February 2010
24 posts
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Three cows walk into a bar. One of ‘em turns to the others, says, “So I saw my grandmother Saturday, at the thing…”
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“PROPS:
Thanks for the new stuff.
The wind up grandma toy broke. Can we get a...”
– Just some of the wonderful notes out of today’s rehearsal of Working It Out (the last run in the rehearsal room before the cast and everyone else move into the space to start tech). Who says theater ain’t a serious and weighty endeavor, huh?
These notes in particular, by the way, are...
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“No power can harm Iran… The Iranian nation will chop off the hands from...”
– Iranian President Ahmadinejad, showing that he has yet to master all 14 of Limbert’s tips for successful negotiation. But he does seem to have a pretty literal understand of “Arms Control.”
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Jet Set →
Take a look at this archival image of the cover of JET magazine (March 17, 1960). Those of you familiar with the theater (and dramaturgy) program at University of Maryland would be forgiven for thinking you just spotted a time-traveling prof. But no, this is NOT Professor Faedra Chatard Carpenter—soon to be production dramaturg on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, her fourth production at...
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OH SNAP WORKING IT OUT IS BACK. (…in this explosion of posts, it was feeling all neglected?)
All right, just for this place of tumblr, a, er, sneak preview bit of “Vic’s Greatest Hits,” coming soon[ish] to a microsite near you.
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“Grassy knoll. […] Dallas, November 1963, he was there.”
Okay, so here’s the big...
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14 Tips on Negotiating with Iran (in case you find... →
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“Sometimes when his hands are on me I say to my lonesome self, ‘Laura Welch, this is not The Dread Spirit who is touching you, it’s just dear, dear Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky,’ and he puts his whiskery mouth close to my ear and he hisses, ‘Sinner!’ He knows, he’s the only one who knows what that word means! SINNER! I like children! I really, really...
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“All human beings are in truth akin;
All in creation share one origin....”
–
Sa’adi Shirazi was born (circa 1213) and died (December 9, 1293) in Shiraz, Iran. His full name was Musharrif od-Din Muslih od-Din. He later derived his pseudonym from the name of the local prince, Sa’d ibn Zangi. After completing his education at the Nezamiyeh College, [Sa’adi]...
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“I was a mathematics student in university until I realized that wasn’t the right...”
– Playwright Motti Lerner, interviewed by Susan Davidson in The Washingtonian.
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Negotiating with Iran (the book) →
Look! It’s an entire book on the subject (the title says it all as to topic, but it’s related to Benedictus if that doesn’t come across)—by no less an author than Middle East specialist, scholar, and former hostage Ambassador John W. Limbert. Amb. Limbert (no stranger to some of us here on this end, it must be noted) has actually conferred with Motti about the play and even...
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Tension Rising: Motti Lerner's 'Benedictus' →
Write-up from the Theater J (DC) performance of Motti Lerner’s Benedictus—which is juuuuuuuuust beginning to glimmer into view over the horizon as an upcoming project here. Specifically, one of our three international readings in the new Concert Reading series, this one to be featured Thu-Sun April 15-18th alongside short pieces by Caryl Churchill and Tony Kushner in an evening...
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“I love writing characters whose political lives offend me, upset me—it’s a challenge to figure such people out. […]
“I can be and often am moved by a character’s self-delusions, but I would surrender an important part of my judgment and intellect were I to lose, when faced with the poetry and ecology of a character’s self-delusions, the fact that these are delusions nonetheless. If I...
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Kwame Kwei-Armah: how arts can [e]ffect change -... →
Sweet piece from the JHU paper as a preview of Kwame’s talk originally scheduled for February 8th. If you’ve been around, or following the news, you know that was obviously smacked by the Snowpocalypse. So, we simply moved the event—complete with Kwame’s introductory comments, moderator Marc Steiner of local NPR affliliate WEAA, and several noteworthy panelists—to...
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Black Theater in Britain: Standing in the Ghetto? →
Despite the presence of, among other examples, Kwame’s plays on the London stages, Lindsay Johns penned this provocative piece for the London Evening Standard earlier this month. Following the link itself will show it indeed prompted quite a bit of response….
The theatre of the ghetto certainly has its place: it does indeed depict one reality of black life in London. But it is...
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Compassion & Choices →
Among its many themes or areas of inquiry, Let There Be Love delves gently into end-of-life issues. Particularly through one terminally ill character, but in more general ways as well, the play highlights some of the challenges and choices raised by the subject. Indeed, playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah—who did a fair amount of research on the subject for his original production in...
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“[I]f I want to express myself, I have to make up a story. Some people call it...”
– Haruki Murakami
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Apparently, Vic was deceiving all of us. Vic didn’t shoot Elvis. Elvis isn’t dead, nor is he bumming around Kalamazoo.
Elvis is hangin’ ten.
(Okay, to clear up a little bit of confusion, in Jerry and Tom, ex-hitman Vic hints that he may or may not have whacked Elvis.
The surfing game, I really cannot explain. But hey, why not try surfing with Elvis?)
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SEPARATE LIVES from Baltimore's _The Urbanite_... →
Simple but illuminating piece from The Urbanite with various reflections on race and segregation/integration in their continuing thorny and complex iterations here in Charm City. Apropos, mainly I suppose, of the upcoming start of rehearsals for Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but certainly not inapt for Kwame’s Let There Be Love—or just life in B’more in general.
...
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“There’s musicality to the proofreaders’ jargon. It becomes a secret language...”
– Lynn Rosen, author of Washed Up on the Potomac, on the use of language in her play
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This is kind of fantastic…
Whilst sitting in the land of dramaturgy, I can hear the music and louder sounds coming from the Pearlstone and Head theaters. Particularly the Pearlstone, but yeah, tend to hear both.
Tonight, I’ve heard the tail end of E. Faye Butler’s performance, and am now listening to Lord Invader, as Let There Be Love works into its 8:00 performance. I am a...
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“I think too many people believe that films are real, even the people who make...”
– Terry Gilliam (interview published in Stephen Lowenstein’s My First Movie: Take Two) 