Of all the arts and crafts associated with the theatre biz the one I find most confounding is directing. One reason is that the director’s practical work is largely invisible, occurring in private rehearsal spaces with the actors and other creative team members before public performances begin. Another reason is [...] Continue reading »
Kafka Meets Seattle History
Kafka’s famous 1914 novel The Trial has been adapted into a disturbing play by Oregon Shakespeare Festival stalwart Kenneth Albers, and the small and intrepid New Century Theatre Company (NCTC) is currently giving it a memorable world premiere. It’s rare for the venue of a play to loom as large as the [...] Continue reading »
Famed Composer Discusses Art of Musical Theatre
A 20-minute audio recording of a presentation famed composer Alan Menken gave in Seattle last November has just been released. Alan, accompanying himself on piano, discusses the craft of creating musical theatre and composing. I helped moderate Alan’s talk. Readers interested in these subjects (audience or artist) will enjoy this [...] Continue reading »
‘Old Hats’ by Two Old Pros
What I am about to say would be heresy for many writers: I saw nine plays in New York last week and my favorite was the one with the least dialog. In fact if you typed that show’s dialog in traditional script format I doubt you would need more than [...] Continue reading »
Content Trumps Media, Say ‘Book of Mormon’ Musical Creators
Last month, just about the time I was seeing the national touring production of The Book of Mormon in Seattle, the news broke that the creators of the musical, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, were forming a production company called Important Studios, valued at $300 million. Several aspects of this [...] Continue reading »
Seinfeld, with Friends, Getting Coffee
In a recent post I wrote about Jerry Seinfeld’s devotion to the craft of comedy writing and delivery. As I was researching that post I learned about Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, an innovative, understated Web series that Seinfeld created and produced last year. His framing device is to drive a [...] Continue reading »
Obsessive Craftsmanship Underpins Seinfeld’s Comedy
I suppose that until recently I carried around with me an unexamined assumption that what stand-up comics do is, well, stand up and take off on largely improvised riffs that make people laugh (most of the time). And I would contrast that with playwrights and screenwriters who in the fiftieth [...] Continue reading »
‘Seagull’ Soars at ACT Theatre
I revere Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). I have studied all his plays and seen many productions of his “big four”: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. Because I place his scripts, along with Stratfordian Willie’s, at the pinnacle of dramatic writing, I always take my seat with more [...] Continue reading »
Obama on Stage, with Seattle Connection
Abraham Lincoln is not the only American president to be featured on screen and stage this past year. Our current president, who as it happens is being inaugurated today for his second term, has also been the object of dramatic attention. A new play featuring Obama, The President and the [...] Continue reading »
The Dues Artists Pay
Perseverance is the most important trait in an artist’s toolbox. A close second, and closely related, is resilience. Picture the boxer in the late rounds, somehow lifting himself up from the mat while aware that the next punch that snaps his head back might knock him out. Last summer in [...] Continue reading »