bloggie blog

Apropos of nothing, here is a list of published plays that I have read recently (in addition to those in which I have performed):

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
November by David Mamet
Hurlyburly by David Rabe
The Water’s Edge by Theresa Rebeck
‘Art’ by Yasmina Reza
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
Travels with My Aunt by Giles Havergal / Graham Greene
On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson
Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov

The last of Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet evokes a pleasant feeling in me. True, the entire volume is cherished because of the good feelings it brings to the modern reader, but this letter ends on an unexplained and inexplicable up note. It is the day after Christmas and Rilke is responding to something good the young poet had written. Further, Rilke is glad he hasn’t ended up in a profession that denies or attacks the existence of all art. Isolation in a lonely soldier’s outpost is better than a job in journalism, criticism and three quarters of what if called literature. I’m not at all sure I technically agree with this, but I can’t argue with the sentiment. The letter warmed me, that is all.

In this my final post on the topic, I link to an online version of them that I have found. Enjoy. It’s a resource to be read again and again.

Find more brief posts on Rilke here.

In the last seven weeks, I’ve seen seven plays. They span quite a diverse spectrum of good, contemporary American playwriting, including three world premieres. I’m glad I saw all of them! In reverse chronological order, with links to those still running, they were Extraordinary Chambers, No Word in Guyanese for Me, Pursued by Happiness, Re-Animator: The Musical, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, Burn This, and A House Not Meant to Stand.

My highest recommendation of the lot goes to No Word in Guyanese for Me because of the strong performance by Anna Khaja in this one-woman show written by Wendy Graf. You want to see good acting? See her. (Disclaimer: I know Anna pretty well.) I’d recommend the performances of Brooks Ashmanskas and Adam Rothenberg, too, but Burn This has closed.

As for the writing, I loved Neil Simon’s comedy as expressed through the spot-on anger of Jason Alexander starring in The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, but the biggest gut-busting laughter came from a few wonderful moments in the crazy, gory, out-there spectacle that is Re-Animator: The Musical. It needs some small rewrites, if you ask me, but it really knocks home some great laughs — and gross grimaces. I haven’t had such a full-body reaction to theater in a looooong time. On the serious side, I’m glad I got to see Tennessee Williams’s last play, though I didn’t “get” its ending. The chance for reflection on personal tragedies that I got from Keith Huff’s writing in Pursued by Happiness and the reflection I got on personal and global tragedies from David Wiener’s writing in Extraordinary Chambers leads me to recommend these shows and their fine performances and directing wholeheartedly.

Another note. In three of these plays, there’s a role I’m very right for that I tried to audition for or that I actually did audition for. Seeing those actors perform something I’d hoped to perform was interesting. At two of these shows, as I scrutinized, I admired, and that’s that. In one, however, I believe I would have been better, and it was at one of the most prestigious venues on the west coast. What the?

So, with a little luck and a little discrimination, I’ve seen good-to-great performances at a nice little clip lately. You go out and see a good show, too!

“It is not childish to live with uncertainty, to devote oneself to a craft rather than a career, to an idea rather than an institution. It’s courageous and requires a courage of the order that the institutionally co-opted are ill equipped to perceive. They are so unequipped to perceive it that they can only call it childish, and so excuse their exploitation of you.” —David Mamet, True and False

So it has come to this. My motivation for this entry is solely a desire to get in one more post for the month of July. I have 3 hours and 59 minutes to write this entry.

Tell you what? Let me link to a few friends slash bloggers I read pretty regularly. Lots of these people don’t live in Boston anymore, but that’s where I met them.

Erin Fast, Fran Betlyon, Jeremy and Rachel, Katie Clifford, Neil Jenkins, Marissa Turley Benson, Dave Evans.

There you go. Happy August, everybody!

Upon the recommendation of a fellow Cornellian at a recent alumni gathering, I put 5 small Los Angeles theaters on my list. “See their shows,” that list. I’ve seen about a dozen productions in the smaller theaters around LA, and they always have glaring weaknesses, but I will keep exploring, I promised, with this new list of 5.

First up, The Road Theatre Company. Last night I saw their current production, The Unseen, written and directed by Craig Wright. (I wish he had been there: I’d like to see if I remind him of Peter Krause. But that’s another story.)

My review is short and simple: “This is good theater.” The 3 actors are very good. Nice work, Douglas Dickerman, Matt Kirkwood and Darin Singleton. The direction is tight and compelling, the tech solid. The play itself — intense, dark, disturbing, horribly brutal at one point, but oh so intelligent in most places, particular in the dialog of Wallace — left me sitting there saying only a quiet “Whoa.” But the non-stunned part of me shouts, I found it! I found high-quality theater in Los Angeles. Glory be!

(My only complaint: the special effects are on the loud side a couple of times. Good writing, acting and directing provide the best jolts.)

Congratulations to the Road and their fine team. Congratulations and thank you.

“If there is any point to [this play], it is totally obscured by this disastrous production during which actors jabber meaningless dialogue at each other instead of actually communicating.”

Saw this on Backstage.com. I didn’t read more than that and I just had to post it here. Please, critic, tell us how you really feel.

“Some people need to learn how to park.” That was the relatively polite commentary I made early this morning as I walked up my street, passing a young woman trying to fit her small car into a large space. The space was plenty big enough, so her friend jumped out to help guide her. Aargh! If I couldn’t parallel park worth beans, I’d practice. That’s all I’m saying.

That experience was on my mind as I pulled into the lot of the Starbucks in Los Feliz a few hours later. I took the back way, and was pleased with myself for knowing where that alley led, but the one empty spot was next to an atrociously parked Prius. I’m having a good day, so it set me off only just a little. The owner was coming out just as I was exiting my car and she immediately fessed up to a bad parking job. This is the right behavior to make me not care any more. I made a joke back to her, it’s all good, I’m on my way. And then I looked a second time, as she seemed familiar. “I know you, don’t I?” Now, besides fessing up to her bad parking, she also didn’t pretend to be nobody. Two for two. (Two for three, I should say. She missed one point for the crappy parking job.) A little conversation ensued with Annabelle Gurwitch. You remember her from “Dinner and a Movie” on TBS. I remember her from a podcast on Fired! that I listened to a few months ago.

I’m not used to having conversations with people I recognize, but that’s two days in a row. (Yesterday’s will remain un-blogged.) Conversations are not always appropriate, but they’re better than “I love [insert favorite show here]!” Annabelle and I agreed that times are tough. She’s into writing exclusively these days, so even though the timing is better than ever to revive Fired!, it ain’t gonna happen. Too busy writing to revive Fired! … or to park well, wink wink. And when I said I was an actor, she said gloomily, “How’s that going?” Since I’m still on the six-month upbeat kick, I was all “Great!” … but eventually I did agree that the numbers are not good. No worries, though. I feel better about life because of all the savings I have in the stock market.

In brief: it was nice chatting, Annabelle!

When I came out of the Starbucks, her small grey Prius that had been parked at a horrible angle was gone. In its place was a small yellow Honda Fit — parked at a horrible angle. Aargh! You small-car drivers need to learn to park!