Charles L. Mee is a playwright who has the full text of all his plays available for free on his website. Last year I did a monologue from his play Big Love, a modernization of The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus. I’m not sure if it will get his plays performed more, but it’s great for those who want to read the works of a pretty well-known contemporary playwright. Many of his plays are reworkings of Greek tragedies, but he makes the classics more modern. Mee’s characters really use the language as weapon, and when I read some of his scenes I get little tingles up and down my back, like watching a kung-fu film or a sword fight. Certainly worth a gander.
Tag Archives: theater
new(ish) things I like
I steal from my friends, but as Martha Graham once observed, that’s where the best ideas come from.
- Watch That Page is gonna save me hours of my life. Thanks, Manu!
- All my new Brazil stories that I can tell. Thanks, Ram!
- Improvisation for the Theater, by Spolin. I’ve only flipped through it, so far, but it looks really good. Thanks, Adam!
- My new monkey socks! Thanks, Robin!
- My digeridoo, which still eludes me producing a consistent sound out of it, but goddamn it, I will master the damn thing. Thanks, Dada!
- The cool espresso thing that my roommies got me. They’re the best ever! Thanks, Christy and Dustin!
- My KALX hoodie. So stylish, it’s bound to get alllll the ladeez. Thanks, Dan!
the web : misleading you 24/7
It was pointed out to me by the illustrious Rikin Vasani that google now ranks this site as the #1 hit for “ergodicity.” This alone should speak volumes about the efficiency of google as a research tool.
I was cast in Marat/Sade as one of the four singers. It is going to be awesome. And by awesome, I mean totally sweet. This play is one of those ones that you read and it changes your life. Or at least your outlook on life. Or at least your outlook on how dramatic art can function.
A well known result in the literature states that “all the world’s a stage” [2]. Thus it suffices to consider only those outlooks on theater in order to prove theorems for outlooks on the world. This technique was first used by Artin [1]
to prove some simple results on dilations. It is clear that we have the following lemma:
Corollary: Marat/Sade is an awesome play that will change your life.
[1] E. Artin. “Algèbre géométrique.” 1962.
[2] W. Shakespeare. As You Like It. Act II. Scene 7.
long day’s journey into…
Auditioned for marat/sade, will find out about casting soon. It all reminds me of how long it’s been since I’ve done a production, and gets me thinking about whether I’ll ever do “real” acting again. I miss it terribly.
But on a brighter note, in less than one week I’m going to Rio. Time to do some hardcore Portuguese learning. Tudo bem? Tudo bom!
shallow thoughts, arr matey
Gilbert and Sullivan is like brain-candy to me, although watching my friend Davie’s production of Pirates down at Stanford gave me a few new ideas on how to do a more modern staging, a sort of play-within-a-play idea. It would require quite a bit of acting, and might end up sort of Brechtian, with placards and scene announcements and everything, but it could be a really interesting way to look at said brain candy.
And now on to:
SANGRIA:
2 gallons Zinfandel
1 cup brandy
1/2 cup Cointreau
2 quarts orange juice
2 cups lemon juice
1 cup superfine sugar
12 to 16 ice cubes
2 quarts chilled club soda
3 oranges, thinly sliced
3 lemons, thinly sliced
Thoroughly chill all ingredients. Pour the wine, brandy and Cointreau into a large punch bowl. Stir orange and lemon juice with the sugar until sugar has dissolved. Then add to bowl and stir to blend. Add ice cubes and soda and garnish with fruit slices. Serve in 4-ounce punch glasses or wineglasses. Makes 100 servings.
I’m not making 100 servings. Where are you supposed to mix all this stuff anyway? Who has a punch bowl that large? I’d need a garbage can.
for reasons unknown but time will tell
I spent a good portion of the evening watching two guys waiting for someone who stood them up. I must have been bored, but frankly, the guys were pretty funny, and it was a lot better than doing my homework. I didn’t even need any more coffee to stay awake, which is surprising, given the 3 hours of sleep I got the previous night. Maybe this says something about my personality, but I got a big kick out of their frustration. I guess I’m just a sick bastard. Tomorrow I’ll hang myself.
Apparently the Saudi’s fear a sand shortage. I don’t know how to break it to them, but I don’t think their in much danger of running out. Of course, I’ve never been there, so I don’t really know, but from what I’ve read, they’re pretty full up on sand.
up far too early
I am up far too early, trying to make my real brain work so I can make the simulated brain in MATLAB that I’ve been working on work, and frankly, I think they’re both completely fucked.
Went to see a reading of Denis Johnson’s new play at Intersection on Monday. The first half was hilarious, almost George F. Walker-esque in its absurdity and level of violence. The second half was much much slower. Some funny lines:
“You were diggin’ that hole like China had a hold of your balls.”
“He was lovin’ her like a monkey on a motor scooter.”
“Poison is undetectable in raw, unpasteurized milk.”
“Want some coffee? It has tequila in it.” “I see the coffee, but not the tequila.” “Oh, curses!”
There was a lot of stuff on mercury poisoning in the play, which is interesting. I think my knowledge of mercury poisoning begins and ends at the Mad Hatter. Who I strangely sympathize with now.
My new reading list…
One hour to showtime.
Live in Kornbluthia
I saw Josh Kornbluth‘s new piece, Love and Taxes at the Magic Theater in SF last night. It was hilarious. If you haven’t seen his work before, check out the movie Haiku Tunnel, or read Red Diaper Baby, a collection of monologues. This autobiographical piece was all about Josh’s adventures in paying his taxes, from not filing 7 years in a row, to getting his big break only to find he owed $27,000, and beyond. And of course, love. Who can forget love? The Magic Theater is a pretty cool place, and I had never been. It’s where a lot of Sam Shepard plays were premiered, like Buried Child. Which I should also read.
An Ergodic Walk 