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I am continuing here with the second article from American Theatre from April that looked at Wallace Shawn. I know I am taken by him as a subject because I was acting as a dramaturg at Cleveland Public Theatre when they were producing The Designated Mourner, and I was surprised to see a photograph from that production in the American Theatre issue. I have, in fact, posted the piece that I wrote for the program at CPT on this blog.

The request that I write a program piece for the play was something I hadn’t expected and like many other young writers, I suppose, my experience of Wallace Shawn came from other areas of popular culture than through theatre. In fact, until I was asked to do the piece I didn’t even know he was a playwright. I read several critical articles, a book, read The Designated Mourner, Fever, and Aunt Dan and Lemon. I found that Case had a copy of My Dinner with Andre which I found fascinating and actually had an epiphany of sorts when Andre started talking about his “coincidence” experiences with The Little Prince and the hand tracings–for more on this, quite a fascinating talk–go to http://www.cloudnet.com/~jwinder/dinner.htm for a full transcript of My Dinner with Andre and do a browser search for “Saint-Exupéry” to find the section. (I am fascinated with stories of coincidence, which is one reason why I love the Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster, but I digress…)

The main point being that I found myself digging Wallace Shawn pretty hard during that time because he was definitely new and definitely different than where I had come from in the world of playwrighting and these articles in American Theatre really took me back to that experience.

The article on Shawn as a playwright covers a lot of the same ground that I did in my piece, so I’m not going to dwell on it. The only thing that I will point out is a cool radio play version of the Designated Mourner.

I think the two things that struck me most about this article are 1) Shawn’s true sense of disappointment in American theater and the sense, that we all know, that no one is going to it and that there are some things worth seeing and the true challenge of making that connection–of interested, active, passionate people to the theatre that would satisfy them. And for me, this is one of the big marketing challenges I see ahead for convergence-continuum: how do you get at the people who would be most interested in your theater when they have a notion of theatre that is different from what you’re doing; and further, how to connect with people who haven’t been in a theatre in years… 2) deals with something that Shawn says, on page 27:

I’ve always thought the best use of my talent would be as a literary writer. It would be a fantastic thing to have an impact on some specific problem in society–to write a play that whould have an influence on the debate about capital punishment in this country. But I’ve sort of decided I’m not going to organzie my life that way. And I’m going to follow this strange, somewhat old-fashioned belief in the idea of inspiration and that your subject picks you. You don’t pick the subject.”

I find that statement at once fascinating and also confirming for me. I’ve been dealing with this question, with no resolution, for some time. That is, what does it mean to be a playwright? Should I write “the well-made play” about a given topic. Should it be a well-formed, two-act play that deals with an issue–the injustice shown midwives in our society, the injustice shown empirics in the past (as did my play The Empiric), or any number of other issues that any one of us can come up with–always the most popular and glaring being the “abortion” play. That is, do you write plays that address topical themes of your day–relevant in some way to the culture or society–or do you seek some other level in yourself. Some form of expression that “finds you” as Shawn says, not that you choose.

For me, this was the main break between how I was approaching playwriting and how I have been altered since. I wrote The Empiric in 2005-2006 and it is about injustice and outrage; driven by sincere personal anger. Then I wrote A Howl in the Woods, now Lord of the Burgeoning Lumber–and it was authentic, pure–not motivated or consciously driven in any way by the logical mass between my ears. I let it direct me and it direct itself. The result? Something that will be staged, for one. Something that still is unsettling to me–because I don’t have an answer for what it is or what it means. It is from me, a part of me, and yet, the “me” that makes that definition has no way of defining clearly what it is–it is beyond a label.

So, knowing that Wallace Shawn addresses this question frankly in this article in American Theatre has lent me some comfort in a way of proceeding.

At Peter Roth’s invitation and encouragement I drove over to Pittsburgh last Saturday night to attend Midnight Radio 3: Cowboys & Aliens at Bricolage.

Using my trusty GPS I landed nearly infront of the place on Liberty Avenue, parked, and promptly went into a proximate bar and had an Arrogant Bastard.

At quarter to 9 the lobby at Bricolage was packed. I was handed a small form to fill out where I had to choose whether I would be on Team Alien or Team Cowboy: I went the cowboy route for obvious reasons. Bricolage threatened attendees with an audience participation segment that would result from a drawing of the form midway through the show. The lobby is a storefront, and in the two storefront windows landscapes where setup (desert and space) wherein you could don some costume pieces and take photographs. Complementary munchies were provided of the cowboy and alien type: nachos and salsa and jello shots. Beer, etc., was available with a contribution. There was a mingling, party atmosphere penetrated occasionally by the huckstering of a man selling swag.

At around 9 the house was opened and the lobby streamed in. We sat up and toward the back left and then looked upon the stage. Perhaps “beheld” is a better word, as the stage held a wonderous toyland. At stage right there was a selection of microphone booms and arms and microphones and radio sound effect set pieces: a car door framed by wood; a small door with frame; boots in a box of gravel; a large piece of sheet metal to wave, rattle, or strike, etc. Upstage center were mikes at left and right while down center were three mikes facing left, right, and up with music stands. At left was another mike and further up the tech booth. On the upstage wall there was a projection which currently showed the Midnight Radio log. Up center was a good old-fashioned “On Air” indicator, currently off. And up left was an “Applause” sign, dark.

After the announcements, the stage space dimmed and the performers walked to their respective stations. A flamboyant and stylish mike check was undertaken all about the stage, with mikes emerging from odd locations and demos of shoes walking on gravel, strange voices, odd effects, etc. Then the show began.

There were commercials, announcements, Peter’s piece (Hank & Buster v. Orson Welles), Fake News –think Fox News and Glenn Beck with very little need for exaggeration at all, really. Plus an actual radio program (The Mimic) from the 50’s. Great musical interludes were provided by Slim Cessna and his son. Midway through the two raffle winners were brought out for the team alien/team cowboy segment (like the gameshow Password) The characterization of the actors was fantastic as they switched from role to role and did voice impressions as well as hustled around to create the various sound effects. It was, at once, theater and most definitely radio, too. Apparently, at some point, the episodes will be available on iTunes.

Midnight Radio in Pittsburgh is definitely worth going to see and worth the 2+ hour drive over.

Another blog about the event.