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“The Weissensee Saga”
It’s common for the author of historical fiction to want to cram in as many aspects of the period being covered as can be managed. Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War and War and Remembrance moves various branches of “Pug” Henry’s around the globe so as to be witness to as many aspects of WWII… Continue reading
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Lee Grant
One of the treats about living where I have (and do) on the upper west side is that, walking my dog, I kept (and keep) running into Lee walking her dog. We always stop and swap stories. One time, I saw her on the street, we chatted, and then I sat down at our local… Continue reading
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SPACE DOGS and ENGLISH
It’s no surprise that American playwrights usually write plays set in America. It is a little surprising that three current off-Broadway plays by American playwrights are, in fact, set outside our borders. I wrote recently about Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic, set in Paris. Joining this are two very different off-Broadway offerings, Space… Continue reading
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ALICE ADAMS — book and film
Finished reading Booth Tarkington’s Alice Adams recently and watched George Stevens’s film adaptation. The racism in the book is dismaying but not entirely surprising for a book that was published in 1921. The good stuff in it is very good indeed. It’s about how class distinctions play out in a small industrial town in the… Continue reading
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Thoughts on “Prayer For the French Republic”
At a time when we’ve gotten used to tasty 90-minute hors d’oeuvres, it’s exhilarating to encounter a play with enough on its mind to hold the attention for three hours (including two 10-minute intermissions). Joshua Harmon’s Prayer For the French Republic (immaculately directed by David Cromer at Manhattan Theater Club’s off-Broadway house) is a full… Continue reading
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Richard Christiansen
I wrote a piece for American Theatre about the late, great Richard Christiansen, a critic who had a major part in the Chicago theater renaissance. And also a friend of mine. Here’s the link — Remembering Richard Christiansen Continue reading
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“Long Day’s Journey Into Night” – sort of
The program that comes with the off-Broadway production at the Minetta Lane Theater says the play on offer is Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill. And it’s true that every word spoken on the stage is by O’Neill. It’s also true that it’s about half the length of normal productions (something that the… Continue reading
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Thoughts after watching THE VERDICT
Just watched The Verdict for the first time since it came out forty years ago in 1982. Sidney Lumet at the top of his game, a perfect damn script by David Mamet (I can’t say how much it owes to the original novel), and spectacular work by an extraordinary cast including, in supporting roles, Lindsay Crouse,… Continue reading
Chicago theater, drama, film adaptation, movies, off-Broadway, playwriting, Pulitzer Prize, Second City, UncategorizedAmerican Buffalo, Daniel, David Mamet, Duck Variations, Glengarry Glen Ross, Harold Pinter, James Mason, Jay Presson Allen, Julie Bovasso, Lewis Stadlen, Lindsay Crouse, Mike Nussbaum, Paul Newman, Prince of the City, Sidney Lumet, Slap Shot, St. Nicholas Theater, Stanley Richards, The Verdict, Village Voice, W.H. Macy -
AUTUMN SONATA (2 Bergmans)
Just watched Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata again (with Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann) for the first time in decades. There are things in it that drive me crazy. The characters explain stuff endlessly in the past tense, and that’s usually enough to send me over the edge. But Bergman and Ullman are extraordinary, particularly in… Continue reading
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CULLUD WATTAH and CLYDE’S
My idea was to write a series of plays, each of which would take place in another American city. The stories would be specific to those towns, each arising organically out of the character and history of the location. And I would try to tell stories about cities that hadn’t already been represented a lot… Continue reading
All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Clyde’s, contaminated water, Crystal Dickinson, Cullud Wattah, Detroit, Dominique Morissea, Edmund Donovan, Enemy of the People, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Flint, Generl Motors, Henrik Ibsen, Kara Young, Kate Whoriskey, Lynn Nottage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, pollution, Public Theater, Reading PA, Reza Salazar, Rick Snyder, Roger Ailes, Ron Cephas Jones, Rosebud, Ruined, Skeleton Crew, The Detroit Project, Uzo Aduba, What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing
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Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 