Tickets now on sale for in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More

Tickets are now available for the three-night workshop production of in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More. Pick 'em up here.

What are your playwrighting best practices?

So asks Marisela Trevino Orta on 2AMt. 

#1 (The Han Solo Rule) - Ignore the odds.
#2 - Persist.

The Wicked Stage

Has some wicked thoughtful posts lately. Check it.

Weekly Updates? Perhaps!

I think I might try to formalize a "What's Up With Me" update on the blog weekly. Not sure if it would help anyone but me, but whatever. It's my blog.

- I've written and directed in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More. It's a three night workshop, at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Details on the Brick website. $10 tickets only. Come out and see it.

- My play The Metaphor will be included in an upcoming Smith & Kraus anthology Best Ten Minute Plays 2012.

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Where To Buy My Plays

When Is A Clock
Glee Club
The Americans (Kindle) (Nook) (IndieTheaterNow)
The Death of King Arthur
Trayf
The Great Escape (IndieTheaterNow)
The Most Wonderful Love (IndieTheaterNow)

Ah the French!

Having dinner and drinks with my buddy Dave last night, he reminded me that this is perhaps the finest of all YouTube videos, and one of the reasons the internet is a wonderful thing.

Change the world!

In your own way.

Signature Theater announces it will stage new works by five resident playwrights

The Signature Theater Initiative will develop and stage new works by these writers, to help them establish themselves...

Annie Baker, Kenneth Lonergan, Katori Hall, Regina Taylor, and Will Eno.

Ahem. Let me rephrase. The Signature Theater will pay for and produce plays written by the successful and terrific playwrights known as...

Annie Baker, Kenneth Longergan, Katori Hall, Regina Taylor and Will Eno.

Congratulations to the winners of the NYIT Awards 2011

A lovely evening, highlighted by some really charming and impressive presenters.

The Onion on poetry

The Onion in its fullest "blow your brains out this is so sad and funny" mode.

Access Theater

The Time Out NY description of the Access Theater makes me feel all legit and stuff.

NYIT Awards

Tonight is the 2011 NYIT Awards. I have never been nominated for one of these awards, because of, I believe, I have strange and scaly wings. It makes me repulsive and unpopular.

I did, though, write the presenter's text. So if Jay O. Sanders or David Henry Hwang says something stupid, it's really on me.

in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More

Where: The Brick
When: September 29th, 30th and October 1st
What: A staged workshop of this new play

Written and directed by Matthew Freeman
Music by Benjamin Warfield

Featuring Lindsey Carter, Maggie Cino, Stephanie Cox-Williams, Rebecca Davis, Alexis Sottile, Stephanie Willing, and Morgan Anne Zipf

Attackwatch

Pretty cool.

An interesting conversation evolving about theater blogs

Naval gazing? Sure. But isn't that fun? Read George Hunka's post here and also some thoughts about the evolving place of theater blogs in the comments section here.

This blog has been around for about six years. As I'm late to the Twitter world, I entirely missed how the conversation evolved into being centralized about #2amt and other more institutional conversations (heck, I'm not even on the www.2amtheatre.com blogroll!).

So...do you think blogs like this one (single playwrights or artists speaking for themselves) is a mere precursor to the wider conversation that's going on as a part of social networking? Are blogs being supplanted, or supplemented, or simply co-opted? Has the novelty worn off? Or do you just figure it blogs are just a part of the world now, and they're fun, and that's that?

This man is a true hero

How do you read this blog

I'm curious. How do you read this blog? Do you click through a link on Twitter? On Facebook? Do you use Google Reader? Do you actually go to the matthewfreeman.blogspot.com webpage?

Buy this book!

When you're clicking around on Amazon.com today, thinking about buying that book about locally sourced organic mushrooms that you can grow on the moist face of a recently weeping child...buy a copy of When Is A Clock.

10 years

It's early evening on Sunday, September 11th, 2011. Ten years later. I've struggled to say something, but it hasn't felt right. I can't believe it's been ten years. I was in the city that day. I don't have much to contribute to the dialogue. That's about it.

I will only say that I have found it strange and perpetually challenging to share what was a profoundly local event with the nation and with national politics.

"9/11" and what happened in New York City on September 11th, 2001 are not, in fact, the same thing.

One is an idea, shorthand, a stand-in for a thousand fears and policies, for conjecture and  projection.

The other is a time, a date, that something terrible happened downtown. I remember the date, and how I felt, and who I talked to, and who I was with. That belongs only to me. I remember when New York City felt like. That belongs to us.

From Brandywine Distillery Fire

As I'm a playwright, and this is my blog, it's sometimes fun to just share some of my writing with you guys. Some text from "Brandywine Distillery Fire."

Politics?

I realize this blog is called "On Theatre and Politics" and I've barely written substantively about politics in a very long time. Part of that is that it was just easier under Bush, as his presidency was a constant source of outrage. It's tougher under Obama. Partially, to be honest, because I've gotten more disappointed in my compatriots on the left than in Obama himself. I get bored and tired of listening to progressives essentially throw up their arms over and over again. What is so shocking? He ran as a moderate, and he's attempted to govern like one. If he's been less bold on some issues, and even been unable to make changes in places I wish he would, that's just how politics works. But in the end, I think he is an intelligent human being who is attempting to get the best results for the American people considering the political realities of the moment. 

I like that he resists (sometimes to a fault) the impulse to fight fire with fire. The GOP's tone is not something I'd like to see matched. I'd like to see it be treated as inexcusable.

That being said, I'd like to throw out this one thought. There are a few media mantras that often drive me up the wall. One of those is that an "election is a referendum on the incumbent." The idea here is that the American people do not actually care who the President is running against, they're voting, basically, almost entirely to send a message about whether or not they believe the current officeholder is doing well. They've vote against him, the idea is, if the economy is bad, and for him if it isn't, case closed.


Of course, the truth is Obama is no more or less the "incumbent" than are his Republican counterweights. No matter how the House Republicans cast themselves as in favor of less government, it's clear that by setting the agenda and appearing as a bunch of older white men on the evening news in bulk...that they are the government. The face of exactly what exasperates the American people. If any Republican candidate stands beside them, I can't imagine he or she won't be treated as an "incumbent" in the eyes of the American people, if by incumbent what we really mean is "who we believe is currently managing things."

LATFH

I love this goddamn website, even if it is sooooo last year.

Monologues Tailored For You

I was poking around online, found Bekah Brunstetter's blog (which is primarily fun and personal) and also found this.She'll write you a personalized monologue for a small fee.

Now, this seems like something a lot of actors would be interested in, and also something other playwrights should be considering. How many bookfuls of short plays have been sold to actors as "Those auditions pieces you haven't heard or tried yet!" Why not just go straight to the source?

Anyway, thought it was worth a link. What do you think? Sounds like a great idea? Or no?

Notes added to "The Americans"

For those interested, I've added personal notes about the text of The Americans to its page on the Indie Theater Now site. Enjoy.

New plays available - The Great Escape and The Most Wonderful Love

Two of my plays, The Great Escape and The Most Wonderful Love, are now available as a part of the Indie Theater Now digital library. These plays, first produced in 2004 and 2006 respectively are two that I've always been extremely proud of, and they were well-received during their original runs. The New York Times was especially effusive about The Most Wonderful Love. From the review:

James Comtois: "Full Stop"

It's really not my place to tell the story, so I recommend you hear the most recent true-life tale from playwright James Comtois himself. Most of you that follow the theatrical blogsphere have read his posts, read his plays, seen his plays, and gotten to know him and his company Nosedive. I'm glad he's okay, but yeah, everyone take care of yourselves.

Read about it here. Leave him good thoughts.

Directing one's own work

Tonight begins rehearsals for the workshop of in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More. I'm directing myself, which I'm excited about, but it's also a position I usually sidestep. I've consistently with directors and partners for years, mostly because it's incredibly helpful, and also because I'm wary of directing one's own work on principle. The lack of perspective is, by it's nature, a hindrance. Perhaps. Maybe familiarity is a good thing in this case.


Any advice from experienced directors or playwright-directors out there?

Incubator Arts Project's blog goes live

The Incubator Arts Project (who played host to Brandywine Distillery Fire last year) have launched a blog. Looking forward to reading it diligently! Add to your readers/feeds etc!

9/11 Collection on Indie Theater Now featuring The Americans

Indie Theater Now is a website which allows theater lovers access to the best plays of the New York City Indie Theater scene over the past decade or so. It launched just last month, and now has expanded with the 9/11 Collection, a collection of plays written on that theme, to commemorate the 10 year anniversary.

You can check out the entire collection here. Among the playwrights represented are Julia Lee Barclay, Leslie Bramm, Richard Hinojosa, Kelly McAllister. It also includes my play The Americans.

I'd love to know if you're using Indie Theater Now, and how it's working for you. If not, why not?

next up: a workshop at the Brick Theater

Those lovely guys at The Brick have given me some time in their house to workshop a new script. The play (which I've mentioned in this space before) is called in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More. Much like Exposition or Denouement two years ago, this production will have a three night performance schedule, September 29th, 30th and October 1st.

The cast is a terrific group of actors: Lindsey Carter, Maggie Cino, Stephanie Cox-Williams, Rebecca Davis, Alexis Sottile, Stephanie Willing and Morgan Anne Zipf.

Also, I will be directing the project myself! Shudder!

More details to come. The piece is extremely musical and architectural; I certainly look forward to hearing responses.

Cookie Monster is Tom Waits

Yeah, I'm the last person to link to this. Whatever. It's the best thing ever ever ever made and it might as well justify the internet by itself.

On Wasserstein's Secrecy

I think you'll enjoy this essay in the Sunday Times about the secrecy of Wendy Wasserstein. Yes, you.

Oh hey there

Adding Southern California Theater Times to the blogroll.

On "Silent New York"

Marshall Warfield writes about participating in Silent New York.

Mike Daisey announces 24 hour monologue

So...is this brave? Brilliant? Has he lost it? Is it a wait and must-see? Speak on't, blogosphere.

Me, personally, I'm all for it. There will be meals. It's something new under the sun, and may God bless the new. I also love when performers mess with what our idea of the "right amount of time" is. Plays have gotten shorter and shorter. 90 minutes. 65 minutes. As if to say "don't mind us, we're not here to bother you." This is quite the middle-finger to that impulse.

His announcement below...

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ALL THE HOURS
IN THE DAY

Created and Performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory

Saturday, September 17th at 6pm until
Sunday, September 18th at 6pm

Tickets and details:
http://tinyurl.com/3phhssn

For years Mike Daisey has been working on an insane project: a live, 24-hour monologue on the scale of War and Peace and The Iliad. Unbelievably, this dream will at last be realized as the finale of this year's T:BA Festival. Conceived as an epic story that shatters the framework of the theater, All the Hours in the Day spans the globe, weaving together stories from every time zone into an electric road movie for our time. In this marathon event, Daisey uses his skills in the largest story of his life, melding fact and fiction, and subverting and delighting audiences in an effort to find the still-beating heart of humanity here at the dawn of our corporate age. Combining song, dioramas, pageantry, surprise guests, unexpected developments, devastating reversals, and the keen possibility of failure, Daisey will strive like Scheherazade to create a universe with a daring and fearless audience. Join us in an impossible pursuit.

Called "the master storyteller- one of the finest solo performers of his generation" by The New York Times, Mike Daisey is the preeminent master of the monologue form today. He is also an author, playwright, citizen, raconteur, professional dilettante, and working artist.

Audiences are encouraged to stay for the entire performance. There will be regularly scheduled meal breaks with food and drink available for purchase on site for the duration of the performance. Outside food and beverage are permitted (excluding alcohol). Do not worry. We will take care of you. It will be an adventure.

"What distinguishes him from most solo performers is how elegantly he blends personal stories, historical digressions and philosophical ruminations. He has the curiosity of a highly literate dilettante and a preoccupation with alternative histories, secrets large and small, and the fuzzy line where truth and fiction blur." - The New York Times

* * *

Jerusalem

Pam and I took in Jerusalem on Saturday, which is absolutely brilliant (no news there). So many of the recommendations to see the show were based on the performance of Mark Rylance, who is of course phenomenal - brutal, precise, mythic, untrustworthy, tragic, bold.

What I was unprepared for, perhaps because the performances were so highlighted to me, is just how wonderful the play is. Jez Butterworth's play made me joyfully envious at every turn. It's positively abundant with terrific writing, rich symbols, and guts. I mean hell, the play combines Falstaff and Oberon and Lear in the form of a man who has all the cocaine in the forest. I enjoyed, also, how it's jagged, inexplicable edges become a part of what's exhilarating. It's not symmetrical, not careful, and it's built more on momentum and heartiness than being user-friendly.

In short: I loved it. Go see it while you still can. And thank an English tax payer, next time you meet one.

Writing plays that use your family and friends

As characters, templates, fodder. Have you? Would you?

HotelMotel

Jason Zinoman does quite right by the Amoralists in this review. Not only announcing Sarah Lemp to the world, but also calling out those that disapprove about the company's signature style.

"Mr. Ahonen, the Amoralists’ leader, who also directs, has a showman’s sensibility. Some critics take issue with his knock-about melodramatic flourishes, but grumbling about the shouting in his shows is like going to a musical and complaining that the actors broke into song. Like it or not, that’s his style. Even at their most over the top, Mr. Ahonen’s plays are notably earnest, especially in this work, which ponders a subject that resists ironic distance: sex. "

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity on IWantWrestling.com

Boy is this totally awesome. Go Lagana and go Kristoffer Diaz. See? Theater and wrestling come together and form AwesomeVoltron.

Is it okay to boo, too?

Since we've decided that the indefensible is now debatable ("Do we torture?" "Do we not pay our bills if we're the US government?" "Is it okay to audibly show live human actors we don't like them in public?" "Is Roe v. Wade settled law?") I think we should open up all sorts of other questions to debate. Why should anything be settled in a world of free speech? Let's not take anything for granted. I offer up these questions for your future blog posts or filler pieces...

Is it okay to punch someone if they are not killed by the punch?

Is it okay to go see a movie you didn't like, for a second time?

Is it okay to raise children to be assholes, even if it wasn't on purpose?

Is it okay to stand up and start giving lines to a play you have memorized, from the audience, just to help out?

Is it okay to buy DVDs even if you have On Demand?

When you watch a play, is it okay to walk out in a huff, and then come back and say "I'm walking out!" and then walk out again, just to make sure no one thought you were just going to take a call or something?

Is it okay to stand up and clap as if a play is over when it's really obviously not over?

Will it offend an actor if he or she is slapped while eating?

If a playwright is present at a rehearsal, may he or she be used in status games, to illustration "low status?"

Should a person announce how they intend to use the toilet exactly, loudly, at dinner?

Should a person be allowed to have only one wife? Is that enough wives?

Is it totally okay to really hate yourself if you also hate your pet?

When a person breaks his arm, shouldn't his other arm be broken, in the interest of fairness?

Is it okay to buy a ticket, sit down, watch a play, go home, go to bed, and the next day, forget all about it?

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Have fun!

Is it okay to boo?

Isaac talks about this, as it's been discussed all over the place for some reason.

Is it just a slow summer?

No, it's not okay to boo. It's just bad manners. Does that need more explanation? Perhaps an online survey?

Introducing Indie Theater Now

Martin and Rochelle Denton have taken yet another fantastic step forward in sharing the work of New York City's Off-Off Broadway (or "Indie") scene with the broadest possible audience. It's a truly exciting and innovative offering.

Indie Theater Now

Indie Theater Now is a website that offers readers to sample and enjoy the full range of the drama being produced in New York City at the vibrant smaller stages all over the city. A range of playwrights are offered. Many of them have multiple works available, some for the first time. The collection includes production photos, playwright bios, a review from nytheatre.com, an excerpt of the script, and a synopsis.

In order to take advantage of the service, you must create an account. Then, you can add a play to your digital "library" for $1.29. If you'd like to add multiple plays to your online library, you can purchase at a bulk rate of 5, 10, or 25 plays (which is now discounted as an introductory offer).

In order to roll out the large number of works, they will be bundled into collections. The first of which is the timely FringeNYC Collection.

Plays can be sorted by genre, in this handy keyword list.

All in all, a remarkable offering and a great price.

Several things to love about this.

First of all, the playwrights will receive a percentage of all sales, much like other publishing houses might offer. Instead of this being simply a nice way to promote their works, they're being treated like the professionals that they are.

Second of all, it protects the playwrights digitally. These works are digitally locked and formatted, so illegal copying will be difficult at the very least.

Third, there are many plays here that cannot be found elsewhere. (My plays The Great Escape and The Most Wonderful Love, for example, were both critical successes and audience favorites, but have never been elsewhere. I'm excited that they'll soon be available in this way.)

Finally, it's a wonderful new model/smart hybrid. It's curated to be a more user friendly-experience than a database, it's digital, it offers royalties, it highlights exciting but perhaps relatively unknown works, and it moves the capture and celebration of the Off-Off scene into (yes) the 21st Century. I'm extremely proud to be a part of it, and I hope you'll use it, discuss it, and support it.

The miserable Fringe coverage

So what is there to make of the onslaught of coverage of the NY International Fringe Festival, that makes it sound like the worst way possible to spend your time? Try as we might to make light of it, the truth is, it's a rather brutal and consistent blow to the ethos of "Indie Theater." Like it or not, to many people, the Fringe Festival characterizes Indie Theater and Off-Off Broadway theater, summarizes it, and apparently, they don't love what they see.

There are definitely some great shows every year at the Fringe (I'm going to put up a post of recommendations soon). Then again, small theater loves to complain that it's unfairly characterized, even as individuals experiences seem to add up to "unsatisfactory" again and again. The brand of Off-Off Broadway has become one that's increasingly synonymous with an "aw shucks" "shoe-string budget" attitude that's about disposable gimmicks (Lisa Loeb: The Musical Tragedy!), wannabees for other mediums; or just plain mediocre writing and production values.

So...what can be done? Clearly, the quality control level of the Fringe, unfairly or no, is being called into question. There simply seems to be no desire to pull back on the number of shows, or rethink the model, even as the press treats it like the bastard step-child of NYC and other festivals (notably what's going on at the Brick) seem to have usurped their sense of being unique and thrilling.

What do you think of the NY International Fringe Festival? Are you excited about it every year? Or do you think something needs to change? I realize, honestly, that part of the Fringe model is its sheer size and that's what keeps it happening year in and year out. So I'm not suggesting they have to burn the thing down and start over. The coverage just seems to prevalent to ignore this time. What to do?

Double Edge Promotional Video

Love this promo video for Double Edge Theatre. It does a terrific job of establishing the look and feel of the company, branding the theatre, differentiating it, and celebrating it. Take notes.

2011 IT Awards Nominations Announced

2011 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominees were announced last night. Read the full list here.

Glee Club on sale through Playscripts

An excerpt from GLEE CLUB, available from Playscripts.

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BEN. We’re the worst people on Earth.

MARK. You are. And the rest of you. I’m a bad father, but I don’t try to kill people.

STAN. I didn’t do anything.

MARK. You don’t factor in, Stan. But everyone else just proved they deserve hell.

(Pause.)

PAUL. Let me just say…this reminds me of when I was a kid. My father had just put a trap together for mice. The trap was a glue trap, but he had these other attachments he made himself. When the mouse got stuck in the glue, it would immediately cut the paper into four equal slices. Usually the mouse too. Then he’d drown the pieces of the mouse, just to be sure.

MARK. How does this remind you of that?

PAUL. Sometimes, you can’t be sure unless you drown the mouse.

(Pause.)

BEN. That means nothing.

An interview with Taylor Mac

Love this interview.

J: How did it used to work?

T: Well, with the Open Theater, they wouldn’t open until they were ready to open. They would keep rehearsing, keeping doing it, but it was a different time then, a different world. The realities were different, the finances were different. You didn’t have to carry the rental of a theater, everything was cheaper, everything was less lawyerized, legalized, so I think it was just a little easier. I mean, I don’t know I wasn’t living then, but for some reason they are not working in that way anymore. And I think that is just because of financial reasons.

MTV 30 Years Old

Oh No. Oh No.

Martha Quinn! Still really cute!

Of course the worst part of the debt ceiling agreement

...is that ideologues who are largely immune for the financial pain of their constituents held the national economy hostage so they could cut spending at precisely the time that we need to infuse the economy with cash and new jobs.

Basically, the argument goes: "If you want to avoid a monumental economic disaster, you must agree to compound our problems and more firmly commit to failed policies."

Copper on BBC America

Wow...BBC America orders a Tom Fontana/Will Rokos series about an Irish cop in 1860s NYC? Hell yes. HELL yes.

Party in the C.I.A. - Weird Al

"Weird Al" Yankovic's latest parody is, um, grim. And great. A Miley Cyrus parody with a waterboarding joke.

via

Okay maybe I spoke too soon...

Maybe there is a reason for playwrights to pack it in and quit and stop bothering. Thanks, Josh Conkel, for pointing out something terrible to me.

Why Zach Braff's All New People Is the Defining Play of a Generation

(Freeman dies.)

Even Box Office Mojo has to battle the Palin Spin

Check out these two hilarious blog posts. One is Big Hollywood declaring Sarah Palin's 'Undefeated' a box-office success, by quoting Box Office Mojo (a site I frequent). The other is Box Office Mojo itself debunking that declaration, noting that the movie was, basically, a massive failure.

Arena Stage Stage Blog discusses its submissions policy...or lack thereof

You should read this frank, and frankly brave, blog post/essay by David Dower about Arena Stage's decision not to accept submissions.

(For those interested, I've written about this a bit previously in a slightly infamous blog post called "Let's All Just Pretend.")

Some key paragraphs:

"But, if you don't accept submissions anymore, how do we get our plays to you."

I left PlayPenn thinking about this unanswered question and wishing I'd had time to answer it. Here's the thing, Hal. Nothing's really changed about that, if you think about it. When the submission policy was open, writers and agents had the impression they were getting their plays to me by putting them in the mail (or, increasingly, e-mail) addressed to me. Or to our Artistic Director. But they weren't. They were getting plays to a corps of non-staff readers with no real avenue to impact planning decisions. Only a handful of organizations with open submission policies can say the artistic staff reads everything that comes in. And most of those that can are either play development centers or small producing theaters.

So, the plays I read come to me from a variety of sources and each time via an invitation from me or Molly with a commitment to read them. Arena Stage puts a huge amount of effort into attending new play festivals and labs. And we maintain close relationships with the artistic staff of most of them-- these people will often lobby us to take a look at a play they've worked on that they feel is a match for our interests. There's one play in the season this year that came that way- via a "heads up" from a development lab. Arena also puts resources into commissions and more often than not we wind up producing the play that results. There's a play on the season this year that came through a commission. We attend productions of new plays at theaters around the country. There's an Arena production moving to Broadway this season of a play that came that way, and another on stage here this coming season. Last year we hosted more than 100 writers in conversations at Arena, and through those relationships dozens of plays were read by staff here.

Embedded in Hal's question is the real question underneath so many interactions I have with emerging playwrights. "How do we get a production at Arena if we're not known to you already and you won't read our plays when we send them?"

The answer to that one is by being in motion in the world as a playwright. If you're participating in development labs and conferences, if your plays are somewhere in production, if you're engaged in the #newplay dialogue that is taking place online-- where all of Arena's Artistic Development staff is "hiding in plain sight" and actively participating as well-- you have a much better chance of coming to our attention than if you are mailing a script to a theater that assigns it to a non-staff reader."

So, this is honest and undoubtedly true. It's also, perhaps, the only way it can work given that only human beings can figure this stuff out, and there just aren't that many of them to go around. It also, of course, does answer the question of "Okay why say you have an open submission policy when you don't?" The answer: "Fine, we don't." Not exactly encouraging, but honest.

I'm sure that the institutions we're talking about share in the artists' frustrations that the system described above does not embed merit (whatever that means to you) in its bones. Visibility, free-time, enthusiasm, access, audience-interest, freshness, the topical nature of one's work... those things are heavily weighted in one's favor. Maybe that's the only thing that can work. Maybe that's just what does work. I don't envy the sheepish, shy, technologically challenged introvert that is trying to get his or her play seen.

Frankly, as a playwright, I've started to take these sorts of things in stride as best I can. We all know that the intention of these theaters is to get the best work they can on their stages, and that they do, in fact, want to find your hidden gem. It's hard to do. It's hard for writers to have their gems uncovered. So it goes.

Everyone just keep trying, try harder, try until you get it right.

It's as simple as that

"What can you say 'yes' to?"

Silent New York on July 28th, 29th and 30th

My next "play" runs this coming weekend, only three nights. Don't miss it.

SILENT NEW YORK will occur on July 28th, 29th and 30th at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, at Broadway and White Streets below Canal). It's produced by Blue Coyote Theater Group in association with the Access Theater. I'm certainly hope you'll chose to join us. It's a unique experience and will certainly spark some conversation. The evening is only one hour in length. Suggested donation $10.

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Silent New York is an event that presents real people, without words, in a theatrical space. Five individuals, after a brief introduction by a formal presenter, sit on the stage and are observed by an audience.

Beyond just the experiment of form, Silent New York offers the audience (and the individual) a moment that gives them permission to think only of the one individual they are observing and the wealth of unnoticed information that even ten minutes can provide.

***********************
SILENT NEW YORK
Created by Matthew Freeman

Access Theater
380 Broadway @ White St., 4th Fl.
July 28-30, 8pm
Suggested Donation $10

How To Quit Being A Playwright

It occurs to me that you, as a theater-person-type, the type of person that reads blogs like mine, read all sorts of heartfelt words of encouragement about how to ignore your wallet, ignore the oncoming Singularity which will merge our brains with the brains of Apple Computers so we all become a big synthetic mass experience hub-bubble, ignore your parents, ignore, ignore, ignore. You are told to think about your art, and your muse, and the pleasure of staring blankly at a screen that is definitely not staring back at you. You are told to find the solace in solitude, to pronounce your desire to write for the stage a higher calling, to think of yourself as both a community servant and rare individual voice. You are told to think beyond and above the market, to love the smell of ink and typewriters, to buy books at places that are squalid and dusty, to believe in the power of what's LIVE about the stage.

But what if you think that is all hogwash? What if you suspect that you could do a lot of things and all this moralizing just is starting to make you sick? What if you want to quit already, and do something else, or just do nothing and fuck anyone else who thinks that's a bad way to live? Here's how.

1. Just don't tell anyone. Honestly, people like me are complete pricks about people deciding to quit the theater. It casts a poor reflection on us. So leave us out of it. Don't say "That's it, I've had it!" and write a manifesto about it. It will cause impoverished bohemians and trust fund babies alike to all judge you the same way: as someone who doesn't really care like they do. Who cares? If they want to carry on being lunatics, that's their problem.

2. Get a really nice TV. Seriously, these days, TVs are like totally goddamned amazing. Get rid of that one you've had since college and go nuts. You'll see the folly of a life in the theater at last.

3. Be really good at your job. Could you be really good at your job? I mean, the one that pays you? Is it really that hard to be good at it? Honestly. Try it.

4. Go see a play and silently imagine you don't have to bother doing that sort of thing. What a terrific pain in the ass it is to do that sort of thing. Just move on. You could be playing golf. Have you considered that? Lots of people play golf. People your age.

5. Write a list of your favorite books, albums, movies and plays. Compare those lists. Depressing? Not if you quit. If you quit, you can just stop trying to come up with a list of favorite plays.

6. David Mamet is totally a weird conservative now. He calls NPR "National Palestinian Radio." How did that happen? Do you want to wind up crazy like that? Get out while you can. If someone asks you why you don't want to do it anymore, show them that thing he wrote in the Village Voice.

7. Read Outrageous Fortune. Which basically could be renamed "Honestly, Don't Bother." The system is rigged. They don't want you. They think there are too many plays. They think your career is just adding to their problems.

8. Think about the Coffee Shop Job. At that job at a coffee shop you had, did you actually make more people happy and make more money than you have in your entire life as a playwright? Think about that. Why did you quit that job?

9. Turn in your Badge. You know that badge you got when you graduated from college that you have to show at all the secret artist meetings? The one that you keep in your wallet? You have to mail that in.

10. Get over it. You're not a playwright because you 'love theatre.' You're a playwright because you either were looking for a place to get a date in high school or you have been expressing a childhood trauma publicly for too long. Listen: you're a grown up now. You're dating material. You might even be married. You no longer live with your parents. Whatever awful thing that made you this way is in the past. Writing plays never fixed it anyway. Try ice cream and a couple of cats.

---

I hope that helped. Be free.

Fringe Festival Plugs

There are about 1,692 shows at the New York International Fringe Festival! We want to know what to go to see! So...in my comments section...plug your Fringe Festival show! I'll post your plugs in a live posting tomorrow.

The Americans available for Nook and Kindle

Don't forget to get your copy of The Americans on the Nook and/or the Kindle. Only $1.99.

Deleted Scenes from Great Works - ENDGAME

I'm a huge fan of DVDs and I'm sad to see that downloading and streaming will likely render them obsolete. The reason I love them is primarily that they come with a movie nerd's cornucopia of endless trivia, like Director's Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and documentaries like "The stunts of Jurassic Park 3" or "Pre-Visualization of Avatar's Sex Sequences."

Of course, the best of these are the Deleted Scenes, which often offer insight into the editing process and show additional, often-fully produced footage from your favorite films.

Where, then, are the deleted scenes from today's great dramatists? We all know that these things were primarily banged out on typewriters and sent to a publishing house in a package wrapped in string! Don't we all want to know about that missing piece of American Buffalo? That part of Harold Pinter's Betrayal with that full scene of exposition that got cut out?

Well, never fear, dear friends. I, Matt Freeman, has taken it upon myself, with the help of Google and a library card, to find some of the Deleted Scenes from the Great Works of Drama. I will share them with you here.

My first discovery was a scene from Samuel Beckett's Endgame. It features a character named Conseil (French for Board), who enters just after Clov's final monologue and before Hamm's final speech.

You can see pretty quickly why the character was removed, but I have to say, I'll read anything Beckett, and I'm extremely proud to have found this.

(CONSIEL entre. Visage très blanc. Tient un football.)

CONSIEL. Arrêtez-le. Il y a un match de football dessus ailleurs, à travers la mer, oui il y a une mer, et nous pouvons obtenir à travers. Pour observer le match de football et l'éviter de penser à la lumière de effacement et à nos ancêtres. Le silence, écart, finissent vers le haut avec. Foul et une carte jaune. Vous devez voir le match de football cet après-midi au lieu du tout ceci. Au lieu du tout ceci que vous n'appréciez pas. Qui sont ces hommes, qui sont ces hommes, qui marchent et reposent et ne jouent jamais au football, ne savent pas les plaisirs d'un but, pour ne jamais avoir un coup-de-pied libre parce que leur tibia a été meurtri ? , Oui, non meurtri meurtri, il continue, fonctionnement, attaquant. L'arbitre ne mérite aucun meilleur destin que pour être dans une poésie. Vous avez pleuré pour le but, il vient, joue maintenant au football dans l'obscurité.

---

Amazing. Scholars, I take personal checks.

How to Stay a NY Playwright / Day Jobs

Thought I'd link to this lovely essay by Barbara Hammond.

"Re-claim the open road of an empty page and a sharp pencil. Know that if you have a dollar you can get a pencil and a notebook and begin to create. Strive for, but don't require, a beautiful view, quiet hours, a room of one's own. It has been done without any of those things in place. Prisons, deserts, hidden attics. It has been done on the surface of many an imagination."

The essay talks a fair amount about frugality, about cutting costs and embracing a spartan life. I was talking to a friend about being 35 and meeting, regularly, lately a crop of people in their mid-twenties who talk about how nearing 30 makes them feel. These people always seem extremely defensive about taking paid work, or concerned about what it means that they have to. Not that I'm very old, far from it, but I'm in that odd space where many of your friends have either moved out, re-assessed, or achieved some sort of grand success. Being impoverished, though, loses its luster and romance for everyone.

For me, what can I say? I work in an office. I've worked in offices since 1999. Temp work, permanent work. Currently, I actually have an office that overlooks the Governor's Island. I have a tie. I have business cards. I have a company Blackberry. I'm fine with it. In fact, I like where I work - they do good things here. I strive for success as a playwright, whatever that may mean. I'm undaunted by setbacks, I have publications and reviews, I feel like I have the respect of my peers. I aim for bigger stages, think big, believe in my talent and the importance of perseverance. I don't see myself wearing a tie forever, and I won't lie, there are mornings I wake up and look in the mirror and go "Again? Really?"

Then again, I've lived on next-to-nothing and let me tell you: it's fairly uninspiring. I didn't find it freeing and fun. I found it to be a constant weight on my mind and chest. I borrowed money. I stared into space, thinking about how I was going to eat and pay rent. I slept on couches. I got by. I don't think to myself "That was fun. Can't wait to do that again."

No one who currently writes for the stage created the system in which they reside. None of us have the power to create a national arts culture that pays theater artists what we're worth on our own; none of us believe that private subsidies, expensive tickets, TV stars on stage, and Disney are doing us all any good. The cash is elsewhere. When Annie Baker got her Isherwood review that announced her as a major talent, we all knew she'd be writing for television shortly, and I'm sure she is. Where are where we are. Tony Kushner makes his living writing screenplays.

I don't really want to write screenplays. I might give it a go here and there. I want to write plays, in New York, where my family and friends are, where my wife and I live, where my friend's children play underfoot, where we have great restaurants, where they show all the movies, where I've made my life. And so, I go to work. I don't really feel like a bad artist because I go to work. I feel like an artist that lives in the United States, and this country thinks art grows in trees, and should be delivered to them via Whispernet. It is what it is. I do what I have to do.

Maybe what I'm writing seems a little self-justifying and defensive. It's not intended to be. I'm sure there are plenty of other playwrights and actors and directors who feel this way, and often feel a mild sting when it's implied that day jobs are a sort of poisonous compromise. It's more poisonous to create rules for ourselves that make it harder to live an already hard life, I think.

I guess, in short, I think being an artist and making a living are just different things.

Summer & Eve: Bong Song

Recommended by man-I-have-a-man-crush-on Darin DePaul. Gotta love and admire the Bong Song.

New Playscripts Blog

Play publisher Playscripts, Inc. has started a new blog, which I'm excited to follow. Definitely add it to your feeds of various sizes and shapes. Check it out here.

Playscripts currently publishes three of my plays:

• The Death of King Arthur
• Glee Club
• Trayf (as Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster) in Great Short Comedies Vol. 5.

Twitter feed

Considering changing the look of my blog, as it's officially old. Then again, isn't that the charm?

Also, I added a Twitter Feed to the sidebar, below my rampaging and weird links. How's it look? Did I mention you can follow me on Twitter?

twitter.com/mfreemanwriter

Embracing new media ... but how?

I've read lately that as television, film, radio and magazines are wrestling with and taking advantage of new technology and new media, theater should endeavor to do the same. I guess the idea is...there are iPads. There are tablets. There are iPhones and Androids and Netflix streaming to your home television and 3D interactive Blu-Ray discs. We're in the future. Everyone is James Bond now. How can theater catch up? It's clearly not with more wires and more elaborate masks.

Theater is decidedly analog in a digital age. Even film and television don't highlight that fact so much as personal computers with HD screens and Apple TV. (I mean, heck, it's now so common practice for plays to integrate film and video on-stage as to become a non-issue. Remember when that seemed counter-intuitive?) But theater is live and you can't deliver it wirelessly. You can show a picture, even a video, but that transforms the experience into something else, of course. So what to do? Fancy ticketing services? Live blogging plays? Yelp! for performance art?

I've seen a few attempts to utilize new media, but usually it's in the form of an additional prop or a stand in for what was once just not digital ("Read from your iPad" instead of "Read off this piece of paper.")

So... I'm curious what you feel theaters should be doing that they are to embrace new technology, or if there are things going on that you feel are happening that others should be aware of, or if you feel that it's simply a fool's errand to chase new tech. Perhaps the further theater goes from trying to be modern, the more punk rock and counter-cultural it appears...?

I submit, as well, certain attempts to capture what's going on on-line, such as On The Boards. The BBC produces, also, a terrific Play of the Week podcast. But is that, you know, working for you? Or do we need iPad apps that show you subtitles for Endgame performed in French?

Coming soon

Silent New York, a theatrical evening of silent observation, curated by yours truly, is coming back for three nights: July 28th, 29th and 30th. Details forthcoming!

The Undefeated Trailer

It's perfect: even the title isn't true. It also fails entirely to mention that she was a Vice Presidential candidate and she quit being Governor in order to do the "good" of having a reality TV show about hiking and hunting.

This trailer appears to have been put together by a teenager with Final Cut Pro. Heck, the font is Courier or some shit. It's not even as well produced as Tim Pawlenty's weird "Independence Day" trailers for himself.

The Undefeated Teaser Trailer from Dain Valverde on Vimeo.

For some reason

I failed to link to this article in the New York Times, that quotes me regarding an outdoor theater mishap. Fun, fun.

That is not always the case when real life intrudes on outdoor theater. Matthew Freeman, a playwright and actor, has this memory of not quite holding it together during a show: “While wearing a yarmulke and playing Fabian in ‘Twelfth Night,’ I was yipped at by a tiny pet dog. I shouted, audibly, ‘Jesus Christ!’ Sort of shattered the illusion.”

Pig at the Ice Factory Festival

Checked out Pig, part of the Ice Factory at 3LD Arts downtown. Definitely go see it (it only runs a few more days). Joyfully staged, choreographed with aplomb my Patrice Miller, funny and inventive, with a great cast and particularly appealing turns by power couple Robert Honeywell and Moira Stone. Plus, for $35, you get a pork sandwich with your ticket. Win.

A little beach reading

George Hunka has indexed his blog in a smart and useful way.

Save Under St. Marks

Listen up! Theaters are going belly up by the truckload. Small and large. Don't let another space, an active and open and vibrant one, go away.

Under St. Marks is in trouble. They need to raise $50,000. They are at, as of this writing, just about $13,000. That means you, yes you, must donate as much as you can to this cause. I'm serious. You know how you're thinking about spending $50 this weekend to see a movie and then get some beers? Spend exactly that amount right now to save this theater space. Contribute here.

I mean it. Contribute. Do something today you'll feel proud of.

The Pitch:

Our Story

Horse Trade has been producing theater in the East Village since 1998. We offer inexpensive space rental for self-producing artists; we produce with guest artists, resident artists, and our veteran resident artists. Horse Trade hosts FRIGID New York, a festival that gives 100% of the box office back to the artists, The Fire This Time, a festival that gives voices to emerging African American Playwrights and Imbewu, a contemporary South African theater festival. We bring performers from Canada, South Africa, and all over the United States. We have sent our local New York talent to share their work in Indianapolis, Orlando, San Francisco, New Orleans, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton; and the list keeps growing.

Over the past 13 years we have painstakingly created a home for a community of varied voices which values and displays a vast amount of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. We view ourselves as the research and development wing of American theater. We are proud to provide a training ground for Broadway’s future stars, writers, technicians, designers and other artistic and management personal.

We have been called "A mecca for teriffic off- off Broadway theater," by Martin Denton of NYTheatre.com and “the epicenter of the independent theater world in New York," By Leonard Jacobs Director of the Cultural Institutions Unit at NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Rachel Chavkin of the TEAM has written that "Companies tend to establish a reputation around the Horse Trade Theaters."

The Impact

The building that houses our UNDER St Marks Theater, one of our three theater spaces, is now up for sale. We hope to purchase 94 St. Marks Place and make a permanent space where artists can create, learn, grow and share. The amount of money we are attempting to raise in this fundraising drive is not enough to buy the building, but it will be enough to launch a capitol campaign that will allow us to do so.

What We Need & What You Get

We will use the funds we raise to draw up architectural plans, create legal documents, and put together a professional business and marketing packet. These things cost money and this is why we are asking for your help. What you will get in return, aside from the trinkets associated with your donation amount, is a permanent home for artists to come and express themselves in front of a live theater audience. You will have a hand in creating a place for people to share their work, get inspired or just be entertained in the company of others. If you have seen a show at UNDER St. Marks you understand; if you have not, then help us insure that you get that opportunity.

Other Ways You Can Help

Please pass word about this campaign to everyone you know, the NYC real estate market is tough to beat but our work goes out to people all over the North America and there is real power in numbers, help us reach those numbers and increase our power.

Unproducible?

I've heard the term "unproducible play" here and there lately. Is there such a thing? Or is that code for something?

NY State Senate Passes Marriage Equality

A truly great day. Was watching "Sweet Smell of Success" on DVD with my wife and David Johnston when the news came in. Champagne, long saved, was brought out to celebrate.

Love to all out there - including my brother Dan and his long-time partner Joe - who deserve nothing less than equal citizenship. Here's to a great step forward. For a long time, "Albany" has been the equivalent of incompetence, disappointment, corruption. For tonight, their name equals "the right side of history."

Hooray!

Isherblog

Love it when he blogs. I think it's his true medium.

For your Google Reader

The lovely, personal blog of my pal Marshall Warfield.

Repost: Rules for the Naming of Plays

This is a post from 2007 that I always sort of liked. Thought if you're a new reader of the blog (yes there are some out there) you might enjoy it.

RULES FOR THE NAMING OF PLAYS

So you have examined the Rules for the Writing of Plays and lickity-split you're the author of one of the next great American Works of Dramatic Artistry. How, pray tell, do you trumpet the heralding of the harbingers of this monumental act of creationism?

By naming the play with gusto, dear readers.

Heretoforthwith, we shall delve (reference to Stoppard) into the naming of things, the power of names, and how naming and titling are related.

First... we shall look at the great titles.

Hamlet is the title of a play. So is Death of a Salesman. Other play titles one might note are Doubt, Waiting for Godot, and The Odd Couple. There are many more titles of playworks. They include Bug, King Lear and, of course, Fences.

What do these titles have in common? So very much.

Hamlet is the name of the most important character in all of modern history and the first human mind expressed in its fullness. So much so that he even impressed Harold Bloom. No small feat. If your main character is capable of impressing Harold Bloom and interesting Peter Brook, name the play after this character. For example, Beckett did not name Waiting for Godot "Estragon." Why? Because Estragon isn't, in and of himself, capable of hanging himself. Hamlet is perfectly capable of killing himself. Hence, title character.

Death of a Salesman is an excellent title because it gives away the ending. People aren't interested in being surprised. Give away as much as you can without being cheeky.

Doubt, a more recently play, names itself after the theme of the play. While at some point in time this might have been frowned upon (should Shakespeare have called Hamlet "Indecision?"), these days, high school English teachers are overmatched by the reductive power of text messaging and YouTube. As a playwright that is alive, you are well-served to consider the theme of your play as its title. It will only help underpaid teachers explain what the hell is going on.

The Odd Couple is such a good title they turned it into a TV show. Write that down. These days, that play would have been written by Paul Rudnick. Shame that it wasn't, in a way.

Let us move past the examples of the past and think more forward-like. You have written a new play that is untitled. Let us say this play is three acts long and the plot revolves around the sun. Meaning, it is a history of our study of the sun. The main character is Copernicus, but you have named him Nicky Copper, and put him in 1930s Chicago.

Call the play Chicago Sun Times.

You see? Simple math. One word for each act.

Or, perhaps, you have written a ten minute thriller about the history of Tibet. In ten short minutes, you are able to sum up the history of the struggle for Tibet Freedom. It is a hit at parties, this play, and you can tell it will be beloved by the Actor's Theater of Louisville.

Call the play Ten Minutes in Tibet. So everyone knows what you're up to.

Or, dear dramatist, you have written a political masterpiece, which uses devilishly disguised figures with names like Decider and BlossomPoo and Mary Queen of Scots. The play spans the lifespan of the spanned life of a fictional kingdom called the Universal Capitalist Tribes and its many wars over plastic toys in the Middle Desert. It is an alternate history of sorts, barely researched and therefore unclouded by anything but fresh thinking.

Call the play The United States of America. That will really show them.

Regardless of how you go about titling your masterwork of new drama, you must remember that it is as much science as art. Precision and testing do the trick. Ask you Mother what she finds most memorable. Look for important phrases in songs and rework them to match your needs. Name your play Title for a bit of metatheatrical giggle-laugh-riotry. But most of all: Be Yourself.

To close, and to be generous, other play titles you can use are:

Lucinda's Dog Walking Business
The Big Red Balloon
Christ is Watching The Eyes That Are Watching God
They Still Boil Lobsters, Don't They?
The Historical Tragedy of Amerigo Vespucci
This, I Should Not Have Sniffed
Dedicated to My Mentor, Freeman
James Comtois and Qui Nguyen: With Fights!
Endgame (which you are trying to write anyway)
Overunderaroundandthrough
Kickstand: The Bicycle Cycle
Ten Short Plays Copywritten
The Organisms

You're welcome.

Ajax in Iraq

Saw the excellent production of Ajax in Iraq last night, produced by Flux Ensemble and directed by Gus Schulenberg. Beautifully directed, a diverse cast overflowing with talent and personality, and a smart, well-composed script by Ellen McLaughlin (read all about her here). As I watched, I kept feeling troubled that this play and subject are still relevant.

Two performances left. A must-see, as they say.

Oh and don't just take my word for it. The Times agrees.

Exceptional Monologues 2 for Men and Women

Actors alert: pick up a copy of this new monologue anthology, Exceptional Monologues 2 for Men and Women.

Features pieces from Itamar Moses, Sarah Ruhl, Sheila Callaghan, Jenny Schwarz, Adam Szymkowicz, John Clancy, Ken Davenport. Oh, and two pieces from When Is A Clock, by good old me.

Flux!

Congratulations Flux Ensemble for this awesome review of "Ajax in Iraq" in the New York Times.

A Letter from All Playwrights to our Fathers On Father's Day

Dear Dads,

How many plays are we going to have to write about you before you give us the attention we deserve?

Love,
Us

Free "Go The Fuck To Sleep" Audio Book read by Samuel Jackson

Here.

Thanks for the heads up Megan F!

Thank the British for your Broadway Experience

I continue to hear all funding for non-profits referred to in terms of economics (you need theater because it's good for local restaurants, theater's hire workers, arts organizations spur economic growth) and fewer and fewer arguments for the simple importance of excellent Humanities in all forms. It drives me mildly batshit, if you'd like to know the truth, that the Economics has become the thought leader in our country, above all else, it seems.

Which is why I so appreciate this perspective from the Guardian. Love Jerusalem and War Horse, Tony nominated and, in the case of War Horse, Tony Awarded? Thank the British taxpayer.

Live Tony Awards Coverage 2011

Hey there!

If you want great alternative coverage of the Tony Awards, try The Playgoer and/or Jaime Green at The Awl.

Enjoy!

And, if you want an actual alternative to the Tony Awards and all things Broadway, check out Standards of Decency 3 this week.

Character(s) - a new short play on video

When the news broke earlier this week about Anthony Weiner (a Congressman I actually have admired and still, in terms of his politics, agree with), it occurred to me that his public shaming and Blue Coyote Theater Group's currently running evening of short plays - Standards of Decency 3: 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast - had obvious thematic overlap.

So... on Monday evening I wrote a short play. Too late, perhaps, to rehearse and include into the festival, nevertheless, Kyle Ancowitz quickly shot and edited the play into this 10 minute video, featuring a pair of terrific performances by David DelGrosso and Moira Stone. From written to released in four days. Newfangled, fast, and fun. I hope you enjoy it.

The play is called Character(s). It's about Congressman Dick Peters meeting with his aide Carol to hastily craft a statement of public apology.

If you dig the video, definitely share it with your friends. For live pieces like this one, including my play The Metaphor, come and see Standards of Decency 3: 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast, which runs until June 18th, 2011. (Critic's Pick at Time Out New York!)

2011 Tony Awards Predictions!

A movie star will get an award and look embarrassed about it!

The winner of Best Musical will find a new home Off Broadway!

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson will be heard of outside the Tri-State Area!

The next day, many of the people who appear on the show will have a small, depressing party at the office, college or restaurant that employs them!

An annual pre-written pile of blog posts and articles about the terrible ratings are on the way!

Famous actors as playwrights

Playgoer notes a not-so-great trend: Film and television actors getting plays produced in prominent Off Broadway slots. (Don't you just hate the word slots?) I thought I needed to go back and get an MFA. I didn't realize that what I'm really missing is a career on camera.

Sour grapes, served up nice and cold on this hot June day.

Tonight and Next Wednesday - 300 Vaginas Cheap!

Amanda Jones and Matt Trumbull in The Metaphor by Matthew Freeman

Tonight and next Wednesday, use the discount code 15Weds to get $15 tickets to Standards of Decency 3: 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast. Usually $25. A bargain!

The show's been getting welcomed by critics and it's been grand.

"A thought-provoking and enjoyable look at the effect of pornography on our lives and relationships...if you don’t walk out thinking you saw a scene about yourself, your boyfriend, your mom, or someone you know, you’re lying as much as the guy who’s never seen porn.."
Jessica Cauttero, THEATRE IS EASY

"For the latest edition of its Standards of Decency series, Blue Coyote Theater Group commissioned nine playwrights to create 10-minute plays "to help us understand what the new media are doing to us…at the place where technology, sex, and relationships interface." Mission accomplished... All have something to say. Nearly all are diverting, some distinctly thought-provoking...the best provide real delight."
Jon Sobel, BLOGCRITICS.ORG

"Fast-paced and enjoyable...an entertaining look at the topic that comprises one quarter of all search engine requests.”
John Peacock, FLAVORPILL

Dear Philanthropists

Ohio. Intiman. St. Ann's Warehouse goes nomad. Florida Stage.

Where are the philanthropists? Is there someone out there that would care to step in?

Anyone else find this ironic just as we keep hearing about "too many plays, too much theater?" How about no theater and no plays? Would that satisfy economics and economic principles enough?

Buy My Plays!

Yes, it's another book plug. You know why? Because it's my blog! Buy a book today. Make your friendly neighborhood playwright a happy guy.

The Death of King Arthur by Matthew Freeman

Glee Club by Matthew Freeman

When Is A Clock by Matthew Freeman

The Americans by Matthew Freeman for only $1.99 (for the Kindle, for the Nook)

Rabbi Hersh and the Talking Lobster or Trayf (in Great Short Comedies Vol. 5)

Genesis (in Playing with Canons)

Matt Trumbull at the Soundtrack Series

Oh you really must here this. It's hilarious.

New Books in Theater podcast #4 - Peter Filichia

The latest interview is up at New Books in Theater. Enjoy!

Blue Coyote Theater Group on Facebook

Hey there! Check out the newly minted Blue Coyote Theater Group page. "Like" it. You know you want to.

The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips

Wouldn't it be lovely if some of the interest in the novel The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (and its adjoining verse play) rubbed off on my own five-act play, written in verse and produced in 2001, called The Death of King Arthur?

That would make me a happy playwright.

Did you know...

...that Mitch Daniels screwed over Planned Parenthood and then had the audacity to not run for President? Showing that his awful behavior in Indiana doesn't even have the lame excuse of being a part of presidential politics?

Why don't any GOP presidential hopefuls want to run against an 'out-of-touch, unpopular socialist who wasn't even born in this country?' I thought it was obvious that he was entirely beatable. I guess I heard them wrong or something.

Float away, m#@therf*&ker

"Faster is cheaper and more fun!"

The above quote is from my long-time artistic partner Kyle Ancowitz. It's from this article. Blue Coyote Theater Group, my artistic home since 2003, is featured alongside two other companies, as believers in immediacy over extended development.

Couldn't agree more. Give it a read!

Fresh off the page!

Standards of Decency 3: 300 Vaginas Before Breakfast

I hope John Mayer comes to see it.

Details below!

Plays announced for Blue Coyote’s STANDARDS OF DECENCY 3: 300 VAGINAS BEFORE BREAKFAST


New York, New York May 17, 2011—Blue Coyote Theater Group and Access Theater are proud to announce the full roster of short plays for their upcoming STANDARDS OF DECENCY 3: 300 VAGINAS BEFORE BREAKFAST. Each play runs approximately 10 minutes.

The Lesson by David Johnston, directed by Gary Shrader
A dark but funny look at the risks of finding your singing instructor on Facebook.

300 by Adam Szymkowicz, directed by Kyle Ancowitz
A couple comes to terms with their sexual pasts with the aid of three hundred vaginas.

Date Night at Skintastic Dot Com by Mac Rogers, directed by Bob Buckwalter
A workaholic couple's attempt at scheduling quality time together is challenged by the never ending leaks of online celebrity skin--the skin their business depends on for its survival.

The Metaphor by Matthew Freeman, directed by Kyle Ancowitz
A man seeks help for his Internet porn addiction from an unconventional Episcopal priest.

Plato’s Retreat by David Foley, directed by Gary Shrader
Three Greek lads are beguiled by the naughty shadows on the cave's wall. The goddess of Wisdom wants them to see the light.

any one by Jordan Seavey, directed by Bob Buckwalter
The question of what is connection, and how do we achieve it, is explored over the course of one very busy New Yorker's day.

Romance by Jackie Christy, directed by Kyle Ancowitz
After a pornographic homework submission, an awkward parent-teacher conference ensues.

Bits by Bruce Goldstone, directed by Gary Shrader
Even your computer itself, its bits and bytes, has a love/hate relationship with porn.

Camera Four by Cheri Magid, directed by Gary Shrader
A doorman's security camera exposes the city's surprising secret kinks.

STANDARDS OF DECENCY 3: 300 VAGINAS BEFORE BREAKFAST is the latest chapter in Blue Coyote’s downtown cult series Standards of Decency. Taking its title from the profundity of indie rock god John Mayer, STANDARDS OF DECENCY 3: 300 VAGINAS BEFORE BREAKFAST begins performances on Tuesday, May 31 for a limited engagement through Saturday, June 18. The performance schedule is Wednesday – Sunday at 8 PM, with an added performance on Tuesday, May 31 at 8 PM. Press Opening is Thursday, June 2 at 8 PM. Performances are at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, two blocks below Canal, just north of White Street). Tickets are $25 and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com. ###

Not now, silent singer!

I love this.

Ticket Prices?

"Detroit Symphony Orcestra lowers single-ticket prices to build its audience."

h/t You've Cott Mail.

I think this is an issue worth frequently investigating. What is the impact of ticket price on attendance? I tend to think that the relationship between an audience and price is nuanced. A lower ticket price does not automatically build an audience who assume they're getting a deal: they may simply see something as being devalued.

Case and point: I love DVDs. I love to buy them and collect them. I just walked through a store near New York University where DVDs are being sold for $7.99 or less. Lots of things I used to consider expensive, special-editions, two-disc sets. The message I received was not that I could get lots of great DVDs for less money...but that DVDs are less valuable than they once were. I walked out having bought nothing, even a little depressed.

On the other hand, if you wildly overprice, you might fail to reach your audience as well. You couldn't adequately price an iPhone Ap at $19.99 and expect it to gain traction. Heck, even a small price increase for the invaluable New York Times online caused people to think the paper was committing cyber-suicide. There is a range of acceptable pricing that we agree upon, and that price has an acceptable ceiling.

So... the logic that most give is that theater tickets, from Broadway to Off-Off Broadway, are generally high. But the solution some offer is free theater, which seems to miss the point.

What do you think? How do ticket prices impact audiences, in your experience? When is a price reduction smart? When do deals work?

Anthems for the Fringe - coming up May 16th and 17th

Blue Coyote Theater Group, with the original cast of Glee Club, is holding two night performance and fundraiser called Anthems for the Fringe, as we work to raise money for a potential trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Performances are May 17th and 18th. Details below.

Yes, I will also be singing. Quite a bit.

Conceived and Arranged by Stephen Speights
Inspired by GLEE CLUB by Matthew Freeman

Set Design - Emily Inglis
Lights - Christopher Weston
Costumes - Jonna McElrath
Stage Manager - F. Dash Vata

A benefit concert to bring BCTG's GLEE CLUB to the
2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival!

Two nights only!

Monday & Tuesday, May 16th and 17th

Doors open @ 7:30pm
Concert @ 8pm

Enjoy a cocktail before the show, then stick around afterwards
for drinks, snacks, raffles and more!

Click HERE for Tix!

$25 gets you into the show
(limited tix available)

$50 gets you the show, an open bar, a concert t-shirt,
a signed copy of Matthew Freeman's GLEE CLUB,
free download of The World Will Make You Smile, and more!

ACCESS THEATER
380 Broadway, 4th Floor
(@ White Street)
(Subways: N/R closest, A/C/E/6/1/9

Not the only one!

Chris Wilkinson at the Guardian wasn't the only person fooled by fake joke quotes I posted recently. I appreciate that people take me at my word. I really must remember that 1) it's a blog and people aren't combing mine for nuanced sarcasm and 2) no one can see me cocking my eyebrow.

Onwards!