Available light [theatre]

more writing about you in CityBeat yesterday:

An editorial by John Fox -

Then you wrap up your Fringe experience in the cramped left-hand room at Kaldi's, where Matt Slaybaugh is killing with his spoken word rant. He starts off by convincing you of "the absurdity of writing poetry," the name of his piece. He tears down your beliefs and has you agreeing that art is meaningless and your very existence on Earth pointless.

And then he slowly builds you and your faith back up again, and by the end Slaybaugh has absolutely sold you that not writing poetry is what's absurd and that not creating art is what's pointless. "Work it where you are right now," he implores us. "Commit to it like a vow."

That line would be an excellent slogan for next year's Fringe Festival -- if Slaybaugh hadn't also skewered popular culture for demanding art that can be packaged and printed on a T-shirt. Maybe he'd appreciate the irony.

read the whole article here: http://www.citybeat.com/2006-06-14/editorial.shtml
__________________________________________

and from Rick Pender -

In his stirring ode to creativity, The Absurdity of Writing Poetry, presented during the 2006 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, performance artist Matt Slaybaugh began with a collection of doubts about the futility of creating art. But by the time he finished his 50-minute monologue, he was full force into why it's important to add to the art pile. In the cramped side room at Kaldi's, Slaybaugh looked straight at his audiences and implored them, "Add something to the plus side of the equation."

the article is here: http://www.citybeat.com/current/onstage2.shtml