Cosmic Certainty

We close our Senior Emphasis show, Cosmic Certainty, at BoCo today, after a very short week-long run. I'm very proud of my students: they wrote all the material themselves, and they put their heart and souls into the project.

Here are my program notes, which describe our process a little bit:

"Welcome!

The theatre piece you are about to see did not exist a few months ago.
It was created by the people performing it, and the text, with a few exceptions, was written by the actors. It is brand new!

Isn’t that exciting?

We began working together in September,
talking and collectively dreaming about what kind of an event we would like to make together.
What questions would we try to answer?
How would it be structured?
What person or place or event could anchor us, so as not to fly away in a million directions?
We found a wonderful structure that inspired us all:
The Zodiac
A twelve-tiered, circular structure that encompassed fire, air, earth and water.
We began researching the different zodiac signs, creating a physical vocabulary for each. Characters and scenarios and speeches and ideas and conversation and improvisations began to form.
Within this structure we tried to answer a question:

Do we make our own destiny,
or is our fate written in the stars?

Our anchor emerged slowly from a seemingly mundane location:
A Post Office
where messages are both sent and received
and connections are both made and broken.

A world of paper and plastic and boxes and bubble wrap and letters.

A place in which almost no identity or personality exists, but where great possibilities await.

It takes enormous bravery to create and perform your own work. It also takes exceptional trust and generosity for a group of actors to form such a connected ensemble.

It has been inspiring to work with this talented group of actors.

Enjoy the show!

John Kuntz

SEE Funnyhouse of a Negro at Brandeis!!!!

It seems that some of the best theatre I've ever seen is at schools and Universities. Robert Woodruff's Pheadra and Marcus Stern's production of hamletmachine recently with the ART Institute. Now my good friend David Gammons has directed Adrienne Kennedy's not oft-produced classic "Funnyhouse of a Negro", which I had the good fortune to see today at Brandeis University. It was absolutely stunning! They only have two performances left, so sorry for the late notice, but if you are free, you should really check it out!

Here's all the info!

FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO
By Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by David R. Gammons
Choreography by Susan Dibble
Scenic Design by Carlos Aguilar
Lighting Design by Ben Williams
Costume Design by Lisa Polito
Sound Design by David Wilson
Friday, February 12 at 8:00
Saturday, February 13 at 2:00 & 8:00
Sunday, February 14 at 2:00
http://www.brandeis.edu/arts/btc/0910season/Funnyhouse.html
http://www.davidrgammons.com/

oh blog

full often have you heard my moans, for parting my dear Pyramus and me.
I am the worst blogger in the world. Part of it just doesn't make sense to me, since when I write, I'm usually writing something that will go into a monologue or something. So I feel like I can't really write that in here. I'm just not used to journaling, I suppose. Or diarying. or whatever.
The other thing is time. I haven't written in you since the fall, I know. But that was because I was performing The Caretaker, and rehearsing The Salt Girl, and teaching, and performing The Salt Girl, and rehearsing Midsummer, and preparing for the holidays, and directing The Magic Flute at BoCo, so who had time to blog? But then again, isn't all that what I should be putting in here in the first place? Oh, I don't know. And sometimes I don't want to put too personal an entry, because then people will read it, but isn't that the point? Or is it? I guess I don't understand what you are.
Anyway, I suck.
As a blogger.
There.
I will try better.
I will try to figure out what you are.

Health Care Scare

Hopefully you’ve been following the saga of Health Care Reform lately and the cavalcade of LIES being distributed by the Right: rumors of “death panels” for the elderly (thanks Sarah fucking Palin), health care for illegal immigrants, federal money for abortions, reform = a government “take-over” of health care, Obama is a Nazi, etc, etc.

What is truly amazing to me is the amount of morons who live in this country.
Really.

Unbelievably, according to a recent poll, over 50% of voters believe in these untrue, FOX TV-type lies, being fed to them by sleazy politicians (ie, Republicans) who are basically shills under the employ of the insurance companies who want to keep their monopoly. These same insurance companies make 35 cents for every dollar spent on health care.

Not even a CASINO makes that much money (because it's ILLEGAL).

And the people I see being organized to protest this reform are, ironically, the same people who would benefit the most from it. In a way, I almost hope they get what they deserve. I’m talking about brain dead, gullible, racist IDIOTS carrying assault weapons to town hall meetings and screaming at the top of their lungs about “socialized medicine”, and not understanding that both Social Security and Medicare ARE those things. On woman in a Dartmouth town hall meeting recently proclaimed, with a straight face, that the Obama Health plan was a "Nazi" plan, causing Barney Frank to seriously ask her: "What planet do you send most of your time on?"

All this on the heels of the incredibly insulting and wildly false “birther” movement, which proclaimed that Obama wasn’t born in this country, and is therefore not really the President.

It’s absolutely amazing and disgusting to me.

It is actually hard for me to believe that there are people out there who actually BELIEVE that these fantastical lies are TRUE, that there is such a person as “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelberger or Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh or Michelle Malkin or Bill O’Reilly.

It actually makes my head spin.

What is really frustrating to me is not knowing what to do, and not knowing how to be heard, or how to lend support and how to fight back against these loud-mouthed bullies.

The New York Times recently reported that those in support of Reform and the public option are not as out there and letting their voices be heard as much as these howling, nut-case, gun-toting buffoons.

It is really REALLY important for those who believe in health care and the public option to speak up and let our elected officials know that we care and are listening and understand and are involved in the reform bill and that we SUPPORT the President’s plan.
I will try my best to find out how to do that and leave that info here, but one helpful thing I DO know how to do is to visit www.moveon.org and read up on how to fight back against these lies being spread about health care and our President.

Summer Daze

I think the people that I admire most in theatre are trying their best to make something beautiful and provocative and powerful (though not necessarily all at once). But I'm not a critic, in the sense that I'm biased, even if I don't think I am, or mean to be. I can't help it. Even critics are biased, btw, but the difference is they don't work in the theatre, they comment on what theatre people create. I can't really do that here, nor would I ever want to. It's so subjective anyway. All I would want to do is describe productions that Tommy and I went to, and let other people know about them too. So I guess I'm a Boston theatre booster, of sorts. I just like going to plays. They are, usually, WAY better than a movie (especially now a days: what a bunch of CRAP coming out of Hollywood right now!) And I think a great city needs great theatre, that it MAKES a city great. So I'm more interested in new plays, by Boston writers. By experimental productions that are created here. I'm not so much interested in warmed-over Off-Broadway hits from last year in NYC, though I understand why people would want to see those plays. I guess I want Boston to be Boston, and NYC to be NYC. I never liked the monopoly that NYC seems to have over theatre. If the only stories being told on the stage are from NYC, then where is our voice, where are OUR stories?

I also don't like the idea that only "real" actors live in NYC. It's an old idea. The NYC myth needs to be dismantled, I think. Audiences don't care if an actor comes from NYC anymore. Actually, I think they care more about whether the actor lives with them, in their neighborhood, and is telling a story that they share together. That there is a CONNECTION between this actor and the audience. It's called a COMPANY for a reason, and I am saddened more and more when I feel that this concept is being erased from our theatres. In this era of Twitter, and FaceBook and the internet and blogs (like this one), I think people really yearn and search for something stable and solid. I find it difficult to support a theatre that ignores the talent at its own doorstep, year after year, yet claims to be a part of our community.

I like to support theatres that recognize and hire and nurture local artists and actors and directors and designers. It's the only way Boston will make itself a theatre destination. Otherwise, we are just a repository for New York's sloppy seconds.

Wedding on the Eiffel Tower

Tommy and I finally had a chance to go see something at the Apollinaire Theatre Company in Chelsea last week: a really great trio of absurdist plays, culminating in Jean Cocteaus' "Wedding on the Eiffel Tower", which I have always wanted to see staged. It really was a fun evening, outside, under the Tobin Bridge. The cast was really great, with my old friend Margaret Anne Brady in the company. This is the last week to catch it, so go check it out, it's really terrific, and it's FREE! Here's all the info below:

Last week to catch Apollinaire's FREE bilingual theater in the park.
"Eiffel Tower is hilarious. It underscores what Apollinaire does best: airy ensemble pieces performed with energy and commitment."-Boston HeraldPerformances run through this Saturday July 25 at 7:30English on Wed. Thurs. & Sat.Spanish on Fri.
Mary O'Malley Park is located on the waterfront in Chelsea just past the Tobin Bridge. Click here for directions. In case of rain, call: (617) 887-2336. Information and directions at apollinairetheatre.com

the critic speaks

So, I have to admit, I forgot about my blog. I just got busy lately: visiting my sis in North Carolina, teaching, writing, RE-writing, auditioning, going to Six Flags, writing, driving around Western Mass, eating fried clams, going to out door theatre. You know, summer stuff.
But I was reminded of Hambone recently when I received a response on FaceBook from Lance Norris, the critic/actor/figure from my South Shore past who reviewed our production of Much Ado (and basically tore it to shreds) on the website www.playshakespeare.com about a month or two ago. Apparently he stumbled on my humble little blog and mistook my post "Much Ado Two" (see back in June) as a call to retract his critical opinion (it wasn't, by the way).

Here is what he wrote to me:

""zaftig local character"? how dismissive. Although it was edited with ham hands, I stand by most of that review. I enjoyed the show but found all most all the doubled characters lacking and yes, your theatre is in a bad part of town. Although you claim to be bringing culture to the natives, I didn't see a whole lot of locals in the house the night I went.

Be well."

When I went to respond on FB, I found I had been "de-friended". Ouch. Oh well. But his message really forced me to articulate what I was trying to express in that earlier post, and I wanted to share it. Here it is:

"Hey Lance
I received your message via FB. I’m so sorry if you felt dismissed, that really wasn’t my intention. My blog is written for the few people that might have an interest in me and the work I’m doing, so I really didn’t think you would ever read it. I certainly wasn’t looking for a response or a retraction from you, as you seem to imply in your note: you have every right to your opinion. If I had been looking for such a thing, I would have written to you or the website directly. Why I wrote about it on my blog revolved around the interesting (to me, anyway) fact that I had known you growing up and also as another actor. I really didn’t mean “zaftig local character” to be an insult. If I had wanted to insult you I would have chosen different words. I consider myself a “local” actor, I’ve lived here all my life. It’s not a pejorative for me. “Zaftig” I always felt to be a rather endearing term for someone who is large – which I always felt you knew about yourself and informed who you are and was an acknowledged part of you. And as for “character”: well, that’s truly how I remember you, Lance. You were someone I knew from Cohasset and grew up with, and that I associate with that town. You knew me, you knew my sister, you probably had my father as a teacher in high school. You are someone who I would sooner expect to see at my father’s wake in Cohasset than on a web page, lacerating the company I helped to found. So what I was writing about, partially, on my blog was the interesting idea that an entire history (albeit a brief one – we were certainly never close friends) could be obliterated completely and a rather mean-spirited review would suddenly take its place. I find that to be a reflection and unfortunate symptom of our rather throw-away, shallow American culture, where relationships and histories and connections are rendered utterly meaningless. As if to prove my point, I notice that you “friended” me on FaceBook, and now, after my “dismissive” blog entry, have “de-friended” me with the click of your mouse and a rather chilly, impersonal note (which, again, is all good: we clearly were never close friends in the first place). It’s ironic that one of the things ASP tries to do, in our imperfect way, is to build and strengthen communities and neighborhoods, and meanwhile this other small personal connection just disintegrates indirectly thru ASP.

But anyway, that’s mostly why I was writing about it in my blog. I also, clearly, disagree with what I took to be a rather obsessive negativity concerning the neighborhood where we were performing (your title and first FOUR paragraphs talk of nothing else but danger, gunfire and certain death to anyone who might venture to Hiberian Hall, which, I suppose, isn’t surprising for someone who is used to living in a privileged, wealthy, safe town like Cohasset), and I was hoping to direct anyone reading my blog to other reviews/opinions and to encourage them to make the trek out to Roxbury. And yes, in response to your note: we did have trouble getting local residents to come. It’s our first time in that space, and it is always a problem we look to solve. But it is a worthy endeavor, I feel, and one that I’m committed to. The residents that DID manage to come enjoyed it (we ran for five weeks, so there were other performances for them to attend, besides yours). But all that is moot now, as the play is closed.

Be well, too. "

This notion of throw away relationships and erasing histories has got my brain twirling lately. So I'm quite grateful for that. Even if it cost me a FB "friend".