I have a new blog post up at the Guardian this morning about Neil LaBute and his supposed split with MCC Theater. Read it here. Playgoer speculates about the matter, which came to light on Tuesday after David Ng's blog post for the L.A. Times broke the news. I take the opportunity (and the lack of ready news or gossip) to muse on a little-discussed problem in the nonprofit world: indiscriminate green-lighting of established writers by their informal home theaters. Teaser:
But the nearly exclusive arrangement LaBute enjoyed with MCC speaks more to safety and expediency than any sort of meaningful artistic union. MCC produces American and British plays with no clear aesthetic common denominator. But why LaBute? Could it be he needs a home for the dark, "gotcha" plays he relentlessly cranks out; and MCC needs the star wattage the film director brings?
RTWT here.
Enjoyed this post in The Guardian. I'm sorry I read it too late to add a comment to the exciting mix. No huge surprise that LaBute's response was hostile. But, I suppose you must have thick skin by now.
Your reviews made me angry a few times, too. But when I realized how much you love theater and that you are trying to hold artists feet to the fire to get the best from them, I forgave you. I guess you can't really start every review with 'I only criticize you guys because you are so talented.' But, now that I perceive this underlying respect, I enjoy your work more. Poor LaBute is so unfamiliar with respect, he would never notice he has yours.
I also enjoy your glee in risks taken. A radical choice in a play doesn't push my buttons like it seems to push yours, but I get it. The reason for true love doesn't matter, only that the love exists.
Posted by: S Batchelder | June 27, 2009 at 03:07 AM
i just came across this.
the play flopped? wait. what?? flopped?
ha.
ha.ha.ha.
it closed early, a number of plays have done that in these uncertain economic times (don't you just love that phrase?). the reviews were stellar. and, i don't know a single person who didn't walk out of that show, labute fan or not, who didn't talk about it long after it was a memory.
isn't that what outstanding theater is all about?
attaching the word 'flop' to this piece of work is like attaching the word 'successful' to george w.bush's terms in office.
pardon me while i tut you.
Posted by: quin browne | September 02, 2009 at 08:23 AM