An Angry White Guy in Chicago

Why Theater Matters - Part Deux

2008-07-26T06:01:00.001-05:00

And Why So Many of Us Do It for Pennies

It's the top of Act 2 of Metaluna and the Amazing Science of the Mind Revue and I'm sitting backstage in a cramped hallway illuminated by a red lightbulb and the bleed from the far end. The first act was tight and fun; the audience seems to be having a good time.

It hits me - this is just about the coolest thing I could be doing with my time ever. With just about the coolest people in the world ever.

I look over and next to me is Rebecca - she has some light walk-ons in the first act and her big scene late in the second so she's sewing weird things to a DADA tie (we sell these as wearable/displayable art in lieu of asking for straight up donations after the show - like those green Wicked monkeys but not made by Korean seven year olds). Next to her is Mary Jo - talk about a ball of energy. Mary Jo is not only supertalented but she's like the cast cheerleader - always a smile from ear to ear and a nice word.

Brownlee is getting ready to do his dance number with Erin - he's genuinely superb in the show and busted his ass helping with the set, the props, the costumes - an Off Loop Everyman is he. Erin plays my daughter in the show and is just the cutest thing in town - spunky (hey - she can hold her own in scenes with me playing Huey Long meets Foghorn Leghorn!) and smart - that Dan Granata is a lucky cat.

Joel sits backstage, listening to the show, preparing for his next entrance. Joel is a very talented cat with a genuine sense of what DADA is - he finds strange and subtle nuance in the simplest of lines and most mundane of stage directions. Regan and Lisa have just gone upstairs to do a crossover (in order to get to other side of the stage without crossing in front of the audience, we have to go up to the AROT offices and walk over) - Regan is just amazingly intelligent and possibly one of the five best long form improvisers I've seen (although I may be the only person who knows it) and Lisa is a bright, whip-smart, funny spirit and her work in this show has just been stellar.

Across the way is the rest of the cast - the ever present and selfless Michael "Nice" Johnson who took a pretty thankless role and has made it one to remember; Dennis Newport, our Sigmund Freud, who is one of the most fearless performers I've ever met (the cat just doesn't have the word "No" in his vocabulary); Jeff Shivar, whom I've been working with consistently for thirteen years and really showing off some solid acting chops (he is also a composer and our regular accompanist); and Dave Dastmalchian, one of most gracious and talented actors in town, who is currently celebrating the fact that he is in both Chicago's only DADAist play and the biggest Summer Blockbuster in history (The Dark Knight).

In the booth there is Dianna, who I'm just terribly fond of and carries the Stage Managing role like a bird flies - effortlessly confident and on top of it.

Scurrying back and forth is Joe - the writer and lead DADAist in the play - Joe has, in the twenty or so years I've known and worked with him, become one of the most consistently funny and rock solid performers I've ever seen on a stage, let alone with whom I've shared the stage.

Out in the guffawing audience is the distinctive laugh of my wife, the director of this madness, the one who envisioned the "how" and put together the cast and set concept and props and costumes and shaped our performances into an artistic whole.

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I know that for more than 96% of the population of the country, theater does not matter an inch. I recognize that this inch of mine is finite and that it will be over in a sliver of time and will become nothing but a really good memory sustained by photos and the odd prop that I keep.

I won't wax nostalgic about it too often but the time I spend backstage reminds of why I love to play dress up and commit wholeheartedly to the Great Lie that is acting onstage.

And for me - right now - that is why theater matters.

Friday Roundup: That Even Smell Like Letter 'F'

2008-07-25T05:45:00.000-05:00

Using Only These Plush Toys and Wrapping Paper, Grow an Ear Out of Your Arm!

I love Project Runway because it's cool to see the creative process under pressure but I'm not so sure about this:

Sarah Jessica Parker's art competition reality show has found a home at Bravo.

The network has picked up "American Artist," from Parker's Pretty Matches production company and wunderkin producers Magical Elves, as part of its development slate. Bravo is expected to announce the deal Sunday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour.

The hourlong show has been described by the Elves team of Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz as a "Project Runway"-style competition series that takes on the art world. Aspiring artists compete to produce various styles of artwork (painting, sculpting, etc.), which is then judged by a panel of experts.

I just hope that the judges get to be Stelarc, Banksy and the ghost of Tristan Tzara.
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Best Television Commercial of the Week

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Jimmy Carter Was More Visionary Than You Thought

H/T to A Tiny Revolution:

CARTER: Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never...

Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my presidential authority to set import quotas...

Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel...

I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.

These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay...

Point four: I'm asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our nation's utility companies cut their massive use of oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source...

Point five: To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board...

Point six: I'm proposing a bold conservation program to involve every state, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.

To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems...

Our nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our nation's strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives...

I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.

Boy-o-boy, did Reagan's America fuck this thing up or what?
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Funniest Thing I Saw This Week

http://view.break.com/540810 - Watch more free videos

METALUNA: READER REVIEW

2008-07-24T07:47:00.001-05:00

From The Chicago Reader:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Joe Janes's 1996 play--about a company of dadaists set loose on a small Indiana town bursting with pent-up sexuality and incipient gender wars--started WNEP Theater off on its anti-art Soiree Dada productions. Its vaudeville-cum-Dada shows-within-the-show feel quaint, though frequently hilarious, and its Freudian underpinnings (the performers are supposed to be part of a mind experiment) remain underdeveloped. But Jen Ellison's staging reaches near perfection in quiet moments of unlikely connection, including an interlude between Lisa Fairman's Dietrich-esque Dada vamp and Regan Davis as Rupert, the burg's smitten laureate. Though the concluding scene flirts with sentimentality, echoing Great Expectations, it's as strange and satisfying as anything I've ever encountered. --Kerry Reid

The Unwelcome Guest

2008-07-24T05:35:00.003-05:00

"Get The Fuck Out!" Isn't a Hint

We've all had the experience of the guy who shows up at your BBQ and just hangs around, long after the Welcome Mat has been rolled up and the leftovers have been put in the fridge.

You don't know him that well, but he sure makes himself at home, declaring that you and he should play a drinking game or watch Fight Club or maybe fire up that grill one more time cuz man, those brats sure are tasty.

Most people try to passively aggressively hint around the issue of his overstaying his welcome - turning off lights in the kitchen, checking the email, hiding for long periods in the bathroom - hoping, praying, he gets the hint.

I guess Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided to be less passive aggressive last week when he endorsed an American pullout plan of his country.

“U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.”

But the Neo-Cons can't have that, can they?

Of course, if the Iraqi government tells us to leave, we will have to leave. But, the prime minister's ambiguous comments notwithstanding, the Iraqi government is saying no such thing, because most Iraqis realize that the gains of the surge are fragile and could be undone by a too-rapid departure of U.S. forces.

Ambiguous?

On top of that, the Iraqi people, when polled by everyone from BBC to ABC, pretty overwhelmingly want us the hell outta there. And so do the majority of Americans.

Guess what, guys? There's no more cheese dip and the Iraqis aren't in the mood to play another round of Texas Hold 'Em. Get your coat, put on your shoes and get the fuck out.

METALUNA: Tribune Review

2008-07-23T22:31:00.005-05:00

From The Chicago Tribune (again, my bold type):

The trouble with 'Metaluna' is your own and your donkey's

By Nina Metz | Special to the Chicago Tribune

Nonsense may be the lingua franca among Dadaists, but more and more I'm having trouble sorting out its purpose. As manifested in WNEP (What No one Else Produces) Theater's "Metaluna and the Amazing Science of the Mind Revue," nonsense arrives in two distinct forms, one highly intellectualized, the other irrational and silly. This is horseplay-as-theater, with charisma to spare.

But a show of this type tests the limits of Dada itself. Just how much can your ears absorb before you start to zone out? I would say the breaking point lies somewhere in the 45-minute range—a full hour and 15 minutes short of "Metaluna's" running time.

With its loopy sideshow aesthetic and provocative spirit, the play (by Joe Janes, who also performs) is an assemblage of absurdist vignettes and comic curiosities. A ragtag group of German Dadaists transplant their schtick to the heartland of America sometime during the Depression, and their creative output is no less than an exaggerated vaudeville and a Euro-carnival on crack. It's big! It's crazy! It's not going to back down! This play is in it for the fun—that's never in question.

First staged at the old Annoyance space back in the late '90s, John Wilson's set design for the current production (directed by Jen Ellison) is a funhouse of red draping, the action under an itty-bitty proscenium. Herein you will encounter a joke that makes a pun of oedipal and edible and a blind woman deceived by some artfully deployed Foley sound effects. My favorite: A box dance performed with a knowing leer by Lisa Fairman—doing a striptease spoof that is apparently the Dadaists' one concession to sex appeal. Sort of.

A parallel storyline involving brain manipulation and a mayoral election isn't quite fully integrated, but I'd say the entire show is critic-proof. If you can make sense of it, hurray for you. And if you can't, well that's the whole point.

Through Aug. 16 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St. Tickets are $15-$20 at 773-661-3195.

I Believe...

2008-07-23T05:29:00.008-05:00

...that in our current Ignore the Consequences, Immediate Gratification nation, most Americans would readily trade their civil rights for stuff. For example, how about foregoing your right to assemble for unlimited, free cable TV or your right to vote for unlimited parking for life? Thomas Paine would be so proud...

...that in the top five reasons I love to be involved in the creation of theater, sitting backstage during Act 2 of Metaluna and the Amazing Science of the Mind Revue and listening to the audience laugh and react to the words of Joe Janes as interpreted by the cast and director, is at least number three.

...that, if the primary reason the GOP thinks we should vote for McCain is his grasp of foreign policy, they might want to rethink their strategy:

On Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.”

FYI, John. Iraq and Pakistan don't share a border.

...that bloggers only refer to it as a "flame war" when they start a fight they can't finish. Otherwise, it's a heated disagreement. If you want to be a provocateur, don't cry about it when you get provoked back.

...that The Orphanage is a much better film than I thought it was going to be.

A Tale of Two Failures

2008-07-22T06:09:00.001-05:00

More Than a Failure - A Criminal in Every Sense of the Word

Wow. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sure knows how take it to the Bush Man:

"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject."

Here's one for you, Nancy. God bless you, bless your heart, but you're a failure, too.

You became the first female Speaker of the House and refused to push through impeachment articles against one of the most corrupt and criminal presidents in history. You sat by and watched Rove and Cheney and Rice and Rumsfeld ignore subpoena after subpoena and you did nothing but pose as the voice of change and accountability. You were voted in after four years of a botched preemptive War for Oil and the most corrupt incompetence in history in response to a major natural disaster on the mandate that you actually do something and instead you played politics.

I remember how exciting it was for the Democrats to take back the House and (barely) the Senate but I must say that you and Harry are doing a piss poor job answering that call.

METALUNA: TOC REVIEW

2008-07-21T17:15:00.002-05:00

From Time Out Chicago (my highlights):

WNEP’s Soirée DADA, its recurring series of nonsense cabarets, has become the company’s signature product (look for—no joke—a holiday edition this winter). This remount of Metaluna, first produced a dozen years ago and billed as “the world’s only Dada play,” might provide a glimpse at the seed that put down WNEP’s Dada roots; it plays out like a Soirée with (kind of) a plot.

In the early 20th century, Dr. Carlton Twist is obsessed with brains in the academic-study sense (but possibly also in the hungry-zombie sense). Desperate for live experiment subjects and with the help of his friend Sigmund Freud, Twist enlists a European Dada performance group to travel to the States to put on its show in Metaluna, Indiana. There they find the dimwitted, anger-prone mayor engaged in his first contested campaign; his opponent is his own protofeminist daughter.

If you’re having trouble seeing how one plot point connects to the next, welcome to Dada. Janes’s script doesn’t aim for cohesion so much as some hooks on which to hang the ridiculous. Like the Soirée series, Metaluna is chockablock with clever absurdist set pieces performed by an engaging cast and with a fair deal of audience participation (I unwittingly made my first onstage appearance in some time). But the variety-show Soirées work because their performers establish personalities as opposed to characters, which then can be plugged into dissonant scenes; here Janes creates actual plotlines but then refuses to resolve them. Dada devotees might applaud that, but for most of us it’s less Dada than deflating.

— Kris Vire

...And the Pissing Contest Continues...

2008-07-21T05:45:00.003-05:00

A Really Dumb Analogy Gets the Woodshed

OK. I've been busy opening a show. In the meantime, the Crown Prince of Self Important Rhetoric has decided to take me to task on what he terms "a dumb analogy." Adam does a pretty good job countering that response (which Daisey insufficiently responds to) but, in response to his repeated bullshit, let's take the gloves off and look into exactly why I think the analogy is not only apt but why Daisey feels so strongly that it is not.

Simply put, the analogy in question is that there is a striking similarity between the general practice of a professional theater artist and a professional gambler. Specifically, that in both pursuits, the label "professional" implies the practice of either theater or gambling as a means to make money. Here's how the back and forth got started:

The constant push to "make a living" in the arts is sort of like making a living as a professional gambler and I don't hear anyone supporting an ethical model to provide blackjack players health insurance.

MD: This is just dumb. I don't know where to start--do I start with how art isn't much like gambling? Or how what society gains from art is wildly different than what it gets from gamblers? Or do we talk about how one form of activity (gambling) is on the ascendency, while theater has been shrinking...oh, I give up. It's just a really facile analogy, and I'm not going to parse it.

The only part of this that is true is that being a working artist *feels* like being a professional gambler. Otherwise, it's worthless.

The issue isn't that art is anything like gambling. The issue is that the business of theater is like the business of gambling.

• In both instances, there is no specific benchmark that defines a theater artist or a gambler except that, in order to be either, one merely has to lay claim to the label. "I am an actor" is the only actual qualification necessary to claim that profession on your tax return or in applying for foundation support. Same goes for "I am a gambler." Certainly, one can go to school and get a degree in theater but that certainly isn't the only (or even the primary) demarcation that qualifies one to be considered a theater artist - in fact, the only true definer of either profession is to do it.

• For both practitioners, there is a healthy mixture of acquired skill, tenacity and, most of all, luck that defines financial success. Anyone who argues that there is a guaranteed way to make a buck in either practice is full of three day old dried shit - yeah, you make your own luck, but there is far more financial failure in both live theater and gambling than there is financial success and luck has far more to do with it than all the books written or classes offered want anyone to realize.

• It *feels* similar because it is similar.

Later, Daisey takes on Adam's post and makes some broad assumptions to support his disdain for the analogy that just don't bear up under scrutiny:

MD: No one "decides" that they are a gifted actor who works on show after show except by virtue of long hard work

Wha?? Does Daisey live in the real world, here? I can't think of one actor or director or playwright anywhere who lays claim to the title that thinks he sucks. Not one who doesn't think she is "gifted." It can't be possible that all of them are, indeed, gifted, so Mike's assumption is chock full o' holes.

MD: This is exactly what people say to artists in the American theater: you took the risks, and you pay the price. You will never have children, you will never have a family, you can not be integrated into a community...and if you balk at any of these, you make another choice and you are that much less an artist.

ALSO you will have to remember that they will say this to you EVEN IF YOU ARE ENTIRELY SUCCESSFUL, because as the system works now, a successful theatre artist with a thriving career is screwed.

THE DIFFERENCE IS that you didn't ante up $10,000...you anted up your LIFE. Comparing the two activities is deeply, profoundly insulting.

Those are all choices made because, as in anything done for a living, "you took the risks, and you pay the price." Is the theater artist's risk somehow greater or more sacrosanct than the house painter's or the interior decorator's? The hyperbole utilized ("you anted up your LIFE") implies that the wedding planner didn't ante up his life or the comic book illustrator is just biding time until something better comes along.

EVEN IF YOU ARE ENTIRELY SUCCESSFUL you're screwed? Huh? How so, Mikey?

MD: There is at least one huge difference—it is easier, more stable and more lucrative to be a professional gambler. I know—I have a couple of friends who have been professional gamblers (one blackjack, another poker) and they agree. From the bankrolls to the freedom to choose venues to the amount of cash flowing, across the board it is much simpler and more secure to be a professional gambler.

Interesting. I know a couple of guys who work at the zoo, but I'm pretty sure I'm no authority on zoo related economics so you'll have to forgive me if I quickly dismiss your faux testimonial.

Still later, Mike throws out some more:

MD: This is precisely why it's such a shitty analogy—it's deceptive. It FEELS true because fighting to survive in the arts FEELS like being a professional gambler--you're unsupported, a free agent, tryng to hustle and make things work, and the vast amount of people who do it, especially ones who are just starting out, fall by the wayside as the going gets tough.

If that's all it takes, I'll be waiting for blogospheric posts on theatre artists as oil derrick riggers, foreign war correspondents, and prostitutes.

The first paragraph here pretty much illuminates exactly why this analogy is apt: "...fighting to survive in the arts FEELS like being a professional gambler--you're unsupported, a free agent, tryng to hustle and make things work, and the vast amount of people who do it, especially ones who are just starting out, fall by the wayside as the going gets tough."

Just a heads up - Mikey? Oil Derrick Riggers and Foreign War Correspondents have employers with regular paychecks. I didn't know if you knew that but that's the case. Prostitutes are a pretty solid analogy for theater artists and gamblers with the exception that a Prostitute is born with her talent (mainly, her body) and the theater artist and gambler have to acquire their skills to trade upon.

Still, as Daisey's flow of rhetoric continues:

MD: I never said I want it to be easy—I want it to be fair. Fair to the incredibly talented artists who have given their lives to rise up and prove their worth in theater.

Wow. That's a pretty bold stance there, Mikey. You want things to be fair. No shit, Sherlock. I'll bet you want everyone to never lie or steal office supplies, either. Grow the fuck up, huh? "I want everything to be fair" is the argument of a five year old. And you call my stuff facile. Jesus.

And then things get ugly.

I've read it and responded to it, but I can't resist this one:

MD: And now you connect the death of my good friend's career, after years of her selflessly devoting herself to the American theater and being highly lauded for that work, with a nine-year-old deciding not to play skeeball anymore.

Fuck yourself in your eye with a knife.

Selflessly devoted to the American theater? Fuck yourself back, Mikeroo. There is nothing selfless in your friend's pursuit of employment in the arts. In fact, it was all self motivated. Theater isn't the same as feeding starving children or teaching inner city youth birth control, you fucking martyr.

And then we come to the last of his tirades:

MD: I've worked in both arenas—I performed for years in the garage theaters of Seattle without the possibility of a dime, and now I work in the national arena. HOW THEATER FAILED AMERICA is in part about those two universes, and what they have to say to one another. While you have experience in one of these worlds, I don't think you have it in both, or your argument would have more depth, texture, and humanity to it. It's facile.

Gee, Daisey. You'd be wrong again. I did the play for pay lifestyle, getting paid solid dough doing regional tours for years and decided that it was for the birds. So I guess that's just one more on top of the pile of erroneous assumptions that you have made on your road to self congratulation.

And while I appreciate your polite request: "Please take care of that [fucking myself in the eye with a knife] before October." I think I'll wait until you're here in Chicago. I'll be in the front row with a glass of water and a knife to fuck myself in the eye with. Please be prepared to take your show notes and stuff them up your self important puckerhole and show us the stigmata - they'll love it at the MCA.

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Now, it's highly likely that Daisey will respond by saying I haven't addressed the full breast of his arguments and my response is simply that the bulk of his discourse centers around his initial misinterpretation of the analogy in the first place - namely that the comparison is not between theater and gambling but between the business practices of being a theater artist and a gambler. And to use one of Daisey's facetious authorities, I know at least two theater artists who believe that that analogy is completely on target and illuminates a great deal.

Moreover, if you wade through his point by point analysis, it all boils down to this statement:

It. Is. A. Bad. Analogy. because Mike Daisey says it is.

Guess what? I say it's an apt analogy. Trump card, motherfucker.

So, to leap into the role of assuming asshat, why does Daisey have such a beef with this analogy??

Well, suppose you were an artist who has carved out a niche for yourself and made some cash in the process. Suppose you are justifiably lauded for your work in the field and that the critical appraisal is a huge part of justifying continued financial gain. Suppose a portion of your rhetoric is that artists are somehow really special and deserving of entitlement, that the artist lifestyle is one to be set upon a pedestal, and that, indeed, to make the choice to be an artist is a sacrifice worthy of nearly religious praise.

Given that set of circumstances, a stance that indicates that the artistic lifestyle is similar in any way to a degenerate gambler (I know two gamblers and they are degenerates) would challenge the very heart of your work and that you would have to defend against the very thought that artists are not some precious commodity in a world without art.

Corporations don't understand theater. Only people, real people, understand theater. Audiences, technicians, actors, playwrights, costumers, designers—all of them give their time and energy to this thing for a reason, and that dream is not quantifiable on any spreadsheet. -- Mike Daisey

I agree wholeheartedly. So why so much energy spent on that which is quantifiable on a spreadsheet, Mike?
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ADDENDUM: An email to me this morning asked "Why is this important? I mean, you get into these stupid circular arguments and they lead to nothing. Why waste so much time on this?"

The thing is, regardless of experience level or debate style, I'd wager that most in the theatrospheriums agree on one thing: the System that American Theater operates under kind of sucks. It's broken and the integrity of the art is being sold for pennies. In order to make any effort to fix this System, it's kind of a smart thing to know what exactly is broken. These circular arguments attempt to illuminate (at least for myself) the source(s) of the problem(s).

I understand, however, if you find it tedious.

Metaluna Slideshow

2008-07-19T14:29:00.001-05:00

Photo Credit: Jerry Schulman

WATCHMEN Trailer

2008-07-19T06:05:00.001-05:00

I'm as excited as hell to see The Dark Knight. I really am.

But I've been waiting forever to see this on the big screen.

And it looks fantastic.

Ooops...I think I pee'd just a little...

Also, for the true fanboys, check this out...

Friday Roundup:

2008-07-18T05:45:00.008-05:00

Best Quote of the Week

More money = better theatre?

Jesus, when did that become an absolute? Then again, if it can make my smile brighter, my hair fuller, and my dick bigger, why not my art, too?

I long for the day when I can pump that shit directly into my soul.

-- Paul Rekk
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I Really Want to Punch These People in the Face

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Fuck Myself in the Eye With a Knife???

Well, I guess I pissed off Regional Theater's gadfly some, didn't I?

The thing is, there's a pretty big difference with stating an analogy is bullshit and actually proving it is - see Mike? It's an analogy. You can't prove it one way or the other. Arrogant dick.

I'm not going to break your response down point for point because I'm really busy, but here are a couple of responses I'll share:

"But let's call a spade a spade—this is really about Crass Materialism versus Pure Art For Art's Sake. In Hall's universe there are two ways to work in the arts—either you're in it for Money, or you're in it for the Experience, and the two apparently don't meet."

Yup. That pretty much sums it up. There are a few folks I know who have been able to straddle the line and perform selling soap for bread and performing theater for the art of it, but when the money calls, the theater gets the short end. The ideal sounds sweet and dreamy, but as you point out with the theater artist = professional poker player, it just doesn't reflect reality much, does it? And those few that can make that work? Most will tell you it was a combination of being at the right place at the right time and knowing the right people - all a nice combination of skill, tenacity and luck - the signs of any good poker player.

"I don't want to hear any more summarizing of my position until you've addressed what I've already put forward."

Then don't read my blog.

"Please, tell me more—explain to me how I've become Enchanted with Crass Materialism."

As you point out, I've not seen your work - and if you ever come to Chicago - actually in October at the MCA - I'll be there in the front row, fucking myself in the eye with a knife. What I have read, though, seems pretty fixated on how actors don't make any money and how those regional theaters are fucking over the artist while paying you a check to say it. Not a bad gig, biting that hand that feeds you.

On a more positive note, I certainly don't think you're all about Crass Materialism. From what I understand (having only your blog and articles to go on) you seem to have managed to carve out a nice little career in the the arts and for that I applaud you. From your copious press blurbs, I understand that you are “the master storyteller” and “one of the finest solo performers of his generation” and that has to count for something.

"And now you connect the death of my good friend's career, after years of her selflessly devoting herself to the American theater and being highly lauded for that work, with a nine-year-old deciding not to play skeeball anymore."

I'll admit, while you have an amazing ability to skewer those analogies of others because they paint a picture of yourself you're not pleased with, your own analogies are ridiculously overblown. An actor makes a choice to stop acting and you equate it with Death? I could spend five or six posts telling you how "dumb" that is and "that it's a deceptive piece of jingoism" and that it isn't anything but hyperbole to make the conscious choice to quit analogous with the death of something, but I've got other things to do.
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Best Blog Post This Month

The Prof has his Marching Orders.
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I Can't Decide...

...is this the coolest thing ever or the absolutely most braindead stupid thing ever? You decide...

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OPENING NIGHT!

[Cue Ethel Merman in the wings]

Yup. It's finally here - Metaluna and The Amazing Science of the Mind Revue. I rested my voice up and managed to Shanks it up on Wednesday (for Clay Sander, Jerry Schulman, Gabe Garza, Deanna Moffit and The Jones' no less).

Tonight, all the tested patience and hard work begins to pay off. We have a capacity house for our opening and I'm truly pleased with the work Jen has done and the excellent - EXCELLENT, I SAY - cast and crew.

Come on...you want to see it. Buy a ticket, watch me soil my diaper...

Snubbing His Nose at All of Us on the Way Out

2008-07-17T05:28:00.002-05:00

Mike Riddle Deserved a Worse Fate

When I was in high school, there was this kid named Mike Riddle. Riddle was a huge, hulking menace among the seniors who routinely victimized the band geeks. I'm not sure to this day what he had against those of us who played instruments but it was the scent of Band Geek that set his inner Pit Bull on fire.

Due to the fact that he was an über-jock, Riddle rarely suffered any consequences for his constant pummeling of smaller kids and regular wedgies and arm punches in the service of intimidation. When he would get away with things, he'd giggle this stupid laugh and smile a shit-eating grin every time.

I fucking hated Mark Riddle for that.

Looks like Mark Riddle grew up and became President:

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Is Bush a liar? Undoubtedly. An incompetent statesman. No question. A stooge for the super-rich. Yup.

Worse than all those things though, Bush is a dick. A smug dick.

I wish we could impeach him for being a dick.

But our gutless Congress won't even impeach him for proven crimes.

C'mon...

2008-07-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

Hey...isn't that guy one of the Joker's henchmen in The Dark Knight??

I Believe...

2008-07-16T06:12:00.006-05:00

...that if Obama manages to get the United States Universal Healthcare, Actor's Equity in Chicago at least is fucked. Health insurance is the only genuine perk for the vast majority of dues paying Equity members. Take that away and they pay their dues to not perform and get paid to be the flying monkey in Wicked if the fates get them in the door.

...that if Congress doesn't at least start impeachment hearings on George W. we will be in an all out war with Iran before November.

...that I can't quite decide which is worse: getting on a city bus that contains one homeless guy who has pissed himself and fallen asleep or getting on a city bus with fourteen four year olds. I mean, I'm no wilting violet but - Jeesh - the smell...and I smoke! How bad must it be for the non-smokers!! I'll bet if we band together we could get the law to outlaw stinkiness on Chicago stages and within 15 feet of buildings!

...that an actor blowing out his voice during previews is like a porn star getting penile erectile dysfunction just before banging a trio of hot Asian eighteen year old cheerleaders - deflated and a little annoyed.

...that the act of constant debate, with the caveat that at some point action MUST be taken, is combative, aggravating, tedious and the only actual way of accomplishing fucking anything.

A Peek at The Amazing Science of the Mind Revue

2008-07-15T10:14:00.001-05:00

We had our first preview last night - two more to go - Thursday off, then we open. It's a big cast for a tiny space and the dance that accompanies shuffling on and offstage throughout is some complicated choreography. With nine of eleven people all chaging clothes in a room the size of a large walk-in closet, here is the gentle jockeying for position, the search for a place to sit (or stand) so you aren't in someone else's way, and the inevitable stepping on toes and bumping into prop tables and the like.

After eight rehearsal runs of full blown Shanks (my loud, rage-filled character), I finally blew my voice out. Combining the fact that I could barely get words out of my mouth and that I was working with the brilliant Henri Dugas designed "Shanks Hat" (the hat that Dr. Twist inserts into my brain to funnel off my anger and that Henri has made to actually spin and whir with a little motor), I can say that my performance was sub-par at best. That said, the overall performances were spot-on from my backstage vantage and Jen seemed genuinely pleased.

Joe pointed out that in all the marketing materials and the program that I had sort of minimized the fact that it was he who had written the play. I felt pretty shitty once he pointed it out - the man wrote a spectacular playground of ideas and moments and wild characters and I didn't properly credit him for it. It's too late to reprint the programs but I'll have some add-ons that should make it crystal clear that the play didn't spring out of thin air.

Tonight, we have understudies going in for several people to give them a chance to strut the boards before the run (Dastmalchian is out for tomorrow night as well because he is in the film The Dark Knight and they're holding the Chicago premiere Wednesday). Jen has done well with the understudies and they all bring new and fresh ideas to the table. I'm excited as I will get to actually see the full show as an audience member. HB Ward (my understudy) is fantastic and he still has his voice, so I'm jazzed to see him "Shanks" it up.

If you get a chance, swing by during the run. I'm pretty sure you'll like it.

What Are You Playing For?

2008-07-15T05:34:00.001-05:00

The Analogy Illuminates Which Side of the Casino You're Standing On

Dave & Buster's is like a low rent casino.

You come in through the revolving door, get sent up the escalator and have the option of a meal (which, no matter what you order is going to sit in your gut like a Nerf Football - even the salads make you feel like you consumed your daily caloric intake for a week) or go and purchase your token card to be able to play any one of the hundreds of electronic games. No one goes to Dave & Buster's for the food so you will always end up playing.

The games you play begin to define you in some subtle way.

There are really two types of games you can play here: the games that eat your credits up and offer no external reward but the fun of riding a souped up motorcycle through a canyon or shooting zombie heads or flying in an X-wing fighter and the games of chance that offer the reward of tickets that can be exchanged for low grade stuffed animals to plastic peppermills to portable DVD players.

My nine year old niece likes to play for the tickets. In fact, her fun is almost dictated by the number of tickets she accrues over the course of her time there. I don't judge her too harshly - she's nine and my niece, so her young, carnivorous capitalism is sort of funny in a Lord of the Flies way, I guess. I'm the sort who likes to play the games and often, if there are tickets involved, I have to be reminded to get them before I move on to the next game. My fun is about the experience of battling pixelated monsters and assisting the digital police as the hostage saving sniper cop.

Mike D. thinks that the analogy of the Theater Artist and the Poker Player is "dumb." He thinks it lacks any illumination of the world he lives in. He is probably right as his defining characteristic as an artist is that he plays for the tickets. Certainly, I think it is safe to assume that Mike plays for the fun sometimes, but his work and his words indicate that for him this game is about the tickets. Scott Walters is very, VERY focused on getting those tickets for his students and making sure that everyone knows that the myth of Dave & Buster's isn't that the tickets ultimately get you very little in the end, but that there are other places that you can acquire tickets in the country.

For Mike and Scott and a lot of others, the games are about the acquisition of tickets rather than the experience of playing. I have no doubt whatsoever that both will deny that this is so (and Scott will take on the beleaguered tone of a man with the best intentions being sullied by the close-minded), that they both feel that the tickets are just a much needed element that is missing from the game but remember that the types of games are different. Those of us who play the non-ticket spitting games have the choice to play the ones that provide us with plastic reward and choose not to play them.

I realized, while going from game to game with my niece, that trying to explain to her that it wasn't really about the tickets or the stuff was a task as great as trying to convince Myra that live theater was just better than the movies. She will either figure out that for herself or she won't - the best I can do is to keep playing the games that bring me pleasure and when she gets tired of plastic crap, she might try it my way once. And she might not like it and decide to no longer play games at Dave & Buster's and go do something else with her money and time. And then Mike could write an article in The Stranger about her, too.

The one thing she will never be able to do, however, is convince me that a $0.99 Scooby Doo keychain is worth $6.00 in tickets so I should put my focus on getting tickets rather than playing the game.

Can Someone Make Sense of This?

2008-07-14T12:07:00.001-05:00

I'm in the damn thing and I'm getting confused.

Previews ($5.00 - CHEAP!) tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday.
8PM at A Red Orchid Theater, 1531 N. Wells (across the street from The Fudge Pot).

Why Theater Matters (Or Doesn't)

2008-07-14T05:13:00.004-05:00

Here Is Where the Fire Started

Earlier last week, the Prof throws out this thought - "Don't quibble about definitions when the woods are burning. Acknowledge there is a Big Problem, that Daisey has hit on some of it, and start trying to think of how to improve the situation."

Most in the theater communities across the Great Land of the Freak and Home of the Brakes would likely agree that there is, indeed, a Big Problem - that the woods are, in fact, burning (or the boat is sinking or the quicksand is sucking us all under - take your pick).

In the wake of my man Barack Obama (and in as much defiance of George W. Bush and the Roll Back the New Deal Movement and Dominate the World's Oil Supply Movement of our outgoing regime), there has been a groundswell of activist talk being flung out into the cybersphere in the hopes that we will all somehow band together and try to think of how to improve the situation.

Mike Daisey thinks the problem lies in the regional theater model (and given his career track, that seems to be in context); George Hunka thinks we've all become basically stupid and accepting of a dumbed down, less enlightened type of theater; The Prof himself thinks the problem is in the inequity of artist standard of living.

The back and forth of positioning opinions and half-baked solutions to the Big Problem is exhausting. That said, it is also necessary. Ultimately, I find myself drawn toward Nick's comment to a recent post:

In a sundry array of alternative models, many more artists are producing theatre in America than those producing under the TCG regional theatre model. Most bloggers in the theatrosphere are involved in producing such alternative theatre. This is an action in and of itself. And collectively it is most important continual challenge to the system.

And while I agree with his perspective, I still find myself wondering where the fire started and is it worth putting out?

One area that it seems we in the theatrospheriums seem to want to avoid talking about is that for most people in the United States, theater is either an esoteric anachronistic past-time for Other People, a once-a-year amusement park ride, or a thing their kids do in school. The handful of us that feel theater is an important cultural contributor is smaller than the number of people who attend Comic Book Conventions across the nation. In essence, for most Americans, theater does not matter in any way whatsoever.

All the talk of creating a new model to get actors in tribes and thus get paid or shifting the priorities of regional administrators to focus more on the actors than the buildings or how to fucking market your show or build an effective Board is literally whistling at the apocalypse. The source of the fire is a systematic apathy for the art form and we aren't discussing that at all.

So...does theater actually matter? Mike Daisey comments that a major difference between a gambler and an artist is that a gambler contributes nothing to society at large and that art does. Really? What exactly does art contribute if most people (and by "most" I mean Almost Fucking Everyone in America) don't give two shits about it?

Poet and teacher Jay Parini takes a stab at this question concerning Why Poetry Matters:

In the 19th century, poets like Scott, Byron, and Longfellow had huge audiences around the world. Their works were best sellers, and they were cultural heroes as well. But readers had few choices in those days. One imagines, perhaps falsely, that people actually liked poetry. It provided them with narratives that entertained and inspired. It gave them words to attach to their feelings. They enjoyed folk ballads, too. In a sense, music and poetry joined hands.

In the 20th century, something went amiss. Poetry became "difficult." That is, poets began to reflect the complexities of modern culture, its fierce disjunctions. The poems of Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, and Wallace Stevens asked a lot of the reader, including a range of cultural references to topics that even in the early 1900s had become little known. To read Pound and Eliot with ease, for instance, one needed some knowledge of Greek and Latin poetry. That kind of learning had been fairly common among educated readers in the past, when the classics were the bedrock of any upper-middle-class education. The same could not be said for most readers in the 20th century — or today, when education has become more democratized and the study of the classics has been relegated to a small number of enthusiasts. The poems of the canonical poets of high modernism require heavy footnotes.

From my limited vantage point, I'd say that the turning point in the 20th century for live theater was when people no longer had to go out of their homes to see stories told. Live theater had it's Golden Age in the 1930's and 1940's and had been declining in attendance ever since. It ain't so much a fire as a slow leak of interest.

Contributing to the leak is the insistence that theater is IMPORTANT and CULTURAL but without any quantitative examples of how or why it is important or culturally significant and as theater's reach has slowly been amputated, it has become less and less important or culturally significant.

So, not to diminish the burning importance of revising the regional theater model, the tribal/ensemble model updated from the sixties, or the Off Loop Freedom Charter as things to bandy back and forth, how about we figure why the hell anyone that isn't already in the theater should give a fuck?

We go back to Myra, the Hair Cuttery lady of a couple of weeks ago. As I wrote then, I'm not terribly interested in convincing Myra to come see my show in spite of the fact that in my egotistical artist brain I KNOW she would love it. This isn't because I think she is stupid or uncultured or that, hell, I don't need her patronage. It is simply that, in order to sell her on my show, I have to sell her on live theater and, baby, I ain't got the time - because I'm working on my freakin' show!

Ethan rightly points out:

The economic explanation for why most theater artists do starve is that a theater professional is not as heavily demanded as a lawyer, and there is an an abundance of theater people over what is demanded. This creates a surplus of theater workers, which means more unemployment. Demand, however, is elastic, and it can increase. If steps can be taken to shift a demand curve to the right, then there will be more theatrical professionals making more money. The demand could increase by creating more lively, cheaper theater. Lively and cheap theater requires artists who can take risks without worrying about starving because their medical bills are so high.

And, in keeping with my current outlook, those artists Ethan refers to are those who create outside of the current model of business.

Perhaps it isn't important to put out the fire. I'm a proponent of the "burn it all down and rebuild it from the ground up." On the other hand, I'm more often drawn to Nick's thesis that the very act of producing theater outside the norm - alternative to the models we all know are fucked - is revolutionary in itself - a revolution of one show at a time. And given that my personal yardstick of success (unlike the Prof or Mike Daisey apparently) has absolutely fuckall to do with money or monetary value, I suppose that's revolution enough.

After all, when I look around Chicago (in general) I'm seeing all sorts of extraordinarily good theater being created and performed, so perhaps, outside of the Big (money) Problem, there is no fire at all.

I could not live without poetry, which has helped me to live my existence more concretely, more deeply. It has shaped my thinking. It has enlivened my spirit. It has offered me ways to endure my life (I'm rephrasing Dr. Johnson here), even to enjoy it. -- Jay Parini

Ditto for theater.

Five Years

2008-07-12T06:05:00.004-05:00

Exactly five years ago today, I married Jen Ellison.

The wedding was a once in a lifetime experience and my bride was as beautiful as ever.

In the past five years, I have definitely been honored by her presence in my life. Like the traditional vows say, we've been richer (marginally) and poorer (definitively), through good times and bad, sick and healthy. She nursed me through my downward spiral after leaving the venue we'd worked hard in just as we got married and has made me a better person through it all.

She's also tolerated living with me (no easy task, I assure you).

I love my wife more today than yesterday and anticipate loving her more tomorrow than today.

Happy Anniversary, baby.

Friday Roundup: "I Don't Date Timid Women..."

2008-07-11T06:17:00.003-05:00

New Definition of the Week

From our friends over at Praxis Theatre:

cry.ba.by.ism

– noun

1. the belief that these are “tough times” and that the solution is smaller, blander shows.

2. Artistic Direction in accordance with this belief.

____________________
Fox News

You hear that? I think that's the sound of unfettered Republican spin being ground down to a halt...
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The Creepiest Guy on the Planet

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In Defense of Art?

Over at the The Theater Loop, Chris Jones makes an impassioned argument for an exception to the smoking ban for theaters. Turns out someone complained about the guys in Jersey Boys smoking on stage and the City nipped that shit in the bud:

The Chicago production of "Jersey Boys" has gone smoke-free in the last few days. It is as if the Four Seasons never took so much as a drag.

But in New York and London, Frankie and the boys still puff away. That's because those more enlightened cities allow artistic exceptions to their bans on smoking in public. But as the anti-smoking law is written in Chicago, no such exception is possible. And the law makes no distinction between tobacco and herbal cigarettes.

I wrote about the absurdity of this when the smoking ban was first proposed. I am no fan of smoking but to legally require that shows pretend that no-one ever smoked in the history of the world is absurd, unreasonable, damaging to the city's cultural reputation and injurious to art.

For the record, I agree with Jones. It's a stupid, convenience-founded law in the first place. I do find it a bit disheartening that this might be the example to rally behind as a moment that is "injurious to art," however. It's fucking Jersey Boys - which is not high on the Art Scale.

One commenter has this to add:

The militant smokers sound like they are still fighting their adolescent battles against authority like an adult playing a boombox at full volume on the bus because he is angry at having been told to turn it off as a teenager.

To that, I say that those adolescent battles against meaningless authority are pretty much what makes Americans - well, Americans. Sort of like taking the example of those rich, white landowners to task for adolescently waging a Revolutionary War because they had to pay taxes.
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The Little Engine That Could...

Kucinich ain't letting it go and in the past weeks as I've reflected upon what it is to be an American, here is a shining example of someone who is worth shooting off a few firecrackers for:

Dear Colleague,

During the Fourth of July holiday a WWII veteran stood ram-rod straight in his crisp dress uniform and saluted our flag as it passed in a parade. His silent reverential stance was a powerful reminder of the love of country that is reflected in our veterans of all generations and all services.

It is also a powerful reminder of the responsibilities of the President of the Untied States in his capacity as Commander in Chief.

It is worse than heartbreaking that George W. Bush, as Commander in Chief, caused this country to go to war based on information which was false, and which he knew to be false. The consequences for our troops have been devastating. We have lost 4,116 of our beloved servicemen and women since the war began, with over 30,000 physically wounded and countless others emotionally wounded. The toll on the service persons and their families will be felt throughout their lives.

There can be no greater responsibility of a Commander in Chief than to command based on facts on the ground, and to command in fact and in truth. There can be no greater offense of a Commander in Chief than to misrepresent a cause of war and to send our brave men and women into harm's way based on those misrepresentations.

There has been a breach of faith between the Commander in Chief and the troops. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with Al Qaeda's role in 9/11. Iraq had neither the intention nor the capability of attacking the United States. Iraq did not have weapons of Mass of Destruction. Yet George W. Bush took our troops to war under all of these false assumptions. Given the profound and irreversible consequences to our troops, if his decision was the result of a mistake, he must be impeached. Since his decision was based on lies, impeachment as a remedy falls short, but represents at least some effort on our part to demonstrate our concern about the sacrifices our troops have made.

This Thursday evening I will bring a privileged resolution to the House with a single Article of Impeachment of President Bush for taking our nation and our troops to war based on lies. We owe it to our troops who even at this hour stand as sentinels of America because they love this country and will give their lives for it. What are we willing to do to match their valor and the valor of their successors? Are we at least willing to defend the Constitution from the comfort and security of our Washington, DC offices?

Sincerely,
Dennis J. Kucinich

Member of Congress

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Best Fucking Theater Post of the Week

Mike Daisey calls the analogy of theater artist to gambler "just a really facile analogy, and I'm not going to parse it." Mike? Just read this. This is what I love most about the blog thing - my posts dovetails Adam into a super thoughtful and dead-on post and his post is inspiring my own (coming next week).

Sweet.

OK...OK...The Real Explanation...

2008-07-10T11:09:00.000-05:00