more on the exploitation of New Orleans here

http://www.justiceforneworleans.org/index.php?module=article&view=99&page_num=2

read this

Public housing in Katrina demolished to make way for the developers

http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2007/12/rebuilding-just.html

Flux play reading this past weekend

I'm still home sick with hives. But you can read about my weekend and
play here in a charming post by Gus.

http://fluxtheatreensemble.blogspot.com/2007/12/our-inaugural-foodsoul-pretty-theft.html

They're a great group and it was a fantastic event.

Thinking About Writing About Thinking About New Plays

You may have already seen this essay by Jeffrey Jones about providing
context for plays. If you haven't, it's worth the look.

http://jeffreymjones.blogspot.com/2007/10/thinking-about-writing-about-thinking.html

h/t Histriomastix

http://histriomastix.typepad.com/weblog/

I saw Local Story last night

It's pretty freaking great. Now, it's true that I'm biased. I have friends in the cast and I'm marrying the playwright. But part of the reason I fell in love with her was this amazing poetic play. Please go see it here or in LA. I know the show here is great and I can vouch for at least two of the actors in the LA show and they are tops. I also recommend Rag and Bone if you have not yet seen it.

Floyd tries to compete with Master of the Universe, Freeman

http://floydbritch.blogspot.com/

Help some kids

I just donated to this. It's a great way to keep theater alive and help some poor kids. Bush may not give them health care but we can give them theater, by Jove.

http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/tis-the-season.html Update: The project was funded. Good job, folks.

Matthew Freeman continues to astound

How to name your play

http://matthewfreeman.blogspot.com/2007/11/naming-of-plays.html

08

See which candidate you most agree with here h/t Chris Durang

Local Story in NYC

http://www.villagevoice.com/nycguide/ev118859,8.html

Local Story in LA

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=7518622&blogID=331361445

things to do

I'm on page 55 of a new play. It's about this time usually when I get a little sick of what I'm writing. I start to think maybe it's not as great as I think it will be. It's too similar from my last play or it's not deep enough or funny enough, etc. And I know I will keep writing and by the end be happy to have written it. And then I will think that it's a great work of art and also not very good. And both of these things will be true for me at the same time. And then there will be the depression that comes right after the play is finished and I will scramble to figure out what to write next. A new screenplay, a pilot? go back to the novel? Write that clown murder mystery play? Or the winter play? Or the pirate play? The two people in Paris? The amnesia guy? The second act of Bee Eater? Maybe turn Herbie into a musical? And then there are all the revisions I need to do. And I was going to slow down. Slow down, Adam. Slow down.

need stocking stuffers?

How about my plays? get em here

Jaime on the same topic

http://fishunderwater.blogspot.com/2007/11/for-fans-of-straight-drama-replacements.html

Isaac's letter the the editor of the Times

http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/charles-isherwo.html

Why write about theater in the theater section? I go to the Times
theater section to read about the grocery store. Don't you?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/theater/21surv.html

what the left hand does while the right hand sleeps

Check out this Parabasis Hal Brooks interview. I especially liked this section, which I think is the best articulation of this particular playwright dilemma I’ve seen. The main challenge of working with the writer in the room is finding a way to run the room, while knowing that the guy/gal who wrote the play might have the answers - but that you might be the best person for a variety of reasons to answer the questions. I think actors sometimes want to get the answer from the playwright - because he's/she's there. But often times a playwright, having written their work, tapping into their unconscious might not have the actable answer...or they might. It depends. I love it when a writer doesn't know the answer. It makes the whole room freer, I think.. I am often afraid to open my mouth in the room for this reason. I don’t want to say the thing that is true but not useful. And I don’t want to say the thing that is not true and not useful because sometimes I’m not sure what made me write a line 3 years ago. This uncertainty is sometimes what makes people (not Hal) think they can help us write our plays. Because it’s not always easy to translate the subconscious into something everyone can understand. And when you can’t explain something, people sometimes thinks that means that they can do it better. Or that you need help. I think it’s actually a separate skill to try and be able to talk about what you’ve written while keeping safe the things you can’t say and yet keeping your confidence or appearing to keep your confidence while you deal with a question that you’re not sure if you should answer or are unable to answer. Meanwhile, you have to figure out in the rewriting process what things your subconscious put there that have to stay and which of them have to go. Because a lot of this is instinct, other people are often not helpful with this. What they can do is see the play with their eyes and tell you what they see. Which is helpful because you can never see the play with their eyes. It helps if these people are smart and know things about plays. And it helps if your subconscious doesn’t want to kill you. You see how I ruined a perfectly good essaylet with that? That was my fucking subconscious mind getting involved. And you know what? That probably shouldn’t make it to the next draft.

Matthew Freeman is a genius

And so are his rules for the writing of plays

http://matthewfreeman.blogspot.com/2007/11/rules-for-writing-of-plays.html

isaac pointed this out

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman

When you look at the sheer amount Bush has done that is illegal, it's
kind of overwhelming. And it's even more disheartening that he is
getting away with it. Makes a mockery of justice in this country.

Where I'm at

It's hard to get nothing but rejections for 4 months or so, which is perhaps why I practically swore I would leave theater recently. Some of those things hit me pretty hard individually but as a whole, as an accumulation, they hit me much harder. Was it because I was so optimistic that I thought I would stop getting so many rejections? Is it because I think I'm churning out good stuff and I can't understand why everyone isn't going for it in a much bigger way? Both of these, I'm sure. I did get into the MCC coalition which made my day for a while and is still excellent. I do have great agents who are excited about my work. And I have to say I'm pretty excited about this new play I'm writing. And though I've sworn to write slower, I can't wait to finish so I can work on the 5 other projects I also want to be working on. Like the 2nd act of the dog play. And revisions of my screenplays. And that novel. and Temporary Everything. So I have not quit playwriting yet. But I am still tired. And the day job and the commute still wear me down. And the lack of money is a problem. But I'm still here. And I hope I'm writing a pretty fucking great play.