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Category Archives: theater
Remembering Preston Jones
In the mid-1970s, I was assigned a piece by an in-flight magazine distributed on American Airlines. The story focused on three playwrights who first came to the theater community’s attention in regional theaters. The three playwrights were David Mamet, Marsha … Continue reading
Both Your Houses
I was determined to witness the moment when Joe Biden overtook the Orange Thug in Pennsylvania. I plopped down on the sofa in the living room under the illusion that this might happen at 2AM (which is about the time … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, film adaptation, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, theater
Tagged Both Your Houses, Frank Capra, Jean Arthur, Jim Carrey, Jimmy Stewart, Joeseph Biden, Joseph McBride, Lewis R. Forster, Maxwell Anderson, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Political Play, Richard Nixon, Sidney Buchman
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Two Contrasting Plays
I continue my casual tromp through plays of the past, alternating reading from an anthology of early Pulitzer Prize-winners and an anthology of postwar African-American plays. The two most recent plays I’ve encountered, by coincidence, are about flawed Black authority … Continue reading
Another obscure Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Continuing my lackadaisical progress through Pulitzer Prize-winners of the past, hit Hell-bent Fer Heaven by Hatcher Hughes. As the “fer” in the title suggests, this is a play written in dialect about hill people in the South (reportedly based on … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, theater
Tagged dialect, George Abbott, Hell-bent fer Heaven, Miss Lulu Bett, Pygmalion, theater history, theatre history
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Terrence McNally Documentary on AMERICAN MASTERS
Having been involved in NY theatre since 1967, watching Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life stirred up decades of memories. Some of them involve Terrence. I can’t claim to be a close friend, but he and his work have been … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, Second City, theater
Tagged American Masters, Chicago Shakespeare, Edward Albee, Elaine May, Jeff Richmond, Lanford Wilson, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Marin Mazzie, Ragtime, Robert Brustein, Terrence McNally, The Ritz, The Tubs, Wendy Wasserstein, What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing
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Bad Behavior
Richard in Richard III is intended to be a villain. Shakespeare paints him as evil on legs. And yet, we get impatient when he’s off the stage. Clarence has a long speech filled with poetry. Yes, yes, beautiful, but could … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, film adaptation, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater, Uncategorized
Tagged A Streetcar Named Desire, Aaron Sorkin, Abby Rosebrock, Alan Cumming, Atticus Finch, Blue Ridge, Carnal Knowledge, Christopher Walker, Daddy, Downstairs, Halley Feiffer, Hamish Linklater, Happy Birthday Wana June, Harper Lee, Heidi Schreck, Hillary and Clinton, Iago, Ink, Jack Nicholson, Jenny Allen, Jeremy O. Harris, Jessica Tandy, Jez Butterworth, John Osborne, Jules Feiffer, Kurt Vonnegut, Look Back in Anger, Marin Ireland, Marlon Brando, Mike Nichols, Network, Othello, Paddy Chayefsky, Restoration, Richard III, Rita Moreno, Rupert Murdoch, Shakespeare, Socratese, The Double-Dealer, The New Yorker, The Pain of My Own Belligerence, Theresa Rebeck, Tim Blake Nelson, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tyne Daly, What the Constitution Means to Me, Wheelhouse Theater
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Icons of the Fifties–Bruce and Holliday
On successive nights I saw shows about two entertainment icons of the 1950s. Neither quite worked, but seeing them in succession triggered a few thoughts. I’m Not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce is by Ronnie Marmo and features him as the … Continue reading
Posted in off-Broadway, theater, Uncategorized
Tagged 1950s, Andréa Burns, Annaleigh Ashford, Bob Fosse, Bruce Marmo, Fifties, HUAC, Judy Holliday, Lenny Bruce, obscenity, Willy Holtzman
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Thoughts on Rosie’s Theater Kids
I accepted an invitation to attend a performance on Sunday of Rosie’s Theater Kids. Rosie is Rosie O’Donnell, who started the organization to introduce theater to kids in the New York area who might otherwise not be exposed to it … Continue reading
Posted in Broadway, drama, New York, theater
Tagged Evanston Township High School, high school, Rosie O'Donnell, Rosie's Theater Kids, theater program
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After by Michael McKeever
At first, After, a play by Michael McKeever, is reminiscent of God of Carnage, the Yasmina Reza play about two sets of parents meeting to sort out a conflict involving their sons. Carnage, however, plays out in one act in … Continue reading
Posted in drama, New York, off-Broadway, playwriting, theater
Tagged 59e59th Street Theater, God of Carnage, Joe Brancato, Michael McKeever, Yasmine Reza
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Rejected by the O’Neill
I have heard from a number of friends that that have received word that they will not advance to the next level of consideration at the O’Neill. It may surprise some that, even though I wrote the book about the … Continue reading
