Vampire Cowboys are in the midst of a short run at the Clurman at Theatre Row of Living Dead in Denmark. $18 admission. You should go and see it.
Two more nights. Tonight and tomorrow.
Now... tomorrow, of course, I have my own show at 7pm.
You must choose who love more: Qui or Me.
Vote with your hearts.
(My show is cheaper. His has more fights.)
About Me
- Freeman
- Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Thanks Devore, for sharing this.
Take a break from deep thoughts, won't you?
Take a break from deep thoughts, won't you?
Interview with the Author
Final performance on Friday at 7pm.
Yes, that means you will have to leave your job at 5:30pm, immediately grab a bite to eat and head out out to Williamsburg.
...but you WANT to do that. Otherwise you'll miss an incredible performance by a prominent artist.
How could you live with yourself?
Tickets here!
Yes, that means you will have to leave your job at 5:30pm, immediately grab a bite to eat and head out out to Williamsburg.
...but you WANT to do that. Otherwise you'll miss an incredible performance by a prominent artist.
How could you live with yourself?
Tickets here!
Support Feed The Herd
Hey everyone:
Feed The Herd is coming to 3LD with Doppleganger, which opens June 23rd. Ever been to a show at 3LD? It's friggin' cool, crew.
Anyhow, you can get tickets for this production here.
If you buy a ticket for any of the first two weeks of the performance before July 1st (get that) and use the code herdlet2... tickets are $18 as opposed to $25. That's a pretty good deal to me.
Apparently, also, they're throwing a party after the June 23rd show. Go to the show and stay for the party.
You can also directly support this company here.
Just to let you know: Right now Feed the Herd is about 30% to their goal in a 10K campaign. Buying a ticket is good for everyone (you and them), making a donation will just plain help them out.
Look at all those lovely links! Click 'em!
Feed The Herd is coming to 3LD with Doppleganger, which opens June 23rd. Ever been to a show at 3LD? It's friggin' cool, crew.
Anyhow, you can get tickets for this production here.
If you buy a ticket for any of the first two weeks of the performance before July 1st (get that) and use the code herdlet2... tickets are $18 as opposed to $25. That's a pretty good deal to me.
Apparently, also, they're throwing a party after the June 23rd show. Go to the show and stay for the party.
You can also directly support this company here.
Just to let you know: Right now Feed the Herd is about 30% to their goal in a 10K campaign. Buying a ticket is good for everyone (you and them), making a donation will just plain help them out.
Look at all those lovely links! Click 'em!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Stolen Chair Theatre Company Fund Drive
Stolen Chair Theatre Company is currently seeking to raise money for the last half of their 2007 season. They're specifically seeking to broaden their small donor base, so your contribution of $10 - $24 bucks will go a long way. They're halfway to their $10,000.00 goal.
One of the fantastic things they've done to make generous support easier, is set up a monthly payment option. You can give this company $120 a year at $10 a month. Like NPR or PBS. Your dollar, though, will go a lot further. Maybe they'll share with other companies how that was set up, so that others can follow suit. It's a very, very good idea.
Read up on it here. Set up for a $10 a month payment. You won't notice it, but they will.
Anyone familiar with their work who would like to expound on its virtues? That's what the comments section is for!
One of the fantastic things they've done to make generous support easier, is set up a monthly payment option. You can give this company $120 a year at $10 a month. Like NPR or PBS. Your dollar, though, will go a lot further. Maybe they'll share with other companies how that was set up, so that others can follow suit. It's a very, very good idea.
Read up on it here. Set up for a $10 a month payment. You won't notice it, but they will.
Anyone familiar with their work who would like to expound on its virtues? That's what the comments section is for!
Now this is easy!
Mark notes a modest fundraising endeavor that could easily be achieved by all of us before 5pm today. For a library! Who doesn't love libraries?
Go here, read about it, donate. Donate $25. Seriously, you can afford that.
UPDATE:
Hey, now this is a very nice thing. I posted that at around 11:00 am or so. It is 11:22 am by my watch. The goal has been met already. Great job Mark and Isaac and all others who put this out there.
Let's face it: this could be a very real and important part of blogs for theater.
I'll go a step further. Here's my little pledge:
If you are a theater company in the midst of a campaign to raise funds, and you e-mail me with you goals, needs and the way to donate, I will direct people to your efforts and post about it.
Go here, read about it, donate. Donate $25. Seriously, you can afford that.
UPDATE:
Hey, now this is a very nice thing. I posted that at around 11:00 am or so. It is 11:22 am by my watch. The goal has been met already. Great job Mark and Isaac and all others who put this out there.
Let's face it: this could be a very real and important part of blogs for theater.
I'll go a step further. Here's my little pledge:
If you are a theater company in the midst of a campaign to raise funds, and you e-mail me with you goals, needs and the way to donate, I will direct people to your efforts and post about it.
NAATF / The Edge of the World
A good friend of mine, F. Omar Telan, is involved in this. Sounds like a fantastic evening, and I suggest you check it out.
Omar was involved for a very long time with Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.
Join the Asian Arts Initiative in New York for the first-ever
National Asian American Theater Festival!
THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Tickets here)
A night of 5-minute-or-shorter plays about Asian American artists & culture
LaMaMa, e.t.c.
74A East 4th St. New York, NY 10003
Featuring Regie Cabico, John Castro, Royd Hatta, Robert Karimi, Traci
Kiriyama, Dan Kim, Michelle Myer, Gary San Angel, Anula Shetty , Ryan
Suda, F. Omar Telan, and Kristina Wong
Friday, June 15, 10:00 PM
Sunday, June 17, 5:30 PM
Thursday, June 21, 10:00 PM
Saturday, June 23, 10:00 PM
$20 at the door, or on-line
$15 if you purchase in advance through the Asian Arts Initiative:
215-557-0455 (ask for Jo)
Omar was involved for a very long time with Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.
Join the Asian Arts Initiative in New York for the first-ever
National Asian American Theater Festival!
THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Tickets here)
A night of 5-minute-or-shorter plays about Asian American artists & culture
LaMaMa, e.t.c.
74A East 4th St. New York, NY 10003
Featuring Regie Cabico, John Castro, Royd Hatta, Robert Karimi, Traci
Kiriyama, Dan Kim, Michelle Myer, Gary San Angel, Anula Shetty , Ryan
Suda, F. Omar Telan, and Kristina Wong
Friday, June 15, 10:00 PM
Sunday, June 17, 5:30 PM
Thursday, June 21, 10:00 PM
Saturday, June 23, 10:00 PM
$20 at the door, or on-line
$15 if you purchase in advance through the Asian Arts Initiative:
215-557-0455 (ask for Jo)
Monday, June 11, 2007
Stereotypes and Development
Currently involved in the Pretentious Festival. Reading things about Howard Barker. Reading about the Tony Awards. Reading about that piece in Salon (have you read it?) that basically says theatre is unpopular because TV has passed it by. (And because theater has been hijacked by development.)
What I'm hearing sounds something like this:
People in the theatre are pretentious snobs who write by candlelight, even though the rest of us are using lightbulbs. If you go to see a Broadway show, you're going to see a cheap, Circus-like knock-off of a movie or you're going to see a play that sounds like they had to blow the dust off of it before they put it on stage.
I'm also hearing, out there:
Theatre is high art, a landscape for the mind, a sort of spiritual happening that is ceaselessly compromised by the desires of the revolting marketplace and its progeny.
What I'm thinking:
Stereotypes.
The idea that playwrights sit in their Ivory Towers and write distantly dull museum pieces is an idea that can only be held by someone who hasn't seen very much new theatre, and is equating a few lousy productions (or productions that weren't their taste) to the entire theatrical community. Saying "Playwrights aren't good because I don't like Richard Greenberg" is inoffensive, but it's almost precisely the same logic that says "I don't like guys in frats because I frat guy once hit on my girlfriend" or "Blondes are stupid. I knew a stupid blonde woman once."
Note in the Salon article that Birkenhead (who is this guy again) says that if you want to know what theatre is like, take a look at Three Days of Rain. He says Angels in America and Doubt are pretty good, but MAN... A Fair Country isn't his thing. Excuse me?
Essentially, it's picking out examples of bad tendencies and applying them to a whole. There are tons of people out there with very cool music on their iPods making punk rock theater that deserves to me seen. It's reductive to paint plays and playwrights with a "you guys are out of touch" brush.
That is NOT to say that many of us who are banging away on the country's stages aren't guilty, often, of similar thinking. Other mediums, because of their popularity and commercial aptitudes, are dismissed as somehow inherently corrupt. American Idol does not equal the The Sopranos does not equal Veronica Mars does not equal Fox News. Just as Mary Poppins does not equal Long Days Journey Into Night.
There is a seduction is sequestering ourselves and attacking others. Film, television and theater seem like natural rivals, in some ways. They certainly act that way. That's, though, the thinking of children. There's no need for three different mediums to compete. They can learn, acknowledge, grow, exchange. They can simply be themselves.
As a playwright, I don't have to compete with The Sopranos. I have contend with the stereotypes that my work is obscure, or high-brow or "not for people who watch TV." That, my friends, is a far tougher opponent than David Chase.
Let me say one last thing.
I'm no huge fan of development, but the argument that development is the reason that TV has be allowed to be creative and theater is stuck in 1918...that's patently absurd. In fact, I can say without reservation that the average television show and is approved of, tinkered with, rehashed and developed by far more paid executives and marketing gurus than any play that was recently seen at Playwright's Horizons. If television shows are, very recently, being given more creative freedom, it's not as if they are somehow doing so by way of deep experimentation.
The Sopranos is a perfect example: it is absolutely derivative of an already popular pop culture staple. It just happens to add layers to the Mafia stock characters that are unavailable to a two-to-three hour film. It's excellent, but it's not groundbreaking. Lost (one of my favorite shows) is a combination of existing and popular elements, and was pitched to the networks as a fiction version of Survivor. The Simpsons is hilarous (though not as good as it was years ago, by far) but it's just a very funny family comedy. It's wonderful, but it's not exactly the TV version of Marat/Sade.
Development is not unique to the stage, by any means. If there are things on stage we don't like to see, let's get some perspective: it's not because of readings.
What I'm hearing sounds something like this:
People in the theatre are pretentious snobs who write by candlelight, even though the rest of us are using lightbulbs. If you go to see a Broadway show, you're going to see a cheap, Circus-like knock-off of a movie or you're going to see a play that sounds like they had to blow the dust off of it before they put it on stage.
I'm also hearing, out there:
Theatre is high art, a landscape for the mind, a sort of spiritual happening that is ceaselessly compromised by the desires of the revolting marketplace and its progeny.
What I'm thinking:
Stereotypes.
The idea that playwrights sit in their Ivory Towers and write distantly dull museum pieces is an idea that can only be held by someone who hasn't seen very much new theatre, and is equating a few lousy productions (or productions that weren't their taste) to the entire theatrical community. Saying "Playwrights aren't good because I don't like Richard Greenberg" is inoffensive, but it's almost precisely the same logic that says "I don't like guys in frats because I frat guy once hit on my girlfriend" or "Blondes are stupid. I knew a stupid blonde woman once."
Note in the Salon article that Birkenhead (who is this guy again) says that if you want to know what theatre is like, take a look at Three Days of Rain. He says Angels in America and Doubt are pretty good, but MAN... A Fair Country isn't his thing. Excuse me?
Essentially, it's picking out examples of bad tendencies and applying them to a whole. There are tons of people out there with very cool music on their iPods making punk rock theater that deserves to me seen. It's reductive to paint plays and playwrights with a "you guys are out of touch" brush.
That is NOT to say that many of us who are banging away on the country's stages aren't guilty, often, of similar thinking. Other mediums, because of their popularity and commercial aptitudes, are dismissed as somehow inherently corrupt. American Idol does not equal the The Sopranos does not equal Veronica Mars does not equal Fox News. Just as Mary Poppins does not equal Long Days Journey Into Night.
There is a seduction is sequestering ourselves and attacking others. Film, television and theater seem like natural rivals, in some ways. They certainly act that way. That's, though, the thinking of children. There's no need for three different mediums to compete. They can learn, acknowledge, grow, exchange. They can simply be themselves.
As a playwright, I don't have to compete with The Sopranos. I have contend with the stereotypes that my work is obscure, or high-brow or "not for people who watch TV." That, my friends, is a far tougher opponent than David Chase.
Let me say one last thing.
I'm no huge fan of development, but the argument that development is the reason that TV has be allowed to be creative and theater is stuck in 1918...that's patently absurd. In fact, I can say without reservation that the average television show and is approved of, tinkered with, rehashed and developed by far more paid executives and marketing gurus than any play that was recently seen at Playwright's Horizons. If television shows are, very recently, being given more creative freedom, it's not as if they are somehow doing so by way of deep experimentation.
The Sopranos is a perfect example: it is absolutely derivative of an already popular pop culture staple. It just happens to add layers to the Mafia stock characters that are unavailable to a two-to-three hour film. It's excellent, but it's not groundbreaking. Lost (one of my favorite shows) is a combination of existing and popular elements, and was pitched to the networks as a fiction version of Survivor. The Simpsons is hilarous (though not as good as it was years ago, by far) but it's just a very funny family comedy. It's wonderful, but it's not exactly the TV version of Marat/Sade.
Development is not unique to the stage, by any means. If there are things on stage we don't like to see, let's get some perspective: it's not because of readings.
Tonys
Hey there! I didn't watch them! I was busy getting drunk! Seeing old friends! Being happy!
If you want to talk about the Tonys, I'm certain there are lots of places to do so.
If you, like me, didn't watch the Tonys...why didn't you? Do you have an aversion to them? Were you watching the Sopranos? What's your excuse?
If you want to talk about the Tonys, I'm certain there are lots of places to do so.
If you, like me, didn't watch the Tonys...why didn't you? Do you have an aversion to them? Were you watching the Sopranos? What's your excuse?
Friday, June 08, 2007
Pretentious Festival Shill for Friday
Interview with the Author has two more performances. Tickets can be purchased online at the link below or the link in my sidebar.
Sunday 6/10 at 6:30pm
Friday 6/15 at 7:00pm
Nytheatre.com praises the piece here.
James Comtois and Mark Armstrong also posted their commendations and thoughts, for which I'm very grateful.
Come check it out!
UPDATE: Thanks also to Johnna and Cat*!
Sunday 6/10 at 6:30pm
Friday 6/15 at 7:00pm
Nytheatre.com praises the piece here.
James Comtois and Mark Armstrong also posted their commendations and thoughts, for which I'm very grateful.
Come check it out!
UPDATE: Thanks also to Johnna and Cat*!
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Martin Denton on Neil LaBute
Take a look at the nytheatre i for Martin Denton's brief posting. The story is Neil LaBute's claim that, if casting is truly color blind, then white actors should have access to "roles of color."
I'm not sure if LaBute is aware of the very long tradition of Othello being played by various white stars. Claims of "reverse racism" in our society are toothless. They ignore long-standing systemic inequities in favor of a few choice desires on the part of the powerful.
I'm not sure if LaBute is aware of the very long tradition of Othello being played by various white stars. Claims of "reverse racism" in our society are toothless. They ignore long-standing systemic inequities in favor of a few choice desires on the part of the powerful.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Rinde Eckert's "Horizon"
I got opportunity to go check out Rinde Eckert's "Horizon" last night at the New York Theater Workshop, which I can recommend without reservation. I don't usually feel comfortable using this blog as a forum for reviews, so I'll eschew that format. The performers, songs, direction will all get professional reviews all over the place. In fact, I'm relatively certain Ben Brantley just said some very nice things over at the New York Times.
To start with, the whole evening was worth the allegorical story of the paper flower. You'll see.
What I found most compelling about the evening was that it portrays a Christian scholar as a formidable intellectual. In the current cultural climate, the political right has inspired a sort of rubbernecking instinct when it comes to public Christian 'representatives.' It goes without saying that the tradition of religious scholarship has taken a bit of a beating in both the press and in the political realm. Hackneyed phrases such as "I look to my faith" are so pat from politicians (on both sides of the aisle) that they've taken on the tone of placation. The idea, for example, that the parables and allegories in the Bible still have some heft, some ethical power, is a rather stunning one to see on the New York stage.
"Horizon," in this climate, would seem to be political. It isn't. It is concerned only, it appears, with humankind and its resistance to, or misunderstanding of, its own search for underlying meanings. Christianity here is beside the point, in a manner of speaking. More to the point is the desire for a religious human being to embrace reason, and to seek to inspire reason in others. It speaks to a large tradition and contigent of religious people who use their faith to find understanding, as opposed to using faith to dispel their responsiblity as seekers and thinkers.
To start with, the whole evening was worth the allegorical story of the paper flower. You'll see.
What I found most compelling about the evening was that it portrays a Christian scholar as a formidable intellectual. In the current cultural climate, the political right has inspired a sort of rubbernecking instinct when it comes to public Christian 'representatives.' It goes without saying that the tradition of religious scholarship has taken a bit of a beating in both the press and in the political realm. Hackneyed phrases such as "I look to my faith" are so pat from politicians (on both sides of the aisle) that they've taken on the tone of placation. The idea, for example, that the parables and allegories in the Bible still have some heft, some ethical power, is a rather stunning one to see on the New York stage.
"Horizon," in this climate, would seem to be political. It isn't. It is concerned only, it appears, with humankind and its resistance to, or misunderstanding of, its own search for underlying meanings. Christianity here is beside the point, in a manner of speaking. More to the point is the desire for a religious human being to embrace reason, and to seek to inspire reason in others. It speaks to a large tradition and contigent of religious people who use their faith to find understanding, as opposed to using faith to dispel their responsiblity as seekers and thinkers.
Interview with Kirk Wood Bromley
Check it out. See what he has to say about Moliere. That's begging for a fun discussion.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Barker Wrestles the Olympics
His words about it and the posts thereafter are a fantastic read. Especially for those of us living in a country where public funding is already a battle we barely fight.
Discount Code for "Horizon" at NYTW
Hey crew... this is a Discount Code for Tickets to "Horizon" at the New York Theater Workshop.
Thanks to NYTW for giving us the heads up!
Promotion! It benefits the consumer! Occasionally! Like now!
Tickets for all performances June 1 - July 1 are just $35 each (reg. $50).
Use code HZ4TTRE when ordering.
To purchase tickets, call TeleCharge at (212) 947-8844 or visit
http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=HZ4TTRE
New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.
CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.
Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.
The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.
Thanks to NYTW for giving us the heads up!
Promotion! It benefits the consumer! Occasionally! Like now!
______
Tickets for all performances June 1 - July 1 are just $35 each (reg. $50).
Use code HZ4TTRE when ordering.
To purchase tickets, call TeleCharge at (212) 947-8844 or visit
http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=HZ4TTRE
New York Theatre Workshop also offers both Student Tickets and CheapTix Sundays.
CheapTix Sundays: All tickets for all Sunday evening performances at 7pm are just $20 each! Tickets are available in advance but must be purchased at the NYTW box office on a cash-only basis.
Student Tickets: Full-time students with a valid student ID may purchase $20 tickets for all performances (subject to availability). Limit one ticket per ID. Tickets must be purchased in person and require an ID at the box office.
The NYTW box office is located at 79 East 4th Street (between Second Avenue and Bowery) and is open Tuesday - Saturday from 1pm - 6pm.
Monday, June 04, 2007
John Walsh on Jeopardy!
One of my favorite people, John Walsh, was on Jeopardy tonight and won! He's on tomorrow night as well. Everyone tune in to cheer him on.
I met John as a part of Gorilla Repertory Theater back in 2000. One of the straight up nicest guys that I met in the city, a great writer and a lover of Shakespeare. When I played Flute in Washington Square Park, John was Bottom.
Go Johnny!
For a better look at this fine gentleman and his distinguished career...see below!
I met John as a part of Gorilla Repertory Theater back in 2000. One of the straight up nicest guys that I met in the city, a great writer and a lover of Shakespeare. When I played Flute in Washington Square Park, John was Bottom.
Go Johnny!
For a better look at this fine gentleman and his distinguished career...see below!
Blogging, Interviewing, Drinking
That's what I did on Sunday.
The Impending Theatrical Blogging Event...happened. You can read about what happened here.
An Interview with the Author opened yesterday as well. Seems to have gone well, judging by the general responses. Thanks to all who attended, and I look forward to seeing the rest of you there. Yes, the rest. All of you. The entire internet.
The Impending Theatrical Blogging Event...happened. You can read about what happened here.
An Interview with the Author opened yesterday as well. Seems to have gone well, judging by the general responses. Thanks to all who attended, and I look forward to seeing the rest of you there. Yes, the rest. All of you. The entire internet.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Friday Random Shill
Yes, I am continuing to use this space for shilling my work. What do you expect? Journalistic integrity? If you'd like to read a discussion, you could try here.
1) Interview with the Author opens on Sunday June 3rd at 5:15pm. This is a part of the Pretentious Festival. It features yours truly interviewing yours truly about my Art with a capital "A." You will be completely floored by how important I am. Look here if you doubt me.
To buy tickets and/or check the schedule, go to the Brick Theater's webpage and scroll down to the lovely picture of me. The tickets are $10.
2) The Impending Theatrical Blogging Event is on Sunday, June 3rd at 9pm.
Yes, you could simply read all of our blogs and this central blog live as it happens... but then you'd be just doing what you clearly do anyway. Which is reading blogs from somewhere comfortable or, more likely, from work. Instead, come out and see the bleary-eyed bloggers in the flesh.
Think of it this way: If you are reading these very words, you are the core audience for this one-night only performance. Think of it as, um, a happening. Of non-happening. Think of it as watching people participate in a silent conversation, in fake space, while you watch. I mean seriously, how could you pass that up?
3) The Sophisticates. If you're a reader of blogs, check out the reading of John Devore's new play. I've read a draft of it and it made me want to pee. With joy. Read more ringing endorsements of it here.
1) Interview with the Author opens on Sunday June 3rd at 5:15pm. This is a part of the Pretentious Festival. It features yours truly interviewing yours truly about my Art with a capital "A." You will be completely floored by how important I am. Look here if you doubt me.
To buy tickets and/or check the schedule, go to the Brick Theater's webpage and scroll down to the lovely picture of me. The tickets are $10.
2) The Impending Theatrical Blogging Event is on Sunday, June 3rd at 9pm.
Yes, you could simply read all of our blogs and this central blog live as it happens... but then you'd be just doing what you clearly do anyway. Which is reading blogs from somewhere comfortable or, more likely, from work. Instead, come out and see the bleary-eyed bloggers in the flesh.
Think of it this way: If you are reading these very words, you are the core audience for this one-night only performance. Think of it as, um, a happening. Of non-happening. Think of it as watching people participate in a silent conversation, in fake space, while you watch. I mean seriously, how could you pass that up?
3) The Sophisticates. If you're a reader of blogs, check out the reading of John Devore's new play. I've read a draft of it and it made me want to pee. With joy. Read more ringing endorsements of it here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
