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“Mockingbird” — Stage and Screen
Kristine and I just watched the film version of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a few days after seeing the play. The differences between the film and the stage play are instructive. In the film, the Finches’ housekeeper, Calpurnia, has maybe ten lines. In Sorkin’s play, she is one of the leading figures. Sorkin’s Calpurnia is… Continue reading
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An Antidote to Trumpery
With the daily assault on decency and intellectual coherence coming out of the White House, and the spectacles of crowds with red caps sitting on top of heads filled with confusion, fear and hostility, it was a relief to pick up a book that offers a more positive view of America today. I started paying… Continue reading
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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 O’Neill — cleverly titled The O’Neill — I have never had a play produced there.… Continue reading
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In Dialogue
One of the differences between a blog post and an essay is that an essay is expected to be shapely and to move to some resonant conclusion. Occasionally a blog post will end resonantly, but mostly I find blogging is where I stir the kettle a little. I’ve been thinking about dialogue lately. Not dialogue… Continue reading
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“Behind the Sheet” and a Recurring Dramatic Problem
For a while, J. Marion Sims merited a statue in Central Park for his ground-breaking gynecological operations. What was largely unknown for years was that he was also a plantation owner and he used the female slaves he owned as guinea pigs for his experiments, trying out different techniques in a trial-and-error manner on these… Continue reading
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“Everyman” and After
Thinking about the National Theatre’s 2015 production of Everyman, a modern-language adaptation of the medieval morality play by Carol Ann Duffy, directed by Rufus Norris and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. It is indeed a modern spin. The original doesn’t open with Everyman snorting long lines of cocaine with partying friends and accidentally falling off the top… Continue reading
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Top 100 Theater Books–A Reply
I am very pleased that Ken Davenport has named one of my books–What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing–one of the “Top 100 Theater Books Every Theater Maker Should Read.” I modestly suggest that he has short-changed theater history though. I think he should have also included two of mine–Something Wonderful Right Away… Continue reading
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Epstein and Asner
First, I want to refer you to a piece Michael Feingold has written in memory of Alvin Epstein: Explaining Alvin Epstein. I first had the pleasure of meeting Alvin when Emily Mann cast him in a production of The Value of Names at Hartford Stage. I can’t claim that I initially understood what an honor it… Continue reading
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Celebrity Impersonation
I used to have a prejudice against plays and movies that were anchored in celebrity impersonation. No, actually, I still have a prejudice against them. Except when they are done so well that I have to give way. Which happens rarely. When volume three of Simon Callow’s multi-volume biography came out, he appeared at the… Continue reading
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Supporting the Girls
The New York Film Critics Circle recently gave their award for best actress to Regina Hall for her performance in a film called Supporting the Girls, and the response among many was “hunh”? Like many indie films, it opened, received a smattering of reviews and disappeared before most were aware it existed. One of the benefits of… Continue reading
Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 