Wednesday, April 28, 2010

entering into theatrical legend

About two and a half hours into the play... the church’s fire alarm went off, requiring the audience and the performers to leave the building. But rather than suspend the production for the night, the cast continued, in the chilly April air, to perform the play on the church’s steps, illuminated by street lights, flashlights and the occasional cell phone.

Passion Play: Spontaneous Street Performance (video)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The American Theatre as a Shuttered Organic Grocery

Theater really reminds me of an organic food store that just closed in my neighborhood. When I first moved here, I thought, "Wow, there's an organic food store here. This is a great neighborhood." But I never shopped there because everything was so expensive. They are liquidating now and everything is 50% off and I went to buy some things. I went to a counter with all these boxes that were covered in dust and when all was said and done, I still thought that it was too expensive. I think theater is similar. Who wouldn't want a theater to open up in their neighborhood? But, can a community afford to sustain these theaters under the current models? The answer is clearly -- no. Too often, we are in the business of catering to wealthy people, while leaving everyone else sitting in front of the tvs with their microwave dinners. What are we left with? Over-priced, dusty boxes of well-intentioned food.

I Interview Playwrights Part 151: Kenneth Lin

Monday, April 26, 2010

In case you missed it

Your second chance to see a play for which I did the sound design in Edinburgh 19 years ago.

Under a Banner of Shadow

Do something, don't just sit around.


A:  When I was young and had just arrived in New York, an older artist friend gave me some vague-sounding advice: do something, don't just sit around. It's proven to be useful -- get involved with something, anything, even if it feels only tangentially related to what you ultimately want to do. If you really are one of those people afflicted with the theater disease (unable to stop doing theater), you will never stray far from your artistic work. But waiting for the perfect opportunity is just a waste of time. Making good theater requires all sorts of knowledge and experience, so live your life and pursue all your interests.

I Interview Playwrights Part 155: Kate E. Ryan

Sunday, April 25, 2010

the Richard III ghost effect is all over the interwebs


Imagery of a dynamic noise pattern — resembling a malfunctioning “Princess Leia hologram” transmission — then appear projected into the bodies of the ghosts of Richard’s murdered victims, as they visit him in his sleep. (Video)

http://www.creativeapplications.net/openframeworks/richard-iii-openframeworks/

Friday, April 23, 2010

Nebulae: The Life Force, Point Break Live, and Dana Plato


The Unknown Flops of Vegas

"Although it didn't last long enough for the R-J to review, sources at the time said the musical highlight was "E.T." of Steven Spielberg movie fame dancing to "Ben," Michael Jackson's 1972 ode to a rat."

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Tony Awards to honor ART/New York

It's nice to see this recognition. The story of 13P's success could not be told without the support, consultations, workshops, and funding we have received by being members of ART/New York. They are fighting the good fight.

Tonys Announce Special Awards and Honors

CMU Dramatic Writing honors at Kennedy Center

CMU receives honors from the NATIONAL Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival:

The Paul Stephen Lim Asian-American Playwriting Award Supported by the University of Kansas Endowment Association, this award is given to the outstandingfull-length or one-act play on any subject written by an Asian-American student, in honor of Paul Stephen Lim's outstanding career as a teacher, playwright and passionate advocate for new voices in the American Theatre. It includes a cash award of $2,500, membership in the Dramatists Guild of America, and a professional development residency to be determined in consultation with the recipient. The inaugural recipient is Edgar Mendoza of Carnegie Mellon University, for his play Blue Note Run.

The Playwrights’ Center Development Workshop Grant goes to Patricia Loughrey of California State University-Long Beach, Dean Poynor of Carnegie Mellon University, and Julie Tosh of Carnegie Mellon University.

The Milan Stitt Award for Outstanding Teacher of Playwriting
The inaugural award goes to Kate Snodgrass, professor of theatre at Boston University and the Artistic Director of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

COOLER (final week!)

Ivan opens a dictionary and Andrea takes up her sewing. She is sewing something that couldn’t possibly fit on any body part known to man. 

Cooler in The Brooklyn Rail

FINAL FOUR SHOWS! 
April 21-24
Wednesday-Saturday @ 8PM

EXTREMELY LIMITED SEATING! 
SECURE YOUR SEATS!
(for Wed 4/21, use code CHOCOLATE to take advantage of $12 seats and a post-show talkback and reception sponsored by Wingspace www.wingspace.com)
OPERATOR STANDING BY HERE: 212.352.3101
TICKETS: $15

Friday, April 16, 2010

New CMU School of Drama course

History of Drama:
EARLY O'NEILL
Drama 54382 Mini A2


Fintan O'Toole wrote recently: "Eugene O'Neill's artistic career moves backward. The normal trajectory of a writer is from the particular to the general, from family to society, from the autobiographical to the impersonal, from more or less unmediated realism to experiments in form. O'Neill travels in the opposite direction." The only thing more surprising than the searching experimentation of the early plays is the fact that he found a band of collaborators, the Provincetown Players, who believed in them.

How did O'Neill, literally a child of mainstream theatre, discover a voice based in extreme theatrical conventions and wildly original structures? How was his artistic restlessness entwined with his radical politics?

Plays discussed will include Bound East for Cardiff, Abortion, "Anna Christie", The Hairy Ape, and Desire Under the Elms. We will also look at the crazily ambitious epics The Great God Brown (in which all the characters are masked), Dynamo (in which one of the central characters is a machine), Lazarus Laughed (originally produced with a cast of 177), and Strange Interlude, which serves as a kind of hinge in O'Neill's career. We will view Ric Burns's documentary Eugene O'Neill, the classic Paul Robeson film of The Emperor Jones, and Reds (with Jack Nicholson as O'Neill).

A Pulitzer juror explains why the choice for drama is often puzzling.

Charles McNulty in the LA Times