Marriage & Shakespeare

The following was written as a brief hypothetical Playbill note which would frame Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice through a specific contextual lens-in this case, that of marriage.

The Present-Tense Pact: Marriage at the Time of Shakespeare

The Merchant of Venice is a play of pacts. At the crux of the play rests the legally binding agreement between between Antonio and Shylock over the lending and repayment of three thousand ducats over the course of three months. In order to seal this bond, Antonio and Shylock must solicit the presence of a notary and a contract is made. A simple procedure that works similarly today, but The Merchant of Venice is also about pacts of a different kind, pacts that function in far less simplistic manners today than they did in Shakespeare’s. This “pact” I speak of is that of marriage.

Marriage features prominently at the end of many Shakespearian comedies and the courtship that precedes it is ripe for dramatic play. The romantic comedy that ensues from placing one individual in a position of affection towards another who may in turn place his or her affections elsewhere creates the automatic perception of a throughline as courtship stories inevitably ended in marriage. There is rarely another conclusion—even a non-marriage would constitute a strong outcome if not unsatisfying—the play having nurtured the audience towards marriage through the “wooing and winning” involved in the courtship narrative.

The Merchant of Venice is not strictly a comedy, of course, yet highlights the matrimony of several couples. While the play does end on a rather cheerful note celebrating these happy unions, it certainly lacks the pomp and circumstance of some of Shakespeare’s other ceremonious endings. Perhaps this is because for all of Shakespeare’s emphasis on its dramatic weight, marriage was not always so grand an event in his time. In fact, the rules regarding its instigation were not so much delineated during most of the Elizabethan Era. Matrimonial law was a hotly contested issue for both the Church and the state of England from the middle of the 16th century onward. Finally in 1597 and again in 1604, the Church created a set of standard practices in order to combat the overwhelming ambiguity surrounding marriage touching on the wedding service procedure, registration, and licenses.

Nevertheless, the customs of local communities and other accepted practices varied wildly, but the most consistent of these appears to be the spousal contract created through the mutual, verbal conset of two parties to marry. This would have to be done in present tense words, per verba de praesenti—a practice we continue today with the present tense phrase “I do.” Even in the absence of witnesses, unlike Antonio and Shylock’s monetary legal agreement, the union could still be considered both “binding and indissoluble.”

With The Merchant of Venice, written around the same time as the Church’s first canonical revisions regarding marriage vows, Shakespeare may very well have been demonstrating the boundaries and multitudinous traditions of courtship that were taking place across England. Lorenzo and Jessica—the Christian and the Jew—elope happily, while Bassanio and Portia engage in a much more formal process culminating in their marriage too. In the end, for both couples—in spite of differing manners of courtship—their marital bonds are sealed.

Three Dark British Plays

These are three of the darkest plays I've ever read. They're also all by British playwrights. They're more than slightly traumatizing, but I was not been able to put any of them down. With the one I did see, Blasted, I had the strange sensation of being moved and wishing the play would end as soon as possible so that I could leave the theatre-back to a safer place. These are not comfortable plays and that's why I think I love them-I see way to much unchallenging theatre. If you have time to read at least one of these, you'll be doing your psyche a favor.


Last year I had the opportunity to see Sarah Kane's Blasted at SoHo Rep upon a pre-move visit to New York. It features one of the most stunning set transformations I have ever witnessed and two incredibly skilled performances. It remains one of the most haunting theatre experiences I've ever had and continues to be a touchstone among theatre artists for groundbreaking theatre in New York.


British teenagers. Yet their conversations are more adult than most I've ever heard. I could listen to them talk all day. Simon Stephens' Punk Rock is crude, funny, and charming until...it's not. The ending had my stomach churning with horror and sickly sweet empathy-or was it pity? I had to crawl under the covers after I finished this one.



Imagine Peter Pan meets Lord of the Flies meets Where the Wild Things Are and you'd have done a halfway decent job of describing Polly Stenham's Tusk Tusk. What if the Darlings had never come home for their children that night in Peter Pan? What if Peter had never taken the children to Neverland? This is a story of true abandonment, loss and self-preservation.

Scottsboro Boys does Injustice to Injustice

The dainty brass tune that floats down from the orchestra platform at the upper left of the auditorium of the Vineyard Theatre seems particularly subdued for this highly anticipated musical from the songwriting duo John Kander and Fred Ebb. When an unnamed woman—who will remain so for the great majority of the one hour and 45 minute production, should you happen to ceaselessly wonder as I did—walks out on stage to a pile of chairs in a pool of mottled blue and yellow lights and sits at the side of a road the audience’s anticipation is not quelled. As she waits there with the sound of buzzing traffic, we anxiously wait with her. Where is the “flash”? The high kicks?

After a few long moments, the performers stream in from the aisles with a surfeit of energy. Grinning and spinning their way to the stage, the room is transformed into a carnivalesque music hall. From behind the footlights steps our requisite master of ceremonies, the only white performer, John Cullum, who is also granted the duty of playing two other administrative positions, a Judge and the Governor of Alabama. The performers swing and stack simple silver chairs to represent a courtroom while boldly proclaiming, “everyone’s a minstrel tonight.” And for this first colorful, physically demanding first number, we believe them.


Reality sets in when the banner announcing the play’s title falls away and a series of ominous drum beats rupture the overwhelming cheer. Those drum beats, which echo throughout the show, also serve as early evidence of the production’s difficult task of staging a musical based on the repeated trials of nine black men accused of raping two white women. History has all but proven their innocence, but it is not the kind of story one would immediately propose as the subject for a song and dance spectacle. I suspect this is why the tone and choreography of the show are so uneven responsibility for which falls on Director and Choreographer, Susan Stroman (“The Producers”).

Stroman’s challenge here lies in making injustice entertaining—and not just any injustice. The trials depicted here are based on one of the most high profile cases in the history of American racism. Unlike Kander and Ebb’s “Chicago” from which this book and production borrow heavily, “Scottsboro” portrays a justice system just as ridiculous but lacking in the theatrical humor associated with courtroom manipulation. Following the rousing minstrel chorus, when the lights come up on the modernist set, I already miss the flash and the kicks. The second number is strangely static, which is ironic, now that the chairs have been arranged as a traveling boxcar.


Even when the show makes a rare return to the kind of big-band, Fosse-inspired style of the opener, the atmosphere is never so lighthearted and hopeful, lacking in vivacity and hindered by a bleak outlook for the story’s characters. When the youngest member of the accused has a freakish nightmare about the electric chair, the accompanying tap dance is appropriately frenetic, bizarre and sinister. This sequence, by the way, has more than enough flash with incessant strobe effects and a sparking chair; “What a fabulous way to die” indeed. “Electric Chair” spends a lot of time and energy on a particularly horrific notion. The number certainly serves the narrative at this point, but goes on just long enough for the audience to question its enjoyment of it.

Still, it’s one of the few moments in the production that sticks out for its spectacle if not innovation. The story gets buried under too-slick staging, repetitive action and a whole mess of derivation. Brandon Victor Dixon’s character, Haywood Patterson has one number which might as well be “Mr. Cellophane” from “Chicago” stuck in the score as a placeholder. In a number more than reminiscent of Billy Flynn’s “Razzle Dazzle”, Forrest McClendon as Samuel Leibowitz sings “Financial Advice”. I suspect they even recycled the confetti. That “Scottsboro” is another Kander and Ebb musical does not excuse this sloppy, unoriginal writing.

What’s even sadder is that “Scottsboro” has an extremely talented cast. Dixon belts a “honeysuckle-sweet” ballad from his prison cell and the ensemble dances are clean and precise. There is a sense, though, that Stroman is doing this all by the book. Much of the problem lies in the subject matter, which does not befit a musical adaptation. While the repeated trials are part of the story, by the seventh, we’re ready for the gavel to fall for the last time. I suppose the prisoners grew tired of waiting too, but there’s not enough here to keep us interested. When the performers dressed as interlocutors come out in blackface and announce the finale, the cumulative effect is disingenuous. At least I knew it would be over soon.

This is a Bloody Review

The Public Theater’s Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson comes complete with an audience proviso—and it’s not just that the performance contains fog and strobe effects. “You have to bring some ass to get some ass,” declares Benjamin Walker (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) as President-to-be, Andrew Jackson. “I’m going to put it in you,” he continues. Whether “it” refers to a fast and flashy depiction of history, a rollicking alt-rock score or an intelligent yet ironic sense of humor is ultimately irrelevant. Whatever “it” is, we take it.

Bloody Bloody is one of the most immersive theatrical experiences I’ve had this year and it doesn’t even require audience participation—except for bringing your ass into the theatre—but that it’s hard not to want to participate in the frenzied, pop-infused storytelling. At the launch of the show, the always-appreciated nerdy-girl-in-wheelchair, glasses and thrift store knitwear serves as its narrator. That is, until Jackson shoots her in the neck. Goodbye, framed narrative. Hello, blood. Jackson states, “I think I can take it from here.”

We don’t miss the narrator—though she is played with a tremendous comic awareness by Colleen Werthmann (Gone Missing). Walker and his talented entourage manage to tell the story with color, flair and style on their own. Even while on his knees—representing his childhood—as he witnesses the deaths of his family members by way of Indians’ arrows, Walker commands the stage. Following this tragedy, Jackson becomes a kind of juice box wielding Fess Parker in a coonskin cap as he tries to navigate the wild frontier in the “era of whoop-assing.” As far as history lessons go, Bloody Bloody is incredibly detailed, surprisingly relevant and excitingly modern. As the production unfolds, Bloody Bloody proves itself to be extremely smart political satire in its portrayal of the blood-smeared rocker Jackson and his pursuit of a “brand of maverick egalitarian democracy.” Hip, radical and sexually charged, Bloody Bloody’s brand of politics isn’t just “populism”, it’s, as per the song, “popujizm”.


Adding to the appeal of Jackson’s exploration of populism and his rise to presidency is the visually riveting emo-fantasy world in which the events of his life are played out on stage. The set is an Urban Outfitters accessory whore’s dream. Hipster regalia dazzle and intrigue the eye in every direction. The hazy, rouge-tinted room is accented with chandeliers, framed portraits, plastic-wrapped animal heads, Christmas lights, chandeliers, candles, and the must-have-hipster-accessory, duct tape. With every scene change and music number comes a new discovery; the set is in a constant state of flux with surprising lighting choices and clever design. The overall effect of Bloody Bloody’s staging is eclectic and energetic. This is a rockstar’s paradise—a nexus of cultural appropriation and entrancing social defiance.

The fact that Bloody Bloody relies so much on poaching elements of popular culture is not a hindrance to the historical narrative. Instead, these pieces act as relatable signposts and shorthand for human behavior. Notably, Bloody Bloody contains perhaps the best use of the music of Cher in a dramatic narrative form. It’s a glimpse into an alt-glam pastiche world that works particularly well in its combination of stage spectacle and over-the-top melodrama. There a good number of original, well-crafted, often hilarious songs too accompanied by tight and amusing choreography—when was the last time you saw a dance number with muskets or a good ol’ fashioned bar brawl with barrels? Overall the production’s aesthetic synthesis of modern and 19th century is clear, appropriate to the story and absolutely entertaining. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson proves you can have your history and fuck it too.

The Wooster Group's Atlantic Antics

Walking into the performance space at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, one feels like he is entering the cavernous belly of an aircraft carrier, the setting of The Wooster Group’s NAVY-themed musical, North Atlantic, now playing through April 25th. The multi-leveled industrial construction of the set with its catwalks, chrome ladders and giant sloped platform—like the curved inner hull of a ship—serves as the perfect backdrop for the boisterous display of wit, surprising musical numbers and provocative action.

Minutes into the show, I realized the production intended to stimulate the audience on multiple, simultaneous levels. In the beginning of the play, Captain Chizzum, played by the handsome and brawny, Ari Fliakos, speaks to the audience at a rapid pace like an auctioneer or used car salesman. At one point he tells General Benders, “not so fast with the hot sauce” as if channeling the audience’s reaction to his hurried speech. Like dealing with auctioneers and salesmen, you may not know what you’re being sold until you’ve bought. It is ironic that though the play centers on the exploits—read sexploits—of a group of word processing girls, including Frances McDormand as Sergeant Bryzynsky, the audience cannot always process the words said on stage. Chizzum’s opening performance is just the first indication as to the production’s proclivity to overwhelm the senses .

If Chizzum sounds a lot like “jizm,” it’s likely not a coincidence, which should be a clue as to the age appropriateness of this show. Several music numbers are adult takes on folk songs and other classic selections of aural Americana that tend to spring out of the performers with such spontaneity. So, don't take the kids. I suspect you don't want your child singing a sexually explicit version of "Yankee Doodle" while making suggestive hand-to-microphone gestures.

The production is scored not only by music but also by mechanical sounds, overlapping dialogue, jet engines and other blaring soundscapes creating a cacophonous chorus. The accompanying choreography also subverts typical notions of the musical. While much of it is folksy like the music, it and other movement is restrained both in physicality and through the limits imposed by the set. Though impressive in scale, the multi-angled set is not conducive to dance so much as continuous relocation along an X-Y axis particularly along the sloped back platform along which the actors stand, slide and climb throughout.

Over the course of the 90-minute performance, notions of isolation, individuality and life outside the armed forces rise above the sensory overload prompting the question: how does the NAVY disrupt one’s personal narrative? And on the contrary, how might it contribute to one’s own history? As for the show’s narrative, these existential queries may be as close as Atlantic gets to possessing a story. What Atlantic lacks in story, however, it makes up for with a talented cast, inventive staging and more than a few cleverly placed double entendres.

Even though the theatre is located on the third floor of a quiet New York City block, Atlantic takes its audience on a raucous ride with the U.S. military through the open seas on a big, burly boat. Civilians, welcome aboard.

Memory Making with "Moon"

“Ages of the Moon” now playing at the Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater will inevitably be compared to the work of another modern Samuel—that of the Beckett variety—and while the play does lean precariously toward an over-awareness of Beckett’s work, particularly “Waiting for Godot”, Sam Shepard’s latest play avoids a potential miasma of derivation. If “Godot’s” primary concern is the anticipation of an entity that never actually appears, “Moon” is about waiting for an event that is a cosmic certainty. That the pending eclipse is, in fact, pending, grounds the play and its two characters Ames (Stephen Rea) and Byron (Sean McGinley) in a greater sense of reality and immediacy. As a result, “Moon” never reaches the level of Beckett’s extreme existential exchanges and the two friends are able to focus on not what might come to pass, but rather what was.

Byron has invited Ames to his porch for the purpose of drinking Woodford Bourbon Whiskey and waiting for the aforementioned lunar eclipse. It will be many hours before the celestial event is to occur—Ames arrives in the morning and according to Byron’s almanac, the eclipse will be at 5:00AM. Audiences may thank Shepard and Irish director Jimmy Fay that the eclipse arrives in a swift, but full, 75 minutes. Meanwhile, Ames and Byron synchronously swill bourbon and attempt to make conversation. Reminiscing—if not remembering—should come easy for these decades-old friends, but this proves as difficult to do as getting the porch ceiling fan to function properly with any amount of consistency.

“Why do you keep trying to insinuate yourself in my past?” Ames accuses Byron whose later line, “I remember, I remember” seems to echo major themes of the play: the insistence of memory and the prevailing need to assure one’s presence in the world and within history. “What age do you think we’re living in?” Byron asks Ames who uses the literal ages of the moon as written in the almanac to try and prove the rarity of this event and perhaps by extension, the rarity of their friendship.

As with any friendship, however, tempers do erupt. In one scene, as tension mounts, the fan speeds up, whirring violently above their heads. When their feisty natures are expressed in fists, the ensuing fight is difficult to take seriously—but maybe we are not supposed to given the vaudevillian, absurdist qualities of their characters.

After sparks fly—and they do, literally—Ames and Byron settle down for the eclipse. Their speech begins to mirror one another’s and they begin to remember their pasts as one. As they watch the eclipse they begin to build a new memory together. Seeing “Moon,” is not a bad way to make one too.

"Moon" has been extended through March 21st!

Collaboration 1

The first public performance of my work as a dramaturg is this Monday at 2pm at the Schapiro Theatre in Morningside Heights. This will conclude the first of three rounds of collaboration groups involving a different theme and different creative team for each production. The theme for this round is "Adaptation." If you're clever you may be able to guess what "text" we are adapting with Green Eyes & Shiny Teeth. Or you can ask me, in which case I'll probably tell you and then tell you that you cannot tell anybody else.

Dream of the unattainable. -Peter

Green Eyes & Shiny Teeth is one of six original short plays that will be making their debut during an afternoon repertoire near the Columbia University campus at 115th & Broadway on Monday from 2-5pm. Our play is first on the agenda, if you are able to make it to the area, even for that first 20 minutes-not to take away from the other great talent that is being represented across the rest of the performances. Your presence would be immensely appreciated by all involved. For more details on the event and a full listing of the other plays, go here. We also are accepting well wishes from those who cannot be there.

Stay tuned for an official announcement of Collaboration 2. If you like, you can mark your calendars for March 29th, same time, same place. Rehearsals for those shows begin this week!

Theatre Viewings 2009

This list includes theatrical productions I saw between my arrival in New York City in August until the end of the year.

Time Period: August 17-December 31, 2009

Stand Out Production: Circle. Mirror. Transformation. by Annie Baker, Playwrights Horizons

Stand Out Playwright: Clay McLeod Chapman for The Pumpkin Pie Show: Commencement, Under St. Marks

Longest Play: The Brother/Sister Plays (three parts, over seven hours), The Public Theater

Best Staging of a Classic Work: Our Town, Barrow Street Theatre

Best Set: The Royal Family, Manhattan Theatre Club

Best Musical: Finian’s Rainbow

Best Comedy: The Understudy

Furthest Away: Duchess in the Dark, Flux Factory, Queens

Play That Left Me with the Most Creative Question Marks: Orpheus X

Theatre 2009
NYMF indicates production was part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival

Family
Gesamtkunstwerk 2009
Gay Bride of Frankenstein (NYMF)
Circle. Mirror. Transformation.
Whatever Man (NYMF)
The Royal Family
The Cure (NYMF)
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Memphis
Our Town
After Miss Julie
The Pumpkin Pie Show: Commencement
Duchess in the Dark
Finian's Rainbow
Antigone
The Understudy
Fela!
Quartett
The Brother/Sister Plays
Creature
Carly Jibson is Not a Bitch...Not Yet a Woman
Hamlet
The Private Life of Inga Snyder
For Artists Only
Orpheus X

In Theatre

Beginning today, I will be maintaining a list of every theatrical event I attend here in New York in the sidebar of this blog. As the study and experience of theatre-the art and profession-comprise the primary reason for my presence in this city, it seems fitting that I should keep a record of my ventures into the world of performance. For two years now, I have kept a list of every film I attend or see via other means (DVD, streaming, etc.) and these films have continued to inform my conversations, academics and interests. I expect New York theatre to do that and more. See last year's film list here.

So, even if I find myself with little time to write extensively in this form as I navigate the challenges and demands of grad school, I will always keep these lists up to date. That way, in conjunction with my ever changing goodreads selections, the readers of this blog will be able to see, to an extent, what kinds of cultural conversations I may be having. And if you ever want to become more a part of those conversations, I would love to talk to you.

Taproot's Tuesdays

Clocking in at 34 pages and about 16,000 words, my production packet for Taproot Theatre's production of Tuesdays with Morrie is locked and sent off with loads of information to be devoured by actors and artistic staff.


The play is based on the autobiographical book by Mitch Albom and chronicles the relationship with Albom and his professor Morrie Shwartz who is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease and the lessons about life that both learn in the process.

Rehearsals begin soon and the play, directed by Karen Lund, is set to go live for audiences March 27-April 25 with previews on March 25 & 26. Look for my display in the lobby!

Valkyrie in Three

I think this newly released poster for Bryan Singer's WWII epic, Valkyrie, is an example of some great design.


I like the starkness of the black and white contrasted with the red-it's hard to go wrong with that color combination. The use of blueprints in the background is a fantastic graphic element and the inclusion of the red line running through it recalls the spy-centric narrative of Valkyrie, which surrounds the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The bent red line is reminiscent of a swastika further contextualizing the movie. In addition, I'm always a fan of incorporating the credits into the overall layout of the poster.

This movie has had numerous release dates-I counted a total of five-a reshoot or two, and more than a few controversies and after all of that Valkyrie finally has a release date of December 26, 2008.

I am trying not to be bothered by the casting of Tom Cruise-a bitter point increased by the fact that Patrick Wilson was once set to be in the film-but the movie has had several successfull test screenings and I really enjoyed what Bryan Singer did with the X-Men movies.

I do also have a great affinity for World War II films and stories, which if nothing else, will get me into the theatre for Valkyrie come December or early January. One of the most moving experiences in my life was playing Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, in a stage production of The Diary of Anne Frank in Germany. The cast had the opportunity to meet with Anne Frank's last living relative, Buddy Elias. Props I kept from the show were my wedding ring, a yellow felt Star of David with "Jude" printed on it, and the scarf my "daughter" knitted. That whole period of my life has stuck with me and for good reason. I'm continually drawn to that narrative. Recently, I have enjoyed Intiman's production of The Diary of Anne Frank and before that I was awed by Paul Verhoeven's phenomenal film, Black Book.

I probably won't see Valkyrie the day after Christmas when it opens, but I will make an outing of it soon after.

Top 5: Seattle Sips

Zig Zag Café
1501 Western Ave
This bar perched in the middle of the steps of the Pike Place Hill Climb that bridge the market area and the waterfront, boasts one of the best bartenders in the world. Zig Zag is often referenced in national publications such as Esquire. The bar and the innovative minds behind it, Murray Stenson, in particular, take their drinks very seriously and are credited with reviving the classic cocktail below, The Last Word. A drink with simple ingredients that you could order elsewhere, but Zig Zag is its home. You’ll never order a simple gin and tonic again.

Top Sip:
The Last Word
1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Maraschino Liqueur
1 oz. Green Chartreuse

Muddle lime. Add above ingredients with ice, shake, strain into cocktail glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Sun Liquor
Summit & E Roy
Sun Liquor is one of Capitol Hill’s finest and most accessible bars. The management of Zig Zag never hesitate to recommend Sun if they have clientele heading up the hill or in search of different surroundings. Sun Liquor is out of the way, off the bustling sidewalks of Broadway, down in a largely residential area. The dim, reddish light of Sun bleeds out onto the sidewalk inviting you in to a relaxed atmosphere. Fresh-squeezed fruit juice signaled by the stainless steel press on the bar is one draw of many. Weekends draw crowds, but the bar remains cozy, friendly and unpretentious.

Top Sip:
Sidecar
1 oz. Brandy
1 oz. Cointreau
1 oz. Lemon Juice

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain and serve in a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Vessel
5th between Union & University
Vessel is housed in a space formerly the lobby of neighboring 5th Avenue Theatre. The bar maintains some of the original ornate ceiling and wall detail and dazzles with stainless steel, lime green glass accents, vintage glassware and tall glass ceilings with dark wood venetian blinds. The sense is very LA. A chic and respectable bar to run your liver down, but probably not your wallet as the high-class libations do go for a pretty penny. If you order just one drink let it be, their signature cocktail, the velvety, slightly oaky, citrus infused, VESSEL 75.

Top Sip:
VESSEL 75
3 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon
3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 bar-spoon simple syrup

Stir the above ingredients in an iced Boston shaker and strain into a rocks glass.Top with maple syrup foam and orange zest.

Chapel
Melrose & E Pine
Perhaps I feel more at ease with the echoes of the deceased after having worked for several months at a funeral home. It might help with drinking at the incredibly atmospheric, Chapel, which is a renovated funeral home itself. The high ceilings, dark wood and ten-foot mirrors lend a supreme sense of awe to the space. Candlelight flickers across the room, wax dripping of wrought iron candelabras on the bar-built of cold stone slabs, still numbered as they were during their original use. This great lounge space has been used as the backdrop for music videos and photo shoots alike. If the décor is not enough, it is hard to beat the $4 martinis during happy hour. I try to pick a new drink from the extensive specialty martini menu whenever I go, but I can always go for a Manhattan.

Top Sip:
Manhattan
3 oz. Bourbon
1.5 oz. Sweet Vermouth
3 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir ingredients in an iced Boston shaker and strain into cocktail glass with an orange twist or maraschino cherry.

Intiman Theatre
201 Mercer St
This selection really takes this Top 5 list to Top 6, but Top 5 just sounds better and I would be hard pressed to choose my favorite over these two drinks as they fit in such different categories. The Lounge at Intiman is the only place where you will be able to order these fantastic cocktails by name. In addition, it is the only bar on this list where one can sit down for a performance at a Tony Award winning theatre-Best Regional Theatre 2006-post libation or even while one drinks, as an individual may take his drink into the theatre provided he makes the exchange for a paper cup.

Top Sip(s):
Grand Theft
3 oz Maker’s Mark
1 oz Grand Marnier
Ginger Ale

Muddle lemon at the bottom of Boston shaker, fill with ice, add liquors, shake and strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Top with ginger ale and garnish with lemon.

The Flood
3 oz. Gin
1 oz. Peach Schnapps
0.5 oz Blue Curacao

Muddle lemon. Add above ingredients with ice, shake and garnish with lemon twist.

For every show at Intiman, my two fellow bartenders and I create specialty cocktails based on thematic elements in the script, bits of dialogue, key dramatic scenes or plot points. It is a way for the front of house staff to be actively involved in shaping the experience of the audience as they come out for a night of theatre. Rigorous taste-testing of these cocktails before their debut on opening night is always an essential part of the creative process. As a team, we are always looking for new ideas and inspiration in preparation for the next show as well as any way to slip a little Campari into a liquid creation.

One of my colleagues actually took the liberty of providing the readers of her blog, including former and future audiences of Intiman’s productions, a thorough list of the “specialty drinks” from our tenure as bartenders over the last few years.

• • •

In other drink and restaurant news, I checked out a new bar on Capitol Hill last night called Buck. It is a western-themed bar on Olive Way-where a number of bars old and new have made their new home in the past year. Buck might become one of my new hang outs, a very comfortable space with an all honey-pine interior. I have one friend that works there: broad-shouldered with a goatee, he could definitely pass as a cowboy. The waitress was gorgeous, very nice and dressed in a cute equestrian outfit. I sipped on a Sidecar-brought to me with a “refill” in a shot glass-while I straddled a western saddle on a saddle-rack. Buck has had a soft opening this week and opens officially tomorrow. I can’t wait to go back.

Now, I’m thirsty.

Out and About in the S-E-A

I know it has been far too long since I last updated this blog so new and exciting posts are definitely in order. The primary reason for my absence has been my extended preparation for the GRE(Graduate Record Exam) which I took yesterday and received a solid raw score-further results are pending and will surface in about 10-15 days. I am very pleased with my performance thereon and I do hope that my score on the essay portion of the exam will be reflective of that.

The last couple weeks have also been full of all sorts of cultural experiences and opportunities. I had a hard time trying to fit practice tests and study sessions for the GRE within the social calendar. A horrible situation, right? Through my job and other relationships across the city I have been able to attend several events and plays in Seattle. Recent highlights include:

Vespers at Mars Hill Graduate School
A wonderful, moving event organized by my friend, KJ for new and old students alike of this grad school located in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood offering degrees in counseling and various areas of theology.

Shrek the Musical at 5th Avenue Theatre
I was pleasantly surprised by this show. Consistently good music, keen Broadway references, dynamic staging and a visual pleasure. I think it will be a success as it moves to Broadway in New York this fall.

The Little Dog Laughed at Intiman Theatre
Hilarious, witty and at times a hard-hitting commentary on the state and treatment of gay performers in the entertainment industry.

Eurydice at ACT
A beautiful, must-see show written by Sarah Ruhl. See my review.


Opening Night and 10th Anniversary Gala for the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall
I certainly enjoyed the company of a couple close friends at this event, however, for the opening of the Symphony’s 2008-2009 season, the show failed to show off the immense talent of the symphony, instead opting for a string of lackluster performances by a bass far past his prime and a pleasant, but out-of-place soprano. If I want to see opera, I’ll go to the Opera.

The Phantom of the Opera at The Paramount Theatre
This was the first time I had ever seen Phantom on stage. It was a lot of fun in and of itself, but fascinating to finally see the show after experiencing it through so many cultural references over the last couple decades.

A few other opportunities and happenings lie on the horizon and I expect to have plenty to blog about in weeks and months to come. The fall season is upon us and while the notion that I no longer have classes to return to this year is growing increasingly odd, I am excited to be in a place of a different kind of learning. Call me a freelance scholar, a perpetual academic, a student of the world for the time being as I contemplate graduate school. In any case, I look forward to being able to focus on my passion of analyzing various media and creative processes as I attend more artistic events around the city and as the new television season gets underway, which I am able to follow with an unprecedented attention without the burden of classes and work or the traditional modes of TV programming—thank you, Hulu, iTunes and all my friends who have Tivo.

Stay tuned for my thoughts on Fringe, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and True Blood.

"Let's Go Into The Water"

This evening I had the pleasure of seeing the first night of previews for the new show at ACT-A Contemporary Theatre-in downtown Seattle. The show, crafted by American playwright Sarah Ruhl, is entitled Eurydice after the Orpheus and Eurydice myth described in the tenth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses here .

Every once in a long while I go to a theatrical production that changes the way I look at the face of the performing arts or one that heavily influences my perpetual musings on the human experience. Eurydice-bless her wonderful ensemble-cast-heart-did both of these things for me. Eurydice is that phenomenal. The show is both an adapatation and an extension of the tragic myth written from the point of view of Orpheus' wife-Eurydice. The creative license Ruhl takes with this timeless story are more than welcome, transforming the rather simple tale into a deeply moving and relevant piece of narrative art. Eurydice, who finds herself in the Underworld, must decide whether to continue her life among the living with her husband on Earth or to stay in Hades with her father-a character from Ruhl's imagination and one that propels the play in quite unexpected and powerful fashion.

ACT is the only theatre in Seattle which has a theatre-in-the-round type of stage and after seeing Eurydice in this way, I cannot imagine experiencing its wonders in any other space. Rounding the hallway and stepping into the expansive room, a diving board looms above a tiled floor in the center-evoking the bottom of a swimming pool. This was probably the first and only time an usher will ever tell me that my seat is on the other side of the diving board. Also of note were several taught strings running from the set to the rafters above. Actors would later literally pluck these strings as with a musical instrument with varied tonal effects adding a sensual and organic element to the production.

In fact the entire experience of the play was heightened by the theatre set-up itself and the spectacular staging. Though I find it nigh impossible to name precisely that which made this play such an utter success, I would say that I have never seen such intelligent and graceful use of space in theatre. Actors moved between the aisles, rose to different heights, descended from above the audience and around. The result of such fluid movement, such inspired blocking made for an extraordinarily interactive environment. The cast's exploitation of the depth of the space generated an extraordinarily visceral and tangible experience. The set became its own character. It breathed as the actors breathed.

The show borders on surrealism at times, theatre-of-the-absurd at others, aided by the haunting lighting cues and of course, the Chorus of Stones. At its core, however, this is still a Greek myth and a tragedy at that and the latter is something that one may try so desperately try to forget as loved ones live with and apart from one another. Those that are aware of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice are not spoiled but are treated with so much more meaningful content. In one act, this play speaks volumes about language, communication, mourning and temptation. It teaches by sight, sound and active humanity. There is not one moment of this play that is unnecessary, out-of-place or overdone. Though Eurydice runs for only 90 minutes, I could have sworn I was there for hours, even days and in truth, I would gladly have stayed them.

Throughout the play echoes of other works traversed fleetingly through my head. This myth is so rooted in our artistic culture. The legend flows through our collective unconsciousness-its existence entirely unhindered by the passing of time. Orpheus and Eurydice appear everywhere. And is there any way that such an essential tale would go unnoticed by Joss Whedon? Of course not. A couple years ago, Buffyologist Janet K. Halfyard-perhaps Britains most prominent Buffy scholar, if not the most genteel-was requested by the Birmingham Conservatory to perform research the relationship between Buffy and the Orpheus myth in conjunction with their staging of Monteverdi's opera, Orpheum. Halfyard immediately suspected there was substantial merit in such an inquiry and found countless ties between the Buffyverse and Orpheus and Eurydice. As Halfyard discusses in her paper, "Hero's Journey, Heroine's Return: Buffy, Eurydice and the Orpheus Myth" which she presented at Slayage Conference 3, descents, ascents, returns, loss and battered and reluctant heroes appear countless times in both Buffy and Angel. The Orpheus myth is displayed quite literally in several instances, in particular, Buffy's descent into "hell" as she confronts the Master in his subterranean lair-his "Baroque candlelit underworld."

Seen here, Buffy actually inhabits the pose of Orpheus in many paintings depicting the myth, Buffy's crossbow standing in for the lyre of Orpheus:


Halfyard explains that as this scene progresses Buffy simultaneously embodies Eurydice and Orpheus. The Orpheus myth is invoked quite literally in the season 4 episode of Angel, "Orpheus," which depicts a beautiful journey through Angel's own underworld.

In her talk, Halfyard explained that according to the nature of myth, there are no fixed forms. Buffy is not the only art to actively engage old myths, but it certainly does it well.

Thus, Eurydice and the myth that came long before it are gifts to those involved in the dramatic arts as creators or spectators.

After my heart broke during Eurydice, I may never see the bottom of a swimming pool the same way again.

Eurydice runs from now until October 5th.

A Disney Directive

Prior to seeing Wall-E, I read one reviewer’s comments which explained how while he was watching the film he felt as if he knew how it was to see Star Wars or 2001: A Space Odyssey in the movie theatre when they first came out-seeing the Star Destroyer moving endlessly across the screen or the psychedelic effects of the latter film. I see how the writer came to this conclusion. Wall-E is both breathtaking and a breath of fresh air.

The expansive environments presented at the beginning of the film are awe-inspiring yet somber in their depiction of a neglected world. And really, the whole film follows a similar tonality. While humanity may be at the height of its technological advancements, having produced some amazing tools, devices and machines to help maintain a comfortable existence, man has reached a plateau in its psychological-and physical-development. The results are striking.

The fact that the audience does not get a glimpse of an actual human-save for a few fleeting images on the makeshift movie screen at his “residence”-until about half-way through the movie reinforces the audience’s perception that the robots in this film, Eve and Wall-E in particular, are more human than any other character. The overweight, over-stimulated human populace is for the most part comprised of mindless masses. The one human who does rise to the occasion so to speak and seek to overhaul the cyclic nature of the human race at this point, is no more than a figurehead for the deep, meaningful ideology already iterated in, not the words, but the visuals and interactions between Wall-E and his world, Eve’s mission and of course the relationship that blossoms almost quite literally, between Wall-E and Eve. The captain of the ship, default leader of the human population is far from being the film’s protagonist-I could hardly arrive at an accurate guess of his name.


Wall-E's message of being pro-active about our planet's environment is certainly clear, but it is from the subtleties of the characters’ actions that more profound truths can be unearthed. The majority of Wall-E teaches without speaking, Wall-E instructs by example. Wall-E’s daily collection of what one might otherwise deem trash at the least or trinkets at the most is a beautiful representation of the value and joy that can be found in the most simple of items and the smaller gems of life. What do we take away from every day we are given in this life? What do we leave behind? With Eve, the probe sent by the Axiom spacecraft to investigate signs of organic life on Earth, we also see inherently human behavior and psychological evolution take place within her character. “Directive” she states, over and over as she continues to scan her surroundings. She gestures toward the plant logo located on the upper left of her gleaming white torso. Her “directive,” her occupation, is in the place of her heart. When she realizes where her heart truly lies, what she is fighting for, forgoing the orders of her programming, it is a heart-melting moment. The plant symbol dims and she and Wall-E know that doing the right thing, following one’s heart, doesn’t always mean following simple orders. We are part of a bigger picture and catching sight of that is never an easy process.

I just saw Intiman Theatre's incredible performance of Tennessee William’s play, “A Streetcar Named Desire" and in Blanche DuBois’ view of the world, however naïve, she describes "those long afternoons when a piece of eternity drops into our hands and we don't know what to do with it." In writing about Wall-E now, these words strongly resonated in my mind. Our minutes, hours and days are but pieces of something larger, our lives for one, but even our lives are firmly rested within the timeline of humanity. We give and take from this world, but what responsibility do we have when that moment comes when have taken too much, when the harmony we have with Earth has been thrown wholly out of balance? Wall-E depicts humans running from that responsibility, leaving its technological creations to clean up the mess, naively thinking that in time, balance can be restored. 700 years after humans left Earth, its offspring have all but forgotten how to live, much less what Earth was. In fact, when the humans finally do make it back to Earth in Wall-E, it was the only moment I took issue with the film. Does it not also seem naïve to think that with starting with one small budding plant, humans can survive, thrive and live within a symbiotic relationship with Earth? I see the need for a self-contained narrative-and I think it was wonderfully done-however, the resolution for the human race and their now desolate world is far from simple-as is the resolution for our present environmental crisis.

Wall-E is a beautiful, heartfelt film and with it Pixar and the genius present in its team of writers, artists and producers have set new standards in the realm of creative story-telling, visuals and consequential and evocative filmmaking. Wall-E is multi-layered, full of complexity, expertly crafted and moving, characteristics which few other films this year can claim.

Big River

Way back in my freshman year of college, I took an Acting 101 class as a kickstart to my double major of Theatre and English at Seattle Pacific University. The class was taught by the incredible Karen Lund. The first day of the class we went around the room in a circle telling everyone why we were in the class. When it came around to me, I stated that I was a) a Theatre major and it was obviously a requirement-that whole "acting" thing involved in Theatre and b) one of my career aims was to become a professional dramaturg. Karen replied to my admission: "Oh good! I'll hook you up!" with a glint in her eye. My interests have evolved slightly with time, but role of the dramaturg is an important one, whether for theatre or film and I hope that in the future my talents in this field can be broadened and used in a full-time capacity, whether in film or television.

About a year and a half later I took Karen up on her offer and emailed her asking what she might have in mind and firstly, if she remembered me. She absolutely did and after an interview with one of her associates I was hired to do research, create actor's packets, write dramaturg notes, make the lobby display as a contracted dramaturg for Taproot Theatre Company just north of downtown Seattle.

This Spring marks my third season with Taproot Theatre as dramaturg for hire. Our upcoming production of the musical, Big River based on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is the fourth production I have been intimately involved with there. I've worked previously on It's a Wonderful Life, Seven Keys to Baldpate and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.


Karen is an amazing director to work for. She is constantly surprising me with her various exploits in theatre as well as the television world. She is on a first name basis with James Burrows and has thus guest directed several episodes of Will & Grace. She has worked on several new pilots including one with Nathan Fillion, who played the evil priest, Caleb, in the seventh season of Buffy as well as our favorite captain of a Firefly-class starship in the show of the same name. Last time I saw Karen she pulled out her phone to show me a picture of she and Nathan hugging on the set of that particular show-looking like they were ol' buds. Taproot Theatre itself also has another association with Buffy in that Dean Batali, a story editor and writer on the first couple seasons of Buffy worked quite a while at Taproot before-from what I can tell-leaving for the default, "creative differences." I'm still investigating that one.

I recently submitted the following article to be published as the "Dramaturg Notes" in the Big River program in a few weeks.

Big River: A Boy's Story

Audiences became introduced to the dynamic duo of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn with the publication of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876. Huckleberry Finn lived on in its follow-up novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published nearly a decade later in 1885. The latter story tells of a young boy and his river and the adventures that ensue with their union. While Twain may have set out either to subvert the conventional children’s stories of the time or simply to carry a character through his formative years, Twain’s novels have become essential to modern American literature. His novels have also sparked tremendous controversy within academic and social spheres for Twain’s treatment of race, rebellion and the language of his time especially in the two aforementioned novels about boys in the south. Of Tom Sawyer, Twain is said to have felt strongly that it was "not a boy's book." It was a publisher who convinced him "to treat it explicitly as a boy's story," and sell it on that basis.

In my research of the books’ contexts and the controversy that often surrounds them, I came to see these statements as demonstrating a very important distinction between the "boy's book" and a "boy's story." Why should we assume that just because a story features a young boy on some “coming of age” journey that it is intended for youth? A similar case arises when the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are considered. We are used to these fairy tales being marketed toward a younger audience, developed in children’s picture books and Walt Disney movies. Upon reading the original texts, one is quick to realize how very dark and gruesome these stories are—many which would garner an ‘R’ rating at the cinema.

While neither Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer nor Huckleberry Finn, which serves as the inspiration for Big River, possess such a degree of grisliness, commentary and public opinion have exposed the harder side of the story including its difficult lessons on moral and social responsibilities.

I know I am not alone in my expression of prudence over the portrait of boyhood and human experience as represented within the pages and in the character of Huckleberry Finn. In the essay, "Mark Twain as Orator," from a journal published on July 10th 1910, Charles Vale writes:

A caricaturist represented Mark Twain's fellow-passengers on the “Minneapolis” as all engaged in studying his various works, and assigned Huckleberry Finn to a small boy. That was an egregious mistake. Boys love it, no doubt: but it needs ripe experience to appreciate its irony, its humanity, and the subtler phases of its humor.

Perhaps the only character as well known as Huck is the river itself. The Mississippi River twists and winds its way across the landscape of Huck’s youth as he floats along. At times the river is wild, other times tranquil, but all the while the river is free flowing like the life Huck longs to live.

Huck and the River itself together paint a rich portrait of a lifestyle far removed from many modern readers, but that very pair also serves to take its readers on an enthralling, meaningful journey of growing up, through the grime of human experience, the joys of boyhood and the kind of humor only Mark Twain could bring. “Life teaches its lessons by implication,” Twain said, “not by didactic preaching; and literature is at its best when it is an imitation of life and not an excuse for instruction.”

My hope is that you, the audience—as has been the desire of the cast and crew—may come to understand Big River in a historical context even through such a lively and colorful medium as a musical. Enjoy this show, as we imitate life on our stage.

My Shoes Are So Fascinating...

Like many others, last night I watched the Tony Awards, but followed them throughout the evening, even before the telecast here in Seattle. As I was starting my shift at Intiman Theatre, my friend Wayne from New York informed me that as he was watching the show live, they had just announced that Bartlett Sher, Intiman's Artistic Director, had won his first Tony! His was for best director of the South Pacific revival at Lincoln Center in New York. Two years ago Intiman Theatre won their first Tony for Best Regional Theatre and the small but impressive statue is encased in glass in our lobby. Later that evening, my friend told me he was walking past Radio City Music Hall just as the Tony Awards were getting out. He was a bit star-struck to say the least. I would have loved to be there too!

I have never seen the film, Xanadu but I know enough about it to know that the new Broadway Musical, Xanadu must be one of the most sparkliest, rainbowy shows ever. I can only imagine what their "Pegasus/ Glitter/ Rollerskate" budget looks like. Kerry Butler plays the role made infamous by Olivia Newton-John in the original 1980 movie (congrats to Butler on her 2008 Best Actress American Theatre Wing Tony Award Nomination) and the hunky, muscular-thighs-in-jean-cut-off-shorts-kiss-me-on-a-Central-Park-bench, Cheyenne Jackson, plays the male lead. Cheyenne is originally from Idaho but moved to Seattle before heading off to New York about seven years ago. So, you know, there's already some connection there.

Earlier this afternoon, Keith and my mutual friend Brent sent a great little skit to us with the wonderfully funny and talented Nathan Lane and my aforementioned One-Time-Seattle-ite, Cheyenne.



Thanks, Brent!