This is SO important

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

Just read this and show everyone you know.

Tony Awards...yawn

Yes, the Tony Award nominations for another year have been announced.

A little, unfocused rant to just get it out of my system.

No one cares about these Awards at all. No one worth worrying about anyway. They are meaningless and they are handed out arbitrarily and they represent, by and large, the terrifying trends that pushing the theater as far away from relevance as it can go.

Compared to the number of people who ardently see every movie that opens on a Friday, about 14 saw everything that is nominated for a Tony Award. Including me. I've seen NONE of these performances. And I love theater. The reason: I can't afford it.

One could rightly say: "If you didn't waste your money on cigarettes you might just be able to afford it." Pish-posh. I can afford cigarettes and LOTS of other things. Just not $100 on one seat to see something that resembles Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, or that is essentially a dinosaur like Twelve Angry Men.

So how does Broadway make up for the glaring lack of possible "eyeballs" as they call it in Marketing: recycling. That's the main issue. If there was anything going on in the big money areas of theater that was remotely experimental, engaging, challenging, bloody, heartfelt, and visceral, we just might have some interest. But this year is filled with garbage like movie retreads, old shows with big stars ("Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf" with... KATHLEEN TURNER...this time) modest, harmless tripe ("Spelling Bee" The Musical!) and worst of all, "On Golden Pond" which is like a terrible combination of film retread, big star and utterly harmless all rolled into one big waste of money.

You want revivals? How about some Brecht in these politically charged times? You want new Musicals? Isn't there a little something more interesting than a Spelling Bee to sing about? You want movies? GO TO THE MOVIES.

Sorry, but this burns me from heel to top hat. Like I said before: Broadway is the Titanic. Hit the iceberg already, or change course.

Star Wars Final Warning

It's no shock for my friends to know that I'm a purebred and incredibly obsessed Star Wars fanatic. Even before I knew who Joseph Campbell was, when I was just a kid, I think whatever Lucas was tapping into tapped pretty directly into me too. I'm not alone in that...far from it. It's the most successful pop culture franchise for a good reason.

The final Star Wars movie will open in just about ten days. I've been following the reviews pretty closely. (I enjoy Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic for review round-ups.) One surprising early message seems to resound: Revenge of the Sith has an eerie echo of contemporary politics. Don't want to spoil anyone...I'd just say look for it.

It seems there are lots of people that found the endless politics of the last two prequels quite dull...but it was actually rather smartly done. Because you take a senator, add political sympathy (a war on his home planet), then watch a war get created by the bad guys with the straight up intention of solidifying that leader's power: (Palpatine's executive powers come during war-time.) And in the end, you get a Republic surrendering its freedom in the name of safety. Security versus rights. It's the question that most fascists try to force on good people.

Sound familiar?

Take Back Your Time

Definitely worth considering and passing from hither to yon. A close friend of mine (quite close) has a particular interest in these ideas.

I know it's en vogue to trash the US and say Europeans "do it better;" but in this case there's no arguing with the facts. They take more vacation. I want more vacation. Don't you? We should enjoy our lives; not work hard to make sure we get to enjoy the final few years of our already short lives.

Who convinced us otherwise? Probably the very people who are getting rich because we're working our asses off. Excuse my French.

Tally ho.

George Hunka

A big hearty thanks and a wave to George Hunka, who's been kind enough to link me to his blog and give me a kind mention. Hello there George.

Back at work this morning and immediately sat down and opened job posting websites in full view of those who are not going to be employing anymore. Boy did that feel good.

New Spaces - Matchmaker!

Even though we often toll the bell for Off-Off space in New York City, there is always a solution to this problem: Make More. If some entrepreneur (or 30) could come up with the capital to get into a nice, centrally located space and turn it into even a serviceable black box space, with decent rental prices, it sounds like that place would be in heavy demand.

I imagine some of the more prolific small companies in NYC that have no permanent home could do more together than they can by themselves. Band together, pool your capital, divide up the work, divide up the space by season and viola! You are sharing a permanent residence.

I'd be happy to serve as a hub for said interest. Let's say if you're in a theater company that could use another company's resources to pool with your own to this end. E-mail me and I'll be happy to see if there are any matches for what you need from other e-mails. Think of me as an ad hoc dating services for small theater companies.

Try me.

The odd world of apartments

New York apartment search Number 506. I don't want to go to Craig's List. I have to find a roommate. I have no offers from the good people I call friends.

Fun.

Let's just say that if you don't live in New York City this is what it's like looking for a new roommate:

Try picking up a small piece of fruit, putting a $12 price tag on it, and then being really picky about who gets to buy it from you.

Work, Rinse, Repeat

Well...the work is never done.

If you've ever felt the pull of the day job/arts grind, I suggest you read Paul Auster's "Hand to Mouth" for a healthy dose of perspective. Most of this large writ essay on his own money troubles, but he's got a singular voice that's hard to deny. Read Paul Auster's novels, of course; they're far superior and some of the best American writing around. But I keep "Hand to Mouth" at my desk here at my day job for comfort.

Here's why: in the beginning of the book, Auster spells out the "other careers" of famous writers like Don DeLillo, William Carlos Williams and T.S. Eliot (in Advertising, Medicine and Banking respectively.) And it makes any of us who toil in the doldrums to make a New York living a little less hard on ourselves for the toil.

What's strange is that Auster's issues are far less sympathetic. As a man and a writer, I absolutely admire him. As the son of a middle class, relatively comfortable family who actively chooses to struggle with money because of some romantic notion of the "writer's life," the narrative comes off as a bit privileged. There are people in such worse shape than Auster ever find himself in "Hand to Mouth," that sympathy gave way to eye-rolling rather quickly for me.

It can be fairly said though, that my eye-rolling comes from my own honest experience at reading an honest account. I'm sure if someone read a volume of my early years (of course I'm still in them) then I'd warrant a fair amount of eye-rolling as well.

I'm thinking fo this because I current find myself looking for a new job. My position at my day job is being changed to a more senior level (meaning they want to go out and hire someone with more experience than me for more money and replace me with them) so while they did me the favor of giving me two months notice (thanks crew) I am off to the corporate resume cycle again.

So if anyone knows a place for an admin who is pretty good, sadly, at Human Resources...I'd be happy to entertain offers.

All the best!

The audience and rental prices

Had the pleasure of reading Martin Denton's new Nytheatre i and he brought up a great point...how the Off-Off spaces are dying out.

I worked briefly at Theatre Row (the new Theatre Row) and at the risk of burning bridges I have to say it's a fine example of exactly what's wrong with the New York theatre scene. Dodger too.

Sure, these spaces have created new opening for high quality theatres...but the prices and contracts are simply out of the range for your standard Off-Off Company. It's increasingly rare to find a space that a group of friends can afford after saving up their waitressing money for a year. And why? Take the fine example of 42nd Street Development Corporation, which proudly enjoy the fruits of a relationship with the New Group (who can afford all kinds of space) and nickel and dime small companies for profit and nothing more.

One might say to me: Well, isn't that why anyone operates a business? To make money?

Answer: If they continue to kill the audiences by turning small exciting theater into a series of vanity projects by children with rich parents (I saw a few of those when I was at Theatre Row); or moving all the experimental work further from the audiences by forcing it to use odd lofts and cheap space because real theater's costs are so high, no one's going to make much money in the long run.

If the number of companies that are able to afford theatre in good quality theater's diminishes; so will the audience for any theater at all. Because they will be turned off by the "small shows" they do see, and will move further towards accepting that what's on Broadway, in its embarassing state...it was true theater is.

In the long run that creates an uneducated audience, and eventually, no real audience for anything other than movie adaptation musicals. Follow that to this logic: No actual audience of any economic merit for plays...at all.

Well...I said in the long run. But is it possible...we're already there?

Business Words

Wonderful experience here at my day job, which is at Getty Images for those who care to keep track.

I've helped to schedule our 300 person office for "Diversity and Anti-Harassment" Training. I have to say, it's moments like these I truly enjoy the world of work.

I'm not sure about every office in the US, but here at Getty, they really believe their own dogma (read: utter B.S.). And they love Business-Speak the way Germany loved Poland in the 1940s.

I don't mean to go all Dilbert-esque on anyone, but I'd like to share a few gems from the world of Human Resources, Getty Images style. I'm sure your office has similar crapola they shine up and try to make you eat.

Chemistry Test
Usage: "We need to do a 'chemistry test' to see if this candidate matches our culture."
Meaning: Put two people together and see if they both don't mind inanely discussing shoes. If one looks listless and bored by what was on Survivor last night, they have failed the 'chemistry test.'
Analysis: Intended to make meeting people sound like a "process" that can be "managed" and "implemented." This can be easily accomplished without such claptrap. Why not say "I just want to see if this candidate would fit in here." Oh wait, that doesn't sound like "business."

Workflow
Usage: "We need to come up with a plan to manage our workflow; I'm overwhelmed!"
Meaning: How some little bits of paper go from my desk, to my boss's desk, then back to my desk again with little marks on it, then to a guy in shipping, and then sent via FedEx to someone who sends it back to me.
Analysis: Sounds both biological and icky. Once paperwork (or anything at all really) becomes what amounts to a "flow" you are officially in the midst of a startlingly inept bureaucracy. Check your e-mail immediately.

Move Forward on This
Usage: "We need to call John in Seattle because without his approval we can't move forward on this."
Meaning: Do something. Anything.
Analysis: People apparently hate to think of themselves as helpless. Who knew? So in business, we now never have to. We can just be sort of waiting to "finish moving." You can replace the terms "move forward on this" with "do anything." [Example: We need to call John in Seattle because without in approval we can't do anything."]

Discovery Process
Usage: "Hm. Well...in the discovery process we found out that Jim is up shit creek without a paddle."
Meaning: Investigation
Analysis: It is now considered Creepy to investigate things. It makes you feel like you're either doing research for high school or in the gestapo. Solution? Don't go through files looking for dirt on Jim the guy from accounting. Enage in a "discovery process." This will screw Jim good, I promise you.

Training
Usage: "Alison seemed skeptical during her sales training session."
Meaning: Indoctrination
Analysis: Training people in most offices is rarely just to show them how to use excel. It's a corporate mandated dogma fest that not only teaches you something, but sells it to you as a world view. Repeat these words: "Sell for you; Sell for US." "Growth means possiblity." "Raising the Bar means never apologizing for where your foot landed." If you find any of this distasteful, you are not being properly "trained." For reference, see other forms of popular training include "cross-training," "obedience training" and "breaking horses."

For the Business
Usage: "We're sorry to let the entire creative department go, but it's the best thing for the business."
Meaning: Bad for people, good for little green pieces of paper
Analysis: The only people who use these words are those that are justifying the firing of someone else. It is rarely ever used otherwise. Mark my words, crew. I work in HR.

It's this sort of Orwellian language mangling, meaning-reduction and screw tightening that will someday help our children know their place as miserable worker bees.

If you have any others to contribute, please let me know. That's just a few of my favorites. There are tons.

Noteworthy move to... Off-Broadway

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/theater/newsandfeatures/22hurl.html

Hurlyburly, the Off-Broadway hit now playing at Theatre Row, is moving to a larger Off-Broadway house, even featuring a cast of stars and a well-worn and exciting script? Why the seemingly lateral move? Because it isn't artistic suicide.

The New York Times article above lays out the difference in cost to the producers...between 600,000 and 1.8 million dollars for a Broadway move approximately. And with a 499 seat house to move to, what could possibly be the downside except for the loss of already uninterested walkby traffic and tourists?

Hopefully, this will be a part of a realitic trend outside the realm of the traditional vanity move to "Broadway" which increasingly demands more capital and produces diminishing audiences for top-level talent and challenging works. It also produces a homogenous audience of the wealthy, who would much rather spend money on Billy Crystal than challenging works, even ones that have already have feature films made of them.

The distinctions between Off-Broadway and Broadway are NOT qualitative, they are purely quantitative. More money, more noteriety, more risk. And as movie stars move away from the Broadway system, perhaps what we'll see is just as much press and respect for the New York Theatre Workshop or for the new Theatre Row's offerings than for those at the American Airlines Theatre. The only thing we should see is a loss of risk that you won't catch the eye of someone's dying aunt or some family from upstate who really likes the idea of people singing on roller skates.

As Ray Bradbury said once, of the poor stomachs of those with a red pen, "let them choke on the weak tea of their own ungodly invention." So should it be with those who are willing to pay top dollar to see trite garbage. Let the rest of us seek out quality, and enjoy comparatively inexpensive comfort food, that feeds and enlightens.

Prosecute Novak

Of all the people not to be currently under the gun for the "outing" of CIA Agent Valerien Plame, Robert Novak is conspicuous by his absence. If reporters from the Times can be jailed for their "contempt of court" (free speech) then Novak should be forced to admit who, exactly, in the high levels of power, revealed that information to him.

Bushgate, my friends. Act on it. This could be the thing that nails them.

Not Theatre or Politics...I just think this is funny

http://www.nationallampoon.com/supermanisadick/

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller passed away today, at 89.

My friend noted that a headline read "Death of Playwright, He was married to Marilyn Monroe."

I think Death of a Salesman pretty outshines a failed marriage to someone a little more famous than him.

Don't you?

Some mornings

You just look out and say "Yes, this will all work out for the best."

Tonight I'm seeing Happy Days at the Classic Stage. I love Beckett.

Where to Mourn - Thoughts on Nicole duFresne

It's been nearly two weeks so I have some catch up to do. First of all, a college colleague of mine named Nicole duFresne was murdered two weeks ago, on Clinton and Rivington Streets in Manhattan. The situation was in the news, and her close friend and one of my very best friends, Matthew Trumbull, wrote an eloquent response to it at www.nytheatre.com. What he says about the term "aspiring actress" is succinct and passionate, as passionate as he was for Nicole when she was alive.

I won't add much here on the topic. I guess I'll just ramble a bit, see what comes out. Of course it was awful, and there are a thousand things that could be said from a variety of angles. I felt the New York media showed, once again, that it has little care for decorum, as it was present INSIDE the Memorial Service, well after Nicole was gone and her killer was caught. These are the sort of people that deal only in loss, it's what they're selling, and that is a low business. They don't even have the grace to treat it like blues music; it's more like movie-of-the-week filler and it cheapens everyone and everything that it touches. I've heard it said, and I believe it, that her being covered in the newspaper probably helped them catch the young people that shot her. But that doesn't mean that was the newspaper's intention...if anything it was a seductive side-effect that got them in the door and kept them inside, clicking away.

I'm not trying to criticize those that were helpful to the media. I think the media should be taken to task for how they handle tragedy, whose tragedy, and what they know in their own tiny, shrivelled hearts as right or wrong.

I was standing on the corner, as Nicole's fiancee Jeffrey performed an odd drum circle/fire ritual to say goodbye to her. I felt very far away from that, in particular, but of course, it was something Nicole would have done herself so in that way it was appropriate. I was standing next to a photographer who was about my age and at least (at least) wasn't trying to work his way into the circle and crowd real mourners out just to get a good picture for the Daily News. Past the two of us walked a guy from the neighborhood who said, just loud enough, "If she was black or hispanic none of this would be happening."

The photographer looked at me and say "He's right." I said, "Yes, he is."

That's not to say that we wouldn't be grieving in our own way, or that Matthew Trumbull wouldn't have had someone taken from him, in a flash, for no reason. Or that her parents, family, friends and she herself weren't damaged beyond belief, regardless of their race. But would her death have found its way to CNN, or more than one article, let alone the cover of several newspapers, if she were black or hispanic? Or what if she didn't have a fantastic glamour shot to toss around like candy...what if she was heavy, or her nose was too big, or she had a hairlip? This man was saying, and he was right, that Nicole's death was treated as somehow special or significant because, simply put, it made a titilating story for the papers. And that, alone, does not justify their presence at a Memorial Service.

Her death is tragic, and painful and a loss to everyone. But I think she herself would have been the sort of person to stand up and throw some perspective onto the proceedings. This was a loss for those that loved her. But I promise you, the death of a young black woman or hispanic woman in the Bronx or Queens would not, on a slow news day, get this sort of coverage. And we need to examine, of course, why we know that.

I wish I could turn off my criticial faculties when these things happen, sometimes.

And I found myself, as another friend noted, feeling that we were all just too young to be handling this loss. There was a sense of youth throughout the proceedings that shined a light on how mistimed her death was. People in their midtwenties just don't know what to do with this sort of grief, we struggle for sentiment, we work to find the depth of feeling, we are unprepared for death.

Her friends, the ones that were closest with her, all handled things the best way they could. They are lovely, powerful, graceful people. But too young, it struck me, to have to bring that to the surface at this point in their lives. When they're just trying to figure out how to balance a day job with acting classes, trying to get a good deal on rent, trying to quit smoking, making a third run to the liquor store on a Saturday night, looking for the best six dollar bottle of red wine on the market. These are not people who should be crying, begging for their friend to come back, dealing with newspapers, singing songs of loss in a converted church like some sort of twisted talent show. The entire thing was out of place, as it should have been. None of us should die before our time, of course...but least of all for simply standing up for ourselves and walking around at night. At 28 years old. And there are very few people that I saw that day who I felt (myself included) could truly get their minds around what had happened. Or their feelings.

There is no loss like early loss. It makes us feel, I think, unprepared. And inadequate. And helpless. My girlfriend lives just a few blocks from there, and while I don't want to even THINK or SPEAK that way...I feel a little more like I'd like to walk with my arm around her every where she goes. But what good will that do? The truth is... I'm not ready to change anything about how I'm living for this...we never truly are. We say things, we try to get them to sink into our bones, and then we realize that WE aren't gone and we just keep doing what we were going to do. I think so anyway... again... this circles back on itself. I just don't know what I feel. I'm sad for her, for her friends and her family. Otherwise, it's a mess. It's a murder.

As I write this, Mr. Trumbull is off to Minnesota to attend a more quiet funeral for Nicole near Wayzata, her hometown. I think he will find a little more closure there. If I knew why a quiet service and even some wide open space and some good, clean cold weather would serve a funeral better than the streets of the Lower East Side...I'd clear that up for all of us right now. In the meantime I'll just say it's one of those facts, those truths that you wish you didn't have to know. Matt knows that too, and that's why he's on an airplane.

Check out iFilm ... plus some late night ranting

www.ifilm.com

There's a clip in the Top 100 of Fox News taking it hard during the inauguration. The clip is called, I believe, a Fair and Balanced Inauguration. Very good stuff. Go Vanity Fair.

It amazes me that Bush thinks he can make Social Security the main issue of his second term. It is all smoke and mirrors, obviously: Social Security is a hot-button topic that pulls focus away from the war we started, the mess we've made, and the growing sense that we're in way over our heads. Maybe the MILLIONS of protestors against this war were right? Couldn't be...those people are hippie pacificists with no job. Or, perhaps, got good grades in college, which discounts them from Bush's direct radar.

Loved that Dick Cheney, in response to a question about Iran recently, said "we don't want a war in the Middle East." Of course not, that would be foolhardy. War is bad. Dangerous. Social Security, now that's where the MEAT is. Let's talk about that. Much more confusing, so many more numbers. Lots of interest rates to discuss, fuzzy math, Greenspan to consult. (Can we have 80 BILLION more dollars for Iraq please?)

Oh, and the National Endowment for the Arts (Bush version) is spending some of the two dollars they have to rub together on a book of the writings by soldiers who return home. Something like "Operation Homecoming." I'm sure we'll have lots of words like "Freedom" and "Did my job for my country" and "So glad to get home and see my wife." I'm looking forward to that piece of 'literature' from our fair and balanced, Bush approved, Federal Arts foundation. Laura Bush, to be fair, did stand next to a big picture of Shakespeare and wave and say "We like Shakespeare! We don't hate you fucking carnies!" You know who else likes Shakespeare? Everyone. I dare her to stand next to a picture of Samuel Beckett and identify him by sight. Or Edward Albee. Or Sam Shepherd for that matter. And he's even been in the Movies.

Winter can really kick a person's mood around. I go from being nearly giddy with my girlfriend, to being utterly enraged, to a sort of bleak funk. At least I know January hasn't kicked the liberal ire out of me.

Question: How's the winter treating your mood?

-Matt

Cute story... seeing pretenious puppet theatre

Before I publish my actual, more well-balanced review of Lyubo, I wanted to talk about actually seeing it.

This is a puppetry/dance/musical piece about an American who visists Bulgaria in 1925 and writes his daughter letters. Pop Quiz: When's the last time you gave Bulgaria in 1925 any thought at all? Be honest. I won't judge you. Would you really like to?

I went with my girlfriend, Pam, who was barely able to contain her laughter. She was wiping tears from her cheeks, folks. That sort of laughter. Silent, painful, inappropriate laughter. Really, one of the best kinds, if you're watching it from the side, like me. I think it's cute as hell. She, of course, was being tortured by a thousand tiny clowns with feathers.

The fact is, we were watching things happen that can only be treated by adults with a sense of irony with a chuckle. A man in a giant Yetti suit actually put the standing microphone up INTO his faceless Yetti mask, stroked a puppet and sang a song about the Sacraments. Oh, and there were people dancing with little swinging weights. Rolling around, trying to commune with these damn things or somesuch. Rolling on the floor. And there was a red horse, that you wouldn't know anything about at all if you didn't read the program. Sort of a horse. A horse's head and feet. And...well...you get the picture. A hodgepodge of random stuff, some of it as silly looking as my high school english teacher would look in a Speed-o.

Afterwards, Pam profoundly apologized for laughing. No need, of course. The only people who wouldn't laugh out loud at these nearly hypnotized looking puppeteer/dancers performing these ridiculously "weighty" and earnest movements are either there to review the show (me, for example) or probably a little insane. Or just so convinced they HAVE to like it that their pride has coopted all normal brain activity. That's not to say there isn't anything to enjoy in Lyubo but there is a TON of semi-coherent masturbation going on too that just needs to be taken for exactly what it is. Oh, and if you dress up like a big, white Yetti and stroke a puppet, you better not get on the microphone.

It's a strange balance to hit: accessible, brilliant, new art that doesn't pander to the MTV Generation...but also isn't designed only for rich tourists or the blue-haired crowd who just can't get enough Billy Crystal and Chicago. The far end is stuff like this and Richard Foreman. Those artists who basically think that as long as they explain in the linear notes that they have some REASON for dressing up like a potted plant, covering themselves in honey and letting bees polinate them, that we are to take it seriously.

We're caught in the middle, I fear. Cursed with good taste. Or, at least, taste of some sort.

How Selective

Do you think an artist should be with what they decide to do, as they are trying to gain a reputation? Is it important to take all work given, as it's a potential networking opportunity at the very least, or to focus on getting a very specific kind of work, risking a tougher road, but with higher results?

Love to get some thoughts on this...

Matt

A good quote from Upton Sinclair

A famous one, but hey, sometimes it's good to put things back into circulation.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

-Matt