Cleveland Centennial

Styles: Company

2012-02-10T06:53:00.000-05:00

Previous Great Lakes Theater Outreach Tour Fun!

With Anne in Dark Lady of the Sonnets (2006)

With Michael (and Elizabeth Wood) in The Brute (2009)

With Emily in On the Dark Side of Twilight (2010)

Styles: Costumes

2012-02-09T00:00:00.002-05:00

Costume designer Esther Haberlen with Anne as housekeeper Dorcas

Michael as John Cavendish

Emily as Mary Cavendish, James as Arthur Hastings

Emily as Miss Cynthia Murdoch

Hastings in the altogether

Michael as Dr. Bauerstein

Mary Cavendish attends the inquest

Mary Cavendish, member of the Women's Land Army

Detail: Women's Land Army badge, handsewn by Esther

Styles: Hastings

2012-02-08T00:00:00.014-05:00

~~Captain Arthur Hastings~~
Lieutenant George Barleigh

George: Smithy, you haven't seen any suspicious looking characters around, have you, who might be German spies?
Smith: Nein.
George: NINE? Well! The captain's got his work cut out.
- From "Blackadder Goes Forth"

The folks at ClassicMysteries.net posted a review of Styles today, including a brief podcast, detailing the relationship between Poirot and Hastings, with an emphasis on the character of Hastings. The podcast is worth a listen, and does not reveal any secrets.

So many props, so many costumes ... we are blessed to have a company of actors (saving one) for whom the mechanics of this outreach tour is familiar. Anne McEvoy has worked on three previous productions (Seven Ages of Man, Dark Lady of the Sonnets & Before the Storm) while Michael Gatto and Emily Pucell have worked on one apiece (The Brute and On the Dark Side of Twilight, respectively.)

This is the very first tour for young James Rankin, who I was lucky enough to spot last fall in Ensemble Theatre's production of Waiting for Lefty. Lisa and I were hoping to find some fresh-faced guy to play the young British officer, just home from the Front. In this first novel, Christie's Hastings is wide-eyed, a self-styled Romantic, with a sunny cluelessness. James gets this and has been running with it.

Styles: Momentum

2012-02-07T00:00:00.001-05:00

The dudes.
First night entirely off-book. First night working with large costume pieces. The padding is interesting ... I believe I have gotten so used to sucking in my gut, that I am unconsciously trying to suck in this one (see picture above.) I need to let it all hang out, baby.

More cuts. Poirot does talk a lot at the end -- he always does, he loves that part, when he calls everyone together to show off how he figured everything out, how it all happened, and who was responsible. Christie established that in this, her first novel, and kept at it through so many of the rest.

But how to bring events to a dramatic conclusion. I believe we are going to make that work, and tonight was a good step forward. And cutting one onerous paragraph was key. Who knows? There may be others.

Styles: The Alcazar

2012-02-06T18:51:00.000-05:00

About a week prior to the commencement of the tour every year, Daniel meets with a dozen or so residents at The Alcazar and when I am the playwright, he invites me to come along. It's an informal chat in the Kulas Music Room, we share a bit about the production and field any questions.

It really is nice opening at the same place every year, and attending this event is also very reassuring. There's always a lot of familiar faces, very friendly and glad to see us. Most were familiar with the work of Agatha Christie, and one or two had read Styles.

It was challenging, trying to be interesting about the play, when I was self-conscious about giving away too much of the plot. One participant asked if there were more than one murder, or if they took place before or during the action of the play. I looked around a little sheepishly and asked if anyone wanted to know that or not and many shook their heads no, they did not want to know. I had to apologize, you know -- spoilers.

The common perception of Poirot among those present is that he is much more peculiar than I am making him. But then, I have always been too subtle for my own good.

Styles: Saturday

2012-02-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

Let us go have breakfast.
Saturday morning rehearsal. The magnificent Diana procured bagels, and the magnificent Anne brought fresh fruit! No doughnuts for this crew. I even brought some decent coffee.

Fragile objects. Oh dear. If there is one thing I have learned about the outreach tour, it's that we break things. However, items like these are never made out of rubber. We must be careful.

I do love fiddling with them, though. It's all right, it's in the script.

Accents include: Received, Cockney, North Country, Belgian, Serbian, and one which would be a spoiler if I mentioned it.

Today we ran through a good twenty pages, again with the doors, sardines, porcelain knick-knacks, tweezers, despatch cases, coffee cups, and imaginary dirt, stains and candle wax. Esther stopped in at the end of rehearsal and we were able to get a lot of information about what to expect by Monday, and to make additional requests. I must start working with the padding, and know where everything goes in all of my numerous pockets (small evidence envelopes, sample tubes, forceps, etc.)

Esther made this hat. It deserves its own curtain call.

Styles: Rehearsal

2012-02-03T01:00:00.005-05:00

Cynthia mocks Capt. Arthur Hastings

Last night was a joy. Two nights of table work, three of furious blocking, and here we are, all of us largely off-book, walking (nay, running) through the play, starting and stopping, sharing ideas, making agreements, solving problems, paying attention to accents, building comedic moments, pulling back from the edge of ridiculousness ... timing, timing, timing.

Michael's got a 29-second quick change near the beginning of the play, I'm going to have to assist with that. And Anne, as the housekeeper Dorcas, she has the responsibility of taking an awful lot of fragile things on and off stage. Meanwhile, Emily is deciding whether to pose looking left, or to stretch her freakishly long neck back and to the right. I said to the right, that she would look like an Erté. She did not know what I meant.

Emily has a 20-second quick change. Who wrote this play? That's right, uh ... oh. Uh-oh.

Savoy Hotel, Mussoorie, India

2012-02-02T04:59:00.001-05:00

SPOILER ALERT
Do not read if you plan to attend the 2012 Great Lakes Theater Outreach Touring Production of The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Established in 1902, the hotel Savoy was a popular destination for British writers, so much so that the hotel bar was known as the Writer's Bar for decades. It was a favorite spot for the British Raj, especially those civil servants and military officers who wished to get away from the formality of Shimla, the so-called "summer capital" of British domination.

The story has it that a doctor administered a slow-acting poison to his lover in the attempt to be absent at the time of death, thus establishing a solid alibi. The murder was never officially solved, and Rudyard Kipling suggested to Arthur Conan Doyle that it might make a good starting point for a mystery. However, Conan Doyle chose not to use it himself, but instead suggest it to his colleague Agatha Christie, and she used this macabre plan as the inspiration for Styles.

However, considering Styles was her first novel and that prior to that point neither Conan Doyle nor any other author of note knew her personally, I find this tale to be somewhat ... apocryphal. Besides, it has one too many famous writers in it.

Seriously, the assumption that a young, female write must be too dumb to think of slow-acting poison on her own, that she would require a famous, male writer to provide her with such an obvious plot device, is irritating.

There is also the unsolved case of the owner of the Savoy, Lady Orme, who died after strychnine had been put into medicine she had been taking. That's another thing Agatha Christie, who worked during the war as a nurse in a dispensary, must have learned about later from some smart man; strychnine.

Did I mention the Savoy haunted? It is also haunted.

Sources:
Fearnet.com
The Hindu
Reuters

Styles: Editing

2012-02-01T06:48:00.000-05:00

This is a man's world.
Last night Emily and Anne got a lot of time "backstage" to go over their lines. The third "big chunk" (as Andrew used to say) features a lot of Poirot and Hastings comparing notes and chasing red herrings.

I am very pleased with how swiftly this company is whipping through complicated blocking, with a great deal of patience, thoughtfulness, and good humor.Several times an evening someone will bring up a line that doesn't makes sense, or is not clear, or sounds just wrong. And either I need to clarify what I meant, change a word or two to make it clear -- or alter it altogether, because I really did screw up somewhere along the line, and it doesn't fit the facts.

For example, there is a passage in the book where Mary instructs Dorcas to get a glass of brandy for "her" and in my confusion in thought she meant to get it for the wrong person. I had added a proper noun to make it clearer, but only made it nonsense.

Styles is Christie's WWI novel, everything else she writes happens after. In spite of this being a tale told in the retiring English countryside, it is increasingly apparent what an impact the war had over absolutely everything. I believe this will be more obvious in production than even I had thought possible. Hastings appears by and large in uniform, not one but two major characters volunteer at hospital, everyone contributes to the effort in one way or another. And of course, the inevitable slide of this property from its high status into the boarding house it eventually becomes (but that is a tale for another time.)

Styles: Blocking

2012-01-31T07:54:00.000-05:00

Last night was all about doors. Doors and sardines.

I was excused from rehearsal Sunday night. Lisa called to tell me they would be marking through the first twelve pages or so. Poirot does not appear until page 15. Would I like to be present as playwright? Of course not, I wanted to be home as an actor who desperately needs to cram his lines.

I have had a few conversations in the past two days with various parents about whether or not this show is appropriate for kids. For my own kids, sure. But then a friend who has a boy in middle school, whose friends joined him came to see The Complete Works at the Hanna and they LOVED IT, wanted to know if they would be into this. I have wondered if it isn't too talky for children. Not scary, not by half. No blood, there is a death by poisoning (oops, spoiler) but, you know, it's is very British.

Well, after tonight's rehearsal I am not worried at all. It's almost like a farce what with all the people popping in and out of doors and quickly changing costumes and voices.

A farce of MURDER.

Styles Court, Styles St. Mary, Essex

2012-01-28T00:00:00.002-05:00

Photographer Joan Street has a tremendous collection of on her site, TV Locations UK, documenting locations used in BBC program(me)s. These include sites employed in the production of Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet.

This is Chavenage House, located near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, which doubles as Styles Court in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1990).

These photos are copyright Joan Street, and are used by permission.

Styles: Groundwork

2012-01-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

Director Lisa expalins all the wibby-wobbly, timey-wimey ... stuff.
Emily joined us last night, now we are four. It wasn't so much a table session as a sit down, stand up, wander around the room work session. This was good, I have some very definite choreography regarding where Poirot finds clues. We have less then three weeks. I want to know where I am looking, going, crouching.

Trying to make sense of a carefully crafted mystery which has been condensed is a, well, it's a mystery is what it is. Luckily the source material is strong enough (and my adaptation so painfully awesome) that most head-scratchers can eventually be understood. At least I hope so. I continue to cut my lines. Who wrote this play? That's right, I did.

One of Lisa's great concerns at the moment are appropriate accents. Mine is a lost cause, I even started doing Schwarzenegger, no idea where I got on that train. She has promised English accent tapes and an English warm-up exercise, and strongly recommends a steady diet of Downton Abbey, Sherlock, and Doctor Who.

Styles: Tablework

2012-01-26T07:03:00.002-05:00

Michael & James
Hmn. Keeping a blog about rehearsals for a mystery play will be tricky. Difficult to talk about choices without giving up the game, as they say. In any event. we began tablework last night for STYLES. Mr. James Rankin joined us for our first read together. This year's outreach tour features five actors (3M 2W) and with the exception of James, we have all done at least one GLT tour. In my case six and I believe this will be Anne's fourth.

The women were unavailable this evening, so it was Director Lisa and Production SM Diana taking turns with the lady voices while the men got to ask questions and work on character ... only James and I only have one character apiece, while lucky Michael has three.

Styles: Set Design

2012-01-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

Rehearsal for STYLES begins tonight. This morning I had a costume fitting with Esther, we have decided to go with padding for Poirot. Slipping into a flesh colored "fat suit" and then putting on the pants and vest, I could definitely see how weight ages me. I did not cheer me that, with torso padding, my neck makes sense.

Poirot will have one costume for the entire play, and this is a great delight to me. No throwing things on and off backstage, not for me, not this year. In addition, Poirot does not even appear until page 15 of a 60 page play. Who wrote this play? That's right, I did.

Terry and his team brought the set into our tiny office-turned-rehearsal space in the Hanna Building. It is beautiful. The outreach tour designers truly out-do themselves, every single year. Incorporating a door into the last tour I wrote, this year I insisted upon having two. And a fireplace. And a lot of period furniture. And that's exactly what we got.

Packing this into the van, and carting it all over Lorain, Cuyahoga and Summit County will be a challenge. Thank goodness that this cast includes not one, but two strapping men at the height of their brawn. And Emily. Who wrote this play? That's right, I did.

Funky Winkerbean

2012-01-23T06:24:00.001-05:00

Funky Winkerbean, Dec. 13, 1976

In 1972, Akron native Tom Batiuk (b. 1947) created Funky Winkerbean which was the "high school" comic strip alternative to Doonesbury's "college" comic strip. Before either strip developed characters with any deep sense of personality or history, they were really all about the 1970s experience of attending a school.

Reading Funky every day as a kid (and having a few paperbacks in the house) I was impressed most by Les Moore's getting suck at the top of the climbing rope overnight, Crazy Harry's living in his locker, the hall monitor with a machine gun (imagine being funny in today's comics) and best of all, the haplessly unhip teacher who tried to stage a "rap session" with "the kids." She asks what anyone wants to talk about and when one calls out "SEX!" the teacher develops an unstoppable case of the hiccups.

In general, however, it was a gag a day strip, often groaners, but the deadpan faces of the characters (pre-smirk era) taught me how to, you know. Deadpan.

STUDENT: Can I get a pass to the restroom?
TEACHER: Yes you may.
STUDENT: (deadpan) Good. I need a rest.

Wish I could find that one. It was funny.

Recently found this adaptation of a Winnie The Pooh comic, which best illustrates what went wrong with Funky Winkerbean after its angst-ridden 1992 relaunch:

Whew. Didn't know what was going to happen there. Can't wait until tomorrow.

Sources:
Comic Strip Fan.com
Son of Stuck Funky

Tickets

2012-01-22T12:41:00.000-05:00

Took time yesterday to clean out my top dresser drawer, which is general repository for ... well, it's the general repository. If it's small, and it was in my pockets, and look useful or meaningful (but not meaningful enough) it ended up in that drawer. I found about a dozen packs of matches from restaurants that no longer exists, hospital wristbands from three childbirths, and a lot of ticket stubs.

There are more ticket stubs in this house, I have a box for dumping and eventually sorting all of my theater programs, and stubs end up there, too. I decided to take everything from my dresser and either find a home for it (matches in the matches drawer in the kitchen) and all of the ticket stubs into the trash.

And then I took them all out of the trash, and put them in a plastic bag. I also wrote them up for you to "enjoy." Feel free to point out any obvious trends.

Jun. 5, 1995
Indians v. White Sox - Jacbobs Field

Jun. 7, 1995
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Jun. 17, 1995
Hamlet - Belasco Theatre

Sep. 2, 1995
Concert for the Hall of Fame - Municipal Stadium

Sep. 19, 1995
Clockers - Westgate Cinema

Apr. 16, 1996
Barenaked Ladies - Lakewood Civic

May 2 & 3, 1996?
Martha Boesing, These Are My Sisters - Red Hen Productions

Sep. 14, 1996
Destiny In Space - GLSC IMAX

Dec. 4, 1996
They Might Be Giants - Agora

Apr. 3, 1997
What the Butler Saw - GLTF

Jun. 14, 1997
Globe Centre Exhibition - Shakespeare’s Globe

Jun. 12, 1998
Wilde - Cedar Lee

Jul. 10, 1998
Cleveland Orchestra - Blossom

Aug. 1, 1998
North By Northwest - Palace Theatre

Sep. 13, 1998
Cabaret - Henry Miller Theatre

Sep. 27, 1998
RRHFM Robert Johnson Tribute - Severance

Feb. 14, 1999
Macbeth - Magical Theatre Co.

Feb. 18, 1999
Rock Hall of Fame

Dec. 22, 1999
Magnolia - Cedar Lee

May 18, 2002
Monsoon Wedding - Cedar Lee

May 23, 2002
Changing Lanes - Medina 16

Dec. 16, 2002
Standin in the Shadows of Motown - Cedar Lee

Dec. 21, 2002
LTR: Two Towers - Shaker Square Cinema

Jan. 4, 2003
Far From Heaven - Madstone Cinema

Jan. 9, 2004
4 Minutes to Happy - CPT

Jul. 5, 2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Loews Richmond

Sep. 2, 2004
Donnie Darko - Shaker Square Cinema

Oct. 14, 2004
Shaun of the Dead - Loews Richmond

Nov. 17, 2004
Sideways - Cedar Lee

Dec. 26, 2004
Aviator - Movies 10 (Athens?)

Dec. 28, 2005
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - Athena Grand

Dec. 31, 2005
Rock Hall of Fame

Aug. 8, 2006
Indians v. Angels - Jacobs Field

Dec. 2, 2006
Beauty & The Beast - Beck Center

Jun. 11, 2006
London Eye

Oct. 28, 2007
Alloy Orchestra accompanies Nosferatu - Cinemateque

Jun. 26, 2009
East Wing Galleries - CMA

Oct. 12, 2009
Tom Hanks at the Hanna - GLTF

Jul. 22, 2010
Li’l Abner - Mercury Summer Stock, Brooks Theatre

Sep. 25, 2010
Othello - GLTF

Oct. 23, 2010
Kill WIll- CPT

Sep. 18, 2011 
The Life of Galileo - CPH

Dec. 2, 2011
A Christmas Carol - GLT

Dec. 14, 2011
The Game’s Afoot - CPH

Doonesbury

2012-01-21T09:05:00.008-05:00

I drew cartoons before I knew Doonesbury. But only after knowing Doonesbury, did I start drawing comics.

Feb. 10, 1976
M*A*S*H indoctrinated this boy into a philosophy of relativism and secular humanism. Doonesbury taught me character, plot, humor, subtlety, sarcasm, and yes, it was where I got my news. Creator Garry B. Trudeau may have ruined comic strips forever because of his flat, static drawing style, showing two people talking to each other but never moving (Calvin & Hobbies had great fun with this once) or worse yet, feeling so insecure about his ability to draw actual people realistically that he chose to depict the same drawing of the White House over and over rather than have to draw Nixon.

Calvin & Hobbes
But he also broke ground in what was generally thought of as the controversy-free zone of the comics page; treating drugs as a subject for humor, introducing the first openly gay character in comics, anin 1975, was the first comic strip to receive a Pulitzer Prize.

In Fall, 1976 Joanie Caucus is the campaign manager for her friend Ginny's run for Congress. They are defeated by the Republican candidate, Lacey Davenport, but the upshot is Joan's acquaintance with Washington Post reporter Rick Redfern, who is in California covering the race. After the election, they both let their guards down enough to begin flirting in earnest, and Trudeau created a legendary series of strips which involved Ginny trying to reach Joanie at her apartment.

On Monday we see the phone next to Joanie's unmussed bed ringing, and pan out of the bedroom window, as in a film. The next day we fly from her house, across town, finally zooming into the bedroom window of Rick's apartment:

Nov. 13, 1976
This technique of creating suspense, and taking time to play out a dramatic plot point was unique in the world of daily comic strips. It is not unique anymore, because Tom Batiuk, creator of Funky Winkerbean uses this form over and over again to ploddingly spell out horrible accidents and life-altering mistakes which have no suspense because you knew they were going to happen months earlier when the doomed character in question said, "Another drink wouldn't hurt," or "what's this lump?"

May 6, 2011
Batiuk actually used the same technique here, 35 years later, when Les has sex for the first time since his wife died. Same slow pan, on a house, to reveal an intimate post-coital moment ... only in this case it looks miserable and unhappy.

I did use this same technique myself in my daily strip in college, taking a week to illustrate my protagonist's struggle with insomnia.

MAS*H (TV)

2012-01-20T10:11:00.002-05:00

On any given Friday evening in early 1976, you could tune into CBS at 8:30 PM to view a brand new episode of M*A*S*H (and then switch over to NBC for The Rockford Files.)

This fourth season of the program marked two notable transitions from the Robert Altman film upon which it was based (the movie having been inspired, sort of, by the book by Richard Hooker) with the departure of two major characters, "Trapper" John McIntyre and Colonel Henry Blake. Characters original to the series now included B.J. Hunnicut and Colonel Sherman Potter (seen above.)

The character of Trapper John was always the sidekick to what had swiftly become the leading role in the series, that of Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce, and upon repeated viewings (countless repeated viewings) Trapper was always my favorite character. I am not sure why any longer, there was not much "there" there, but my emulation of him as a preadolescent was probably in keeping with my self-image as sidekick to my more popular best-friends.

The characters of Hunnicut and Potter had much in common, in that they were dedicated family men, much more earnest and much less zany than the philandering, alcoholic characters they were replacing. This was in keeping with the tone of the show, which was moving from laugh-fest into a weekly sermon on everything Liberal. (A steady diet of Alan Alda, two episodes every Monday through Friday from 7 - 8 PM on Channel 43, made me the knee-jerk, bleeding-hearted Communist I am today.)

This fourth season was particularly difficult for Larry Linville, who played the clownish Major Frank Burns. Portrayed in the film by Robert Duvall, Burns was the subject of scorn and derision for his piety and patriotism, though he did seem menacing in his way and in that context his comeuppance (taken from the camp in a straightjacket after attacking Hawkeye) satisfies. However, by the mid-70s, ridiculing Burns' Christianity and love of country seemed churlish and unsympathetic, and so Linville's Burns degenerated into a clownish boor of no particular stripe. Just irritating and whiny.

Antony & Cleopatra (1964)
Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival
Larry Linville (Octavius), Anne Murray (Octavia), David Tress (Marc Antony)
Lawrence Lavon Linville (September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000) is one of few Americans selected to train at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England. Unlike Wayne "Trapper" Rogers and McLean "Henry Blake" Stevenson, who left M*A*S*H with plans of capitalizing on their success as lead performers in other shows (and failing, spectacularly) Linville left when his original, five-season contract expired, because his character simply had nowhere to go. Even Burns' former lover, Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan, was becoming a more sympathetic multi-dimensional character. Unfortunately for this classically trained actor, his life after-M*A*S*H was consisted largely of unremarkable television appearances where he played much the same guy he did in this program.

During the mid-1960s Larry Linville was a company member at Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Lakewood, where he worked alongside his second wife, Kate Greer (Linville was married five times.) Linville not only performed at GLSF, he also directed.

"This is where the full employment is, in the regional theater. And it's good theater. You need both—regional and Broadway. But the regional theater develops the potential playwrights, actors and directors." - Larry Linville in 1965

Sources:
Wikipedia
Cleveland Memory Project - Tony Mastroianni Review Collection

Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles

2012-01-18T09:23:00.001-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2012

Great Lakes Theater Presents
World Premiere Adaptation of Agatha Christie’s
THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
As Free Touring Production

The play will visit twenty-one venues across northeast Ohio.

Great Lakes Theater (GLT) will launch a world premiere adaptation of Agatha Christie’s THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, a free one-hour touring production scheduled to visit twenty-one neighborhood venues throughout northeast Ohio, to kick off the company’s 2012 series of Surround outreach programming. The play, adapted from Christie’s novel by NE Ohio playwright and Associate Supervisor of GLT’s School Residency Program, David Hansen, features a touring company of five actors and is directed by Lisa Ortenzi. The tour commences on February 14th, continues through March 7th and is designed to support Great Lakes Theater’s upcoming mainstage production of The Mousetrap at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, this March. All performances of the touring production are free and open to the public, with the exception of performances at area schools, which are private. The touring play is appropriate for all audiences.

“We are so grateful as a company to be able to bring free, professional theatre to people right in their own communities,” said Daniel Hahn, Great Lakes Theater’s Director of Education about the company’s annual tour. “Whether it’s performing in an auditorium packed with high school students, or visiting our friends at an assisted living facility, or presenting our play at your local community theatre or library, there’s something wonderful about taking professional theatre to the people, and having the opportunity to have an open discussion with our audiences and actors after each and every performance.”

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, Agatha Christie’s first novel, features the debut of iconic detective Hercule Poirot, one of fiction’s most beloved characters. The story that launched the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and a precursor to The Mousetrap, Christie’s most famous mystery, Styles abounds with twists and turns to keep the audience guessing until the final moments.

The five-actor touring company features Cleveland actors David Hansen, Michael Gatto, Anne McEvoy, Emily Pucell, and James Rankin. The design trio of Terry Martin (scenic design), Esther Haberlen (costume design) and Richard Ingraham (sound design) complete the play’s production team. Lisa Ortenzi, the director of the touring production, also serves as the Supervisor of Great Lakes Theater’s acclaimed School Residency Program. “Lisa just wrapped up her master’s degree in directing in Chicago, and we are so excited to have her apply her fresh insights into David Hansen’s marvelous adaptation,” said Hahn. He continued, “It has become somewhat of a happy tradition to have the gifted design trio of Terry, Esther and Richard come together on an annual basis to imagine the world of our touring plays, and we can’t wait to see what they bring to this, our first mystery tour.”

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES is a sixty-minute program that includes an introduction and post-performance discussion. The production is appropriate for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Times and dates are subject to change. Call individual venues for more information.

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES is part of a series of community outreach programs surrounding Great Lakes Theater’s upcoming mainstage production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (March 9 – 25, 2012), Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare). Great Lakes Theater’s spring Surround offers multiple educational programs designed to connect the issues in the plays that Cleveland’s classic company produces to the issues in people’s own lives. All Surround events are free and open to the public when at non-school venues.

For more information, visit www.greatlakestheater.org or contact Great Lakes Theater’s education department at (216) 241-5490 x307.

The Gulf (2001)

2012-01-17T18:42:00.023-05:00

In 2001, Dobama's Night Kitchen produced an ensemble-written piece on a unified theme (what the kids at CPT nowadays like to call devised) inspired by the ten-year anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. I wrote one scene about an artist-based protest piece that went off the night before the war started on January 17th. These are some reflections on the original event, and a journal entry from the DNK production.

Originally written 01.15.2011

On midnight, January 16, 1991 I and a few dozen others participated in a performance art piece called Desert Scream, which took place next to Mem Aud. The director/creator of the project stated he was not commenting on this war (which had not yet begun, but would start the following evening, Eastern Time) but about war in general. When war happens, people die. Lots and lots of people. Horrors occur, people are displaced, there is great confusion and the loss of hope. That was the point.

Hundreds witnessed the event. A small number turned out with American flags to protest the protest, but they stood silently and watched, because there were no words to argue with, just images. And, you know, Peter Gabriel, because at that point in history, anybody staging a movement piece used that soundtrack. Everybody.

When the event was over, we the performers left, and the hippies took over. They started singing Give Peace a Chance and, I don't know, Kumbaya.

Okay, that was trite. They didn't sing Kumbaya. Sorry.

Speeches were made. And words failed.

Desert Scream
1991 Version

Originally written 02.15.2001

Saturday there was a large crowd (for this show) roughly sixty people. Included were the subject of Heather's "I'd See You Again" piece, the mother who served and her daughter, then 10 years old, now a student at CSU. They were both tremendously moved. The mother never knew what it was like at home during that time, she had no idea how tumultuous it was for us as well. She has boxes of stuff from that time, but she hasn't looked at any of them. Some are filled with letters from children at home.

Last night, closing night, "Leah's Vet" came. She had mentioned him several times, he was a medic, and she had written a play or two about his experiences but they just didn't fit. But he came anyhow, with his wife, who was also in the Marines during the war, and their young son.

Leah had said, a week or two ago before the show opened, that this man wanted to speak to us, all of us,personally, while we were still working on this. That kind of creeped me out. Leah had remarked that, despite his emotions, how moved to tears he was remembering stories for her, she was also virulently anti-Iraqi. I didn't want any of the actors spooked by the potentially emotive, possibly angry rhetoric that might be shared.

But he was there, and insisted on all of us, the entire company, gathering together so he could speak to us, last night. And what he had to say was how much he and his wife loved the show, how grateful they were that we remembered them. He said Sean's portrayal of "PFC Guttenburg" and his talk about "family" was right on target, and how Josh's "Gulf War Syndrome" series was also very important, how many vets have died from the Syndrome, and how no one cares.

He also invited us all to an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the peace declaration (Sun., Feb. 25) downtown. Rumor has it they will be honoring Leah at the event.

Desert Scream
2001 "The Gulf" Version
I realized some things myself last night. Of course, I discouraged the marketing director from promoting this event through VA halls. I am anti-war, a pacifist, and just assumed what we said was potentially offensive to Gulf War vets.

That was assuming all (or most even) vets haven't also spent the past ten years wondering what happened, and why no one talks about it. Sure, it was a decisive victory, and when they came home everyone was all gung-ho, yippee, all those stupid parades, &c. ... that was a long time ago. They, too, wonder what it was all about, and why no one walks about it. The fact that we decided to mention it at all was enough to make at least these three veterans thrilled. And they were all wise enough to know we weren't dissing them. The government maybe, but not them.

I was so depressed going into this ... a play about a war? What was I thinking? This isn't Guerrilla Theater Company, you can't just sling half-baked generalized opinions around, not about this. But the crew was fantastic. And for once I knew how to get the results I wanted. I wasn't always sure, but I followed my instincts and opened myself up for commentary from people like Sean and others. The format worked, the materials worked, the artists worked.

Despite the small houses (and what did I expect) I am immensely proud of this show. I am proud of all the people who made it, I am proud of myself.

Oh, and I was right about not needed the "Patriotism" monologue. Those vets let us know the show already had "patriotism" written all over it.

Long Time Passing
by Leah Krauss

October In The Chair

2012-01-15T11:42:00.002-05:00

"October In The Chair" "by Lady Anna
The snows came, strong enough to postpone a family road trip to Bellefontaine, but not enough to keep us from making other plans. Cleveland Public Theatre's Big Box series is in full swing, this week presenting an hour-long adaptation of Neil Gaiman's short story October In The Chair.

We have a new friend in town this year, someone who went to grad school with the wife and who found a job here in Cleveland and moved from Boston, here to Cleveland to live and work. We will call her Kim. Kim also happens to be a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and she claims October In The Chair is her bestest, most favorite short story ever. What better night to show her the sights and excitement that is the Gordon Square Arts District?

Good Lord. I am a cupcake.

Speaking of cupcakes, while we were dining and drinking at the xyz (don't ask me what we ate or how good it was, I don't do that) I spotted a cheery band of Millennials sitting in the window, and in particular a woman sitting at the far end furious texting. I recognized her face - it was Amanda from Clue Into Cleveland! I'd never met her before.

I walked up and asked, "Are you a blogger?" We introduced ourselves, and professed our mutual admiration. She admitted Centennial confuses her, and I said that's all right. You just need to know exactly what I am thinking about at any one moment.

I mean, I'm my blog isn't that obtuse, is it? Could be worse. Could be even*cleveland.

I asked if she was going to see the show and she told me no, that they had just come from Progressive Field Snow Days and after warming up with cocktails at the XYZ Tavern they were going back to one of their stylish downtown loft apartments to cook up some locally sourced produce from the WSM.

I made that last part up. They were just going home after.

The Bog Box production was exactly what I wanted to see on a cold January evening, and just why I go to Cleveland Public Theatre. I do not know what to expect, I am always glad to see familiar faces on stage (and in the house) and to become acquainted with new artists.

Unfamiliar with this particular story, it was obviously Neil Gaiman. People representing abstract concepts (in this case, months of the Julian calendar) sit around and tell stories. You're not allowed to do that yourself, Neil Gaiman does that.

Produced by Danielle Hisey, Rose Sengenberger and Benjamin Gantose, this adaptation of October includes plentiful, enjoyable shadow plays. Part of the thrill of seeing a show at Big Box is knowing they have only a few days to knock their technical elements together, and to see how much our artists can accomplish using so little. Sheet, lanterns, ropes, lights and a generous amount of keenly-shaped luan to create sailing ships, mountains and graveyards.

The most delightful moment of the evening for me came when one of my favorite former actor-teachers, the honorable and decent Annie Hickey, playing a bridge troll, had to yell the word "SHIT!" into the face of our ten year-old protagonist.

The ending was a bit confusing -- I mean, not to me, I read Neil Gaiman, and if a live young boy has a conversation with a dead young boy, then that live young boy is either in the process of dying, or will be dead very soon. That's not a spoiler, Neil Gaiman does that. You're not allowed to do that. But the story ended so abruptly in this adaptation, it left me worried for all of the children sitting in the front row, just as I would have been if I had my own kids with me.

Why? Because the certainty of death is something my children understand. Fear of the unknown in this world is what scares them. Watching the boy walk into that decaying house is a symbol I understand. Receiving it on a literal basis (Boy Walks Into Scary House) and being left to imagine the monsters and terrors that await him would have meant for a long night sitting up with my shivering son.

I am very sorry I cannot use my pulpit to further promote this show, you should have seen it. I love seeing kids doing good acting onstage, it was so nice to be in the same room with Anne McEvoy and Robert Hawkes and Annie, as always, and there are some new faces that I am becoming accostumed to that I would like to see again.

They changed the schedule for Big Box this year or last to include a Thursday evening performance and to eliminate the Sunday matinee. You know what? That's right, screw old people, they don't want to see this new-fangled shit, anyways. I've done Big Box a few times and it is a drag to follow two sold-out evenings with a Sunday house of 10. Check out the complete BIG BOX 2012 schedule!

Afterthe show, our happy trio ambled up the frozen Cleveland boulevard to imbibe bourbon soda pop at Luxe.

Bonus: New specs.

1976 Saturday Morning Commercial Break

2012-01-14T11:21:00.000-05:00

I ate him.

In The News:
The Big Fig takes the edge off a horrifying natural disaster.

Eliot Ness Campaign Sign

2012-01-11T09:41:00.003-05:00

1938 campaign sign on building at 36th Street and Cedar Avenue, Cleveland
Frank J. (Frank John) Aleksandrowicz, Photographer
Summer, 1973
Recently came across this photograph, which I entirely love. The title is inaccurate, Eliot Ness did not run for Mayor of Cleveland until 1947.

Styles: First Read-Through

2012-01-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

Remember that photo shoot?
The rehearsal process for The Mysterious Affair at Styles, like all of our outreach tours, will last between two and three weeks. However, to get a head-start Director Lisa invited us to have a first read-through yesterday morning. Our acting company, which includes Anne, Emily and Michael were present, James had a conflict prior to scheduling this event. Tim stepped in to read in his place.

I am also THRILLED that we have Diana with us again this year to act as Rehearsal Stage Manager. She worked with us for Decameron last year, keeping strict account of entrances, exits, costumes, props, and, well, everything really.

Reading the entire script took 62 minutes. We would shave off several minutes if Diana weren't reading every single stage direction ... but we will add minutes to realize all of that acting business. Lisa has asked for an additional 10 minutes of cuts. Not sure if that is possible, but at least I have a couple weeks to work over the piece before rehearsals begin in earnest.

Poirot's conclusion appears to be the most obvious place to shave seconds, if not minutes. Reading it aloud, I felt I was repeating several revelations, each one perhaps in the context of a different revelation, but there has to be a way to tighten the resolution. Big "Ah-HAH!" moments are all well and good, but there should only be two or three of them.

Rock Hall, Revisited

2012-01-08T22:05:00.009-05:00

Happy 65th Birthday, Sir.
Photo: Janet Macoska, Cleveland (1976)
Took the boy to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum today. Always been a big supporter of the Rock Hall, glad it's here where rock and roll, well, you know. Has always been really popular. Moondog Coronation Ball, Alan Freed. Brooklyn High. You know.

My wife and I checked out the hall shortly after it opened in September 1995. As the years have progressed, aspects of the hall remained firmly in the mid-90s. The 500 Most Influential Songs exhibit featured only a half-dozen tunes from that decade, and none since. The opening film, Mystery Train is an excellent short film, which shares, without narration, the different forms of early 20th century, American roots music which came together to inspire rock and roll by mid-century. But it was followed by another film (which felt much longer) called Welcome to Rock and Roll which attempted to describe the lasting legacy of rock, but was really an irritating collection of white, male artists (many now dead) lecturing us about why rock music is so important.

The upper floors change all the time, and is where most temporary exhibits are displayed, but the vast, main floor stayed in this time warp. No longer. Along with his new drum set, we gifted the boy tickets to the Hall (the boy is six, in reality he gets in free, we gave him the idea of going to the Rock Hall) and I was delighted to discover upon exiting Mystery Train that the second film had been eliminated! The other theater wasn't even there.

The Early Influences exhibit used to be a gallery of photos and a lot of reading about the pioneers of popular music. It now features touch screens to choose music by these artists, and for a time I thought I was never going to get the boy away from them. He wanted to hear everything from Woody Guthrie, and was seriously bopping to Willie Dixon's I Ain't Superstitious. I did my best to explain when he asked what Waist Deep in the Big Muddy is about, but the reasons for our involvement in Vietnam (and our enchantment with The Smothers Brothers) was a little complicated when there were so many pleasing diversions to be attended to right then.

A small boy is not so interested in artifacts; costumes and hand-written lyrics. When DMC's glasses were pointed out to him, he stated flatly, "I know, I saw them in a video." That's good enough, breathing the same air as Run's Adidas (His! Ah! Didas!) does not impress. The boy was much more enamored of the interactive exhibits, the escalators, and anything that had to do with technology that he could grasp and appreciated.

For example, guitars do not interest him. John Lennon's mellotron would be interesting, only you can't tell by looking at it how it works (it is actually quite fascinating) he was more into bass drum heads with the band's name painted onto them, and the exhibit featuring the advancement of sound reproduction from the wax cylinder to the iPod. He could also listen to Funkytown a thousand times straight, but didn't we all?

Concluding our tour in the Hall of Fame, watching short films of all of the artist, the boy observed, "They all smoke."

Yes, son. They do. That's rock and roll. And if you so much as touch a cigarette, I will kill you.

"I'm Bob Feller!"

2012-01-07T08:37:00.001-05:00

The following play script is by David Hansen © 2012.

BOB FELLER
Time: July 1936

Enter a young CITIZEN wearing a ball cap and carrying a mitt.

VOICE OF THE LIVING NEWSPAPER
Hey little feller, where are you headed?

CITIZEN 9
League Park to see the Indians beat the tar out of St. Louis!

VOICE OF THE LIVING NEWSPAPER
Looks like you’re a real fan.

CITIZEN points to his ballcap.

CITIZEN 9
For real, sister. You see this “C” on my cap? That “C” stands for Cleveland and it’s a logo I can be proud of!

VOICE OF THE LIVING NEWSPAPER
(raising a hand)
And HOW! Seventeen year-old rookie right-hander Bob Feller pitches his first professional start, and whiffs 15 against the St. Louis Browns!

BOB FELLER
I knew I could win if my stuff was working.

CITIZEN 9
Gee, Bob, were you nervous about breaking Dizzy Dean’s strike-out record?

BOB FELLER
It wouldn’t have made any difference because I gave all I had. Now, excuse me, I have to get back to work.

VOICE OF THE LIVING NEWSPAPER
Back to work?

BOB FELLER
Yeah, between practices the rookies have to sell peanuts.

VOICE OF THE LIVING NEWSPAPER
You’re a great feller!

BOB FELLER
I’m Bob Feller!

Governor Jim Rhodes

2012-01-05T09:04:00.008-05:00

James Allen "Jim" Rhodes
(September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001)
In 1976, the Governor of Ohio was Jim Rhodes. His entire term encompassed a twenty-year span, from 1963 to 1983. Ohio already had term-limits on the books, and so in 1970 Rhodes ran for Senate instead but was defeated in the primary, and the Democratic John Gilligan (who, seriously, I have never heard of) was elected governor of Ohio for one term the early 70s following Kent State. By 1975 Ohioans had remembered how much they just really like Republicans as governor, and Rhodes won a legal argument that term-limits only applied to ~~little people~~ consecutive terms.

Until today, I believed that James Ford Rhodes High School was named for this governor, but that's a different guy. Drew Carey graduated from Rhodes High, and I have in recent years conducted workshops with students there in preparation for the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. Again, none of this has to do with Governor Rhodes. I just really like Rhodes High.

Ohio State Route 32 is named after the Governor Rhodes, the James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway. This highway is awful.

"Providence has smiled upon us."

2012-01-02T06:15:00.003-05:00

The following play script is by David Hansen © 2012.

THE BLACK LEGION
Time: 1936

A dark scene, with no introduction from the VOICE. Lights slowly fade on a man tied to a post. There is a sack over his face. He is weeping copiously. His wrists are bound, wrenched up behind him, behind the post. He is stripped to the waist, revealing several distinctive tattoos. A butterfly on his shoulder, crossed flags and "W.C.G." under his right forearm, an arrow pierced heart on outer right upper arm, left forearm there is a dove and the names "Helen and Paul."

Two figures enter from both sides of the scene, walking towards each other, then turning to walk towards the audience, then turning to walk towards each other again. They are both dressed in black robes, with black hoods topped with pirate hats, complete with skull and crossbones. They are members of the Black Legion.

They are downstage, in front of the TATTOOED MAN/WILLIAM GUSTER, facing each other. The way they have entered suggests a ritual. One man reveals a gun, and places the barrel against the other man’s chest.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Do you swear to maintain and uphold the holy secrets of the Black Legion?

LEGIONNAIRE 2
I do.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Do you swear to uphold the laws of God as set down in the Holy Bible?

LEGIONNAIRE 2
I do.

LEGIONNAIRE 1 Do you swear to defend and protect the Constitution of the United State of America?

LEGIONNAIRE 2
I do.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Do you swear to protect the sanctity and decency of American Womanhood?

LEGIONNAIRE 2
I do.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Draw your weapon.

A stylized movement, one draws, they step back raising their guns at each other’s heads, then step in and embrace in a fierce “man hug.”

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Every Legionnaire called into Dark Service must prove their dedication through an act of purification. In order to purify your soul, you must purge from this world a soul most foul.

TATTOOED MAN
Please!!!

LEGIONNAIRE 1 suddenly presses his pistol against the TATTOOED MAN’s head.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
You will be silent!

TATTOOED MAN withholds a pathetic whimper.

LEGIONNAIRE 1 (CON’T.) (to LEGIONNAIRE 2)
You can begin.

LEGIONNAIRE 2 (addressing the TATTOOED MAN)
William C. Guster, the charges against you are severe. You have been accused of beating your wife, sleeping with colored whores, profaning before your children, and most egregious of all offensives, of conspiring to impose the Communist form of gum’mint on the people of Hamilton County.

TATTOOED MAN
This is insane! I never hurt my wife, I never cheated on my wife --

LEGIONNAIRE 1
If you continue to deny the charges set forth by this sacred council we will have no recourse but to enact the ultimate penalty.

LEGIONNAIRE 2 walks around the rear of the TATTOOED MAN.

TATTOOED MAN
I know who you are! I know your voice!

LEGIONNAIRE 1 clubs the TATTOOED MAN over the head with the butt end of his pistol.

LEGIONNAIRE 2 pulls out a garrotte and wraps it around the TATTOOED MAN’s neck, pinning him to the pole, strangling him, and cutting the cord into his neck in a gout of blood.

The TATTOOED MAN struggles briefly, but between the blood loss and inability to breathe it is short work.

The LEGIONNAIRES drop to their knees and pray.

LEGIONNAIRE 2
Oh Holy God, sweet Jesus, bless this sacrificial offering, which we render unto you. Keep the Fatherland pure. Bathe us in your holy light. Make us anew this and every day.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Amen.

They rise and look upon their work.

LEGIONNAIRE 2
Good Lord. Almost took his head clean off.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Welcome to the fold, brother.

LEGIONNAIRE 2
What do we do with him?

Enter THIRD LEGIONNAIRE with a large sack.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Now begins the final stage of your initiation.

LEGIONNAIRE 3
Strip your robes, and dress in these vile garments. Strike the head from this corpse, wrap it in his pants and jump the next train to Cleveland. Dump them in the middle of the city in the gully by the tracks.

LEGIONNAIRE 2
Why there?

LEGIONNAIRE 3
Providence has smiled upon us. Someone has been disposing of corpses in the hobo jungles of the Cuyahoga. Our contribution will only lend to the mystery.

LEGIONNAIRE 1
Hiding in plain sight, no one will know him.

LEGIONNAIRE 2 puts his pistol to his own chin.

LEGIONNAIRE 2
Strength in obedience.

LEGIONNAIRES 1 & 3
Strength in obedience.

They begin to untie the dead body, as lights fade.

Criticism Is Dead. Long Live Criticism!

2012-01-01T11:46:00.016-05:00

William F. McDermott
Plan Dealer Theater Critic 1921-1958
37 years, bitches.
In August, the Plain Dealer began a national search for a new "full-time theater critic" which has become something of a joke among the writers there. They have flown a few potential candidates into town for interviews, and the paper even sent representatives to PlayhouseSquare to meet with members of that organization -- the nation's second-largest performing arts facility -- and its newest tenant, Cleveland Play House (two major advertisers) to reassure them that there would be soon be someone on staff whose main responsibility would be to cover the theater beat in Cleveland.

Not that the theater scene was the main responsibility of Tony Brown. He, like everyone else in their shrinking bullpen of writers, was recently called upon to cover ... well, everything. Anything, really. Brown was also writing travel pieces and covering the trial of a serial killer at the time he was let go. The Plain Dealer isn't in the business of creating paid positions any more, buying out contracts from writers left and right, and shrinking benefits for everyone who remains. Besides, since June they have gotten along just fine handing out assignments to fashion editor Andrea Simakis, columnist and reporter Joanna Connors, can't-live-with-him-can't-fire-him columnist Donald Rosenberg, and freelancer Christine Howey.

In July Bob Abelman, critic for the News-Herald assured me that:

The theatre critics who write for smaller, more localized newspapers have and will continue to cover Cleveland theatre. The papers and their websites and blogs may not have the reach of the PD, but they are well positioned to offer the same coverage--and more--and take more creative risks. Cleveland theatre is being covered.

The paper Mr. Abelman writes for, the News-Herald, originates out of Port Clinton, and has a circulation of 2,910. However, spare-time critics like him and Roy Berko reach three times that number posting their work on blogs and through reposts on Fred's List.

It is, in fact, the online posting of reviews (and everything else) that has brought us to this pass. If the past fifteen years have proved anything, it is that no one ever bought newspapers to read the columnists. Well, they did, decades ago. But the idea that people would spend money to get any one specific person's opinion on anything has been a lesson hard-lost. Newspapers were purchased for the want ads and when these became freely available on Craig's List, subscriptions to papers like the Plain Dealer cratered.

Do we need a well-paid, professional, educated, savvy, full-time theater critic in Cleveland? The audiences should demand one (or at least one) because they write better, they establish long-term relationships with artists and companies, they can afford (time-wise) to see everything, to have the long-view, to judge growth (and its opposite) and to present a point of view and a consistent personality that the reader can judge themselves. And as Mr. Brown often reminded us, he was writing for his readers, after all, and not for the artists.

Do the theater companies need a full-time critic? Hmn. Tricky. Like a lot of artists, I am concerned that lack of attention to the arts by the media will kill interest in the theater. But media does still pay attention to theater -- a lot of attention. However, it is the new media, the personal media, the websites, blogs, and social networks through which theater companies connect with their audience, in a personal and sometimes exciting way.

Great Lakes Theater recently reported a 11% increase in ticket sales for the 2011-12 season. Eleven percent! Without a full-time theater critic at the Plain Dealer.

Here's the big question ... Why do you see plays? Why do choose this play or that play to see? Did you read a critical review? See an advertisement? Get something in the mail? Or was it because a friend recommended it, someone sent you a YouTube video, you saw a friend of a friend's comment on Facebook?

Does it matter, after all, who it is that recommends a show, so long as somebody does?

UPDATE: For the past several years, the most-awesome, daily, local NPR arts program "Around Noon" has started the New Year with a week-long series looking back at past year in the arts. Each day, for the entire program, critics and journalists are invited to comment on the year in books, dance, music, moves and theater. In Tony Brown's absence, "Around Noon" chose not produce a Best of Theater 2011 program.

The Adventures of Tintin

2011-12-26T19:48:00.003-05:00

Belgian graphic designer Georges Prosper "Hergé" Remi (22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983) created the young, intrepid reporter Tintin (pronounced tan-tan, thank you) and the series of adventures which bear his name.

You know, there was a period during my childhood when my mother thought it would be a good idea to make family vacations out of my father's occasional international working excursions (he was in foreign exchange for Cleveland Trust) which brought me to England, Paris and Norway in the years 1977, 1978 and 1979. This comfy culture shock exposed me to Tintin, Rupert, Asterix and even the Smurfs years before my American contemporaries.

This explains my cosmopolitan world view, bizarre sense of humor, and my general sense of arrogance.

Did you know Inspector Thomson and Inspector Thompson are not brothers, let alone twins?
Tintin adventures stretched from 1929 to the mid-1960s though for me they always had a pre-war vibe. It makes perfect sense that Spielberg would choose to create a movie based out of this material, because the end-product is like Indiana Jones, only with a lot more reasonably acceptable slapstick. The CGI-effected performances make some of the more extreme physical violence a lot more funny and a lot less "Oh my GOD!"

What was most enjoyable for me was that the film plays like a Tintin novel, beginning with Tintin landing in the middle of a mystery, and progressing with great speed to a ship, to the middle of the ocean, to a desert to a non-specific Middle Eastern emirate ... it just goes and goes, no backstory, no Hollywood time wasted explaining who Tintin is, where he came from, even what paper he even works for. Just go-go-go.

And with the exception of an entire absence of tobacco products of any kind, its pretty damn faithful. Guns, whisky, blood ... and only one female character at all, the venerable Madame Castafiore. Tintin is a "boy's own" story, you want more girl characters, adapt something else.

For Christmas I got some of the new editions of Tintin, which are easier to hold but not to read (they are small) but include introductions to key characters which made leaping into what feels like an extended narrative much easier. Just reading half of Red Rackham's Treasure made my six year-old's idea of attending the movie much less fraught.

However, I will want to pick and choose which volumes to acquire or share with the kids, and not just because of the smoking or winking attitude towards Captain Haddock's obsession with drink. A number of them are pretty damn racist. Hergé famously had a world-view alteration from a Tchang Tchong-jen, a Chinese-born companion, which drove him to recreate most of his early work, especially the hideous Tintin in the Congo.

One Man Show

2011-12-23T13:19:00.000-05:00

It's like he knows me.

(Many thanks to Tom Weaver for passing this along.)

Winter rehearsal period, Thursday

2011-12-22T12:18:00.000-05:00

"O happy dagger!"
Romeo and Juliet, V.iii

Maybe ten years ago, we brought Kelly Elliott on board to create new stage combat for our fight scenes. Actor-teachers fight each other as Benvolio and Tybalt, Laertes and Hamlet, Macbeth and Macduff, in classrooms, gynmasiums, school parking lots, and sometimes even on actual stages. Kelly crafted fights which do not take up a lot of space, to allow for these challenging spaces, making the fights thrilling -- but entirely safe -- for students to watch and experience.

Kelly was an actor-teacher herself from 2006-2009, and since that time has returned in the fall and winter to coach and clean up her choreography to new members of the team. While those who love her were thrilled when she was acceted into a grad program in Staunton, Virginia, Lisa and I were also understandably bitter and disappointed that she would not longer be available to us.

Lucky we! She and her husband Josh have returned to Cleveland for the holidays and she contacted us to ask if we needed her! Of course we do! Always! In addition to the aforementioned fights, women learn how to stab themselves correctly (Juliet) and men learn how to gut a student (Young Siward.) There is also careful instruction on choking.

At the moment, everyone is slapping each other.

Winter rehearsal period, Wednesday

2011-12-21T17:10:00.001-05:00

"I found it in his closet, 'tis his will."
Julius Caesar, III.ii

"What were you doing in his closet?"
Today we read Julius Caesar. Our people indulged in all manner of bizarre "old man" voices. Apparently all of the conspirators were dribbly septuagenarians. In spite of all of the political talk, Caesar is a pretty swift read.

One cannot help make comparisons to events in the 20th and early 21st century, and through the course of the reading the entire team managed to make allusions or engage in brief discussions about the Iraq War, G.W. Bush, F.D.R., Vladimir Putin, the Arab Spring, Ai Weiwei, 9/11, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Bill Clinton, Grover Cleveland, John Kennedy, Barack Obama, Joseph McCarthy, Al Gore, Ross Perot, G.H.W. Bush, the Persian Gulf War, Osama bin Laden, Dwight Eisenhower and Martin van Buren.

"Come on my right hand."
Julius Caesar, I.ii
Upon completion of the text, we engaged in a discussion about our beliefs. As we ask of our students, let us not make what we discussed within these walls source for further discussion in the halls, the lunchroom, or after school. We will keep it to ourselves. But I can say I treasure the opportunity to have an open discussion about important personal matters without fear of judgement or rancor.

Winter rehearsal period, Tuesday

2011-12-20T20:45:00.003-05:00

"To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus."
Macbeth III.i

Today, we read Macbeth. The dynamic is different. We’ve been reading for a day, and getting a little brazen. Actor-teachers enjoy different voices and exciting interpretation. And get a little goofy. People get on their feet, play out scenes while reading, engage in an impromptu swordfight, and rip their shirt off. Well, Brian did.

Macbeth is a creepy bloodbath, with apparitions, witches and demons, and blood, blood, blood. Reading this text lends a certain zaniness. Yesterday, following the reading, we had a deeply personal discussion about relationships, trust and the power of love. There’s an understand between this team that made it possible to share some very intimate thoughts. But I found expressing the foundation of our emotional desires a much easier conversation than what came today. This is as true in the classroom as it was around our table.

It is sometimes a challenge getting students to take Macbeth serious from a discussion standpoint. More than one actor-teacher has had to have a conversation with a student who will dismiss a hard question because they have no personal experience with murder. Fair enough. But what about ambition, everyone hopes to achieve, how far will they go in pursuit of their goals.

"Well … I wouldn’t kill anybody."

Of course not. I mean, I might, but I get you.

Answer me this … what is the worst thing you have ever done? Take a moment. Think about it. You don’t have to say it out loud. Why did you do it? What did you get out of it? Were you caught or punished? What does right or wrong mean when there is no human constant of right and wrong? I have no problem with eating hamburger.

But meat is murder.

Winter rehearsal period, Monday

2011-12-19T13:35:00.007-05:00

"The ~~two~~ five hours traffic of our stage."
Romeo & Juliet, Prologue

Over the winter holidays schools are closed which affords members of the School Resideny Program, our Actor-Teachers, the opportunity to go back into rehearsal and dig deep into new lesson plans or to revisit familiar ones.

In late December, that means we read Shakespeare! All eight actor-teachers (and we their supervisors) sit around a big table, surrounded by texts -- fascimiles of the folios and quartos, lexicons, dictionaries and varies editions of the plays -- and read one entire Shakespeare a day! The entire play!

Today, we read Romeo and Juliet from beginning to end, pausing after every scene to make sure everything is clear, that we all understand decisions that were made, and by whom, and that it all makes sense. Often an actor will want to take a little more time to get everyone’s feedback into a certain issue.

For example, Brian really, really wanted to understand why the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt even happened, and we broke it down, step-by-step. The general assumption is that Tybalt wants to kill Romeo, and Mercutio comes to his defense. However, that is not the whole story and it was worth taking the time to make it clear.

We know that Tybalt sent a letter to Lord Montague, challenging Romeo to a duel, presumably because Romeo crashed their party the night before. Tybalt is ignorant of what transpired between Romeo and Juliet at that party, that’s not the issue for him. Romeo never goes home that night, and never receives this challenge. His challenge ignored, Tybalt and his second hunt down Romeo, and encounter Mercutio. Mercutio is in a mood, and commences ridiculing Tybalt. However, when Romeo arrives, Tybalt entirely drops this line of conversation with Mercutio, Mercutio is not worth his time.

Now, there are various rules regarding duels, but it should be understood that the point of a duel is to fight, but not necessarily to kill. And by turning down his challenge, twice (three times, by simply ignoring the invitation) Romeo has lost his “honor,” and Tybalt may well have let it go after that, having proved his point about Romeo being a dishonorable. Mercutio steps in, outraged by Romeo’s behavior, and Tybalt accepts that challenge. And tragedy ensues.

Why is it necessary to get all this straight? Because on Day 4 of the Romeo and Juliet lesson plan, which we teach to high school freshman all across Northern Ohio, we teach a stage combat workshop and then coach students to read these lines, and perform this pivotal fight. If our actor-teachers do not ask themselves these kinds of questions, we may be stuck when a student asks us the same questions.

1936 Berlin Olympics Boycott

2011-12-18T07:15:00.002-05:00

"The Black Eagles"
The Pittsburgh Courier, July 11, 1936
by Holloway

Jesse Owens: “If there is discrimination against minorities in Germany, then we must withdraw from the Olympics.”

Jeremiah T. Mahony, President of the Amateur Athletic Union: "There is no room for discrimination on grounds of race, color, or creed in the Olympics."

Journalist Heywood Broun: "I think that one of the most useful kinds of protest that can be made against the fascist regime of Hitler lies in our staying away from the Olympic Games in Berlin."

Ernest L. Jahncke, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy and IOC Member: "Neither Americans nor the representatives of other countries can take part in the Games in Nazi Germany without at least acquiescing in the contempt of the Nazis for fair play and their sordid exploitation of the Games."

Judge Jeremiah T. Mahony: “The Nazi government wants more than American participation in a sporting contest. It wants to bring the American dollar into the very weakened Nazi treasury. And it wants to picture Htler with Uncle Sam standing behind him and saying ‘We are with you, Adolf!’”

The Philadelphia Tribune: “The AAU shouts against the cruelties of the other nations and the brutalities in foreign climates, but conveniently forgets the things that sit on its own doorstep.”

OSU Track Coach Larry Snyder: “Why should we oppose Germany for doing something we do right here at home?”

United States Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage: “The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race. Certain Jews must understand that they cannot use these games as a weapon in their boycott against the Nazis."

Frederick Rubien, Secretary of the U.S. Olympic Committee: "The Germans are not discriminating against Jews. The Jews were eliminated because they are not good enough athletes."

Coach Larry Snyder: “Jesse Owens is sitting on top of the world today. If he continues to participate in this activity (the boycott) he will be a forgotten man.”

Jesse Owens: “I see no reason to get into a controversy about the Olympics. The games have been awarded to Germany, all preparations have been made, and now some people want to have American withdraw just because some of the German polocies are not approved by them.”

Ernest Jahncke was expelled from the IOC for his comments. He remains the only person ever expelled from the IOC.

Sources:
Triumph (Jeremy Schaap)
Nazi Games (David Clay Large)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Washington Post

This Is The Times!

2011-12-14T06:20:00.002-05:00

The improv comedy troupe "The Times" circa 1955.
Clockwise from left: Barney Silver, Danny Michaels, Desmond Brown, Julia Baker.*

In January of this year I presented what was then the one act play Centennial! to the Playwrights' Unit. It is now the first act of a play tentatively called Cleveland Centennial which includes a revised and expanded version of This Is The Times as the second act.

Times began as a potential outreach tour script, one which dealt with the effect of the House Committee on Un-American Activities on ordinary citizens, with an emphasis on those in "show biz." A very early version was presented as a staged reading in late 2008. It included a great deal of verbatim text from HUAC testimony celebrities such as Peter Seeger, Judy Holliday, Paul Robeson and Arthur Miller, but what tied it together was this troupe of Cleveland-area performers.

Dropping the House Committee testimony brought the bare-boned story of The Times down to about forty minutes. Fleshing out that tale has represented my work of late, and tying the two pieces together. Begging the Unit's patience, we read the first act, which they had already heard in a similar version, and the new second act.

It came as a great relief to me that this earlier piece, The Times, was received more or less with satisfaction. GH stated flatly that he felt Times was its own complete play, which did not require the "backstory" of Centennial. That's good, and directs me to concentrate now on Centennial, to make it its own play, worthy of standing alone.

Two stand alone plays, different styles of performance, with a common thread.

I was asked the big questions, the basic questions. What is the question asked at the beginning of Centennial that must be answered? Where is the seed that is planted in the first act that grows to fruition in the second? To put it another way, where is Chekhov's gun and when does it go off? I can answer these questions. Oh yes, I can. And I will finish it before 2012.

"Whatever the idea behind the Living Newspaper in the beginning, circumstance and influence of one kind or another have modified it. A literally rough estimate of it at the moment would be: 'Combine the newspaper and the theatre and to hell with both traditions.' In the beginning we thought we would dramatize current news, it never occurring to us at the moment that the current news at hand was likely to be very weak stuff." - Morris Watson, 1936

TKT pointed out the difference in tone reader LJH took in performing the character of The Voice of the Living Newspaper. She was, as I had requested, like a big, bold, sassy headline with most of her delivery, but then there are places where she interacts with "citizens" and there is much more interesting, with character. LHJ herself suggested that the Voice might take a more active role in showing people (the audience) around, if the point is to showcase Cleveland. I feel at this point this piece is too stagey where it should have more attitude, just as it strives to be too deep where it should be handled with a lighter touch.

Who is the main character? If it is Cleveland itself, who will care? MO said the history stuff was just boring ("I don't care about the shit I can Google.") that he sat through waiting for the stuff that's about people. With the Voice as a real person, history could become character stuff.

I need to revisit the character of Avery Brundage. He's such an ass.

It came as a relief to hear BP point up that the political business does have contemporary resonance. What was surprising to me, before the reading, was how much was biting in 2010 which seems dated only one year later.

There's a lot of work, but it's not the 'drop everything and start again' kind of work. I've got it. I can see it. I will get it there.

*Actually Mark Cipra, Daniel McElhnaney, Darius Stubbs and Elizabeth Wood, in December 2008.

The Hobbit

2011-12-11T12:45:00.004-05:00

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973)
"By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead."
Some people like raising babies. My own wife has expressed that she misses the baby-era in our life. And I do, too, but not very much. Because we are in the Daddy Zone now. The children are old enough to "get things" and to make puns and have thoughtful conversations about absolutely everything. And then there are the books.

They are good readers, which makes me happy. And we read to them, every night. Every other book is something comforting and fantastic like Paddington or Mouse and the Motorcycle. But we are also moving into realms of fantasy and danger. During summer trips this year I read everyone the first two Harry Potter books. This fall we tackled The Hobbit (1937). At first they did not wish me to begin. Then they never wanted me to stop.

This was my second time reading The Hobbit. The first was in the late 1970s, I read it when I was a little older than the girl is now. The Rankin Bass animated TV version debuted Thanksgiving weekend during that magical year of 1977. Having only read it once, my impression of the book is much more informed by the cartoon, for better or worse. Orson Bean as Bilbo was very nice, and his voice still rings in my head every time I utter the phrase, "Bless my soul!"

Other voices are better and worse. John Huston as Gandalf? Yes, thank you. Hans Conreid as Thorin? Sorry, his work on Rocky and Bullwinkle made that a hard sell. And Smaug sounded like a thug on autotune, I am seriously looking forward to Benedict Cumberbatch tackling the role. The sounds of this one-hour Rankin Bass version is all the more impressed into my head because my parents got me the LP the same year.

But checking out clips on YouTube, it is remarkably good for a Rankin Bass endeavor, rich in detail, pretty faithful to the source material and with resonant music that stirred something deep inside when I heard it again after so many years.

Adam Gopnik wrote was ostensibly supposed to be a review in The New Yorker for the final installment in the Eragon series, but since that did not appeal to him he instead wrote about Tolkien and how The Hobbit, while itself yet another chapter in an ancient tradition of British mythology, set the template for virtually every fantasy adventure tale written since.

He have dwarves, trolls, goblins, elves and men (men being the least interesting of them all) and then some kind of small creature who is a stand-in for all of the best qualities of simple, agrarian people. It is this last which marked Tolkien's tale as new and different, as our hopes and dreams lie not with the great king or warrior, but with the meekest of the team. (See: Star Wars, The Dark Crystal, Twilight ... and so on and on.)

Much has been written about The Lord of the Rings being inspired by the figure of Hitler and World War Two, which Tolkien flatly denied. And I believe him. Sauron is absolute evil, and as much as you can say about Hitler, he did not invent the idea of absolute evil.

However, reading The Hobbit, the author's own experience in the trench of World War One are undeniable. That is not to say that this book is a metaphor for that conflict. However, Bilbo's sense of helplessness in the run-up to The Battle of Five Armies is palpable, and earnest, and heartbreaking.

His comrades, the dwarves, for reasons beyond greed, insist in maintaining the entirety of the wealth under Lonely Mountain, in spite of the assistance granted them from the Men of Esgaroth. Arriving in arms, accompanied by the wood-elves who had imprisoned the dwarves, Bard makes a tactically error which could have been avoided.

One element I had forgotten about entirely (it wasn't n the TV show, and remember, I read this last when I was nine) is the Arkenstone, which our hero steals, knowing the worth placed upon it by the leader of this small team, Thorin Oakenshield. He betrays the dwarves, turning the stone over to the other army in the hope that it can be used to bring about a peaceful conclusion.

Bilbo Baggins betrays his friend in the name of peace. And as it was in 1914, he fails. The author knows well enough where all this is headed.

As it turns out, the goblin army arrives and men, dwarves and elves team together to fight their collective enemy. Tolkien's description of The Battle of Five Armies is not glorious, it is not majestic. It is horrible, devastating, chaotic, and ends fortunately for our heroes only because it is joined by a sixth army (the Americans -- I mean the Eagles, get it?) which entirely routs the goblins.

The bittersweet ending of this tale is merely a precursor for the next, much longer, and protracted engagement. And by that I do not mean as the events of World War One led to World War Two, rather that the events of World War One have led to absolutely everything that has happened since.

The Year In Review (1954)

2011-12-10T20:03:00.000-05:00

The Year In Review (1936)

Bomb City, U.S.A.

2011-12-07T11:44:00.002-05:00

Daniel J. Greene
Proud Celtic Warrior
Around the year 1976 there were 21 car bombings in the city of Cleveland.

Say what?

Car bombings. In Cleveland. Twenty-one in within a three-year period, and an additional 16 in the rest of Cuyahoga County. Thank you, Danny Boy.

The year before, Danny Greene (allegedly) settled the score with Shondor Birns. Shondor had put a $25,000 price on Danny's head. On March 29, 1975 after spending some time at a strip club, the 70 year-old Jewish mob boss was blown clear through the roof of his Lincoln Continental. His legs landed in a different part of the parking lot from his torso, and even after striking the pavement he was still alive and twitching.

Well, that's Jew all over. (drum fill)

Greene finally bought it on October 7, 1977. He died the way most of us imagine we will, on a visit to the dentist. A Chevy Nova parked next to his car during the appointment exploded. This was in the parking lot of the Brainard Place Medical Center, where today my whole family goes to the dentist.

One of Danny's arms was blown one hundred feet from his car. A witness said his body looked "like a wax dummy."

(Cue the whistle.)

Brainard Place Medical Center
Sources:
cleveland.com
Wikipedia

Styles: Photo Shoot

2011-12-06T19:01:00.009-05:00

Spent some time at TRG Reality yesterday to begin work on the promotional image for this year's Great Lakes Theater Outreach Tour, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Previous Great Lakes Theater outreach tour images from TRG Reality:

Seeing Red (2008)

Two By Chekhov (2009)

On the Dark Side of Twilight (2010)

Twice Told Tales of the Decameron (2011)
Todd, Daniel and I batted around ideas a week or so ago. The title, Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles communicates that you can expect some kind of mystery. To give a sense of this play in particular we wanted to emphasize 1) it's a Hercule Poirot mystery and 2) that it takes place a bit earlier than most Christie novels, during World War I.

Thomas and his crew created a well-lit sitting room in their studio. Peg was on hand to create my make-up. Poirot is quite vain, and would not allow for any gray hair, so for the purposes of this shoot she made my hair black, black, black. It was quite freakish in person, especially the eyebrows, but worked extremely well for the purposes of photography. I will have a more naturalistic hair dye for the actual tour.

Most photo shoots I have been participated in for Great Lakes involve engaging my abilities as a contortionist, abilities I do not actually have. Twisting the body for this kind of closely focused picture is much more interesting and dramatic, yet it is not obvious in the final product how difficult it is. At least for me. They asked me yesterday if this was most uncomfortable position they've had me in and I said no, it wasn't. When they asked which image was I immediately answered, Mousetrap.

The Mousetrap (Opens March, 2012)
Frightfully difficult, that one put a kink in my neck for a day or so.

Styles involves a few significant props, including a broken coffee cup and a substance which may or may not be salt. These were included in the shoot. There will be a special digital effect on the cup to remove a piece the size of that puzzle piece I am holding. In addition, the plan is to change the coloring so it is suggestive of an old magazine cover. We found when looking at old magazines that most images were not black and white, but color-tinted.

Thanks to Daniel Hahn for these candid photographs, and to the fantastic people at TRG. We will meet again. (You can find the final image here.)

The Muppets (2011)

2011-12-05T19:08:00.004-05:00

"Who hates their kids enough to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 when The Muppets is in theaters?" - Larry Collins

I am a 43 year-old man. Sesame Street debuted when I was one. Mine is the original Muppet generation.

In 1976, Jim Henson finally realized his dream of developing a prime-time television program, The Muppet Show, which lasted for five seasons. The Muppet Movie premiered in 1979 and from that point on you could count on a new Muppet movie every few years. Each were increasingly terrible.

Don't get me wrong, they had their moments. Unfortunately, following the masterful template set by songwriter Paul Williams, the songs for all Muppet movies are better bland and forgettable (with the exception of "Together Again" from Muppets Take Manhattan, 1984.) In addition, as the model from Muppet movies became "let's adapt a familiar story and put Muppets in it" there were more and more human characters eating up valuable Muppet time.

This summer we took the kids to the Palace for Cinema on the Square to see Muppet Treasure Island (1996) which is wretched -- never, never, never take your kids to see Muppet Treasure Island. I refuse to consider ever spending time on A Muppet Christmas Carol.

In spite all of all this, my wife and I are apparently the only two people in the world who loved the 1996 ABC television prime-time reboot Muppets Tonight. Purists were snitty as hell about the new Muppet creations, and everyone else said, oh yeah, Muppets. Whatever.

It was the 90s. You know. Jim Henson had died in 1990, transferring rights to the Muppets to Disney, assuming only the House of Mouse could keep his creation true. In a way, they did. And no one cared anymore.

The largest category of contemporary humor and witticisms is insult humor. Humor reassures the insecure. There are two ways to feel superior. The first is to accomplish exemplary work that achieves public acclaim. The second is to publicly criticize the accomplishment of others. This deflates their prestige and focuses attention on ourselves. - Mel Helitzer, Comedy Writing Secrets

We saw the new movie The Muppets over the holiday weekend. It is as good as they say. In fact, it's better. I can't think of a family film that has continued to roll around in my head the way this has. I keep trying to figure out why it works so well. I laughed out loud, sure, a lot (more than I can say for Muppet Treasure Island) but I did not cry the way some of my friends have claimed they have.

I did feel a sinking sensation as this movie laid out in embarrassing candor how Muppets have kind of vanished from the scene. It's the funny subject for an SNL sketch maybe to depict a sad, forgotten Fozzie Bear whoring himself in a casino, trying to maintain his dignity and failing miserably, and yet this movie goes there and yet it is absolutely perfect.

When was the last time I left a family film wanting to own the soundtrack because I want to get the songs right in my head? Probably when I bought that Peter Gabriel song from Wall-E. And it's not just me, my twenty-something companions are quoting lyrics from these songs daily.

I heard co-writer and star of the film Jason Segel on Terry Gross last week, and he was talking about how he and director James Bobin had to convince the powers-that-be of their sincerity in this endeavor, the key word being sincere. Muppets aren't mean. Muppets don't insult anyone, they want to be friends with everyone. "Live and let live," is the sentiment of the best Muppet endeavors.

We don't have cable. The girl gluts herself on the Disney Channel when she's at her grandparents, she knows she's missing out on what all of her schoolmates are talking about. And while these programs stay away from the kind of subject matter and language on network sit-coms I would rather she not be exposed to, I still find so many of them to pander to what Helitzer defines as our human weakness to feel superior, and that listening to everyone snark at each other leaves me demoralized. The Muppets presents a world where being sweet and goofy can be undervalued. Box office receipts prove that it doesn't have to be.

The kids are asking me to take them to see The Muppets again. They never ask me to go to the theater to see a movie twice.

Well? Am I supposed to take them to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 instead?

Kill The Irishman

2011-12-04T07:55:00.002-05:00

"Shillelagh!!!"
Kill The Irishman is the kind of film that makes me want to kill Irishmen.

I appreciate that this 2011 movie about legendary Cleveland one-time labor leader and full-time thug Danny Greene takes its liberties with history in the effort to create a gritty, 1970s era gangster flick. However, it paints its subject in such a flattering light that I cannot honestly tell if it is not meant to be satirical.

Let's get this straight ...

Growing up in Collinwood, Greene has the crap knocked out of him a lot by the Italian kids, which entirely justifies his virulent race-hatred for all Italians.

As a longshoreman, Greene was passionate about unfair working conditions. Working in 110 degree heat didn't harm him, because Danny Greene is Irish and stronger than most men, but it killed his Irish warrior pride that he didn't have the clout to stand up to the union bosses who demeaned his fellow workers. (Cue the low Irish whistle, you know, from Titanic, symbolizing 1,000 years of Irish dignity in the face of British tyranny.)

Soon after, Danny bitch slaps the President of the Longshoreman, and takes over. I mean he actually slaps him a couple times, and that it's it. Danny Greene is the president of the local.

At roughly the same time Greene has a few drinks at a local tavern where he is hit on by the sweet, Irish barmaid (played by Italian-American actress Linda Cardellini, which is funny when you think about it) and they have sex in his car. This is not torrid because there have been no mention of women so far in the entire film and so this must be a first time for him. It's okay because he will marry her.

However, before he can orgasm, one of his old friends knocks at the window of the car, with his new girlfriend's head on the dash and feet on the ceiling. Instead of doing what any other human male would do and tell his friend to get the fuck out of here, he pulls up his pants and goes to assist his desperate pal out of a fix with the Cleveland Italian mob.

In a life-altering decision, without which a good boy like Danny Greene would never have entered a life of crime, he gets his pal off the hook by assisting the Mafia with a heist on the docks. This explains why Greene so easily entered into a system of racketeering as a union boss, and by the look of things the only blemish in his presidency. Life was good, he married the only girl he'd ever had sex with, and he was kind and generous to all members of the union. You can tell because the union office used to look like shit, and Danny made it look professional and nice and well-lit.

It is a shame the police arrested him for stealing things all the time. He lost everything and had to move back to Collinwood, where he and his pals were good guys who even drove the disgusting bikers out of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, his current work as an enforcer (i.e., a dope who beats the crap out of people who can't pay back their loan shark) for Alex "Shondor" Burns meant his wife, who you have to admit after several years had gotten kind of shrewish over everything, left him. Poor Danny.

Shondor was a notorious leader in the Cleveland Jewish mob, and they got Christopher Walken to play him which means you know he's going to be eccentric and dangerous. Danny borrows money from him to open a legitimate Irish-themed club, and when the courier gets busted by the Feds, Shondor takes out a contract on Greene. Kill the Irishman. But Danny's not afraid, he has Celtic warrior blood in him. It was war between Danny Greene and Shondor Birns. Cue the mournful Irish whistle. I swear to God, if they had the budget they'd have gotten U2 to compose one of their fecking awful tunes for the closing credits.

Danny Greene was a good man, and he was always right. When he was ordered to whack a guy who was a good friend, he refused choosing instead to blow up his car as a warning. When the guy came at him with a gun, Danny was entirely justified to shoot him. At a time in history when every white man of his age and background supported the Vietnam War, Danny was against it, comparing American Imperalism in Southeast Asia to the British occupation of Ireland (cue the whistle.) When the now-single, porn-'stached, mid-70s Danny starts hitting on an 18 year-old stock girl at the West Side Market we know its true love because he's only been with one other woman, ever, and she left him.

Side note: Vincent D'Onofrio as Danny Greene co-conspirator and Italian mobster John Nardi ("The only dago I can stand." - Danny Greene) has the distinction of actually being more attractive than the historical John Nardi, while still having the face of Vincent D'Onofrio, and making a plate of crappy diner spaghetti look really seriously delicious.

Like other great movies that take place in Cleveland (Major Leagues, Howard the Duck) this one was not filmed anywhere near Cleveland. However, I was stirred by the establishing shot of downtown circa 1975, which removed the Key and Huntington Bank buildings from the skyline.

To be continued ...

The Santaland Diaries (1999)

2011-12-01T23:16:00.007-05:00

Photo by Anthony Gray
Following the success of Hamlet, Bad Epitaph Theater Company decided to produce some more plays. In addition to Wendy MacLeod’s Sin, it was decided to try a Christmas show -- The Santland Diaries by David Sedaris, which had recently been adapted into a solo performance.

The radio version, which was simply a series of “reports” written by Sedaris for NPR’s Morning Edition about his experiences work as an elf in Macy’s SantaLand in Manhattan were a huge hit in 1992 and established him as a popular humor writer. Listening to This American Life I had become a fan of his work and thought his sense of humor fit with our hip Gen-X vibe (I say that ironically, can you tell?)

Ordering a copy of the script, we found this one-hour piece was accompanied by a second act called Season’s Greetings. I’d heard that piece, too, on This American Life (performed by Julia Sweeney) and it’s, well … it’s a nasty piece of work. I couldn’t imagine following the potentially hilarious Santaland with such an ugly monologue. Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny … but it’s horrible. Take my word for it. You can read it in Holidays On Ice, if you are curious.

So during the summer of 1999 I sent a letter -- a real, paper letter -- to the company that holds the rights to the play version of Santaland. I asked if we couldn’t instead perform Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol, about a theater critic who is reviewing a Chrsitmas pageant at a local elementary school. That thing is hysterical. In my imagination, we could perform that short piece first as a curtain raiser before the main event.

Dramatists Play Service got back to me in short order to point me towards Sedaris’s own publisher, as they do not have rights to his other work. Right. Should have figured that out myself. So I wrote his agent a letter -- a paper letter, through the mail -- and heard nothing.

By fall, I sent a follow-up letter (paper) and soon received a polite letter in response informing me that yes, they had gotten my letter and sent it on to Sedaris’s New York residence, but that I shouldn’t get my hopes up as he was currently residing in France. They also let me know that under bno circumstances should I produce any work of their client I did not have the rights to.

Not a problem, we had moved on by that point anyway. Our plan was the present The Santaland Diaries on its own. Just a one-hour act, who cares, right? It will be fine. Besides, we had Curtis Proctor cast as “Crumpet the Elf” and he was fucking perfect.

Shorty before the holidays I got a call at home and checking the called ID I could see it was a 212. I didn’t know the number, but figured it must be Harris. Picking up the phone I heard a pinched, familiar voice.

“Hi, I’m looking for David Hansen?”

“This is he.”

“This is David Sedaris.”

“Oh. Hi!” I said, and immediately sat down.

He explained that he had just gotten back into New York and received my letter, and apologized for not calling sooner but wanted to respond to my kind request but that he wasn’t letting anyone adapt any of his work ever again.

I told him I really appreciated his call, and that it wasn’t a problem, we were just going to produce The Santaland Diaries and leave it that.

He went on to tell me the story of how he had been approached by Joe Mantello about the possibility of an Off-Broadway production starring Paul Rebuens as him.

“Great,” Sedaris told me, “All I thought was, ‘I get to smoke pot with Pee-Wee Herman.’”

What he didn’t know was that by entering into this agreement, the stage adaptation (originally starring Timothy Olyphant, and not Paul Reubens) was no longer his to control, and that anyone who wants to and pays the fee can produce it. Put mildly, this runs contrary to the kind of control he would prefer to have over his writing.

“It’s not really a play,” he insisted, “there’s no character there, it's just a bunch of stories.”

Again, I thanked David Sedaris for his call.

“I really wish no one would ever produce The Santaland Diaries,” he said again. “Anyone. Ever.”

Awkward.

We produced it anyway. It was a big hit. In fact, The Santaland Diaries continues to be one of the most-produced shows in America, year after year.

Sorry, David.

Hey, You!

2011-11-30T06:06:00.004-05:00

Saturday Night Live
Season 3: Episode 7
December 20, 1977

"Hey, You!"

Woman.....Gilda Radner

[ open on woman sitting alone at a bar ]

Announcer: Not all women are looking for Mr. Right. Sometimes they might just want a little company for the evening. That's why Olfalo created Hey, You!

[ Woman holds up perfume and sprays it on herself ]

Announcer: Just one whiff does the trick, for those occasions when you can't afford to be subtle.

[ men begin to flock all around the Woman ]

Announcer: Hey, You! The scent you can't ignore.

[ the woman spots a single man sitting alone at the other end of the bar ]

Woman: [ whispering seductively ] Hey... You!

[ the man approaches the woman, who gets up and leaves with him ]

[ once outside, they enter a taxi and take off into the night ]

Announcer: Hey, You! for that special someone you never expect to see again.

[ cut to the next day, as the woman hobbles out of a hotel and tries to catch a taxi home ]

Announcer: Hey, You! The Perfume for One-Night Stands.

[ dissolve to product shot ]

Announcer: From Olfalo.

[ fade ]

"Damn!"

My world-view as a nine year-old was that New York City was a gritty, dangerous swinger’s bar and that when I grew up my life would be much like Gilda’s in this fake adverisement -- desperate for love and attention, going home after dark with strangers for risky sex before catching a cab the next morning, half-dressed, with a cigarette clamped between my lips.

I think the fact that she stumbles into the ugly, urban dawn, shrugging on bits of her clothes from the night before didn’t just communicate to my pre-adolescent brain the “Walk of Shame” but that she had, in fact, been raped. I think I read a little too much into this gag.

Source:
SNL Transcripts

Forward Into The Past

2011-11-27T10:45:00.004-05:00

I do not hate Monty Python. I hate people who love Monty Python. And by that I mean, I hate people who love Monty Python but don't get Monty Python. There is a generation of twits who believe Monty Python is hilarious because it is absurd. "The Ministry of Funny Walks" is indeed hilarious. But not because it is the Ministry of Funny Walks.

It's the Ministry of Funny Walks. Do you see?

Whatever, what do you know from funny.

So, while Monty Python was skewering British society, The Firesign Theatre was smoking a lot of pot. Oh, and skewering American society.

Formed in the late 1960s, the Firesign Theatre (Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Philip Proctor) created surrealist tableaux of funny, often taking both sides of one LP to tell an extended, dream-like story. When I was a kid, I did not know the extent of their narratives, because the only album we had in the house was a compilation record, Forward Into The Past (released in 1976) which included selections from their previous nine albums, plus difficult to locate comedy singles.

In 1972 they released Dear Friends, a collection of their live radio broadcasts on KPFK in San Francisco. Whereas their produced work is tightly scripted, this program allowed for a certain amount of spontaneity, which on two occasions, got them fired.

Perusing the TV Guide:
BERGMAN: I like to watch that program with my girl.
PROCTOR: You have a girl?
BERGMAN: We'll go into that later.
(nervous laughter)
PROCTOR: You'll go into her later.
(big nervous laughter)

Just in time for the holidays:
"Toad Away"
Recorded December 9, 1970 on KPFK
Fan video by me.
Twenty years ago today, on Wednesday, November 27, 1991 WCPN 90.3 FM presented Calling All Ears, an evening of Live Radio Theater directed by Firesign Theatre alum David Ossman. The event was recorded at the Cuyahoga County College Main Stage Theater on the Metro Campus, and featured original works by Mr. Ossman as well as local playwrights William Borden and Aubrey Wertheim.

David Ossman and ... what the hell am I wearing?
Participating in this program was thrilling; Ossman cast me to play Fergus the bartender against his Maxwell Morgan, Crime Cabby. Unfortunately, it is a little embarrassing to listen to now, as I am trying too hard to match him, tough guy to tough guy, when my job was to be the squirrely sounding-board character. I mean, I was the bartender.

It's like Tom Hanks told me, you don't want to meet your heroes.

Before broadcast, Ossman warms-up the audience with the Firesign classic, "Bozo's Big Bang."
Having graduated from college that spring, this was my first big professional-grade theatrical project in Cleveland. The best thing to come out of Calling All Ears, however, were all the great connections I made with fellow travelers like Brian Pedaci, David Thonnings, Peggy Sullivan, and Lee T. Wilson.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

2011-11-26T11:51:00.001-05:00

Completed The Murder of Roger Ackroyd this morning, about which the less said the better. Asked my brother in England about the book last week, he says he's never bothered to read it because of my father's unfortunate reveal. It is his opinion that Christie isn't really for re-reading, though I have found numerous others on the Internet who think otherwise. In any event I can say this, knowing the ending from the beginning saves me the time it would have taken impulsively reading the entire thing over again from the beginning right away.

Last night we watched the BBC movie Agatha Christie: A Life In Pictures (2004). Queer little film, detailing the true story of when Christie suffered amnesia (or did she ..?) and went missing for almost two weeks in 1926. Though it features a fine performance by Olivia Williams, and the appearance of Mark Gatiss always makes me happy, it is an interesting piece if bio-fiction that is marred by too much sinister cleverness on the part of the director. Most of the text is narration, taken from first-person accounts that are dramatized by the actors, punctuated by odd film stock (see: Mark Romanek) and the more-cheesy-than-disturbing appearances by the Gunman, an image from Christie's childhood nightmares.

This film also includes several spoilers, including the conclusion of Roger Ackroyd. So there you go, I inadvertently gave away the ending to my wife. Read it now while you still have the chance.

Ralph J. Perk

2011-11-25T11:30:00.000-05:00

In 1976 the mayor of Cleveland was Ralph Joseph Perk (January 19, 1914 – April 21, 1999) who once famously set his own hair on fire.

Mayor Perk banned Playboy magazine from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. He also banished chewing gum from the facility. He spearheaded a major expansion of the airport, and the creation of the Regional Transit Authority (RTA.)

The Mayor's wife, Lucille Perk, turned down a dinner invitation from First Lady Pat Nixon because it was her bowling night.

Ralph J. Perk won the Republican nomination for Mayor in 1971 against George Voinovich, and upon his election became the first Republican mayor of Cleveland in 30 years. Perk served three two-year terms before losing to Kucinich in 1977.

Perk ran for Senate in 1974 but lost to John Glenn, who then held the seat for a quarter century.

He declared May 6, 1974 as Jesse Owens Day.

He presided over the dedication of Aviation High School on Sept. 1, 1974.

Ralph J. Perk was against women's reproductive freedom, handgun restrictions, and draft amnesty. Perk was also for Nixon before he was against him.

Amusingly, for his 62nd birthday political fundraiser party on January 17, 1976 the theme is the musical Hair. (Get it?)

Perk also appointed Richard Eberling to chair a committee to redecorate City Hall. Eberling was soon convicted of petty thievery, and later of murder. Eberling is also the prime suspect, according to the son of Sam Sheppard, as the true murderer Marilyn Sheppard.

Have you seen the video?
Perk Plaza, named for the mayor, sits at the corner of East 12th and Chester, across the street from the always exciting Reserve Square apartments. It's plain, concrete-slab walls, hiding large parts of the part from street view, are a typical example of late 70s design and short-sightedness and after a fatal shooting in early 2009, plans were quickly made to finally give the place a renovation.

Perk Plaza at Chester Commons was officially reopened at a ribbon-ccuting ceremony on November 21, 2011.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Cleveland Memory Project

Nine of Clubs

2011-11-22T19:21:00.007-05:00

I wasn’t part of that crowd. I did not know the DJs by name. I never saw Trent. I was never a very attractive Goth, I couldn’t thrift to save my life, there was nothing to be done about my hair, when I dressed dark I looked clownish. But I went to The Nine.

Oh baby, look at you. Don't you look like Siouxsie Sioux.
Before it was became an adult video and novelty store in the 1990s, 1273 West 9th Street was home to the legendary Nine of Clubs nightclub, one of the very few public locations for listening and dancing to “Progressive” dance music. Most of the music I remember and love from my college years I first heard there, and sometimes nowhere else since.

Once during Spring Break in 1988 I was sitting at a table with my sketchbook, getting examples of hair and make-up. I was trying to drink and mind my business but I kept getting hit on by middle aged dudes.

Hogadiddle and the Art Fag.
On December 25, 1987 we had gathered to celebrate Hog’s 20th birthday. Checking out after hours a small group of us, boys and girls, were head to the parking lot across West Ninth (there are condos there now) when this dude in a trenchcoat who had walked out at the same time as we had started messing with the birthday boy. Hog was hammered and he thought the guy was being friendly. The stranger said he had been in the Marines and my friend said he had a cousin in the Air Force, you know, to go along, but that really pissed the guy off. He pulled up his shirt to show off a scar in his abdomen he claimed to have gotten in Beirut.

That was when he pulled out the gun.

Hog freaked out and started whimpering while we tried to talk the guy down. But the guy started laughing, put the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger “click” and then walked away. Before we got home, somebody (I won’t say who) vomited in the car.

There's a big Nine of Clubs Reunion going on tomorrow night on 78th Street Studios, a benefit for Be The Match Foundation but it's sold out already. (Now mope.)

I came here to drink, not to get laid.

Job Opening at the Plain Dealer

2011-11-21T13:40:00.002-05:00

Posted August 23, 2011:

Seeking a full-time theater critic for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio’s largest newspaper and a Top 20 metro daily. Northeast Ohio is rich in theater offerings, from PlayhouseSquare in downtown Cleveland - the second-largest performing-arts complex in the United States - to cutting-edge professional companies and a robust community-theater scene.

The ideal candidate will have 8-10 years of daily newspaper experience, including writing about theater, both as a critic and a reporter. Hard-news background is a plus, as this beat generates a lot of news, much as theater generates millions in economic activity for the region. Enthusiasm for online journalism, from blogging to social media, is essential.

The Plain Dealer has a full staff of arts and entertainment critics, and our features sections have won national recognition. Please send resume and 5-10 clips showing your range to Debbie Van Tassel, AME/Features, The Plain Dealer, 1801 Superior Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114; email dvantassel@plaind.com.

In the past three months, the theater beat has been covered by staff reporters Joanna Connors, Don Rosenberg, Andrea Simakis, and fee-lance critic Christine Howey, but no full-time theater critic has been named.

See also: Tony Brown

Othello (1952)

2011-11-18T16:30:00.005-05:00

Orson Welles began to create a film-adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Othello in 1949. At that point in history, it was still common-place for white actors to “black up” (as they say) to play characters of African origin. Even Anthony Hopkins played the role in blackface for a BBC adaptation as late as 1981. By the late 1940s Welles was already in financial straits, the sheen of his 1941 Citizen Kane glory having been dulled by poor business decisions, unappreciated directorial efforts, and a sizeable amount of bad luck.

For three years, on and off, i.e. when he had cash saved up from acting in other people’s films, Welles would schlep his cast and crew to exotic locations like Morocco, Venice or Rome to pick up a few more shots. It has been speculated that, as he pieced together the film, in textual order, from the late 40s through the early 50s, race-sensitivity must have influenced him as through the film to Moor of Venice’s his complexion goes from shiny chocolate to dusky cocoa.

The film was released in 1952 and received the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (now called the Palme d’Or.) In America, however, it did not impress. It wasn’t even release in the US until 1955, at which time the New York Times opined, "There are flashes of brilliant suggestion in this tumbled, slurred and helter-skelter film. But they add up to nothing substantial; just a little Shakespeare and a lot of Welles."

When the old Heights ~~Porn~~ Art Theatre at Coventry and Euclid Heights Blvd. re-opened to much-fanfare as the Centrum in 1993, the single-screen theater had been divided into three, and each screen was given a name; the Columbi and the Roxanne (after local radio pioneer Chris Columbi and Plain Dealer film critic Roxanne T. Mueller) and the smallest screen, the Kane (yes, after Citizen Kane) which they said at the time was featured a screen that was best for black-and-white films. It was in this house that I saw the 1992 re-release of Welles’ Othello.

Though traveling to these locations was expensive, crumbling ruins of castles and ramparts made for cheap, exciting locations, and a great deal of it uses natural light (the sun is free.) The murder of Roderigo was improvised to take place in a "Turkish bath" because the costumes had been lost. They all wore towels. Orson Welles was a GENIUS.

Sources:
Wikipedia
The New York Times

Old Stone Church

2011-11-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

The First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, known for almost two centuries as the Old Stone Church sits at 91 Public Square the corner of Rockwell and Ontario. Constructed from 1831 to 1833, Old Stone is has a long, illustrious history, and a complicated relationship with the theater.

There goes the neighborhood.
Reverend Samuel C. Aiken gave a sermon in 1836 condemning the theater as houses of sin. In 1883 a theatre called The Park opened next door. Three months later a gas explosion destroyed that theater, and burned down the Old Stone Church along with it. The church was rebuilt, but so was the theatre, which was renamed The Lyceum, opening in 1895.

By the end of the 20th century the Old Stone was by far the oldest building remaining on Public Square. For over a hundred years the building had lacked a spire, since its second one was destroyed after another fire in 1884. It wasn't until 1998 that a replica spire was erected, and the Berea sandstone of the building which had been blackened over the years was cleaned. Suddenly, this rather stern looking church was given a vibrant new appearance.

Around that time I had just turned thirty, and my friends and I were making theater in and around downtown under the name Bad Epitaph Theater Company. We presented contemporary version of Hamlet and Lysistrata, and in late 1999 staged the first Cleveland-area production The Santaland Diaries (more on that someday) for our first holiday production.

For any theater company, the holiday production is key. For some reason, people who never see theater the rest of the year will come out for a pageant of some kind, and every local company competes for Christmastime cash. Some theaters depend upon their Solstice cash-cow to pay for the rest of their programming. We found something which fit with what we felt at the time was our urbane, Gen-X point of view in David Sedaris's tribute to horrible part-time work.

The plan was to remount this production in 2000, and to make a lot of money. However, it was also decided to present a second holiday show, The Wayward Angel. This one-act was written in the early 1960s as a television script for a local station, though we never could discover which one. Some said it was for PBS, but there was no PBS in those days. The playwright, Thomas P. Cullinan, wrote for KYW-TV (now WKYC, our NBC affiliate) and it may have originally been broadcast there. The show was tapped for national distribution, but there were copyright issues regarding music performed or played during the broadcast, and the recording was shelved, probably taped over, and most likely lost to history.

I didn't see why, when we already had a corner on the hippest new holiday show available we had to present two Christmas shows, and besides, The Wayward Angel, the story of a near-fallen angel who tries to get right with the Lord by crashing the party of the Messiah's birth, only to crash-land off the coast of Celtic Ireland and unintentionally plant the seeds of Christianity on the Emerald Isle ... well, it made me a little sick.

But the playwright's son was one of our artistic collaborators. And there was a great part for Nick. However, I insisted that if we were to present a Christmas pageant, then as Charlie Brown said, "We're going to do this play, and we're going to do it right." It would be free and open to the public, soliciting donations to cover the costs of production and anything left over we would donate to some worthy cause.

Since the days of Reverend Aiken the Old Stone Church has embraced the arts and has strong artistic programming. In the late 20th Century the director of the Faith & Arts Series was David Gooding, formerly of the Cleveland Play House and a connection to members of our artistic team. By mid-year we had already checked out the space and determined that while the 700-seat sanctuary would not be appropriate, the fellowship hall on the lower level would be ideal.

And a modest Christmas pageant it was. With the curtains of its little stage closed, the room appeared the familiar, utilitarian church hall; tile floors, big round tables with table cloths. Poinsettias on each table. Arabica donated coffee and a large tray of brownies and carrot cake for each evening's performance. A half-hour before the performance, musicians played a charming selection of Celtic tunes before the curtains parted to reveal a startlingly complete box-set of a hut carved into the stage. The performance itself lasted about 45 minutes.

Nick Koesters, face-down on the floor. Again.
Now. The Old Stone Church is located across Public Square from Tower City, which in those days was still being frequented by suburban shoppers in significant numbers. But how many would cross the square after dark to explore a forbidding looking stone church in downtown Cleveland, or park their car on the street to come and join us?

"It's a wisely observed, elegiac little piece, leavened by Cullinan's unforced statement and wry humor." - James Damico, The Free Times

"It's a small story, and a brief drama. But it will also leave the viewer humbled and thankful in this busy season of rampant consumerism." - Tony Brown, The Plain Dealer

Nick was singled out for his surprising quietness.

The room sat over one hundred, we were full most nights, and in the final days before Christmas, it was standing room only. The "official" admission policy was that everyone bring at least one non-perishable food item for the Old Stone Church Food Pantry, but we received in excess of 2,000 food items. People were also very generous with their cash, as we covered our costs and had $1,000 left over to provide to the Food Pantry.

Closing night, the house was packed. One audience member came up to us to explain how they had just been over at Tower City, and all they wanted was some peaceful and enjoyable Christmas entertainment and that this was perfect. There were grandparents and lots of children. My wife attended, she was very pregnant with our first child. It was the night before Christmas Eve.

It was all very sweet and sentimental, far from the arch and bitter amusements that had been my source of creativity since childhood. I could imagine a future in this emotional place, embracing family and hope, though circumstances made it necessary for me to wait a while longer.

Sources:
Showtime in Cleveland (John Vacha)
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Old Stone Church website
Wikipedia

Hoolihan and Big Chuck

2011-11-11T22:17:00.007-05:00

They always ended the show in their PJs.
Histories have been written about the preponderance of late-night movie programming that featured a terrible B-movie hosted by some kook in a costume. Cleveland’s Ghoulardi one-upped a lot of his national competitors with his regional digs, arch (one might say “meta”) humor, and his adventures into chroma key, placing himself into the movie, decades before MST3K.

Ghoulardi.
When Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson left Cleveland in 1966 to make his fortune as a voice-over artist in Los Angeles, one of his producers Chuck Schodowski and weather man Bob “Hoolihan” Wells took the slot. Now, instead of a dimly-lit studio haunted by a deranged beatnik who blew up things, we had two charming, rubber-faced twits creating hilarious and hilariously cheap comedy shorts to pad out the awful movies.

Now, local television has always been cheap. But reviewing segments from the Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show, you can understand how they inspired several generations of dorks from Northeast Ohio to pick up dad’s Super 8 camera and make silent, physical comedy, usually involving obvious costumes, wigs, mustaches, and a grand, goofy, visual punchline.

I am looking at you, Litz.

A keen interest in bizarre music was always a plus.

"Certain Ethnic Bankrobbers"
WARNING: Hideous gay stereotype.
In 1976, Hoolihan and Big Chuck aired at 11:30 PM on Friday nights, which was awesome because that meant we could stay up late and not worry about having to get up for church the next day.

This clip was filmed at the corner of Fleet and Klonowski, and once upon a time the Jolly Tee Cafe may have been on the corner of Aetna and East 76th street in Slavic Village:

Pure Cleveland.

Miller's Dining Room

2011-11-09T04:52:00.001-05:00

The Miller family was on old Cleveland food family. The had a butter and egg stand at Central Market. Doris Miller had a degree in home economics from Mather College and had trained as a dietician at Stouffer's. After Central Market caught fire and burned down, she talked her parents into joining her in taking over the former "Kaase's" restaurant in Lakewood at 16707 Detroit Ave.

Miller's Dining Room opened in 1950. My memories are faint, and because we always went after church I think of it as some fancy place, but it was a family-style restaurant where the emphasis was home-cooked meals at a decent price. The table cloths were crisp and white, and they even had finger bowls!

Ask anyone about Miller's and they will tell you about the sticky buns. Servers circulated throughout the meal offering a selection of piping hot rolls to whoever wanted one. It was like dim sum for crackers. The sweet and chewy, caramel-swirled sticky buns were the most popular selection.

The "average costumer ate two." The child must have had three or four, or until someone told him to stop. This was important, because I also usually ordered the chicken a la king, chicken in gravy served in a crispy shredded potato basket.

After 40 years of business, Doris Miller Urbansky and her husband Tom sold the venture to the Thomas family, who kept the Miller name and style. Five years later, in 1995, Miller's Dining Room caught fire and burned down.

Doris Urbansky died in 2010.

Sticky Buns
originally served in Miller’s Dining Room
[makes approximately 30]

For the Sticky Buns:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (regular white enriched flour; not bread flour)
2 packages active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/3 cups butter
1 egg

For the Topping :
(to be put in each muffin cup)
1 to 2 teaspoons melted butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 dash cinnamon
For the Filling:
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 to 3 cups light brown sugar

In large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix well.

In saucepan, heat milk, water and butter just until warm (between 120 and 130 degrees F). Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Add egg. Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough.

Turn out onto well-floured board or pastry cloth and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes.

Place in well-greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with clean cloth toweling or waxed paper. Let rise in warm oven (turn oven to lowest setting for one minute, then turn off) for 15-20 minutes, or place in warm area of kitchen and let rise until doubled in size.

Prepare muffin tins by generously greasing each cup with butter, adding about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar to each cup. Set aside.

Amply flour clean toweling or pastry cloth. Roll dough out into rectangular shape no more than 12 inches wide and about 1-inch thick. Generously brush dough with melted butter. Sprinkle up to 1/2-inch brown sugar over top of butter.

Roll dough loosely as for jellyroll, pinching along the seam to secure filling. Cut into 1-inch slices and place in prepared cups.

Bake rolls in oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool a minute, then remove rolls with fork. Spoon any remaining topping over the rolls.

*Recipe note: Miller’s secret was the type of brown sugar the restaurant used — C&H Pure Cane Golden Brown. You can buy it in bulk ($22 for 24, 1-pound boxes) by calling the company directly at 1-800-234-5708, but Domino brand is a good substitute.

Source:
Lakewood Sun Post
Cleveland Magazine
Cleveland Memory Project

"A factory of sadness."

2011-11-08T14:49:00.003-05:00

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

2011-11-07T00:01:00.013-05:00

We all have loved you, Rael.
Cleveland has always been kind to Peter Gabriel and to Genesis. When few in the United States even knew who they were, they would attract sold-out crowds here. I found a review of their 1973 gig at the Musical Hall in my high school newspaper.

In 1974 they released their most ambitious and ill-fated album to date, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. "Concept" albums were already a worn-out phenomenon, and yet the band created a two-album set that weaved out an utterly bizarre tale from the mind of Peter Gabriel, following what we would call a Nuyorican kid (of whom Gabriel knew none) named Rael, who is transported to an Alice-In-Wonderland type underworld in pursuit of his lost brother John.

He is frozen in space, is forced to confront his first, humiliating sexual encounter, is made love to by a mythical beast, has his penis surgically removed, and finds out he and his brother are actually the same person.

I love this record.

Unfortunately, the album had not yet been released when they began their world tour in America. Imagine paying good money to see your favorite band, but they refuse to play anything you have ever heard before. Some may have been thrilled, most were not. This "performance event" also involved over 1,000 slides and many large, unwieldy costumes which Gabriel had designed with no thought given to how to get the mic anywhere near his mouth.

As you can imagine, there were plenty of "Spinal Tap" moments. The show closes with a strobe on Rael and his doppelganger (a mannequin) at opposite sides of the stage, making it look like he's in two places at once. Closing night the dummy was missing and in its place a nude roadie. And after 120 performances, it was never filmed.

According to manager Tony Smith, the day came - early in the tour - when Gabriel announced that he was quitting the group. The fact that he decided to tell his manager this news in a hideous, orange-paneled hotel room at Swingos makes yet another notable moment in Cleveland Rock and Roll history.

In 2005 (Jesus, really? Six years ago?) I took Josh to see The Musical Box, a French-Canadian tribute band that recreates the Gabriel-era Genesis tours in exacting detail. They brought The Lamb to the Allen Theatre. I had asked my father, but he was going to be out of town. He was pretty interested in Genesis around the same time I was, during my high school and college years. This time around, however, he asked me, and I was only too delighted to accept.

So last night we saw The Lamb in the State Theatre. Myself and a 76 year-old man. The median audience member was a guy somewhere between mine and my father's age. There were assorted wives, but also other women who looked like they actually wanted to be there. I noticed this time, as opposed to five years ago, a number of teenage girls with their fathers. The father-daughter combo seated behind us were cute, she was really interested in the program they'd bought, and he was only too happy to share his insight.

It's a great show. I mean, it's a tribute band, but I would much rather see this than, say, 1964: The Tribute because once you get beyond the "Whoa! They sound just like ..!" factor, what do you have? Why pay to see someone impersonate the Beatles when you can just listen to a CD or watch a movie? Watching these guys is like seeing a play or something, rock storytelling, there's a lot to look at and listen to -- with a crowd of like-minded creeps who applaud and whoop and cheer. And, if you are the guy sitting in front of me, light up a marihuana cigarette.

For an encore, they played Watcher of the Skies and, yes, The Musical Box.

Source:
Genesis: Chapter and Verse (Collins, Banks, Gabriel, Rutheford, Hackett)
Peter Gabriel: An Authorized Biography (Spencer Bright)

The New York City Marathon

2011-11-06T00:01:00.023-04:00

Today, Harris Falk runs the New York City Marathon.
(This photo is from 2009.)

UPDATE: 5:10:46 Way to go, Harris!

Founded in 1970, the New York City Marathon was originally four laps around Central Park. While attractive (by 1970 standards) I cannot imagine anything more challenging and tedious than running around Central Park four times. It's not merely the repetition, it's also a very hilly course.

Marathon Man (1976)
"Hurrr -- why don't you just trying ACTING!?"
In 1976 the race map was drawn to touch all five boroughs. Expecting New York City denizens to be outraged at over 300 blocked intersections, no one was prepared for the crowds, excitement and positive energy created by the event. Participation in the NYC Marathon exploded.

Beginning on Staten Island, runners traverse the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn where they remain for 13 miles before taking in a few miles of Queens, and crossing the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan. North up First Avenue into the Bronx (one mile) and then back into Manhattan before concluding in Central Park. The cheering is truly outrageous.

Cruising under Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 2009 ...

... running over Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 2006.

Hey! You! Douchebag in the hat!

Soucres:
My 2006 NYC Marathon Experience (Daddy Runs Fast)
The Bowery Boys Podcast: NYC Marathon History

Alex Bevan

2011-11-05T00:01:00.003-04:00

"I'm a skinny, little boy from Cleveland, Ohio.
Come to drink your women and chase your beer."
- Skinny
My brother had a copy of Springboard (released 1976) and while the original attraction for me was to hear the forbidden lyrics of his signature song about the ectomorphic, young, alcoholic from Cleveland, Ohio, I soon enough found myself lying on the couch in the den, wearing those oversize headphones, listening to both sides of an album of sweet, simple acoustic love songs that I still really like a lot.

I first saw Bevan perform live my freshman year at O.U. where I learned alternate lyrics to Skinny which I ended up stealing, or "improving upon" when Scott T. and would perform the song at Lucky's a few years later. He also played the coffee house anthem, FOLKSINGERS ARE BORING:

Nobody comes to the coffee house,
Nobody comes to the coffee house,
Nobody comes to the coffee house,
Folk singers are boring.

Boring, Boring
Folk singers are boring,
Boring, Boring
Folk singers are boring.

First they sing a song about a train,
Then they sing a song about a train,
And then they sing a song about a train,
Folk singers are boring.

I was at my friend Leah's house almost ten years ago for her dad's birthday party, when out of the house walks Alex Bevan. Turns out her dad has been playing with him on and off since the late 1970s. Crazy.

Curtain

2011-11-04T06:22:00.001-04:00

Through her early 80s Christie found it increasingly difficult to write. Contemporary studies suggest she was suffering from Alzheimer's, as her capacity for vocabulary began to diminish exponentially. In 1975 she chose to release Curtain, the "final" Hercule Poirot novel. It was released in Britain in September of that year, and shortly thereafter in the United States where it became a best-seller.

Critics noted this work was a marked improvement over her recent work. This may have been because Christie had actually written Curtain during World War II. She has also written a "final chapter" for her popular detective, Miss Jane Marple. She did this out of concern for her own survival during the war, and to give her characters what we today might call "closure."

Because in the case of Poirot, he dies. Sorry to give away the ending. He did receive an obituary in the New York Times, so it's not exactly a secret. I will say no more.

Oddly enough, the author did little to update the book from the 1940s to the present, in spite of the fact that her other works took place during the time period in which they were published. Poirot's last case reunites the Belgian detective with Captain Arthur Hastings whom we meet in the very first Poirot mystery, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, though Christie had not used Hastings as a character since 1937. If contemporary, Hastings would be in his late 60s ... and Poirot a centenarian.

Preparing for the role of Hercule Poirot has its challenges. I'm not a big mystery reader, I never read a single Poirot novel or story until this year. However, my awareness of the character stretches back to 1976 when my brothers returned from a trip to England with my father. Henrik was consumed with mystery novels, he had a monthly subscription to Ellery Queen Magazine. Christie had been dead since the beginning of the year, and though I had little comprehension of what he was telling me about her detective, the idea of writing a novel to be published posthumously (it wasn't, but I thought he was telling me it had been) seemed kind of spooky. So did the shadowy cover of this book, written by a dead woman, featuring a guy in a bowler and a weird mustache.

I have avoided watching any of the films, or any of the TV series -- which is a shame because I love David Suchet and am looking forward to seeing what many have told me is the definitive interpretation of the role. No, I am just reading the books, finding my inspiration there. Right now I am ploughing through The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. My father famously gave away the ending to Henrik, for which he has never been forgiven. Unfortunately, whenever my father recounts this tale (he finds it amusing) he gives away the ending again, to whomever is listening.

Including me. I will never forgive him.

Sources:
The Guardian
Wikipedia

It Can't Happen Here (The Final)

2011-11-03T14:09:00.017-04:00

Cleveland Public Theatre hosted the Cleveland staged reading of "It Can’t Happen Here" on Monday, October 24, 2011. The event was directed by David Hansen and featured Case Western Reserve University adjunct professor John Vacha, author of "Showtime In Cleveland," the definitive history of Cleveland theater.

The company represented a cross-section of regional, professional theater. Dremus Jessup was performed by Dr. Michael Mauldin, head of the Cleveland State University theater department. Mary Greenhill was read by Cleveland Play House Associat Artistic Director Laura Kepley, and Dr. Fowler Greenhill by Ms. Kepley’s real-life husband, acclaimed playwright George Brant. Company also included Great Lakes Theater actor-teachers Brian McNally and Tim Keo, Cleveland Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Wood, as well as local professionals Myles Byrd, Mark Cipra, Elisa Hanna, Hester Lewellen, Brian Pedaci and Lew Wallace.

This reading, free and open to the public, was attended by 50 audience members. The evening opened with a “curtain raiser,” a reading of a ten-minute comic scene from David Hansen’s "Cleveland Centennial." This brief “Living Newspaper” style scene describes a fictional backstage account of the actual opening night of "It Can’t Happen Here" in Cleveland in 1936, but also includes actual quotations from Hallie Flanagan, Sinclair Lewis and local and nation critical response to the production. Presenting this scene was an entertaining way of providing historical context of this event to that evening’s 2011 audience.

Following this, John Vacha shared a 5-minute presentation including slides from opening night of the Cleveland production at the Carter Theatre at East 9th and Prospect. The full “September, 1936” version of "It Can’t Happen Here" was read with one, ten-minute intermission. Read with intensity, speed, humor and pathos, the running time of the reading itself was less than two hours, playing something like a “radio drama.” After the reading was concluded, Hansen and Vacha fielded a few questions from the audience. Some familiar with the book pointed up differences between that and this stage version, and asked if any changes had been made to make the story take place in Ohio (there were, as was done for the Cleveland production in 1936.) They wanted to know how successful the Cleveland production of "It Can’t Happen Here" was (it was very successful, and only closed because of scheduling.)

Response to the play itself was very, very positive. Many were impressed at how topical the script remains, and asked if there were any plans for a fully-staged production.

Earlier in the day Hansen and Vacha were interviewed on the local NPR affiliate, WCPN.

The Armpit of the Nation

2011-11-02T19:13:00.001-04:00

"Mistake on the Lake" hurts. But not as much as "Armpit of the Nation."

In 1976, the four year-old Cleveland Magazine decided that since Cleveland was entirely unable to clean up its own mess (and this was before the default) the classiest course of action was to piss on some city sorrier than we were.

Hence, The Great Cleveland Magazine Scapegoat Contest. Nice. The "winner" was, for no particular reason, Dayton.

Reader Tess Muharsky of Willowick wrote, “In Dayton they think Ibsen stars in the Beverly Hillbillies and the Nutcracker Suite is a wrestling hold. So culturally void is it that locals insist Twelfth Night is when lovers exchange a dozen lords-a-leaping. And only in Dayton are shrimp cocktails ordered ‘up.’”

Okay. And yet, Johnny Carson did not get the message. Some guy from Euclid sent a plunger labeled Key To The City of Buffalo.

Urban Dictionary states plainly that the nation's armpit is currently New Jersey. Feel better?

Source:
Cleveland Magazine
Urban Dictionary

Dialect

2011-11-01T12:56:00.005-04:00

Arthur Miller: Brooklyn
"Seeing Red" (2008)
Stage performance requires a real-time transformation into a believably different person than who you are. And this can be an exciting transformation, for performer as well as audience member. Make-up when skillfully applied, impeccably accurate costuming, a swagger or carefully crafted physical disability can happily deceive the audience member into believing that are in a different time, or place, a sharing a moment with someone unique, someone other, and this kind of artistry is what live theater is all about.

The accent, however, the sounds of the words, can make everything just a show. I really, really hate listening to a fake accent. And I am stressed about delivering one. When I have it right, it becomes a part of me, and my character, and I believe myself. When I am making hash of it, even I don't buy it and I feel sorry for the audience that has to listen to it.

There's a twangy kind of tough-guy "tawk" that I slide into when I have no formal guidance. I got away with it in college, playing Dopey in Balm and Gilead, and I spent so much time delving into the world of that character that the cadences of Wilson's heroin-addled punk that my own voice sang back to me and I was all right with that. It helped that I was also permitted to smoke real cigarettes onstage. Weren't those the days.

Porlock: Romania
"On the Dark Side of Twilight" (2010)
Every other year, I am called upon to use an accent in the Great Lakes outreach tour. Four years ago I was playing Arthur Miller, performing an edited transcript from his HUAC testimony, and I knew the "New Yawk" crap was not going to fly. And so I visited my old friend, professor Chuck Richie at Kent State. Just because a voice is woiking class, does not mean it has to be in the nose. Miller spoke from the chest, he was a muscular guy.

Two years ago we met to discuss a proper accent for the vampire Porlock (On the Dark Side of Twilight.) In this story, the young Englishman Aubrey Porlock, transformed into a vampire, is stranded in the "wilds" of eastern Europe and settles in Romania for ninety years. We decided to go with an "acquired" Romanian accent, taking special care not to go the Bela Lugosi route. No "v's" turned into "w's" like Pavel Chekov.

Yesterday, we began work on a Belgian accent. Poirot is often confused for French, so we may assume he is from the region closest to France and not, say, Holland. Exploring the International Dialects of English Archive we discovered that while most of the substitutions are like those of French, the Belgians accents we listened to do not have the lilt or "sing-songy" inflections of a French speaker.

Next up: Mustache Maintenance.

Waiting For Lefty (2011)

2011-10-31T10:40:00.002-04:00

The People's Theatre is not aligned with any political party. That is the euphemistic way of saying that it is not Communistic, and its organizers wish you to be clear about that. - William F. McDermott, The Plain Dealer, 1935

When I moved to Cleveland Heights we had three theaters. Name me another American suburb that can boast having three theaters. Well, anyway, time passed and by 2005 we had none. Ensemble lost their lease at the Civic, Dobama had been evicted from Coventry, and like all things Jewish, the JCC had moved from Cleveland Heights to Beachwood.

The new Mandel Jewish Community Center has many exciting new features, but theater? Eh, not so much. Dobama managed miraculously to maintain an identity in the wild before returning to the Heights at their fine new home in the CH-UH Library complex. And Ensemble has carved a new home out of the former Coventry Elementary School, and a really great space it is.

Two out of three? Not bad.

This afternoon I caught the closing performance of Ensemble's production of Waiting For Lefty, the first show in this new theater space. Life has not been kind to my wife's extended family the past several weeks, and in spite of wanting to catch numerous productions this fall, several closed this weekend without an opportunity for us to see them. At least I could catch this 70-minute program in my own backyard.

Seated in the front row, I invited Mike Partington to take the chair next to mine. It had been years since we had had the chance to talk, and this week I saw him both at Harvey's Tribute and in this place. Mike's got some years on me, our pre-show conversation had a lot to do with theater space, how he first reacted to the new Bolton Theatre at the Play House -- same as almost everyone else, really, stunned that they had dumped a thrust stage at East 77th Street to add yet another proscenium.

Ensemble Theatre has a thrust, with seating sections on three sides. It feels more like the old Dobama on Coventry than the new Dobama does. The platform stage is so close to the audience, and actors make entrances and exits through the house as well as through the wings. I love that.

I was very pleased to see such a large audience on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday matinees are notoriously depressing in Cleveland, with maybe ten to twenty people in the house. It was quite a full house!

So. First time seeing Waiting For Lefty in its entirety. How does it hold up? Interesting! While employing period costumes and some kind of non-specific tough-guy New Yawk accents, the Ensemble production utilized their large video screen to bridge scene changes with footage and music from the future (HUAC testimony, Occupy Wall Street demonstrations) to empasize the continuing resonance of the work.

Remember: The Living Newspaper performances of the 1930s did use film projections and live music to bridge scene changes, and as commentary!

However, having just directed a staged reading of It Can’t Happen Here, I have been disabused of the notion that writing from the 1930s is dated, or must feel dated. Sinclair Lewis words, spoken by a contemporary cast, was suprisingly fresh, meaningful, humorous and resonance with our modern audience last Monday night. People were taken with the story, and moved by its conclusion.

A friend who caught the show reflected how much more slangy Lefty is, which explains why it is seems dated. Also, there’s no real story to be swept up in, it is a collection of vignettes on a common theme. It’s like Saturday Night Live without punchlines.

But that’s not the real problem with its presentation as a contemporary work. It’s one long debate, more like Greek drama than soap opera. For example, the tale of a young suitor, on a perfect summer’s evening, breaking up with his devoted gal because he can never be the man that she deserves in this economy, where the bosses and the company men keep the worker under his boot, where a guy can’t earn a crust while Uncle Sam stands idly by, doing as little as possible because the truth is The Man still mans the controls of government and always will, so the little guy is left to gasp meekly for dignity - let alone a dollar, and its high time we pulled together and rose up to demand what is coming to us, an eight hour day, a pension and a heart handshake, but until that day comes I will never be the kind of joe who can care for a girl the way she deserves to be treated, and not like some two-bit floozy, always promising, never committing, I mean what kind of life is that for a young American lady? The Masters of Power don’t care about these things, the velvet-gloved capitalist executive sees the workers as an endless supply of hands and muscle to hoist the gears that make the things that fill their endless, bulging pockets …

Hey, baby, where you going?

After the performance, the audience was invited into another part of Coventry Elementary (wait, do we have a name for this new community facility concept?) for a special event celebrating the opening of Lake Erie Ink.

What's that, you say? So glad you asked! It's a drop-on center for area youth with an emphasis on creative writing! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??? It's like an 826 Valencia for Cleveland Heights. I mean, it is an 826 Valencia for Cleveland Heights.

And wow-man-wow, there were a lot of people there! Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Cavana Faithwalker represented, and world-renown hipster-shaman-beatnik-poet Ray McNiece was on hand to lead children in poetry exercises. There were a number of writing activities for young and old, I wrote a haiku on a paper pumpkin:

WORKERS THEATER
JUST SAW ‘WAITING FOR LEFTY’
LIKE AN UPPERCUT

Hey! You! Douchebag in the hat!

The Vampyres (1997)

2011-10-30T10:00:00.005-04:00

Seventeen years ago the world ended. And another began. The summer of 1994 stretched on until deep into November. I was playing games I would never play again, making foolish decisions which would define the rest of my life. I have few friends that pre-date that time.

One day in January, 1995 I came home from my shift at the pizza restaurant to find half of the house was empty. There was no longer a piano, a dresser, a bed. It was time to rebuild.

The music was dark, the house was cold. I boarded a train to New York on most frigid weekend of the year, to visit my new girlfriend. I had a PowerBook. I had destroyed my theater company, I had destroyed my marriage. I was full of hope, and I feared there would be no future. I started to write a play.

By late 1996, life was rich and decadent. Long nights of drink and smoke, producing crazy theater on Coventry, live music shows, late hours at new friends’ apartments. I got the green light fo The Vampyres in Dobama’s Night Kitchen. We had tapped professional musicians to write rock songs for the show. The production was the greatest attempt to incorporate a DNK show into the mainstage, our set melded perfectly with theirs, transforming the humble, mid-century home of Beast on the Moon into the dark and stylish coffee shop called The Night Kitchen.

Critics hate this play. The protagonist is a former actor who cowardly abandons his career in the arts to pursue on in medicine, but he can’t help but comment on everything, judging the girl he hasn’t seen since high school for wanting to be an artist (even though he still wants to bang her,) transparently hits on the teenage barista, and displays naked jealousy of the two musicians that frequent the place who may, or may not, be real vampires.

In the end, this pathetic wanna-be gets literally and figuratively fucked up the ass.

Christine Howey called it a "misbegotten effort."

The Free Times called it, "more hollow than haunting."

Tony Brown said it was "juvenile" and "infantile blathering."

The original production in 1997 was too long by half. Cleveland Public Theatre produced an edited version in 2005, and I was very happy to have the chance to present it with the most of the flab cut from it, but it was still such a nasty piece of work and I was no longer in that place. I find it difficult to reconcile my disconnect with this work that I spent so much energy living in. It’s obvious who wrote it. But I cannot believe there was ever so much anger and hurt in me.

In spite of critical derision, or perhaps because of it, it was a very successful run. One of the best attended Night Kitchen shows I produced. Houses were full, there were small tables on the stage for audience members to sit at to give the impression that The Night Kitchen (the coffee house) actually had customers in it. Elizabeth (as Claire the barista) was onstage during preshow serving coffee and pocketed the tips.

Cool Cleveland called The Vampyres, "Sinister, sexy, perverse and hilarious."

Anastasia Pantsios said it had “an intensity that makes the waters in which it wades feel very deep and dangerous indeed.”

Dobama Artistic Director Joyce Casey didn't actually want me to produce the piece. She was concerned that it glorified cutting and drug-use. When I moved on from Night Kitchen, DNK Artistic Director Dan Kilbane produced Mark Ravenhill's Shopping and Fucking.

Cutting bad. Screwdriver-sodomy good. Got it.

Happy Halloween.

American Freedom Train

2011-10-29T00:01:00.006-04:00

In the early 1970s a commodities broker and train enthusiast, Ross Rowland Jr., was concerned that the Bicentennial was approaching with little or no fanfare. The Vietnam War and the Watergate crisis had the nation in the grip of a malaise, and no one was feeling particularly patriotic -- or if they were, they were kind of aggressive about it.

To that end he worked to find corporate sponsors to fund a steam locomotive carrying 10 cars of artifacts central to America's history and identity. The red-white-and-blue engine dubbed American Freedom Train went from city to city, a traveling museum for families to enjoy in the run-up to the Bicentennial year. Rowland was inspired by a similar event in the late 1940s, also called the Freedom Train.

These displays included George Washington's own copy of the Constitution featuring his handwritten notes, clerical robes belonging to and worn by Dr. Martin Luther King, Judy Garland's Wizard of Oz costume, Joe Frazier's boxing shorts, and a moon rock. There were stops in each of the lower 48 states.

A pennant just like this one hung on my bedroom wall.
Seven million people boarded America's Freedom Train, and I was one of them when it was stationed just west of Cleveland Stadium from May 14-20, 1975. This is a hazy memory for me, as I wasn't yet seven, but I was aware it was a very special event. The attraction concluded on December 31, 1976 in Miami, Florida.

American Freedom Train from pixy on Vimeo

"President Ford strongly urged parents and teachers 'to make sure that your children and students take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.'"

All aboard, America!

Sources:
FreedomTrain.org
Wikipedia

Outlaw

2011-10-28T00:01:00.024-04:00

"OUTLAW is a new concept in video entertainment. OUTLAW invites the player for the first time to physically match his skill against a video gunfighter in one of America's most traditional contests … the fast-draw shootout." - promotional advertisement

Atari introduced PONG in 1972, the first massively successful arcade video game. There were several imitators, and by Christmas 1975 they had created a home version, sold exclusively through Sears.

Outlaw was rolled out in 1976, and holds a place in history as the original First Person Shooter (FPS) game. It was a "quick draw" gun battle, featuring a mock Colt .45, holstered into the machine, and you could only draw it at appropriate times to fire at the desperado who charged out into the middle of Main Street to challenge you.

"Realistic animation, audio footsteps and gunfire add up to irresistible realism." - promotional advertisement

Outlaw
The console featured a plastic screen overlay, which gives the illusion of more sophisticated graphics. The cabinet Outlaw is not to be confused with the Atari 2600 version, which is much more like Taito arcade game Gun Fight (1975) which features players positioned at the right and left of the screen.

Gun Fight

My family had a Coleco Telstar. It was the most exciting game I have ever seen on my TV set.
Sources:
Skooldays.com
the-nextlevel.com
Wikipedia

Vote Yes on Issue 6

2011-10-27T00:01:00.040-04:00

From Harvey Pekar's Cleveland
Art by Joseph Remnant
Zip Comics, (Publication Date: March 2012)
Used with permission.
The Harvey Pekar Tribute was held at the Cleveland Heights Main Library on Tuesday night. There was a great turnout, and many had the opportunity to share stories about the impact Harvey had on their life. Steve Presser was the master of ceremonies, but really, so was Joyce Brabner, as she offered her own insight into several of the reminiscences. Al Branstein told that awesome American Splendor piece about the sea mammal strapped to the roof of this guy's car, poems were read, there was laughter and tears, Toby was there, Ernie Krivda played Blues for Pekar.

Read about the Harvey Pekar Memorial Statue and how to contribute.

Joyce asked me to read from the as-yet-unpublished Harvey Pekar's Cleveland, which should be required reading everywhere. You may soon be able to acquire an illustrated history of Cleveland, dating back to the real Indians to the present, as well as Harvey's place in it all. I was struck by and delighted to read that he chose to include full-throated support for the CH-UH school system in this work.

These are my reasons for supporting this CH-UH School Levy, Issue 6:

I am a twenty-year resident of Cleveland Heights. This is the city my children will call their hometown. My daughter is eight, my son is six. They attend Noble Elementary, I am a member of the Noble PTA. My children are very happy at their school, and they are very proud of their school. And so am I.

For ten years I have worked with the education department at Great Lakes Theater, and through the residency program I have had the opportunity to visit private and public schools across Northern Ohio. Through this experience and my time as a member of our PTA I have learned that keeping our American schools strong requires constant attention, care and communication. That is true whether your school is a parochial school, a Montessori school or one of our public institutions, the public schools which make education available to every child, that give every child a chance.

The CH-UH School Board have shown that attention, and have put forth tremendous effort to craft a reorganization plan to improve our schools, schools that are already strong to begin with. This is a very exciting time for our schools, and it comes at a critical moment. And we need support from the community to make it successful.

Voting Yes on Issue 6 will improve your CH-UH schools. Improving the schools will add value to your neighborhood. It will increase the value of your home. Do I know these things to be true? Yes. Yes, I do. Because I have faith; faith in our school board, faith in the parents and teachers and administrators of Cleveland Heights schools, faith in my community. And my children have faith in all of us to do the right thing.

From a Cleveland Heights parent: Please vote Yes on Issue 6.

ELECTION DAY 2011 UPDATE: We won, and by a lot. So relieved, such a good feeling. Thank you, Heights, for stepping up for our children and our community.

Alhambra Theatre

2011-10-26T07:24:00.001-04:00

The Alhambra was at 10403 Euclid at the corner East 105th Street. Built in just after the turn of the 20th century as a vaudeville house, legend has it the young Bob Hope was taken there by his parents when he was a boy. The young lad also hustled pool next door. In 1907 a church organ was installed, and they billed the place as "The House With the Organ." This was when the One-Oh-Five was called by some "Cleveland's Second Downtown."

As motion pictures took hold, the Alhambra became a movie palace. The place seated 1,100 in the mezzanine, with another 400 in the balcony.

The Hough and Glenville riots cemented the end of white Clevelanders relationship with the 105th Street district and it fell into steep economic decline. One black real estate developer, Winston E. Willis purchased a number of properties, opening small businesses to raise the level of opportunity in the neighborhood. However, the city took possession of property throughout the area by eminent domain to provide to the ever-expanding Cleveland Clinic.

1976

2011

Sources:
CinemaTreasures.org
Cleveland Historical.org
Cleveland Memory Project

Randall Park Mall

2011-10-25T14:57:00.006-04:00

Benjamin bear looks for his girl Missy in Randall Park Mall.
"Cleveland Is A Warm, Fuzzy Place" (1977)

"There's going to be a transfer of power ... from the central city to the southeast part of Cleveland ... I believe that after today the forces that want to keep downtown Cleveland intact had better get on their horse and start riding real fast."
- Randall Park Mall Developer Ed DeBartolo, 1973

Two million square feet of shopping ecstasy, the Randall Park Mall opened to the public on August 11, 1976. At the time it was the largest indoor shopping mall in the world. The city of North Randall had a population of 1,500. Randall Mall Park employed 5,000.

Randall Park didn't have one, but FIVE department stores; Higbee's, The May Company, Sears, JC Penney, and the Joseph Horne Company. The place was so big, some stores had two locations, one on each floor! There were over 200 hundred stores in all. And it was stylish -- marble columns, real tile floors, beautiful ceilings and futuristic ramps and crossovers.

The joy was short-lived however. With two years, the Beachwood Mall opened, siphoning away well-heeled customers, and the place began losing any of its original luster before the end of the 1970s. The place was just so vast, and little thought had gone into long-term maintenance. Attending the movie theater (and using its bathrooms) required trips up and down many staircases, and the theater (and its bathrooms) were filthy and dysfunctional. By the mid-1980s the mall was considered downright dangerous, and suburban residents began to refer to it as Vandal Dark Mall ... "dark" because, you know, the lights were out in all the closed storefronts.

Randall Park Mall closed in 2009.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Outside Cleveland, Snapshots of Poverty’s Surge in the Suburbs New York Times, 10/25/2011
DeadMalls.com
NewsNet5.com
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

History Repeating

2011-10-24T00:01:00.002-04:00

This week, 22 theaters (see listing below) in the United States and Great Britain will present It Can't Happen Here in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of its debut on October 27, 1936 in 21 theaters across America as part of the Federal Theatre Project.

I am very glad to say that Cleveland, one of the original cities to present this work, will be represented.

TONIGHT! FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! Seriously, no reservations will be accepted, please come to Cleveland Public Theater tonight at 7 PM for all the fun. We will begin with a brief, ten-minute play I wrote about backstage jitters prior to the opening night at the Carter Theater at East 9th and Prospect (fiction) and critical and popular reaction to the production (non-fiction.)

Also featured will be Cleveland historian John Vacha, to share images from the original production and special insight into the Federal Theater Project.

Then the main event, a staged reading of the drama as written by Sinclair Lewis and John C. Moffitt for the 1936 productions. If you have ever seen or read the dramatic version of It Can't Happen Here, you most likely have not read this one. He rewrote the entire thing for a professional (non-Federal Theater) production two years later, and that is the one available through Dramatists Play Service.

I am extremely pleased with the company for tonight's reading, some of my favorite performers in Cleveland, from many different Cleveland area theaters.

Even more important, I am more impressed with the script, now that I have heard it read aloud by professionals. I think this play would have seemed hopeless dated fifteen years ago, but now I am no longer sure. There are certain passages that fill me with a great deal of unease. 1936 was a turning point in the Great Depression, FDR was up for reelection and there were those who feared he had gone too far -- and the unequaled landslide victory he received a week after the premiere of this play I am sure made some feel even more concerned about one man having too much power.

Tomorrow Vacha and I will appear on WCPN's Around Noon, which will feature the performance of a scene which includes this passage; young Julian Falck has joined Presidential candidate, Senator Buzz Windrip's band of Corpos, who act as Windrip's own corps of Brownshirts:

JulianI've worked exactly four months during the past year --and that' s better than most of my classmates. Youth today isn't asking for a cinch or looking for glory! Youth is yelling for a job! And the Corpos will find one for me! They'll tell me what to do, and they'll feed me! They'll shake off this bungling "Democracy" and order things so that we'll get a living. When that happens -- I'll get a sweet, wholesome girl, and stop playing Romeo to a vacant balcony. We're not bandits! We're realists. We're through sitting around being Parlor Pinks. We're working together -- behind Buzz Windrip, the Man on Horseback.

Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street? A little bit of both. Not sure I can tell.

Be there.

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE - NATIONWIDE READING

Sponsoring Theatres:
Dell'Arte International, San Francisco Mime Troupe
Consideration provided by:
Dramatists Play Service, New York

SCHEDULE OF CONFIRMED READINGS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17th - 7:00 pm

The Living Theater in collaboration with the Accidental Repertory Theater
... The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton St., NYC

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23rd - 7:00 pm

presented by Burning Clown Productions in concert with the Workshop Theater Company
Ellington Room, Manhattan Plaza, 400 W 43rd St., 2nd Floor, NYC

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24th - times vary (see each listing):

San Francisco Mime Troupe - 7:00 pm
855 Treat Ave., San Francisco CA

Cleveland Public Theatre - 7:00 pm
6415 Detroit Ave., Cleveland OH

Bruka Theatre - 7:00 pm
99 N. Virgina St., Reno NV

Mitchell Theatre, Vilas Hall - 7:00 pm
University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI

Museum of History & Industry - 7:00 pm
presented by Global Works
2700 24th Ave. East, Seattle WA

Syracuse University Drama Department - 7:00 pm
Archibald Theatre, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse NY

Spotlight "Still Got It" Players - 7:00 pm
Village Theatre at Cherry Hill
5400 Cherry Hill Rd., Canton, MI

Atlantic Stage, 79th Avenue Theatre - 7:30 pm
900 79th Ave N, Myrtle Beach SC

Great Basin College - 7:30 pm
1500 College Parkway, Elko NV

Dell'Arte International - 8:00 pm
Carlo Theatre, 131 H Street, Bluelake CA

Random Radio People broadcast - 8:00 pm
KMUD radio 91.1 FM

The Blank Theatre's Living Room Series - 8:00 pm
2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Moncia Blvd., Hollywood CA

The Desert Rose Playhouse - time TBD
6921 Montgomery Blvd. NE, Albuquerque NM

Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble - time TBD
Iroquois Ampitheater, 1080 Ampitheater Rd., Louisville KY

The Rogue Theatre - time TBD
300 E. University Blvd., Tucson AZ

The Ghost Road Company & Trade City Productions --7:30 PM
The Village Green Clubhouse
5300 Rodeo Road, Baldwin Hills, CA 90016 www.facebook.com\ghostroadcompany

Fuse Theatre Ensemble--7:30 PM
Arena Stage, Theater
Portland, OR

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25th - 6:30 pm

Locust Productions, Kirkwood Theatre
400 Walnut St., Des Moines IA

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26th - 8:00 pm

The Antaeus Company, DeafWest Theater
5114 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood CA

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27th - 1-6 pm (GMT)
ARTEL (American-Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory), Leeds
Alec Clegg Studio, Leeds, UK

WMMS 101 FM

2011-10-23T00:01:00.003-04:00

In 1968 the call sign for WHK-FM was changed to WMMS (reflecting then ownership of the MetroMedia corporation) and fiddled around with several different formats - "Progressive" Rock, adult contemporary - until 1973 when John Gorman took over as music director. Gorman would shepherd the station for the 13 years, establishing a popular rock music identity that, to this Gen-X citizen, remains the longest-lived and only truly distinctive personality a pop music station in Cleveland has ever had.

What other radio station gets a heads-up in Almost Famous? That's right.

WMMS takes credit for breaking Bruce Springsteen, as well as a largely disproportionate number of other Columbia Record label stars of the 1970s and 80s. Wait, did I say that?

Genesis played a two-night gig at the Music Hall on April 14 & 15, 1976 promoting A Trick of the Tail, their first studio album without original frontman Peter Gabriel. The second performance was broadcast on WMMS.

Click to enlarge.
Former Plain Dealer columnist Karen Sandstrom is now a burgeoning illustrator, and keeps a very handsome blog chronicling her work and her progress. Yesterday she shared a sketch for a potential book, a drawing of the legendary creature Squonk. A North American mythical creature, when captured the Squonk will weep so terribly that it entirely dissolves into tears.

Squonk (as Sandstrom notes) is the subject and title of the first track on A Trick of the Tail. Considering the concern many fans had that reedy-voiced drummer Phil Collins would never be able to step out of Gabriel's shadow, Squonk sounds almost intentionally brash, deep and rich. It's a great "first track" for an album.

There remains controversy as to whether or not the final refrain is a very personal jab at their recently departed lead singer:

All in all you are a very dying race
Placing trust upon a cruel world.
You never had the things you thought you should have had
And you'll not get them now,
And all the while in perfect time
Your tears are falling on the ground.

Unfortunately, this 1976 performance of Squonk was, for some reason, not recorded by WMMS for broadcast.

Sources:
The Complete Guide to Live Genesis Radio Shows
Pen In Hand
Dalla Maratona Ai Gensis

Howard the Duck (comic strip)

2011-10-22T01:45:00.005-04:00

On June 6, 1977 Marvel began publishing a daily comic strip of their hit title Howard the Duck. For almost a year, in addition to the monthly book and additional responsibilities (the legendary KISS comic book, anyone?) Steve Gerber scribed this daily attack on the sensibility of the conservative Plain Dealer reader with his demented commentary on daily American life.

Thank God he had Gene Colan and Val Mayerik to work with, or there would not have been a chance in hell of cramming HTD's signature attention to absurd and gritty detail into those tiny little panels.

Letter to the Editor of the Toronto Star, August 1977:

"The idea of anyone getting one ounce of enjoyment out of (this strip) is more than I can bear ... there is no reason for you to continue printing this strip." - Simon Ives, President, Howard the Duck Hate Club

I am not unfamiliar with hate mail to the editor.

Less than a year later, as Gerber's relationship with Marvel was unraveling, due to his extensive workload, (see HTD ish #16) he was pulled from the book and also the strip. From that point on the execrable Marv Wolfman was given writing responsibilities for both, and illustration for the strip was handled by Alan Kupperberg, whose work is simply horrid.

I have a hazy memory of this guy, a TV character on Channel 8 (I believe) who did the intro to Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman or something, which ran after the 11 o'clock news. He would read that day's Howard the Duck comic strip out of the Plain Dealer like some kind of Mayor Laguardia. If anyone can clear flesh that out for me I would appreciate it.

The comic strip was discontinued in October, 1978 after a sixteen-month run.

Sources:
nemsworld.com

Swill

2011-10-21T01:38:00.005-04:00

As a nine year-old growing up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, it was stuff like that bred in me a rich vein of arch fuckery:

Saturday Night Live
Season 3: Episode 9
January 21, 1978

"Swill"

Salesman.....Bill Murray

Salesman: [ seated at lunch counter ] As a salesman, I do a lot of traveling. And when it comes to lunch, I grab what I can, usually on the run. And when I want mineral water, I keep it simple, and I keep it domestic. [ places bottle on counter ] I drink Swill. The water that's dredged from Lake Erie.

[ voice over video of Swill being dredged from Lake Erie ]

Nothing's added to Swill. It comes straight from the Lake to you. Maybe you thought only European countries had mineral water, but let me tell you: we bottle some pretty special water right here in America.

[ cut back to Salesman at lunch counter ]

Yeah. America. Water with a character all its own. Swill's refreshing; it's low in calories; and Swill helps wash down a hearty meal like this that tends to just lay in your stomach. [ pours runny ketchup on his hamburger ]

[ Music Over: "Anticipation" by Carly Simon ]

[ Plays as Swill slowly pours into Salesman's glass, complete with sludge, dirt and a flip-top from a soda can ]

Salesman: I like mine with a twist. [ squeezes a lime wedge into his glass of Swill ]

Announcer: Swill. Everything you've always wanted in a mineral water. And more.

Source:
SNL Transcripts

(Kids: Ask your folks what the hell a flip-top is.)

Bearden's (2011)

2011-10-20T14:24:00.001-04:00

"What pretty people you work with." - The Wife
Last May I was depressed to report that iconic Cleveland area burger joint Bearden's had fallen on hard times, and closed due to a poor economy and the apparently endless reconstruction of Lake Road running past its door. Rumors of some kind of arrangement to keep the doors open did not prevent it from closing last December, apparently for good ... because really, what business ever truly rises from the dead?

Bearden's does! It reopened last week -- and it's FABULOUS! I was looking forward to bringing my young protégées from the Great Lakes Theater residency program there during a break in classes at Kensington Intermediate, wanting to share a little Cleveland history. I was unaware of the extremely attractive redesign the place has received!

New owner Jim Griffiths could have kept the former decor and old fans would have returned, but he raised the game by changing the model of service, and completely replacing all fixtures and tables. It has a very retro 40s/50s look, the place is brightly lit, a fantasy in formica and aquamarine cush. Instead of the oft-complained about waitresses (sorry, ladies) you order at the counter, and they bring your meal to you at table.

Is there a train? Yes, there's a train - a NEW train! Presumbly one that won't break down every hour or so.

And the food? It's the same! Which means ... it's okay! It's a burger and a pile of onion rings and a milkshake, what did you expect? It's Bearden's!

Bearden's (1954)

The City Club

2011-10-18T06:01:00.002-04:00

Ray Osrin, The Plain Dealer
April 17, 1976
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) spoke Before the City Club of Cleveland on April 9, 1976. The former Governor of Georgia found it necessary to cancel an earlier scheduled appearance in December, and this later date brought him to Cleveland not as a little-known contender against the likes of George Wallace, Sargent Shriver and Jerry Brown, but as the apparent front-runner for the Democratic nomination for President.

The City Club of Cleveland was founded in 1912 to be a venue for the free and open expression of topical and often controversial subject matter, often in the form of debate, followed by questions from the audience. Over the years this weekly forum has been broadcast on radio and television, and until 1976 they produced the annual Anvil Revue, a satirical take on Cleveland society and politics.

Sources:
Wikipedia
The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Cleveland Memory Project

Channel 5 Eyewitness News

2011-10-17T06:20:00.003-04:00

Catch 5.
UPDATE: After reading this post, brother Denny reminded me that we got our first color TV in 1976, and this promo was so exciting to watch! Today, as a lifelong audio-video engineer, he marvels at the time it must have taken to create this spot.

KISS

2011-10-16T08:32:00.004-04:00

You wanted the best? You got the best.
KISS played the Richfield Coliseum on September 3, 1976, with opening act Artful Dodger. They were promoting the album Destroyer, which is a pretty kick-ass album. Detroit Rock City and Shout It Out Loud have become KISS standards, however they failed as hit singles, and despite a strong initial sales run (it went Gold almost immediately) the record was originally rejected by fans and dissed by the critics.

Then came the single Beth, which was originally the B-Side to Detroit Rock City. It peaked at #7, the first top ten single the band ever had. The song may never have made it to the record if Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons had their way. Written by drummer Peter Criss and a colleague from his former band Chelsea, is performed entirely by Criss and a piano, and a small orchestra.

Beth is the Yesterday of KISS, a track entirely unlike anything previously performed by the band, a schmaltzy pop ballad. Seriously, please, don't use the word "rock." It doesn't even have a soaring guitar bridge like any kind of so-called "rock" ballad requires. The single went Gold in January, 1977.

Beth did not appear in the line-up for the Coliseum gig.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Big O Zine

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

2011-10-15T09:33:00.004-04:00

Hey, Porter.
Even on the banks of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, Cleveland has an inferiority problem. Erie is the smallest of the five major Great Lakes, and the shallowest. But great it was, even if it was in series ecological peril in the mid-70s.

Cleveland remained an important port in those days. My grandfather was in the merchant marines before he had children and settled for a desk job at Cleveland Trust. And even after sailing the world, he always insisted Lake Erie was the roughest, most dangerous sea of them all.

My education of the map of the Great Lakes began with Holling Clancy Holling's 1941 classic Paddle-To-The-Sea, the story of a First Nations boy, living north of Lake Superior in Nipigon Country, who carves a small wooden canoe with "Indian" and sets it on a journey to, hopefully, makes its way though all of the lakes and out to the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it is not the story of the boy at all, but of his wooden "paddle person" who he names Paddle-to-the-Sea.

My father read me this book, and through it developed unshakeable, relevant visual associations, like the fact that Superior is shaped like a wolf's head, or that Huron looks like a trapper with his pack. Erie, is shaped like a lump of coal ... which is stupid because anything could be shaped like a lump of coal, but it did impress upon me the importance of coal in the economy of our region.

Another powerful image of the Great Lakes from my youth is that modern sea-dirge, Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, released in August 1976 on the LP Summertime Dream.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee.

The opening chords are still chilling to me. Providing the ancient name for Lake Superior gives the tale an historic, epic tone.

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.

Now I'm thinking of pirates. It resonates like an old sailing tale, but with familiar place names like "Wisconsin" and of course, "Cleveland."

And thank you, Mr. Lightfoot, for making the word Cleveland sing so clear and crisp during an era when it was more often used on The Tonight Show as a punchline.

The storm whips up, and man is helpless against the elements. It could have been anyone. It could have been my grandfather. 29 sailors perished about the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald on the night of November 10, 1975 and, inspired by a Newsweek article on the tragedy, Lightfoot had written the song before the end of the year. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The "Mighty Fitz" had been launched in 1958 and was at that time the largest freighter on the Great Lakes. Its main cargo was taconite -- iron ore, "26,000 tons or more" -- though it was fully-loaded from Duluth and headed for Detroit, not Cleveland, when the witch of November came stealing. "Big Fitz's" final communication came minutes before it sank, at 7:10 PM when Captain Ernest M. McSorley reported, "We are holding our own."

Steven Dietz wrote a play about the wreck called Ten Novemberbut if it's been performed in the Cleveland area, I have no clue. Someone should get on that.

7up "United We Stand" Cans

2011-10-14T07:39:00.005-04:00

Anyone who has seen Dazed and Confused knows the Bicentennial was hardly 24-hour patriot extravaganza and colonial soap-making workshops, although there was a lot of that. No, it was still the mid-70s, President Gerald Ford was the only unelected President in American history* we were in economic doldrums and were still reeling from the end of the Vietnam War.

How best then to regain a sense of pride and uplifting nationalism? Bicentennial branding!

7*UP released a limited edition of cans, each featuring one of the fifty states on one side, and on the other side a cryptic, seemly random series of 7UPs in red or blue on white background.

Collect them all - one featured a key for how to stack the cans - and you were treated to an optical illusion of a certain American icon! Collecting and stacking empty beer cans was a national hobby at the time, why not stack cans and celebrate our freedoms at the same time?

My brother Henrik collected all fifty. He didn't buy them all, he asked the guys at Village Pizza (two doors down from Bay Lanes) to hang onto empties anyone left around the place, and he would collect and wash them. I still have all 50 stored in my attic. I have no idea how rusted these steel cans may be, I have no looked for them in quite a while. I did find a complete collection on eBay going for $425.

I want YOU.
*For those too young to remember, Michigan House Representative Ford was appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace, and became President when Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace.

American Splendor

2011-10-13T18:34:00.006-04:00

Sitting on the stoop in front of Tommy's Restaurant,
now the location of Mac's Backs Paperbacks.
Harvey Lawrence Pekar (October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was born in Cleveland, to Polish immigrant parents. He graduated from Shaker Heights High in 1957 and after a stint in the U.S. Navy settled in Cleveland Heights eventually gaining regular employment as a file clerk at the V.A. Hospital. His legend, however, is as a writer, of jazz criticism and as the creator of his autobiographic comic book American Splendor.

In 1962 Pekar met Robert Crumb, who at that time was an illustrator for American Greetings. They had a mutual admiration for all things jazz, and Crumb introduced Harvey to "underground" comics. Pekar had abandoned superhero comic books as a teenager, but Crumb opened his mind to all of the different stories could be told through the medium. When he decided to reach out and attempt his own work, Pekar first contacted Crumb to be an illustrator.

He self-published American Splendor #1 in 1976. And it's true, Crumb only did a two pager.

For those familiar with his later work, which concentrates almost exclusively on his day-to-day life with wife Joyce Brabner and their daughter Danielle, the premiere issue is a little dizzying. Longer pieces like How I Spent My Summer Vacation: 1972 and Love Story (Summer 1946) tell the story of Harvey surrogates "Marv" and "Herbie" and their entirely unedited sexual exploits. One image might even be punishable as child pornography. Only one story (not including the cover) where Harvey explains how he roped Crumb into assisting him on this adventure depicts Harvey by name as himself.

Depictions of blacks and women (lots of naked tits) would also raise a few eyebrows ... but not if you were already familiar with the work of Crumb and his contemporaries. It was par for the course in the mid-70s. Looking at his later work, I would almost guess that Harvey felt he was supposed to "go there" to be part of the underground comics scene, but I would hesitate to give any closer analysis than that, other to say it's a bold first issue, and it must have taken a heap of courage for someone like Pekar to take some much of his personal thoughts and shove them out there as if to say, "This is what I think, this is who I am, take it or leave it."

And that, after all, is what everyone who loves him loves about him.

The most poignant story is Remembering Be-Ins which takes place in the not-too-distant future. Two teenagers approach the balding, 70 year-old "Mr. Shapiro" and ask him what life was like way back in the far-out 1960s.

That's right. It says, Summer, 2010. Crazy.

Source:
American Splendor
cleveland.com

Commitment

2011-10-12T22:27:00.002-04:00

This evening the Cleveland Play House Playwrights' Unit met for our annual pizza party kick-off, where we all hunker down with our calendars and decide when best to meet. And eat pizza. And in my case, drink.

The relocation to the Allen Theatre has given us the opportunity to rethink to goals, or at least the methods, of the Unit. We meet (more or less) every other week to share pages and critique each others' work. Emphasis this year, however, has been placed on readings of completed works. To that end, Laura gently pressed us to fill the calendar for the remainder of 2011 with weekly Monday night readings.

And so I jumped. I will finish my latest piece by the beginning of December. Why not? I work best with deadlines. Besides, I have found my work on the 1950s to be flagging, and have just been waiting for the year to end to concentrate on the 70s.

Well, fuck that noise. Time to get into the big ugly. Welcome to America's Bicentennial.

Royal Ann's Preserve

2011-10-09T10:59:00.000-04:00

There's an art installation going on at CPT now through the end of the month called Royal Ann's Preserve. Last night I was moderating a discussion after a staged reading in the Levin, and I was encouraged to step in.

Walking into this space (a storefront in the CPT complex) was like moving through someone's brain, gauzy red synapses defining the "rooms." It's heavy with memories. And ghosts.

The West Clinton Historic Haunts Walking Tour was meeting up the street, Donna told me it is more "historic" than "haunted" with re-enactors stepping out of old houses and describing what life was like in Merry Ol' Cleveland. For the season of death I would recommend Royal Ann's. It is spooky. It is haunted. It is sad. No one will jump out and say "boo." But you may have difficulty sleeping for what has moved into your head.

The Taming of the Shrew (1993)

2011-10-08T16:05:00.005-04:00

Guerrilla Theater Company
The Taming of the Shrew
Tablework, May 1993.

We sat at the long high school table, in the middle of the space. All signs of 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent!' had been stripped away. It was May, and it was starting to get warm. A large industrial fan kept the air in the place moving.

We were reading the famous "wooing scene" where Petruchio first meets Katherina and they make fun of each other. In particular, Petruchio keeps jamming on her name; he says everyone calls her "super-dainty Kate" because that's actually the opposite of the kind of thing everyone really does call her.

"'My super-dainty Kate,'" I read, "meaning my Kate who is extremely light, which is the opposite of what everyone else in town --"

"Go on," Torque agreed.

"'For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,'" I read, "which is a pun on the word 'dainty' which means something that tastes good, and the cakes which were called 'kates' and so, Kate --"

"All cakes were called kates?" Torque asked.

"Some cakes were called kates," I said.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

I said, "Everyone knows that."

"Did you look it up?" he asked, "are you sure it means cake?"

"I know they mean cake," I said.

Pause.

"Look it up," he said.

I tried not to sigh as Beemer slid me the humongous first volume of the portable Oxford English Dictionary.

"While you're at it," he said, "look up dainty."

"'Cate'" I said, "it's under 'c' ... a choice article of food, a dainty, a delicacy."

"So they both mean cake!" he said.

"Yes," I said. "'Take this of me --"

"Did you know dainty also meant cake?"

"I think I did," I said, "I'm not sure. 'Take this of me' ... Shall I continue?"

"Please."

"'Take this of me, Kate of my consolation' -- meaning 'accept what I am about the say as truth, Kate who consoles me' --"

"What?"

"You want me to look up consolation?" I asked.

"No," Torque said, "the first bit. 'Take this of me' ... take what of me?"

"What he's about to say," I said. "He's about to make a promise and he wants her to accept it."

"You sure he's not offering her cake?"

"What?"

"He's just made a double-pun on the word cake," Torque insisted, "is it possible he offers her some cake?"

I was stymied. "Uhb. Where would he, uh. What?"

"Maybe he pulls it out of his pocket."

"That's ridiculous."

"He's making jokes about cake, he says 'take this of me,' he wants her to take something from him --"

"His word."

"I don't get that from the text," Torque argued.

"But you get that he slings a piece of cake at her?"

"A Twinkie," Torque decided.

I sat dumb-founded.

"We're trying to ... That's ridiculous. Is that what Shakespeare meant, that Petruchio, in the midst of wooing Katherina, offers her a Twinkie?"

Torque leaned forward in his chair. "You have to convince me, through the text, that he didn't."

An '80s-infused' production of The Taming of the Shrew continues at Great Lakes Theater through October 29, 2011. There are no Twinkies, though there is one Whatchamacallit bar.

To End All Wars

2011-10-07T14:31:00.005-04:00

One of the signs of impending imperial collapse is the tendency of a dominant power to celebrate wholesale stupidity.

The Romans, awash in plenty, succumbed to decadence. One prime example was the phenomenon of the Gladiators. We know about the enslaved people who were subjected to violent arena games for the entertainment of the masses, but there were also the rich, pampered youth of the ruling class who, for want of the glory of combat subjected themselves to the public grindhouse for the sake of either glory or death, often both.

One of my father's favorite books is The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford, a chronicle of the "race" to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen of Norway and Robert Falcon Scott of England. It is a testament to the fighting British spirit that Scott's expedition, while a horrific failure, was celebrated by his countrymen as a shining example of English can-do resolve and daring. They also pasted Amundsen, who employed many modern techniques to get his crew to the Pole first and home safely (Scott and most of his men perished) as some kind of cheater. For example, the devious Norwegian used dogsleds and not horses.

Horses. Scott brought horses. To Antarctica. Hail Britannia.

Speaking of horses, I just finished To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild, a new history of World War I with a unique point of view; that the war was stupid and wrong. It covers not only the build-up to the "Great" war, and its execution (and that is an appropriate word to use) but also the British peace movement. There were loud voices against the war from the beginning, and they continued and built throughout, in spite of the draconian powers employed by the existing hierarchy to stifle them.

My education of WWI has been scant. Americans know a great deal about World War Two. It has been with us our entire lives. It shaped our nation. World War One ... not so much. For example, I have two uncles who served in the Pacific during WWII. One of my grandfathers was too young to have served in Europe in 1918, the other had a medical deferment. It is the war before talkies, before radio, before everything.

And yet, the war that started the 20th Century created the 20th Century. I was taught that the War was inevitable because of all of the interlocking treaties and that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (I LOVE that band!) lit the bug. What we are not taught is that after two centuries of colonial expansion, the great powers of Europe believed themselves invincible, the Masters of Earth, and that war was an unloseable game.

And so they attacked with machine guns and barbed wire, and there was nowhere to go but down. British generals longed for the day which never came, the day when they could finally open their enemies defenses wide enough to send in the cavalry. The actual cavalry. You know, with horses. That would be a glorious day. Instead each side murdered the other, for years. It was only when the U.S. joined the fight, so late in the game, that Germany capitulated. Not because there was anything special about the United States. But in a "game" where the only end in sight was the entire decimation of the others' population, it was only a war of numbers. Numbers of men. Sacrificial men.

World War One was a waste of absolutely everything, gaining no one anything, and it effects have reverberated through every single battle since, up to and including today's. And tomorrow's.

My adaptation of Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles goes into production soon. It takes place in the summer of 1917. Our narrator, Captain Arthur Hastings, is on medical leave from the Front. His friend Poirot is a Belgian refugee. Other characters are excused from battle for one reason or another, but contribute in their own way. Reading up on the period, I have discovered after the fact elements included by the author which were popular themes at the time - including the almost maniacal fear of German spies.

Styles was not published until 1920, during that period when hostilities were presumed over, but Great Britain was no longer so great, a point which is reflected in this story and all subsequent Poirot mysteries. Britain valiantly attempts to prevail, protesting its relevance in full-throated denial of things as they are.

A lesson to be learned, for every empire.

Happy Christmas.

Death of a salesman

2011-10-06T16:44:00.003-04:00

Every obituary I heard this morning celebrating the life of Steve Jobs compared him to Thomas Edison. This comparison is apt, because much like Milan, Ohio's favorite son, Jobs never invented anything. Thomas Alva did not first create the radio, movie camera nor the (gasp) light bulb, Steven Paul did not invent the graphic interface, mouse, nor the mp3 player. But Steve Jobs made you NEED them.

My first computer was an Apple II+ (see above.) My parents presented it to me on my fourteenth birthday, in 1982. We were on vacation, so they didn't lug the whole thing with them, they just gave me an apple with a Roman numeral "II" on it. See how elegant that is? How were they going to do that with a Trash-80? Every computer I have owned since has been an Apple. I even dealt with a horrid Apple IIci for six years, now that's devotion. You can't blame Jobs for that one, however, they made the IIci during the Apple's Dark Years (1985-1996).

I do not own an iPhone, I do not have an iPad. In spite of my seeing them everywhere, I do not need one ... not the way I NEED my iPod. An itinerant runner since I was 12 years old, it wasn't until the life-altering appearance of this wafer-thin music machine that I have been a consistent runner (did you know I also keep a running blog?)

Steve Jobs made it possible for me to complete a marathon.

The praise that I hear being heaped upon the man today is a bit overwhelming. He was a CEO, I thought we hated those. But he was credited during his lifetime as the man who made technology stylish, cuddly, as my wife put it this morning, Steve Jobs invented the cyborg, and made us like it. For better or for worse, Steve Jobs married humanity to the machine.

Mecha Yenta.

Days of Awe

2011-10-03T00:30:00.018-04:00

From American Public Media ...
My brother and I closed the evening at Sweeney’s Saloon in the Selby/Dale neighborhood. Legend has it Sweeney’s was a favorite haunt of August Wilson’s during his time in St. Paul, a place for him to drink, smoke and write. The owner would turn the lights up when Wilson would come in so he could see better to do his work.

If this legend is so, I have to imagine things have changed a great deal in this neck of the woods. Last night it was a very popular place, packed with college students and hipsters, not the kind of place I could imagine anyone being able to concentrate and compose anything like Two Trains Running.

We sat at a table outside, enjoyed a local beer, and had a nice long talk. For me, this was the best part of the trip.

This morning was the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America®. The race began at 8 AM, and at 10 AM the family and I walked two blocks to Fairview and Summit in time to catch the first few runners. It’s a bright, cool day today, perfect for running. I did not bother bringing my kit this trip, thought my time would be better spent available to my brother, but I did wonder out loud if I might not try the "Full Cleveland" this May.

Maybe you are not aware I also keep a running blog.

Church services at the Unity Church-Unitarian began at 11 AM. I joined Denny and Julie in marriage there in August, 2006. (Didn’t know I could do that, did you?) As a celebration of the High Holy Days, the theme for this morning was forgiveness. It was a painfully well-timed homily.

First step of forgiveness:
We must all give up hope of a better past.
It is a question we ask in The Crucible residency. What is forgiveness? Why is forgiveness necessary? Is it necessary? Who is the benefactor of forgiveness, those who give or those who receive it? Can you forgive and not forget?

“I forgive myself, I forgive you. We begin again in love.”
On our way to the airport, my brother gave me a tour of the MPR studios. It’s a very large, impressive facility, the central nervous system of NPR affiliates around the state, their news, classical and popular music stations. I think I am going to become a die-hard, online fan of The Current 89.3.

And now I am waiting at the gate, informed that my flight took off from Hopkins, and then abruptly turned around for a “maintenance issue.” My departure from MSP is in question, but I have a coffee, cash for dinner if I want it, and a very large book.

LATE UPDATE: Touching down at CLE, 12:30 AM.

We are brothers.

Two Trains Running

2011-10-02T00:56:00.004-04:00

Penumbra Theatre was founded in 1976 by Lou Bellamy in the Shelby/Dale neighborhood of St. Paul to "create a forum for African-American voices." That is where my brother and I headed last night for opening weekend of August Wilson's Two Trains Running.

Before he died in 2005, August Wilson created ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, chronicling the African-American experience through the prism of the Hill District. Each play represents one decade of the twentieth century. While I am shy to admit I have (until last night) read merely one of his works (Fences) by the end of the 2011-12 season I will have seen three, including Gem of the Ocean at Karamu and Radio Golf at the Play House.

Penumbra was responsible for Wilson's first professionally produced play, Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, and their relationship with Wilson remained strong throughout his life, and continues today, as the company decided following his death to produce the entire Pittsburgh Cycle, offering one or two of the works every season since 2007.

The facilities of Penumbra are very warm and welcoming, and the auditorium seats 250 but feels very intimate and close. The set for Lee's Restaurant circa 1969 was strikingly realistic.

While I was engaged by the entire ensemble, I most enjoyed sharing three hours in the same room as Abdul Salaam El Razzac (b. 1944) in the role of Halloway, a disciple of Aunt Esther, a man who has lived to the age of 65 by minding his own business. At turns kindly or fierce, this 6'5" grey-domed man in a comfortable suit keeps the top from blowing off Lee's ... or casually (but pointedly) makes his way out when he can't.

El Ra (as he is known to his friends) was born Allen Johnson II in Cleveland. Yes, he performed for Karamu, and graduated from East Tech High, the child of a postman and a "public servant." Right out of high school - during the Vietnam War - he joined the Air Force, moving to the Twin Cities after his service.

El Razzac means "service."

To be continued ...

Sources:
Penumbra website
Star Tribune: The Mellowing of El Ra
Wikipedia

Twin Cities

2011-10-01T16:59:00.003-04:00

Great playwright (with Chekhov.)
Yesterday evening my brother Denny, who lives in St. Paul, rode his bike home from his job at Minneapolis Public Radio. He knew his wife was planning a birthday surprise for this weekend (my brother turned fifty last week) but he was not expecting to find me sitting on his back stoop, drinking a beer.

The Twin Cities has been Denny's home for over twenty years. I have been fortunate enough to have visited several times. Minneapolis and St. Paul coexist as models of a modern American metropolis. Lots of local, urban business, a thriving arts scene, gorgeous new uses for the majestic riverfront, and a couple of kooks.

For this morning my sister-in-law Julie proposed a tour of the new (2006) Guthrie Theatre, located on the banks of the Mississippi. I have seen some fun alternative theater in Minneapolis, most notably at the 2003 Minnesota Fringe Festival, but also at The Jungle, the Bryant Lake Bowl, and the Theatre de la Jeune Lune, which is no longer with us. The only I have ever stepped foot into the former Guthrie space by the Walker Arts Center was twenty-five years ago in 1986 to see The Rainmaker.

I was a little astonished to walk into the main theater space, and discover it was a near-replica of the original, or at least to my memory. Apparently they narrowed the angle at which the audience is arranged around the thrust stage. With seven hundred seats, it remains an intimate environment in which to see a show.

But that's not where we're are going to see a play tonight.

This afternoon Denny and my niece Ariel took me to O'Gara's Bar and Grill at the corner of Snelling and Selby, which is significant as the site of the barbershop owned by Carl Schulz, the father of Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz.

Little Red Haired Girl.

To be continued ...

The Degenerate Art Exhibit

2011-09-25T17:23:00.006-04:00

Exhibition catalogue.
Opening July 19, 1937, "Entartete Kunst" or the Degenerate Art Exhibit opened in Munich. In an attempt to eradicate modernism, the Nazis seized over 5,000 pieces of art deemed threatening to the New Order. However, as in all things, Nazis were scholars of the past and established breathtaking, new forms of propaganda which have served as templates for every generation since.

Short film created by a protégé of Leni Riefenstahl.
Rather than simply destroy the offending works, they were put on display for the mockery of the general public, hung the wrong-way-round in some cases, improperly lit, cramped together, the walls festooned with mocking graffiti. "Insolent mockery of the Divine under Centrist rule" and "Deliberate sabotage of national defense" are two refrains which strike me as not-unfamiliar to today's vocabulary.

In this way, modern artists were denied any kind of martyrdom -- their worthlessness was firmly established in the public mind as thousand lined up to see the "degeneracy" and freely make up their own minds as to whether the work was offensive, obscene, immoral, blasphemous, or just plain bad.

"We Curate, You Decide."

Following the exhibition, the works were auctioned off, purchased by museums and individuals desperate to save the works before they were, finally destroyed. Though many works were lost, while living in Los Angeles in 1991 I had the opportunity to witness a touring exhibit of surviving pieces. If I had not already become driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown after four weeks in L.A. this experience put me right over the edge and I returned home to Cleveland for good soon after.

One example, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Self-Portrait as Soldier (1915) shows the artist, a World War I veteran, his painting hand severed. Kirchner had not actually lost an appendage during the war, rather the piece (painted during convalescence following a nervous breakdown) expresses his feelings that his war experience would rob him of his craft. The naked woman suggests he feared other war-related inadequacies.

639 of Kirchner's works were confiscated by the Nazis. This work was retitled Soldier With Whore for the Degenerate Art Exhibit. Kirchner committed suicide in June 1938. Fortunately for us, this work survives and you can visit it at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin.

Self-Portrait With Hat
This work by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff is part of the permanent collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, also saved from the 1937 exhibition in Munich.

"Tomorrow Belongs To Me."
Cabaret at Great Lakes Theater
We saw Cabaret last night. It was very moving. There were no drunken, existential rants before bedtime. The first act closes with a spirited, patriotic round of Tomorrow Belongs To Me. My mother, seated next to me, remarked, "The Nazis did write good music," adding swiftly, "of course, they just stole a bunch of folk songs and changed the words."

Chains

2011-09-23T23:35:00.001-04:00

The lesson plans of the Great Lakes Theater School Residency Programs are a closely guarded secret. But I can tell you we do put students in chains and parade them around their school.

In 1999 they were piloting the lesson plan for The Crucible at Lorain Central Catholic H.S. and Residency Supervisor Daniel Hahn thought it was missing something, that the students were failing to emotionally connect with the kind of humiliation and shame engendered in the scene where Elizabeth Proctor is forcibly taken from her home in chains.

Daniel said, "Why not put chains on the students?" Education Director Ken McLaughlin was appalled at that idea, and said so. And he added, "Let me know how it works out when you try it."

It's not an exercise we take lightly. The Crucible is a troubling piece of work, it's not merely about the fear of witches or dark forces, or Theocracy or Communism. It's about totalitarianism in all its forms, the loss of the basic freedoms upon which this country was founded. The devastation of relationships, reputation, simple human dignity.

Yesterday we performed the exercise with our actor-teachers, who are now completing their rehearsal process and will begin teaching in schools on Monday. Some were surprised by their reaction to it, which ranged from giddiness and embarrassment to outright boredom and irritation. That's okay. It's not supposed to be fun.

Facilitating he exercise, I do not yell. I do not make them perform acts to humiliate. I do not say please or thank you. I do not make it personal. We simply lead them from place to place, make them stand and wait, keep silent ... in the case of the actor-teachers they were led through a Starbucks. We don't do that to the students, they never leave the school.

Salem Witch Trials Memorial
How can you restore a reputation? What labels can never be erased? What is your definition of justice? What do you think?