Histriomastix

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HAM ON THAT?

You may not know it, but between 1992 and 2000, I did a fair share of acting below 14th Street in some wacky experimental theater pieces. What I did as the Dramaturg in a heavily deconstructed and ubercamp version of Othello I don't want to say. Anyway, last summer, the brilliant kids at Piper MacKenzie Productions wheedled me into appearing in a short mock-silent film. I played a sleazy professor who tries to force himself on a pretty young maid. Fun stuff. Warning: My shameless schmacting and mugging may cause seizures. Never let it be said that I don't have the firsthand knowledge to criticize bad performance.

The Poison Kiss from Piper McKenzie on Vimeo.

My latest Guardian blog: History repeating

I just posted a blog at the Guardian. Topic: Why are we so lame when it comes to history plays and revivals of classics? Go, read, comment, and repeat. Tease:

The problem is three-pronged: we aren't writing historical plays, we aren't finding imaginative ways to stage our classics, and we rarely go beyond costume drama when handling the classics of other cultures. In the 2008-09 season, there were 18 play revivals; 11 of these were staged by English directors and one (Exit the King) by an Australian, Neil Armfield. Clearly, when a producer wants to do Godot or Hedda, they assume only a Brit can understand the material properly.

RTWT here.

SAN FRANCISCO (AND MACDOWELL) HERE I COME!

Well, as far as San Fran goes, not exactly. My one-act opera, Fade, is coming to that fair city later this month. San Francisco Cabaret Opera will present a concert reading of the work, which I created with composer Stefan Weisman last year. (It got its world premiere in London in October.) Meanwhile, I continue to work with Robert Paterson and Philippe Bodin on new operas.

This weekend, I finally get back to work on my first play, Vicarious, commissioned by the Gingold Theatrical Group. Draft: third. Progress: slow. Mood: tensely excited. Notes for revision: legion. I continue to think this could be a powerful and engrossing work, and extremely contemporary without being too trendily headline-ripped. My hope is to have a solid third draft by mid-June. Then another reading (with some kickass professional thesps, I must say) and a six-month development period with actors on their feet throwing furniture around. After that? Who knows…

Seems like a good time to share exciting news with loyal Histriomasticators: In August I'll be heading to the MacDowell Colony for two weeks of intensive work on a new play. Ah yes: A quiet cabin in my native New Hampshire sounds perfect right about now. I am overjoyed and stunned that they took me on my first application, and I hope it signals the start of yearly pilgrimage to writers' colonies around the country.

I bet you noticed it stopped raining. And the weather is lovely. I feel quite happy today.