Author Archives: dgsweet

About dgsweet

I write for and about theater. I spent a number of years as a resident playwright of a theater in Chicago which put up 14 of my plays, and I still think of Chicago as my primary theatrical home, though I actually live in New York. I serve on the Council of the Dramatists Guild. Between plays, I write books, most notably SOMETHING WONDERFUL RIGHT AWAY (about Second City), THE O'NEILL (about the O'Neill Center) and THE DRAMATIST'S TOOLKIT (a text on playwriting craft). I also occasionally perform a solo show called YOU ONLY SHOOT THE ONES YOU LOVE. I enjoy visiting theaters outside of New York. I can be reached at dgsweet@aol.com.

Shakespeare as Springboard

“Shakespeare lied.When Juliet died,Romeo didn’t take poison just because he’d lost his bride.What did he do?He got over it.He went back to junior high, and he got over it.And so will you.You’ll get over it.” A lyric by Carolyn Leigh … Continue reading

Posted in Chekhov, Shakespeare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The Far Country,” “Merrily We Roll Along” and Revues

I should declare a conflict of interest. Lloyd Suh is a former student of mine. I have no idea what, if anything, he got from our classes a couple of decades ago at the New School, but he made a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Chasing Stories

If you took a census of all of the characters who are alive in my mind, it wouldn’t surprise me if the number reached into the thousands. Sherlock Holmes and Mama Rose, Clytemnestra and Walter Lee Younger, Jackie Brown and … Continue reading

Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Raisin in the Sun” at the Public

The first grown-up straight play I remember seeing was Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun in Chicago. I didn’t see it the first time it played Chicago, when it stopped there on its way to Broadway in February 1959 … Continue reading

Posted in Broadway, Chicago theater, drama, film adaptation, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A New “1776”

I’m going to guess I’m not the only person who learned about the triangle trade from a musical. Late in the action of the show of 1776, a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina named Edward Rutledge reacts … Continue reading

Posted in Broadway, film adaptation, musicals, New York, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

As You Kink It

Because of serendipitous scheduling, I saw Kinky Boots on a matinee and the New York Shakespeare production of As You Like It that night. Kinky Boots is about a guy who gets to say and do some things because he … Continue reading

Posted in Broadway, Chicago theater, drama, improvisation, musicals, New York, off-Broadway, theater, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Hyprov”

I remember someone bringing up Whose Line Is It Anyway? to Del Close, the Chicago improvisational theater master. A student said something to Del about the players on the show flying without a net. Del retorted, “They may be flying … Continue reading

Posted in improvisation, New York, off-Broadway, Second City, theater | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watching a TV series reminds me of a play I saw in 2007

Watched an oddball but extremely affecting British miniseries on Britbox tonight called Don’t Forget the Driver starring Toby Jones (in two roles) and co-written by Jones and Tim Crouch. The plot concerns a bus driver in Bognor Regis who discovers, … Continue reading

Posted in Chicago theater, improvisation, movies, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, Second City, television | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Review: “Heart” with Jade Anouka

If you saw Phyllida Lloyd’s series of Shakespeare productions set in a women’s prison you likely remember what an arresting impression Jade Anouka made as Mark Antony and Hotspur. She has returned to New York in a solo piece called … Continue reading

Posted in New York, off-Broadway, theater | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment