New Review: Jollyship the Whiz-Bang

For New York Press. I'm quite proud of this review as well as my take on Series C in EST's one-act marathon. At left: well-hatted keyboardist Raja Azar. Here's a tease:

"The retro pinstripe pants, the double-pocket white shirt, the hipster-signifying tie-and-jacket combo: As Nick Jones saunters down the center aisle at Ars Nova, an unsubtle smirk climbing up his face, he seems mischievous and childlike. There’s something woozily sarcastic about him, too, as he grips the microphone and offers the goony prelude to Jollyship the Whiz-Bang..."

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New Interview: Elizabeth Pisani, The Wisdom of Whores

Through Metromix.com, I had the opportunity to read a new book by Elizabeth Pisani called The Wisdom of Whores. It's all about her work as an epidemiologist in Southeast Asia and her work tracking and analyzing HIV and AIDS infection rates among sex workers. I know, I know -- a bit out of my typical parameters, but I was glad to get the opportunity to learn about something I did not know anything about. Plus, Pisani is a stitch to read (very funny and very serious at the same time) and utterly frank. Here's my Q& A with her for Metromix.com. She really is lovely. And sassy, too.

Here's a tease:

Metromix: You have many anecdotes about people you know and their drug use and their sexual behaviors. Do you ever want to just shake them and tell them to stop it?
Pisani: You want to slap them upside the head! It’s not just Indonesia and Southeast Asia that I feel this way. A few months ago in London, I’m talking to a new friend, absolutely delightful, and we’re chatting about esoteric Chinese movies and what he does and what I do. And he says, “I was diagnosed a year ago.” He’s 20 years old.

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NYU Announces Project with Classic Stage Company; Provincetown Playhouse Still Wilting From Misuse

For the record, this press release I received today has nothing to do with the Provincetown Playhouse, or the fact that NYU's Tisch School of the Arts has been effectively banished from working in it by the Ed. theatre people at the Steinhardt School. I'm just reminding everyone that while NYU has promised to leave the theatre alone (and the community remains unconvinced, on balance, that all the structures surrounding it are worthy of preservation), there's a 50/50 chance NYU is lying in a any event. After all, this city is certainly accustomed to construction "accidents." And then there's the whole issue of whether the Playhouse is being used as its great and legendary founders would have wished.

Also, I happen to think that this is the kind of industry outreach that Tisch should be doing. And I have tremendous respect for CSC.



CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY PRESENTS
NYU/THE CONTINUUM COMPANY’S PRODUCTION OF
TEMPEST TOSSED
LAUNCHING AN ONGOING COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE TWO INSTITUTIONS

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, presents NYU/The Continuum Company’s production of TEMPEST TOSSED, a unique re-imaging of Shakespeare's late great play, July 10-20. TEMPEST TOSSED, first seen in Florence, Italy last summer, boasts a versatile three person cast that takes an audience through an imaginative and physically inspired ninety minute rendition of Shakespeare's immortal tale, a feat that usually requires an acting company of sixteen or more. The result is a miraculous evening of theatrical wonder for the whole family and a perfect introduction to CSC's own more traditional production of THE TEMPEST starring Mandy Patinkin, which begins previews on Sept. 3rd.

TEMPEST TOSSED features Nadia Bowers, Andre Holland and Shane McRae, and is directed by Jim Calder, faculty member of the Graduate Acting Program at Tisch and a director with an improvisational bent. The production was created under the auspices of The Continuum Company, a new alumni wing of New York University’s Graduate Acting Program under the Artistic Leadership of Zelda Fichandler in association with the Department of Design for Stage and Film, Susan Hilferty, Chair. This ambitious new venture is made up of professional actors who have developed out of NYU'S prestigious training program. This singular institution is considered by many to be the nation's leader in identifying and nurturing generation upon generation of dynamic young artists who have gone on to impact the world of theatre, film and television.

"We are thrilled" writes CSC Artistic Director Brian Kulick, "to help launch this inaugural venture and anticipate that it is the first of many collaborations between CSC and NYU, especially since both institutions share the same literal and aesthetic zip-code."

“I want to thank Mary Schmidt Campbell, Dean of Tisch School of the Arts for her support of this collaborative project with Brian Kulick and his Classic Stage Company,” says Zelda Fichandler, “I hope it is the first of many, as our artistic goals are so compatible; we are in all ways neighbors. I’m a big fan of this particular piece and committed to the idea of an acting company — The Continuum Company — growing out of our large body of talented alumni who are hungry for the stage. This is an auspicious beginning.”

Now in its 40th season as one of New York’s most exciting Off-Broadway theaters, CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre committed to re-imagining the classical repertory for a contemporary American audience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen, CSC presents plays from the past that speak directly to the issues of today. As we return to works of the past, we endeavor to keep a clear eye on the future, particularly in terms of the next generation of artists and audiences. Classic Stage's artists are the best-established and emerging theater practitioners working in this country. Highly respected and widely regarded as a major force in New York and American theater, Classic Stage has been cited repeatedly by all the major Off-Broadway theater awards: Obies, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and 1999 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work.

Memberships to Classic Stage Company productions are available at various price levels, including the flexible Masterpass membership, which in addition to prime seats, entitles members to participate in CSC special series, including their sold out Open Rehearsal events. Memberships for CSC’s 2008-2009 season are available now, and include tickets to THE TEMPEST starring Mandy Patinkin, Chekhov’s UNCLE VANYA starring Denis O’Hare, and AN ORESTEIA, translated by renowned poet Anne Carson. For further information, go to classicstage.org, call 212-352-3101, or visit the theater in person at 136 East 13th Street.

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The Case for Marx Brothers Place -- Through Zoning

Just received a copy of a letter Susan Hefti of the 93rd Street Beautification Association has sent out to Council Member Melinda Katz and Mark Silberman, counsel for the NYC Landmarks Preservation Association. This is smart, powerful stuff. Hopefully they're reading, absorbing and listening. Here's the letter:

To: NYC Council Member Melinda Katz, Chair, Land Use Committee, NYC Council and Mark Silberman, esq., Counsel, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, et al

From: 93rd Street Beautification Association
Re: Proposed Amendment to NYC Zoning Code - Submitted June 9, 2008

Dear Council Member Katz and Mr. Silberman,

It is without question that the process and culture of construction and development in New York City has ballooned out of control, casting a fatal shadow over our community, far too grave for its citizens to abide.

While most New Yorkers are not averse to the general concept of development, residents quite rightly expect such development to be planned, managed, monitored and cohesively integrated into a process informed by the imperatives to protect public safety, the fragile urban ecosystem and the city's historic neighborhoods.

As recent tragedies have brought to light, the development juggernaut that has defined the last few years in our city's development history has sadly resulted in the loss of innocent lives, the demolition of irreplaceable historic structures and the eradication of green spaces particularly vital to the health and future of our city and its residents.

While everyone knows the benefits of development, we can no longer ignore its limitations. And as one devastating story after another makes the news, New Yorkers grow more and more leery of the process by which development decisions are being made in our city.

Before zoning and environmental laws were enacted, development occurred throughout the nation in fits and starts, with little thought to a comprehensive plan best suited to any particular community and, for the most part, unbridled by land use controls.

As you are both well aware, much of our own city's development history evolved through happenstance. What was once one of the largest sources of drinking water in NYC is now buried under a neighborhood we call Chinatown. Many of the hills and slopes that originally led Native Americans to name the island of Manhattan for its steep topography were shaved into flat surfaces, now sporting behemoth skyscrapers.

The development history of our great city is actually something that in many ways just sprawled as more and more people flocked to this remarkable mecca that has offered so much hope for generations of Americans determined to actualize the promise that is our city.

But, like most communities, NYC has evolved and does now regulate the use of private land with an eye to zoning, the impact of a project on the environment and the preservation of historic structures and neighborhoods. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

But the issuance of more than 6,000 Building Permits in 2007 alone, with just over 400 Inspectors to monitor the vast sea of construction projects was a foregone tragedy waiting to happen. Clearly, to allow development to continue barreling along on the same old fast-track would be most imprudent, sorely unwise and terribly irresponsible. Yet the 93rd Street Beautification Association knows that the City Council means business when it says that changes will be made.

Of course, some of these changes are systemic, while it appears others may turn out to be issues of personnel. But, whatever the specifics, the underlying opportunity lies in the fact that there is an urgent need for the City Council (together with all the related agencies and Commissions) to help foster a new perspective on development in our great city.

Whether tightening safety standards for crane inspections, requiring a more careful review of historic structures before issuing a demolition permit or simply reintroducing the city to its own (and the state's) environmental regulations, all the necessary changes that must be made have at least two things in common; 1). a comprehensive integrated vision of development is needed which best suits our city and the needs of its residents now and in the future, and 2.) the level of scrutiny afforded to all construction and development projects must be carefully reviewed and sanctioned only accordingly.

Before the city greenlights development projects and issues demolition and building permits, a host of considerations must be thoughtfully weighed, and no longer given mere lip service.

Development decisions in NYC must take into account 1.) the unique physicality of our urban environment and the acute safety issues raised thereby; 2.) the historic character and sustainability of New York's ancient neighborhoods and 3.) the long term environmental effects of demolition and construction projects on the immediate neighborhoods, the city's infrastructure, the health of our residents and the future of New York City as a global leader and a magnet for international tourism.

The most creative and vibrant city in the world, New York City should be out in front on all of these important issues. Here at home, our city should have the most progressive and comprehensive development process in the nation. It is no longer sufficient to look back in regret. We must come together and make the hard decisions now.

Personal injuries and loss of life; the decimation of irreplaceable historic homes and the continued browning of our city's ecosystem can neither be justified, nor sustained.

And while many changes are needed in order to achieve an acceptable development process in NYC, the 93rd Street Beautification Association has focused its efforts on just one aspect of what will hopefully be a much broader overhaul of the way development occurs as we move forward in the 21st century.

After watching three beautiful side-by-side 19th century houses with their original victorian details, as designed by architect E.D. Gornsey, needlessly razed to rubble (the last one - demolished just months ago - had been owned by the New Yorker William Orth who bought it in 1882), when they should have been recycled and restored to their original magnificent glory for new residents to raise their families on this quiet little block, and then witnessing the shocking demolition of the adjoining historic contiguous gardens and species habitats, which for more than a century stretched back 55 feet of each 100 foot lot evidencing the historic difference in the 19th century sensibility which opted for a more substantial green space rather than a bloated interior floor space (which stretched only 45 feet back by comparison), and then filing countless complaints with 311 regarding shoddy construction practices at the site (180 East 93rd Street) which finally resulted in a STOP WORK ORDER (now lifted by the City), the 93rd Street Beautification Association realized that something had to be done.

Our experience in Carnegie Hill has dramatically exposed one of the many cracks in the administrative framework of NYC's extant development process. Currently, unless a structure is within a designated historic district, a demolition permit can be issued without a public hearing and without a thorough review of the historic significance of the subject structure or alternatives to its demise.

This obvious gap between the community's integrity and the city's readiness to hand over the wrecking ball must be rectified posthaste. For, once an historic structure is felled, all the kings horses and all the kings men can't put it back together again.

The maturity of any great society is measured by its willingness to recognize the mistakes of its past, and to muster the strength to change course as it moves into the future. The time has come for the City of New York to move into the 21st century by finally respecting its architectural and cultural past. There can be no doubt that our collective history unequivocally merits the opportunity for reflection before it is forever destroyed.

So as not to repeat the demolition mistakes of the past, and in order to protect NYC's historic neighborhoods for the good of the city's future, the City of New York must immediately initiate a process by which due reflection occurs before irreparable harm ensues.

To that end, and in the best interests of our city's safety, health and future, the 93rd Street Beautification Association strongly urges the Members of the NY City Council to unanimously embrace the attached Proposed Amendment to the NYC Zoning Code (also known as "Demolition Application" or "Demolition Review") and adopt this amendment into law without further delay.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Kathryn Hefti
Co-Chair, 93rd Street Beautification Association
93rdst.beautification@gmail.com
212.969.8138

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Arts Advocacy Update XLV

The content below is from Americans for the Arts' Cultural Policy Listserv, email blast of June 4, 2008:

Heavy Internet Users Targeted
Washington Post, 6/4/2008
"Cable service operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable said yesterday that they would begin testing new approaches that would slow Internet access for heavy users and charge more to those who want additional speed. The tests come as the Federal Communications Commission wraps up an investigation on complaints that Comcast blocked certain users from sharing video, music and other files. The complaints fueled a larger debate, with hearings in Congress and by the FCC, on how much control Internet service providers should have over the flow of data."
Imagine the statistics on X-Tube and TalkinBroadway.com. But seriously, this is pretty disgusting. Damn stupid-ass media companies. They'd sell their mothers if they could. (Light bulb)


Annapolis gets arts district approval
Baltimore Sun, 6/1/2008
"The state has approved plans by Annapolis and a Harford County city to establish arts and entertainment districts, allowing them to offer tax abatements to artists and culture-oriented businesses in an effort to ignite economic development. . . . The arts and entertainment district designation is a victory for Moyer, who pushed for the site but faced fierce opposition from city council members and constituents who complained that the district would be a concentration of nightclubs and drinking establishments, drawing noise and threatening the area's character."
And whither the lovely town of Frederick where Maryland Shakespeare is? Hello?


Coalition troops leave blight on priceless ruins of Babylon
Daily Star (Lebanon) - AFP, 5/31/2008
"The last outsiders to visit the ruins of the once-mighty city of Babylon in Iraq came in tanks and helicopters, leaving a blight on its historic and fragile landscape, archaeologists say. Born on the banks of the Euphrates River 5,000 years ago and full of priceless archaeological treasures, the city was transformed into a US military camp after the 2003 invasion with a heliport built among the ruins."
OMG, this makes me ill. I am ashamed to be an American when I read stuff like this. It's like the My Lai of the Iraq war.


Ben Stein Wins Right to Use Lennon's 'Imagine'
Wired, 6/2/2008
"A federal judge on Monday freed the producers of a movie promoting intelligent design to continue using a 15-second recording of John Lennon's 'Imagine.' A New York judge said the makers of Expelled had a right of fair use under copyright law to use a small portion of the work without Yoko Ono's permission. Ono, the wife of the late Beatle, brought the case in April, saying the movie's credits made it appear she had licensed the song to the movie."
So hateful. I mean, yes, fair use is fair use, but to hell with those Intelligent Design wacko idiots.


Mass. sees arts as vital to economy
Boston Globe, 6/3/2008
In Massachusetts, Governor Patrick's administration has launched "an initiative to expand so-called creative industries in the state, appointing a first-in-the-nation 'creative economy' director to help expand a diverse sector that ranges from individual artists to cultural institutions to video game makers. The appointment of Jason S. Schupbach of Boston illustrates the growing role creative sectors play in economic policy as states compete for jobs, companies, and skilled workers. Beyond the direct employment provided by museums, art galleries, and design and other creative firms, the vitality of the local arts and cultural scene is increasingly viewed by development specialists as key to attracting knowledge workers expected to drive 21st century economies.
Real estate people. Real estate. That's the key. Give creative industries a place to be creative. Oh, and, uh, live.


New York's film, TV incentives could tax L.A.'s economy
Los Angeles Times, 6/2/2008
"Unlike about 40 other states, California does not offer a tax credit program to keep its signature industry at home. And it now faces increasing competition not just from New York but also from states such as Michigan, Mississippi and Georgia, which have recently adopted incentive programs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the idea of offering more than $100 million worth of tax credits to keep production in California but has been unable to persuade the state Legislature to adopt such incentives. . . . The number of film production days shot on location in Los Angeles has plummeted nearly 40% since 1997, according to figures from FilmL.A. Inc., a nonprofit group that handles film permits."
They've gone this long without instituting incentives? What idiots. The rest of the nation has been on this bandwagon since the start of the decade -- since the pre- and post-9/11 hysteria about "runaway production" was running away with everyone's minds. And Cali just thinks that by being there they don't have to compete. Welcome to the recession, bros.


ExxonMobil Resumes Its PBS Sponsorship
New York Times, 6/3/2008
"After a four year absence, ExxonMobil will resume sponsorships of PBS programs this month, the public broadcaster announced Tuesday. ExxonMobil will partially underwrite the news program 'Nightly Business Report' and the science program 'Nova.' . . . ExxonMobil had sponsored 'Masterpiece Theatre' and other PBS programs for three decades, but decided to withdraw its support in 2004. . . . In The New York Times last month, Elizabeth Jensen reported that the PBS model of long-term commitments is 'increasingly out of step with the changing needs of corporations, which no longer sponsor public television programs for purely philanthropic reasons.'"
Something about this pisses me off. I mean, it only takes what, $40 billion in pure profit before you'll be a good steward of society?

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Coverage of the Provincetown Playhouse Meeting

I just came across this article in the Villager about the community board subcommittee meeting on the Provincetown Playhouse. I'm glad he noticed what I said and how I said it. I still do plan to blog about the event, and hope to do so shortly.

And I will give the reporter credit for not stating that Alicia Hurley, the NYU VP who headed up the university's flimsy, lie-riddled defense of its plans, is an unpleasant human being at best.

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Woody Allen Endorses the Idea of Marx Brothers Place

Courtesy of Susan Hefti at Save Marx Brothers Place, it appears that none other than Woody Allen is lending his support to the cause over on East 93rd Street.

Here are the two letters that Mr. Allen wrote and made public:


May 28, 2008

From Japan to Russia, from Argentina to Alaska and all over Europe the Marx Brothers are revered as the greatest cinema clowns in talking pictures. They are universally adored by the most unsophisticated audiences to the highest intellectuals. There’s never been anything like them, their films are not only an enduring part of movie history but of American culture and now well after their deaths the Brothers continue to exert their impact as strongly as ever.

Woody Allen


A Letter To 93rd Street Beautification Association

Dear Ms. Hefti,

As a filmmaker who is particularly interested in preserving the enormous charm and appeal of Manhattan I have found myself supporting any number of preservation causes. The move to destroy the house the Marx Brothers grew up in on East 93rd street is of course particularly repugnant to me not just because the look of older New York is what makes it so appealing in movies all over the world (and draws many tourists) but because the Marx Brothers are among the great comic artists in history, their accomplishments are revered internationally and in countries that place a high value on cultural contributions as opposed to simply bulldozing things in the name of progress, the Marx Brothers home would remain standing and affixed with a plaque. This would be a nice touch for the city and evidence that we have deeper priorities than just profits. Therefore, I urge the Marx Brothers house to be allowed to remain as a proud landmark.

Sincerely,

Woody Allen

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New Review: Body Awareness

This opened the other night. Review is for Back Stage.

Here's a tease:

It's like something from the Christopher Durang playbook: a lesbian psychology professor, her lover, and her lover's son, a deadpan social misfit and intellectual savant who may or may not have Asperger's syndrome. At the college where the professor teaches, a weeklong event is underway about body awareness, but as she tells us in taut, pithy monologues laced with academic-speak, the event actually touches on many things -- female objectification, exploitation photography, being ashamed of one's body. There's also an exhibit of female nude photography by a man who, like his work, is rude, wise, and chauvinistic -- and a guest in the ladies' home.

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Does Mayor Bloomberg Want Construction Deaths on East 93th Street?

Tonight, in addition to learning that the city's chief crane inspector has been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, I received a long email from Susan Hefti, who is fighting to create Marx Brothers Place on East 93rd Street, that some shoddy practices are going on over there as well. Perhaps the title for this blog post is a bit alarmist, but haven't we had enough death in this city lately?

Here's the email Susan sent out:

As everybody can see from the attached email alert and photos, sent by the 93rd Street Beautification Association's Mark Giller, historic Marx Brothers Place in Carnegie Hill is, once again, under assault from dangerous construction practices at the site now known as 180 East 93rd Street.

Before the City finally issued a STOP WORK ORDER for this site on April 28, 2008, residents had logged in countless complaints to 311 about these sort of shoddy and dangerous construction practices over the course of several months.

Now that the City has seen fit to lift the STOP WORK ORDER, despite the fact that neither the City, nor the Developer, has yet to compile an Environmental Impact Study of the proposed development as required by State and City law (and thus, exposing both the city & the developer to protracted and expensive litigation), the Developer, Greystone Development, has now taken to invading our tiny historic neighborhood in the middle of the night.

As you will read in Mr. Giller's forwarded urgent email, residents were shocked that dangerous construction equipment was being moved on and off the property in the middle of the night, taking out a tree limb in the process, along with smashing a sign and generating an unprecedented level of noise in our quiet little neighborhood. These dangerous and unacceptable practices must STOP immediately.

While the Mayor reminds us all that it is important for the NYC economy that development continue, it is unacceptable to voters for that development to be unplanned, careless, haphazard and thoughtless to the character of neighborhoods, the city's history and the city's fragile ecosystem. That is not the sort of development that any city can afford, and the residents of Carnegie Hill expect much more from our city officials and agencies all of whom are charged with the duty of protecting our lives, our city, our neighborhoods, our history and our environment.

See these links for the facts about the necessity for an Environmental Impact Statement for 180 East 93rd Street:

http://savemarxbrothersplace.wordpress.com/developers-plan-constitutes-a-substantial-adverse-change-to-the-environment/

http://savemarxbrothersplace.wordpress.com/historic-gardens-species-habitats/

As most of you know, for over a century this site had been home to three beautiful side-by-side 19th century houses with adjoining contiguous gardens taking up more space than the square footage of the homes themselves, and serving as vital nesting, resting and feeding places for a variety of migratory bird species.

Sadly, and quite erroneously, the City not only allowed the developer to demolish these three irreplaceable sister houses, but also the vital species habitats and flyways nestled behind their historic facades. And while neither the City, nor the developer, can bring back these wonderful houses so rich in cultural and architectural history, they both can, and should, bring back the green spaces so important to our fragile urban ecosystem.

The best way to accomplish that which serves the neighborhood and the NYC environment is for the developer, Greystone Development, to donate the properties (now known as 180 East 93rd Street) to the Trust for Public Land, and officially dedicate these properties in perpetuity as a public green space known as Carnegie Hill Gardens.

This is exactly what happened in the 1980s when a Developer sought to destroy the lovely green space in Tudor City. In that case, the developer & the City saw the infinite wisdom of dedicating the green space back to a neighborhood most unhappy with the developer's wrongheaded intentions. Please click on this link for the Tudor City Greens story:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3601/is_17_47/ai_68160268

The 93rd Street Beautification Association strongly urges the city council, the Manhattan Borough President and the Mayor's office (and frankly, anyone else who cares about the future of NYC's few remaining historic neighborhoods) to negotiate a deal with the developer, Greystone Development, whereby it abandons its wrongheaded proposal to build CONDOS mid-block on historic Marx Brothers Place (a proposal which also seeks to increase the residential density of Marx Brothers Place exponentially) and, instead, offer practical consolation as redress to a historic neighborhood, and its environment, still roiling from the fact that it should never have been subjected to demolition (historic houses & gardens) in the first place.

The best, and most practicable, resolution to this devastating neighborhood scar (which languishes as a daily reminder of the city's & the developer's failure to abide by city & state environmental laws) is for the developer, Greystone Development, to graciously dedicate the property as Carnegie Hill Gardens for the health and well being of Carnegie Hill residents as well as future generations of New Yorkers. The tax benefits and good will that will accrue to the developer from such an agreement should more than satisfy Greystone's hunger to continue to do business in our beloved city.

In the meantime, the shocking & dangerous construction practices memorialized by Mr. Giller's eye witness account (see forwarded message below) must be rejoined by the City of New York's Department of Buildings.

Thank you for you continued interest in the 93rd Street Beautification Association's efforts to help protect historic Marx Brothers Place - an incomparable chapter in NYC's history !

best regards,

Susan Kathryn Hefti
Co-Chair, 93rd Street Beautification Association
93rdst.beautification@gmail.com
212.969.8138

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You Ever Meet Tennessee Williams?

Well, neither have I -- I was 14 when he died. But my friend Doric Wilson, one of the original Cafe Cino playwrights and the original founder of the theatre company TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), now going strong for quite a few years as TOSOS II, emailed me about a very special series of performances coming up. Consider going. Nah, just go!



TOSOS II
(Doric Wilson—Mark Finley—Barry Childs)

Ethyl Eichelberger Solo Show Project (Jamie Heinlein, director)
presents
4 performances only
Monday – Thursday, June 16-19, 8pm

Everyone Expects Me to Write Another “Streetcar”

the words and works of Tennessee Williams
arranged and performed by Jeremy Lawrence


“Jeremy Lawrence’s uncanny and unsentimental depiction of Tennessee Williams as a playwright and man at the end of his life is thrillingly eerie, on target and life-affirming.”
John Guare

“Jeremy Lawrence inhabits the role of the aging playwright wittily and wondrously. He is wildly funny, authentically moving, and his rapport with the audience is a marvel.”
David Cuthbert, Times-Picayune, New Orleans

“Perfect Tenn….The actor’s presentation of the playwright’s fey Southern cadence and lush phraseology is uncanny, as is the delicate balance of affectation, mischief, and malice.”
Carolyn Clay, The Phoenix, Boston

Produced by Jamie Heinlein
Set decoration: Michael Muccio
Stage Manager: Chester LaRue
Reservations 212 330-7043
Tickets $20

$15 discount tickets for seniors and students with valid ID.
The rate for groups of more than 8 people is also $15 but must be reserved in advance.

Dorothy Strelsin Theatre
Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
312 W. 36th Street (Between 8th and 9th Ave)

Jeremy Lawrence and Tennessee Williams
In the year of the playwright’s death, the Mark Taper Forum produced a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In concert with that production the theatre as part of its literary cabaret series produced a three person reading created by then-literary director, William Storm, from the essays collected in Where I Live.

As a result of his work in that piece, Jeremy Lawrence was encouraged to create a one man show for himself. It took some years but the result was Talking Tennessee. Over the past years the show has been performed at a number of venues including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, for two successive years at both the Key West and the New Orleans Tennessee Williams Festivals, at the Kennedy Center and for an extended run in Los Angeles at the Laurelgrove Theatre, where it received an extended run and was named a “Critics Choice” production. The piece was performed at the 2007 Tennessee Williams Tribute in Columbus, Mississippi and led to Mr. Lawrence’s being cast as “The Writer” in Five by Tenn produced at the Kennedy Center and later moving to New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club under the direction of Michael Kahn.

For the 2007 New Orleans Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, Mr. Lawrence appeared in two of the playwright’ s late one-act plays, Travelling Companion and Chalky White Substance directed by David Kaplan as well as in his new one-man piece. Everybody Expects Me to Write Another ”Streetcar” has received performances at the the Cornelia Street Café, the Eugene O’Neill Playwright’s Conference, the Emelin Theatre, and at the 2008 New Orleans Williams Festival.

This past spring, Lawrence created a twenty minute piece based on Williams’ recently published Notebooks for a book party honoring the book’s publication and its editor Margaret Bradham Thornton, which was reprised at the Spoletto Festival in Charleston, SC on May 30th.

TOSOS II
In 1974, Off-Off Broadway veteran playwright Doric Wilson, cabaret star Billy Blackwell and director Peter dell Valle, started New York City’s first professional gay theatre company. It was called The Other Side of Silence-TOSOS for short.

In 2000, twenty-six years later, directors Mark Finley and Barry Childs and playwright Wilson resurrected the company as TOSOS II, dedicating it to an honest and open exploration of the life experience and cultural sensibility of our community and to preserving and promoting our literary past in a determined effort to keep our theatrical heritage alive. Since its return the company has been received numerous awards and rave reviews, and is featured in the permanent theatre display at the Museum of the City of New York. (www.tosos2.org)

The TOSOS II Ethyl Eichelberger Solo Show Project is named for and dedicated to Ethyl Eichelberger (1945-1990) who was a key player in the manic East Village scene of the 1980s. Best remembered today for his high octane solo drag plays and performances, for nearly 20 years Ethyl wrote, produced, staged and starred in a series of 32 madcap and highly idiosyncratic poetic plays based in the lives of great women of history, literature and myth. Under the directorship of Jamie Heinlein, Ethyl Eichelberger opened with Elizabeth Whitney’s Wonder Woman, The Musical and Jeremy Lawrence’s Lavender Songs, a survey of cabaret songs from Berlin’s Weimar Republic which won the 2007 Back Stage Magazine Bistro Award. In April, 2008, the Project presented Jennifer Joy Pawlitschek’s The Physics of Love, directed by Jonathan Warman. Upcoming programs for later this season include Elizabeth Whitney’s A Day Without Sunshine, a musical biography of Anita Bryant, which represented TOSOS II at Saints and Sinners in New Orleans this May and Michael Lynch’s musical autobiography No Fats, No Fems: a World of Exclusions.

Other TOSOS II programs include the Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwright Project, Kathleen Warnock, director; the Billy Blackwell/John Wallowitch Musical Theatre Project, Rick Hinkson, director; and our main productions. To be part of TOSOS II or on our mailing list please contact us: TOSOS II, 506 Ninth Ave, 3FN, NY, NY 10018; 212 563-2218. Email: tosos@nyc.rr.com

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Trailer for the Remake of "The Women"

This actually made me laugh. Is it possible that the remake isn't crap? OMG!

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Punch 59 Returns

Visit Punch 59's website for details.

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Is That You, Captain Hook?

Apparently, yes, it is. Or it's simply Don Wilmeth, my friend and mentor, and the author of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, for which I served as his assistant editor. He was just in a production of Peter Pan up in New Hampshire and I couldn't resist pasting in the photo.

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New Review: Reasons to be Pretty

Reviewed for Back Stage.

Here's a tease:

Reasons to Be Pretty caps a trilogy of plays by Neil LaBute that are thematically slippery. While The Shape of Things and Fat Pig anatomize male-female dynamics as pathways to inevitable betrayals between the sexes, in Reasons the central betrayal comes just before the play begins, not at the end. And while all the characters in Reasons stab each other in the back and heart, none of it surprises or enlightens. It's finally as if LaBute is admitting that his plays demonize women and this is his way of making amends. Of the four monologues in the play — one for each character and all unnecessary — the last literally tells us that we ought to be nicer to each other.

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Arts Advocacy Update XLIV

The content below is from Americans for the Arts' Cultural Policy Listserv, email blast of May 28, 2008:

Two more cities designated Maryland arts and entertainment districts
Baltimore Business Journal, 5/27/2008
"Annapolis and Havre de Grace could become Maryland's next hot spots for arts and entertainment. . . . The program works to foster the designated districts through income tax breaks to artists living in the area and property tax cuts for developers who construct residential and commercial spaces for artists. Entertainment venues in the arts districts are also exempt from paying the state's admission and amusement taxes. . . . The addition of Annapolis and Havre de Grace bumps the number of arts and entertainment districts in the state to 17. . . . Hagerstown was also approved for expansion and recertification."
Oh, Becky Kemper, where are you?


Artists seek royalties for 70 years from grave
Times Online (UK), 5/27/2008
"Britain's artistic community is battling against leading auction houses and dealers to bring in a law forcing the payment of a royalty on artists' works for 70 years after their deaths — in line with writers and musicians."
I'm dead. Pay me.


States Race to Woo TV and Film
Wall Street Journal, 5/22/2008
"An arms race has broken out among states hoping to lure big-budget movie and television productions with financial incentives. In the past month and a half, at least four states -- Georgia, New York, Mississippi and Michigan -- have increased the scope of tax credits, cash rebates and other incentives to encourage spending money in the state and hiring local workers. They are competing with nearly 40 other states and U.S. territories that have incentive programs on the books, some with established film- and TV-production infrastructure, including New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. . . . The latest incentives bill, now in the California state legislature, faces long odds."
Great story. Not newsy, but very timely.

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Can Anyone Help the New York City Arts Coalition?

I received this note today from Norma Munn of the New York City Arts Coalition. Can anyone help?

The Arts Coalition's lease will not be renewed at the end of July, and I am really becoming very anxious.

I have been looking for space for two months, and find brokers uninterested because the space is so small, and we don't have a lot of money. We need about 550-600 sq feet of useable space and we need some of that space to be private office space. However, I am as flexible as we can be.

Locale: flexible, but anything that is on the western side of Manhattan is far easier transportation for everyone working here.

I need to keep the rent around $1600-1800 per month, unless it includes cleaning and security, in which case I can go a bit higher.

A two - three year lease is OK. We have been subletting since 2000, and we are accustomed to sharing. (We make good neighbors.)

This is a real plea for help. All efforts deeply appreciated.

Norma P. Munn
Chairperson
New York City Arts Coalition
351-A West 54 St.
NYC 10019 212-246-3788

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New Profile: Edward Albee

This one is the national cover story in Back Stage. Here's a tease:

Albee Seeing You
At 80, the iconic American playwright discusses the state of his art.
May 30, 2008

By Leonard Jacobs

There's no one in the American theatre like Edward Albee. As a playwright, he's known as much for the ambiguities in his plays as for what's revealed. Consider the hysterical pregnancy in 1962's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the symbolism of 1964's Tiny Alice, or why a terror-filled couple visits friends in 1966's A Delicate Balance, which won Albee the first of three Pulitzer Prizes.

That leaves 50 years of work to mull — playful lizards interacting with humans in 1975's Seascape; one woman split into three parts in 1991's Three Tall Women; the drama of a normal man falling in love with the titular creature in 2002's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?. And how could 1998's The Play About the Baby have been anything but the play about the baby?

As a man, there's no one quite like Albee either. His reputation for not suffering fools gladly is deserved. He has refused to explain his work as metaphor or allegory — a goat-loving man, he says, is a goat-loving man. Still, he's anything but cold. In conversation, he's witty, giving, charming, wise, warm, generous, curious, and magnetic. Albee has enjoyed a valedictory season on the East Coast, starting with Second Stage Theatre's production of Peter and Jerry, an update of his 1958 one-act The Zoo Story that shuttles the original play to Act 2 and adds an Act 1 zinger, showing Albee at the peak of his prowess. Next came the world premiere of Me, Myself & I, a cauterizing cartoon of the self, at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, N.J. Back in New York, Albee directed a revival of two of his early one-acts, The Sandbox and The American Dream, to acclaim at Off-Broadway's Cherry Lane Theatre. And now the season ends with Occupant, Albee's penetrating 2001 play about artist Louise Nevelson, starring Oscar and Tony winner Mercedes Ruehl.

Back Stage: I went back to the 1960s and read interviews with you. It seemed you had a Bob Dylan-ish side — a toying-with-the-media, try-figuring-me-out tone.

Edward Albee: Oh, why not have fun with them? Once, I was interviewed and asked who my favorite living playwright was. I said me. When it was printed, it read, "When asked who he thought the finest living playwright was, Mr. Albee said himself." Was that bad mishearing on the part of the journalist or intentional? That's why I prefer live radio and television…. I like to keep journalists on their game.

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Video Tributes to Harvey Korman

Been watching the coverage of Korman's death on the blogosphere. God was he loved! Check all this out. I've been laughing.

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