plugging. Plug your show, or make recommendations! I want you to!

On the other hand

As a counterpoint to this, today I received a thoughtful and kind letter from a theater I greatly admire about one of my plays. While they noted that they couldn't currently produce the play, they clearly had given it a close reading and were complimentary, specific and generous. It took them months to send this letter, and I didn't mind in the least.

A few random thoughts about health care reform

1. I've become a little tired of those that are treating the arcane meanderings of the House and Senate as the faults of the Obama Administration. In truth, his idea that Congress should draft the legislation is correct. That's Congress's role. They have to create a plan, vote on it, hash it out, agree to it. Obama's treatment of Congress is appropriate: it's the behavior of the legislative branch that is so dismal. Obama has expected the representatives and senators to simply live up to their own responsibilities, and he's used his loud microphone to set the agenda and push on deadlines. That's his role.

When Clinton attempted to present the legislature with a fully-formed bill for them to debate and sign, he was attacked for leaving them out of their own process. Now, Obama has opted for an approach more in line with the actual way the government is set up to work. That's not bad leadership. That just means we have a system that's designed to allow for easy obstruction.

2. I believe in the public option and I believe we can't achieve true reform without one. But I also think there are initiatives on the table besides the public option that, if passed, will fundamentally improve health care for everyone. It's easy to focus on the uninsured, and forget that those Americans with insurance, even presumably decent insurance, are still trapped and abused by the system.

One of the awful facts of our current system is that it relies on employer based coverage, which ties good health care to your employment. This means that leaving a job, striking out with a new business, taking risks financially: they all become life or death decisions with possibly catastrophic risks to your finances and your health. If you have insurance (like I do), the control of a for-profit system has made indentured servants of us all. If each person's right is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... isn't this against our core principles? Of course. The public option isn't just to help those without insurance currently get coverage: it's to free those with insurance from the fear of losing it.

Insurers abusive behavior towards those that pay high premiums in good faith should be literally criminalized. To create confusing forms, to seek to deny claims based on technicalities, and to reward the withholding of service for payment rendered is not only hardly a free market service, but is a business practice akin to lying. To sell something, and then not provide it, is fraud. In all the legislation that I've read about, there are provisions that would penalize insurers for this type of behavior. That alone, with no other reform, is a huge step improvement. Simply put, the law must be changed in order to force insurance companies to alter their own behavior. Their excuse is never that what they're doing is right...their excuse is that it is currently legal to deny coverage for any purpose they see fit.

3. The principle of budget neutrality has never applied to making war. Why does it apply to making people healthy?

4. Raising taxes will harm no one. At all. Period. Those advocating against raising taxes on the wealthy are doing so without an ounce of principle. Woody Guthrie would write songs about them if he were alive. Where's our Woody Guthrie these days? Oh yeah, he's probably sponsored by United Healthcare.

5. If the public turns against health care reform due to false advertisements, false claims and an inaccurate media: does that mean their concerns become correct and codified into law? There have been plenty of good and correct things that were publicly unpopular in certain places before they happened. Like getting into World War II. There were many states that, if you polled them with modern methods during the 1950s and 60s, would have been very against the abolition of Jim Crow laws. Should those poll numbers have dictated policy then?

A Million Miles Away reading tonight

I'll be reading a role tonight in Christine Whitley's new play "A Million Miles Away." Come give it a listen.

Blue Coyote Reading Series Presents

A Million Miles Away

A reading of a new play by

Christine Whitley

“The victim never wants it to end…”

Ron and Sissy are desperate pool hustlers, living by their wits on the road. Then
they meet Giles, who may be their chance to move up a notch in the world…

Please join us for a reading of Christine Whitley’s intimate and gripping
portrait of lives enmeshed in dependency, betrayal, and hope.

At: Battery Dance (above the Access Theater)
380 Broadway (two blocks below Canal, between Walker and White Streets),
5th Floor

Thursday, July 30th

8 PM

Admission is free, but seating is limited. Please RSVP at bluecoyote@bluecoyote.org

Another cool nytheatrecast

Crystal Skillman interviews Daniel Talbott. Good stuff!

An adult

...as President? No way.

Me and Mac on the nytheatrecast

The 300th nytheatrecast is a conversation between me and Mr. Mac Rogers. Good chat! You can read about it here, and or download the mp3 directly here.

TDF Shows Off-Off some love

Read about it here.

Dear human beings on Earth

The cop who arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr. should apologize for being an idiot. And the neighbor that called the cops should publicly apologize for being a racist.

Do you know who shouldn't be even ASKED to defend themselves? Gates and the President. Who are simply acting like rational people in the face of all-too-typical bias and abuse of power.

Sometimes, the press just makes me want to puke.

Dear Democrats in Congress

This is pathetic.

Let's all just pretend

I thought I'd share an anecdote from the trenches. This happened, perhaps, two or three months ago.

I do not have an agent. I'm not sure what it takes to get one. I have written pilot scripts, I have been reviewed by the Times favorably, I've been published, I've been produced. Maybe I need to win an award or go to some meeting no one has called me about. Maybe without an MFA from Brown or Columbia, agents figure you're still playing minor league ball.

No sour grapes. One continues forth anyhow. As a practical matter, not having an agent means that there are larger institutions that will not allow you to send unsolicited entire scripts. One must, instead, send a cover letter, 10 page sample, resume, synopsis, a small container of your own urine, and a grainy nude photo. Okay, okay. The last two aren't entirely standard. I've just heard you that if you know anything, you send that stuff too.

More often than not, doing this dance, I get someone who kindly writes that they will read the entire script. This often is a letter that makes me dance around my apartment. Because, really, I know how busy they are. If they don't want to read it, they really don't have to. I take it as a compliment and it makes my heart warm. The idea that they might, you know, actually do something with the full script afterwards isn't even a major concern. You can't expect miracles.

Such is the emotional life of the unagented playwright.

Recently, a breach of etiquette occurred between yours truly and a major theatrical institution in New York City. I won't name them because it's incredibly stupid to pick fights with major theatrical institutions. Let's just call them Theatre I'd Like To F-ck or TILF. (I would put out for them in a major way if they'd just ask me out on a date. They have no idea.)

Anyway, as an unagented playwright, I sent this TILF a cover letter, sample pages, etc for one of my new plays. Their website has the standard caveats that amount to this: "We do not accept unsolicted scripts. Send us stuff and we'll look at it. It will take us 1-3 months to get back to you. Don't get mad if it takes us forever to reject you. We give full consideration to each script."

This TILF is big on its dedication to new work, of course. But we all get it: chances are, your unsolicited script will, after a little consideration, be sent back to you in your SASE with a little frowny face. Everyone gets it. That's fine. Still, one does submit. In the hopes that you're unrepresented excellence will be noticed.

I mailed the TILF my sample materials and a nice letter on February 11th of this year.

On February 13th, I received an e-mail that said this:

Dear Matthew,

Thank you for submitting [NAME OF PLAY REMOVED TO PROTECT MY BABY.] Unfortunately, after careful consideration we have decided not to pursue this project.

Thanks again for your interest in [NAME REMOVED TO PROTECT MY CAREER.]

Signed,

TYLF

Now...

I am not naive. I never truly expected much in the way of 'careful consideration.' But let's be pretty plain: if I mailed the script on the 11th, and it took a day to get there, and I was e-mailed in at 3:30pm the next day... either this TILF had a sudden uptick in efficiency, or some intern found my submission immediately thrown in a rejection pile and got it in his or her mind to knock out some busywork, or there was a sudden and terribly important meeting called about ME alone because they didn't want to waste my time, or there was something about my materials that made them suddenly go "Oh my Lord, No. Tell him No! Quickly! Quickly!"

It doesn't actually matter. It was likely in their office for less than 24 hours before it was put into the pass pile.

We all know this happens. But we pretend it doesn't. We all do this sort of dance of denial. They say that it takes 1-3 months to get back to you. They don't mean that each submission gets its own personal meeting. They mean the stack of paper is very high and getting higher. Don't expect a phone call in the next week, just because you finished a play.

It's just that words like 'careful consideration' should have meaning. And if they don't, they should carry the illusion of meaning. All I ask (this is where my standards are) is that I am allowed to pretend that my submissions are not an empty exercise. I ask literary departments to support my illusion. When I got that e-mail, my first instinct was laughter. Were they serious? Did they really just say "after careful consideration?"

I tell this story not because it's a shock to anyone. We all know that literary departments are outgunned and surrounded and covered in tough choices and are paid less than part-time public school teachers.

I do think, though, that if an institution cannot honestly consider new scripts from unagented writers, it should say so. I think it's time for a little more transparency.

I am certain that, considering the sheer number of scripts that likely pass over this TILFs various desks, they're basically unaware that this happened at all. That's perfectly fair. Heck, they might get it right 90% of the time. But I suspect there is a real part of being in a literary department that's just about the paper shredder. I mean, it's a tough job, reading plays. But it's not supposed to be waste management and disposal.

It is not actually news

...that is it stupid to arrest Henry Louis Gates, Jr in his own home, for no reason. That's a fact. Only on CNN and Fox News is there an open question here. "Is it stupid?" "Were the police racist?" Yes. Yes. Period.

And it is not news that there is still massive racism in America.

Now could we please talk about health care reform?

Fixing New York Theater #5

I'll bite.

David Cote writes in the July 23-29 2009 issue of Time Out New York, in an article called Fixing New York theater:

"5. Bloggers: Engage/Enrage
This item will generate noise (and that's the point): I wish bloggers would mix it up more. Does it take a Rachel Corrie fiasco to generate heat. The theater blogosphere has been dull, insular and quiet lately. We need more arguments, more dirt, more bloody know-down-drag-out fights. Not just self-promotion, obscure manifestos and production diaries. And here's hoping for a new breed of long-form critics worth reading."

First of all, I've had this blog since January of 2005. That's four and a half years of writing in this space. It took me less time to get a BFA. I don't feel particularly guilty about having quiet patches or using this space for self-promotion. Between actually pursuing my career as a playwright, working a full-time job as an Assistant Director in a cubicle 40 plus hours a week, and trying to have a life, the blog sometimes is not my top priority. Sue me. I am not a citizen journalist. When I have nothing in particular to say, or nothing of merit to add to a conversation, I don't see why I should make shit up. It won't fix New York theater, that's for sure.

So...has that blogosphere been dull lately? I'd give that a big yes. Scott Walters has gotten a grant and left his New York bashing ways behind, although we did give each other a pair of parting middle fingers before stopped writing Theatre Ideas. George Hunka, who is a gracious guy, has sort of agreed to disagree with a lot of the more network-y-NY blogosphere. David Cote got into a blog argument with Terry Teachout, briefly. And there was this little dust-up about Emily Glassberg Sands, but it didn't exactly set my site meter on fire. There's little news in 2009 that there is sexism. It sounds like an old story, told again, by younger people who think they just discovered it.

Is the NY blogosphere insular? Yes. It is. I wish it weren't so. I am probably part of the problem. Perhaps I should make friends with new bloggers?

I would also add that I use this space for self-promotion because it is, essentially, a very good way to use this blog. If I have a show coming up, I want you to come and see it. I want you, whomever reads this, to see one of my plays a lot more than I want to tell you what I think of the later works of Shaw.

I'm not a journalist. I think Playgoer covers that very well. And I've publicly stated my tendancy to tread lightly in this public space as I make my way as a playwright. Not use burning bridges that you plan on crossing, so to speak.

I agree we need to see more bloggers whose goal is to be citizen journalists of the New York Theater scene, and I would love them to have independent, punchy voices. I also would love to get stirred up by something fun. Mostly, when the spirit moves me, I tend to lean more on a few jokes. Perhaps, at some point, I'll write some more jokes.

I do take David's point, though. If I expect you to read this, I should give you a reason to read. So, I'll make you all a deal. If I occasionally appear to be mildly distracted or just linking to Talking Points Memo too much, give me a minute. I'll think of something. You give me the benefit of the doubt, and I promise, I'll bother to think of something.

If you act like a jilted lover, I swear to Christ, I'll just start linking to the pro wrestling websites I read. See if I don't, bitches. See if I don't. You won't be so happy then will you.

Wait a second. In an odd moment of synchronicity, it appears Jeremy Piven will be hosting an episode of WWE Raw.

No, I'm not fucking joking.

Perhaps he will hit John Cena over the head with a thermometer.

A bit about the playscripts market

I'm published in a few places, but Playscripts.com has a very nice interface for playwrights to see how often their excerpts have been hit and read, and keeps track of sales on a regular basis. Many more traditional companies provide you with a regular statement.

On Playscripts.com, I have one play published: The Death of King Arthur. That play has been lightly noticed there, and has sold not terribly many copies since it's original publication date in August of 2006. I like to imagine that it's lack of sales is due to the fact that it has a cast of between 14 to 25 and is relatively tough to stage. That's something I'd rather believe than people read the excerpt and don't really like it. Denial is a writer's friend.

But there's definitely something interesting I see, at least in some small way, on my information page.

I have monologues into two anthologies through Playscripts: Actor's Choice: Monologues for Men and Actor's Choice: Monologues for Teens.

Between those two books, the teen edition's excerpts have been viewed almost five times more often than the men's monologue books, and it has sold nearly double the number of copies.

That's not a small difference.

Which is not to say that even the more popular one would be on the bestseller list of any other market. It's simply the largest part of a very small market.

What might that say? That teens use the internet to look for material much more frequently than adults. That's obvious. But also that the primary market (at least for Playscripts) is high schools, without a doubt. That's where the money is, that's where the interest is, that's who is looking at the website. Probably 80% of those ordering, according to my interface, are high schools.

This is the problem with a value system based on what the market wants. If playwrights were run by the principles of Adam Smith and supply and demand, it would weed out all work written for anyone over 18. As it is, the market discourages adult work written for adults as anything other than a labor of love.

Health Care Reform in Trouble?

Well at least that's what's making the news.

In fact, there's been significant progress. Can I say that the support from the AMA is a coup? They're a totally overblown lobby (less than a third of doctor's are members) but they still command the public attention. Or at least, they did when they helped kill the Clinton bill. They were opposed to Obama's plan, and now they're on board. What was reported more? The opposition of course.

(I used to temp for the AMA in Chicago, by the way. And later, I had a job working for the same guy that sued the shit out of them for the Sunshine debacle. Google it. None of that deepens my understanding of the issues: it's just trivia.)

Just drafted and re-drafted Bluebeard

A couple of weeks ago, I did an in-house reading of my new play Bluebeard. I've been working on this for a while, as many who read the blog know, and I've continued to chop it up, refine it, and rethink it. The reading was fantastic, directed by my pal David DelGrosso and featuring a cast of very game, terrific actors.

What's fun for me is that this play is absolutely unlike plays I've written before (if you liked Glee Club, this isn't even sort of like that play) and the subject matter of the tale itself is elusive. I love elusive stories, things that feel true even if you can't quite say why. It does make for a script that has slipped through my fingers at times, but the more I've embraced that, the slipperiness of the story itself, the happier I am with the play. It did have some of the repetition stuff I've been working with in In The Great Expanse of Space there is nothing to see but More, More, More, but I've pulled it back a bit in the recent draft.

I'll keep you posted on where this play winds up. I hope to find it a happy home soon.

If you didn't read about this

File it in the So much for post-racial America file.

Vanity Fair offers to help

Thanks for the link Daily Dish.

Read this.

This is hilarious

Sometimes David Brooks is even more insane than usual.

"That leaves matters in the hands of the Blue Dog Democrats. These brave moderates are trying to restrain the fiscal explosion. But moderates inherently lack seniority (they are from swing districts). They are usually bought off by leadership at the end of the day."

Funny how the very conservative Democrats who are gumming up the works and thus turning a clear majority into a mess of compromise are, according to Brooks, brave on healthcare.

First of all, Obama's approval ratings are still well north of 55% personally, and as he becomes the prime messenger of the Health Care Message, it will gain approval. It's humiliating that congressional Democrats are allowing the press to cover Michael Steele and Mitch McConnell as if they're anything but minority lightweights and comedians, but apparently Obama is the only Democrat the press will give a microphone these days.

Most people won't admit this, but they don't actually give a damn what health care costs. We need health care reform. It often amazes me how Senators and Congresspersons hold the line on costs when the question is whether or not people can go to the hospital, but will vote to approve money for as many guns as they possibly can. Any question of higher deficits from Republicans and even Blue Dog Democrats who voted in favor of our two major wars, and voted for the Bush tax cuts, are hollow and should be treated as such. When the health care industry is lining their pockets, they become fiscal conservatives.

Suffice to say, what I suspect worries the American people isn't the technical details of the bill or the costs. It's that Democrats can't control a debate when they have the Presidency and majorities in both Houses of Congress. I would bet any money that those people who don't approve of the handling of the health care bills aren't upset that the bills might pass. They're upset that they might not.

New York Innovative Theatre Awards Nominees for 2009

Last night I attended the nominee announcement party for the NYIT Awards. This is their 5th year, and the first time I'd personally attended. If you read this blog regularly, you know I've been asked to write the award show this year, and after last night, I'm especially happy to do so.

The sense of not only community but organization in the Off-Off Broadway or Indie Theatre world has grown significantly since I arrived here in 1999. The efforts of organizations like the New York Theatre Experience, the NYIT Foundation, and the League of Independent Theater (to name a few) are having a cumulative and unmistakable impact.

Here are this year's nominees:

Outstanding Full-Length Script
Johnna Adams, Angel Eaters (Flux Theatre Ensemble)
Derek Ahonen, Amerissiah (The Amoralists Theatre Company)
James Carmichael, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Babel Theatre Project)
Nat Cassidy, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (Gallery Players/Engine37)
Kate McGovern, Blue Before Morning (terraNOVA Collective)
Mac Rogers, Universal Robots (Manhattan Theatre Source/Dark Brew Productions)

Outstanding Original Short Script
Martin Dockery, The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Ira Gamerman, Dated: A Cautionary Tale for Facebook Users (Elephants on Parade 2009, EBE Ensemble)
Jeff Grow, Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Kristen Kosmas, The Scandal! (The Management)
Kitt Lavoie, [Pwnd] (Rising Sun Performance Company)
Nico Vreeland, The Interview (Elephants on Parade 2009, EBE Ensemble)

Outstanding Performance Art Production
Cirque du Quoi?!? (Human Flight Productions, Inc. & Gramily Entertainment)
Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Miss America (LaMaMa ETC in association with Split Britches)
Dracula (Radiotheatre)
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (New York Neo-Futurists)
Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)

Outstanding Production of a Musical
Coming, Aphrodite! (LaMaMa ETC in association with Watson Arts)
Like You Like It (The Gallery Players)
Ragtime (Astoria Performing Arts Center)
The 103rd Annual Performance of Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse, Presented by Murgatroyd's Hospital for Mental Rehabilitation, Ruddy Gore Maine (Theater 1010)
The Apple Sisters (The Apple Sisters)
The Who's Tommy (The Gallery Players)

Outstanding Production of a Play
Blue Before Morning (terraNOVA Collective)
Lee/gendary (HERE Arts Center)
Still the River Runs (Zootopia Theatre Company)
Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Babel Theatre Project)
Suspicious Package: an interactive noir (The Fifth Wall)
The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (Gallery Players/Engine37)
Universal Robots (Manhattan Theatre Source/Dark Brew Productions)

Outstanding Solo Performance
Martin Dockery, The Surprise (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Leigh Evans, Traces (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Jeff Grow, Creating Illusion (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Abena Koomson, Cozi Sa Wala: Magic Words (soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Micia Mosely, Where My Girls At? (Nursha/soloNOVA Arts Festival)
Una Aya Osato, Recess (FRIGID Festival)

Outstanding Director
Geordie Broadwater, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Nat Cassidy, Any Day Now
Gia Forakis, Blue Before Morning
Vit Horejs, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Matthew J. Nichols, Still the River Runs
Suzi Takahashi, Lee/gendary

Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role
William Apps IV, Amerissiah
Nicoye Banks, The High Priestess of Dark Alley
Roy Clary, McReele
Clint Morris, Like You Like It
Jeffrey Plunkett, All the Rage
Chris Thorn, Most Damaging Wound

Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role
Ivanna Cullinan, The Granduncle Quadrilogy: Tales from the Land of Ice
Brynn Curry, Like You Like It
Phyllis Johnson, Blue Before Morning
Maura McNamara, The Real Thing
Constance Parng, Lee/gendary
Aura Vence, The High Priestess of Dark Alley

Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role
Julian Elfer, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Jaron Farnham, Still the River Runs
Steve French, Still the River Runs
Jason Howard, Universal Robots
David Ian Lee, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots
August Schulenburg, 8 Little Antichrists

Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role
Katrina Foy Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Soomi Kim, Lee/gendary
Jan Maxwell, Scenes from an Execution
Nedra McClyde, Miss Evers' Boys
Kate Middleton, Avow
Elyse Mirto, Any Day Now

Outstanding Ensemble
(Not) Just A Day Like Any Other (Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, Kevin R. Free & Eevin Hartsough)
Blue Before Morning (Kether Donohue, Phyllis Johnson, Jenny Maguire, Chris McKinney, Flaco Navaja & Jennifer Dorr White)
Most Damaging Wound (Bard Goodrich, Ken Matthews, Megan McQuillan, Michael Solomon, Michael Szeles & Chris Thorn)
Oph3lia (Laura Butler, Drae Campbell, Dawn Eshelman, Connie Hall, Ikuko Ikari, Hana Kalinski, Eunjee Lee, Mark Lindberg, Alanna Medlock, Jy Murphy, Jorge Alberto Rubio, Maureen Sebastian & Magin Shantz)
Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out) (Geraldine Bartlett, Brian D. Coats, Katrina Foy, William Jackson Harper, Khris Lewin, Carolyn McCandlish, Joe Mullen, Frank Rodriguez, Christopher Rubin, Jeremy Schwartz, Joe Sullivan & Andrew Zimmerman)
Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (Joe Basile, Jill Beckman, Christopher Borg, Jeffrey Cranor, Cara Francis, Kevin R. Free, Ryan Good, Alicia Harding, Eevin Hartsough, Sarah Levy, Erica Livingston, Jacquelyn Landgraf, Rob Neill, Lauren Parish, Joey Rizzolo & Justin Tolley)
Universal Robots (Esther Barlow, Jennifer Gordon Thomas, Jason Howard, David Lamberton, David Ian Lee, Michelle O'Connor, Ridley Parson, Nancy Sirianni, Tarantino Smith & Ben Sulzbach)

Outstanding Original Music
Drew Cutler, Still the River Runs
Mark Ettinger and Paul Foglino, Coming, Aphrodite!
Kimmy Gatewood, Andy Hertz, Rebekka Johnson, Sarah Lowe and Jeff Solomon, The Apple Sisters
Gerard Keenan, Angel Eaters
Dave Malloy, Beowulf - A Thousand Years Of Baggage
Nick Moore, 23 Knives

Outstanding Choreography/Movement
Keith Andrews, Like You Like It
Edward Elefterion, Shadow of Himself
Leigh Evans, Traces
Soomi Kim and Airon Armstrong, Lee/gendary
Austin McCormick, The Judgment of Paris
Stefanie Smith, The Selfish Giant

Outstanding Costume Design
Michelle Beshaw, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Emily Morgan DeAngelis, Angel Eaters
Olivera Gajic, The Judgment of Paris
Hunter Kaczorowski, Like You Like It
Becky Lasky, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Karen Ann Ledger, Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Outstanding Lighting Design
Lucrecia Briceno, Lee/gendary
Ian W. Hill, The Granduncle Quadrilogy: Tales from the Land of Ice
Andrew Lu, Still the River Runs
Jennifer Rathbone, Angel Eaters
Federico Restrepo, The Very Sad Story of Ethel & Julius, Lovers and Spyes and about Their Untymelie End while Sitting in a Small Room at the Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.
Bruce Steinberg, Blue Before Mornin

Outstanding Sound Design
Dan Bianchi, Dracula
Katie Down, Blue Before Morning
Austin McCormick, The Judgment of Paris
Nick Moore, 23 Knives
Chris Rummel, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Asa Wember, Angel Eaters

Outstanding Set Design
George Allison, Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Jim Boutin, Coming, Aphrodite!
Tristan Jeffers, Stomp and Shout (an' Work it All Out)
Michael P. Kramer, Ragtime
Caleb Levengood, Angel Eaters
Blair Mielnik, To Barcelona!

This weekend

I'll be interviewing Mac Rogers for a new nytheatrecast. We'll be talking about his body of work, including and especially his upcoming new play Viral at the NY International Fringe Festival.

My last two interviews, with Adam Szymkowicz and James Comtois, proved popular and fun. It looks like the next three podcasts upcoming are also Playwrights in Conversation pieces. I feel like a trendsetter! But there is no host of the Playwrights in Conversation series that can match my panache!

Either way, when the new podcast is up, you will be the first to know.

The littlest Vampire Cowboy

Congratulations Qui and Abby. Welcome Marcus Samuel Huy Nguyen!

Too fucked up not to blog about

Didn't someone at Amazon think "Wow, this will look really bad."

Ben Nelson hates to make people well

He is also a DINO. Democrat in Name Only. Everyone knows that to slow the pace of Health Care Reform is code for "Give Lobbyists More Time To Fight It."

All of these people, for some reason, would rather sit in a committees (and let the industry once again hijack the debate) than see substantive reform. And there will be no such reform if it isn't passed before re-election campaigns ramp up. Period. It says a lot that all the members who are asking for a slow down are well-known to be sympathetic to conservatives more often than not.

The truth is, the cost is secondary to the existence of the plan. Once the plan is in place, then you can tinker with cost reductions. But you can't get rid of it. That's the whole point. Medicare is now a fact. Don't like it? Tinker with it? Try to eliminate it and see if you get elected.

We need this plan. It's time.

Of course, there's the easy way to pay for it: let those wealthy enough to buy private insurance pay slightly higher taxes. The only place that is controversial is in the beltway. To most Americans, its common sense.

This is not a debate about cost, by the way. I'm tired of hearing it framed that way. It's about making sure that everyone can get medicine and be treated for their sickness and live healthy lives.

Did you know?

That Infectious Opportunity has two more performances coming up? And that you should take advantage of that fact?