Do Kentuckians Dream of Electric Sheep?

We stand to find out. Anne Washburn's A Devil at Noon, which may or may not have been inspired by the life of a certain science fiction writer whose mental processes were not the same as yours or mine, is part of the lineup for the 35th Humana Festival of New Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Also on the slate are a whole bunch of the best writers and directors in the country. To say nothing of the casts, e.g. triple threat actor/rock star/food blogger Rebecca Hart.

Musicals are crazy. And wonderful. And strange.

Doesn't it sometimes seem that every press release about a new musical sounds like (a) a terrible idea for a musical that might turn out to be brilliant, (b) a terrible idea for a musical that will, in fact, turn out to be terrible, or (c) an adaptation of a property that should almost certainly be left in its original form? (Were I not so determined to avoid whining – even though this is a blog about writing plays – I would complain here about the way the producers of Leap of Faith: The Musical refer to the fifty-bloody-third most popular movie of 1992 as "the hit film of the same name.")

The truth is, it is nearly impossible to predict which harebrained scheme will work and which won't. Which is as good a reason to love theatre as any.

These thoughts are prompted by We Have Always Lived in the Castle, now playing at Yale Rep and based on a cult novel so beloved and flawless that you'd have to be nuts to touch it. Luckily, the nuts in this case (Adam Bock, Anne Kauffman) are the kind who invariably have a method to their madness.

God's Ear and Kauffman's Glasses

Anne Kauffman, who was a guest at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama during the 2010 New Works Series, has received the Alan Schneider Director Award from TCG. You can read more about her work here.