Paris

I don't need theatre that shocks.  The world shocks me everyday.

I have read "Ubu Roi." I have read about the first performance of "Ubu Roi."  I have read about Alfred Jarry.  I have dreamed of having such an effect on an audience.

Twice in the recent past, I have talked to friends, one a playwright, one not, about "the theatre."  I respect both these people very much.  They are smart and well read and well educated.  They think about history and culture all the time.  They have lived long enough to have experienced "The Cold War."  They both used the same word to describe modern theatre... Museum.

I don't go to the theatre enough.  I have excuses.  I'm old.  My body wakes me before 6 am.  Mostly I'm lazy.

Last night Paris was attacked by terrorists.

A month after 9/11, my lovely bride and I, took our bicycles and went to Paris.  We stayed for two weeks riding our bicycles all over the city.

When we returned, I read about Napoleon III.  I read about the early history of the bicycle in Paris.  I wrote a screenplay about this.

My mentor is an expert on Brecht.  I've read a lot, recently, of Brecht, plays and other writings, as well as what other people think of Brecht.  I like Brecht's ideas, even if I find his plays somewhat tedious.

My favorite play is "The Blacks" by Jean Genet.  Check out the original cast for the first New York production.  I've read Artaud, and the ideas for "Theatre of Cruelty" intrigue me.

I live in the "Live Music Capital of the World."  A city that is losing live theatre venues at an alarming pace.  Not the big stages, but the little stages that do new work, that experiment, at least now and then.

I dream of a theory, of a theatre, that doesn't shake people out of their lethargy, although, God knows we all need to be shaken out of our lethargy from time to time, as Brecht and Artaud dreamed and worked.

We have Jihadist to do that now.

I want a theatre that raises us out of our seats to leave the theatre and plant a tree, or serve a meal, or cradle a child.  I want a theatre that speaks to our better natures.  I want a theatre that calls forth what is holy within us.