Please welcome The American Coast Theater Company to the OC. Gawker says the NY Times "is just a fancy blog." The other Times has the 100 best things to see in Edinburgh. Houston's Infernal Bridegroom Productions has closed its doors for good. The National Theatre has unvieled its plans for the fall. Robert Doyle, costumer, was presented the Order of Canada.

Stephen Sondheim Hulks out. Playwright George Tabori dies at 93. Is Jack O'Brien "the poster boy for all that's good about regional theater"? The National Black Theatre Festival starts today in North Carolina. The Guardian's Matt Wolf on Ben Brantley on London theatre. New York has a Midtown International Theatre Festival? The Quad-Cities' Circa Theatre has lasted 30 years and counting.

This is a very small thing, but I came across an editor from the Onion's A.V. Club addressing their lack of theatre coverage. The original can be found here. You'll need to scroll about 15% of the page down.

Theater, Schmeater

I'm interested in hearing a writer from The A.V. Club talk about why they have no coverage of live theatre. I would guess it's because they think that theatre is at worst dead or at best irrelevant—more irrelevant to our lives than video games.

I think (and, should you publish this, I imagine this is the paragraph you edit out) that theatre, when it's done well, has an immediacy and relevancy that makes it surpass all other art forms. I also think that 98 percent of the time it's awful. (Not an exaggeration.)

JBH

We absolutely do not have a "theater is irrelevant" editorial policy, JBH. The lack of extensive theater coverage is entirely a practical concern. The problem is that theater is time-and-region-specific. The Onion is currently published in 10 cities; every single one of those cities will have The Transformers playing in it at some point, and every single one of those cities has stores where you can buy the books and albums and video games and DVDs we're covering. (Even if they didn't, for some reason, you could still acquire those things online.) So when we review these things, we can run the reviews in all of our print editions, and online, and be relatively sure that they'll be relevant to all our American readers, at least. There's an economy of scale operating there that lets us keep our staff small and spread out over many cities.

I feel I should address my slowly diminishing publishing standards so our loyal readers don't think I've forgotten about them or lost interest in making Theatreforte as great as it can be.

It's a simple matter of time management. About a month ago I went back to working full time. Obviously that took away most of the time I was spending here. That's not happy news.

About a week ago, some happy news did enter the picture. Namely, a new friend.

We named her Beckett.

So, please stick around as we search for balance. I've continued adding blogs down the left-side and I hope people will continue to use this as a resource.

This is the third in a series of reflections about David Mamet's controversial yet influential book, ten years after its initial publication. Click here for the previous installment.

Let's set aside, for now, whether or not pursuing a career in acting is a good idea. Mamet assumes that if you are reading his book, you have already chosen a career in acting, and now his goal is to convince you to stay out of school. I find this to be pretty sound advice, and I think it can be extended to include other creative disciplines, including film school, music school, culinary school, etc. Despite the tone of my previous posts, I really do find a lot of good and useful material in True and False , which is probably why the book has stuck with me after all these years.

Although he is certainly not the first to say it, this is where I first encountered the idea that acting "is, finally, a physical skill, not a mental exercise." It is not for intellectuals, but for artists, and there's a difference between the two. An actors' time would be better spent in dance or martial arts training rather than vain attempts at scene study.

The NYC Fringe schedule is now online. The great Maragret Atwood has finally written a play. [Read Negotiating With the Dead, especially if you're a writer.] Get a load of the St. Ann's Warehouse schedule, it'll make you want to move. "The Mint Theater Company plans to present what it is calling the world premiere of a Hemingway play, The Fifth Column, about a Loyalist during the Spanish Civil War." Robert Brustein's new play opens in September. The NY Times' Ben Brantley ("pathetic middle-aged teeny-bopper") is blogging his trip to London. The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has some nominees to talk about. The James Irvine Foundation gave Sheldon Epps of the Pasadena Playhouse a 2007 Leadership Award for their success at growing and diversifying their audience. Theatre Southwest's 10th Annual Festival of Originals opens soon. Overwhelming star power isn't just a problem on Broadway. The Mayor of San Francisco wants to help save the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre.

Thank you, Malachy Walsh.

Theatre is very hard to do well, under even the best circumstances. It's a difficult way of life and a hard choice to make as a way of life when everyone you know who went the way of law or technology or medicine is making 6 figures and buying nice coffee tables.

I'm not sure why we tend to make things harder for ourselves with ideas about what should be on stage and what shouldn't be. Or why we think its important to take stances against this kind of genre or that.

Cleveland's Karamu is struggling and succeeding at staling afloat despite all obstacles. Rocco says all NYC's good actors are in SPF. Despite all sense and pessimism, a new theatre is opening near Detroit. Theatre de la Jeune Lune stages Marivaux at La Jolla. NYTheatre i interviews Paul Bargetto of the Undergroundzero Festival in Tribeca. Theatre of Note announces its annual 2 week play reading series. The Good Person of Setzuan is a BIG show asking BIG questions in Chicago.

The Playgoer quotes and interprets Kate Taylor's NY Sun article "The BAM Example" for us and adds insight to the inside's of BAM's success at attracting young audiences.

Like him, I had never considered what a boon a movie theatre might be in attracting young audiences to live performances.

I had never thought of the significance of the movie theatre, assuming there was no crossover business in getting those audience to the theatrical offerings. But maybe I was wrong ... Get people--younger people--at least walking in and out of that space on a daily basis. It's something the Public lobby always has tried to do, but never succeeded. I actually feel it more at the London National Theatre, despite the many tourists and pensioners.

San Diego has a bit of history as a launching pad for new musicals. Forbidden Broadway is rocking Chicago. Over at Diverse Education, they've got an archived article about Black Theater in the USA from 1997. Who, exactly, is desperately seeking Desperately Seeking Susan: The Musical? Libby Appel leaves Oregon Shakes after 12 years at the helm. Paper Beats Rock presents weekly play readings downtown. Portland's defunkt theatre announces Mac Wellman, Anne Washburn, and Vaclav Havel for 2007-8.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
- Buckminster Fuller

That quotation is how Scott Walter begins his post The New Tribalism and Theatre. In it he expands upon some ideas from Daniel Quinn's book Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure. A book that, amazingly, actually uses a couple of theatre companies as examples. The ideas contained within seem to be picking up steam, and have inspired some work by Paul Rekk and Don Hall.

New Georges presents Stretch: a fantasia as part of Soho Think Tank's Ice Factory 2007. Sean Daniels moves from Dad's Garage to Actors of Louisville. Gladiatorial improv in The Bay Area from Bionic Improv Theater and The Crew. More musicals than you could possibly imagine at the NY Musical Theatre Festival. After 19 seasons, the Commonweal has a new multi-million dollar space. The Baltimore Playwright's Festival includes The Blessed Mothers of War. The NY Theatre i has a report on lots of free, outdoor, NYC entertainment. The Playgoer recently has some lowdown on a conflict that involved Wole Soyinka at the TCG conference.

In Darfur playwright Winter Miller is blogging for the HuffPo. Interview with a Canadian lighting designer. A non-critic's response to DC's naked MacBeth. "The European Association for Theatre Culture and Fondazione di Venezia invite specialists from all over the world to attend the IV. METHODIKA from November 5-11 2007 in Venice." Beyonce will be in Aida, fans are divided. I kept hearing the idea, but until now, I wouldn't believe that Journey's End failed because of the lighting. The Ateh Theater Group takes a stab at Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays. The Blind Squirrel reports from a recent New Dramatists meeting. Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll will be on the BBC radio.

We're looking for a small theatre that needs a website and doesn't have a lot of money to spend on it. It could be your first site, or you could be in need of something better and more useful. The goal will be to create something sexy, user-friendly, highly-communicative, and easy to update yourself - at an incredible, subsidized price. If you're in need of such a thing, please send an email.

It was partially at my encouragment and agreement to get involved that Isaac started The Great Viewpoints Conversation of Ought Seven a couple weeks ago, and I regret that I've waited till now to reply. Apologies.

At any rate ...

I'm A Sensitive Guy

Personally, I do get sensitive, protective, and a bit cynical when people tell me they're working with ViewPoints. It probably has a lot to do with living where I do. The SITI Company makes regular visits to Columbus, Ohio (thank to the Wexner Center at OSU) so there are a lot of people with various levels of experience around town. So, just about everyone seems to do a show from time to time "with ViewPoints" and you can bet that some people have no idea what they're talking about, some people have only a little idea what they're talking about, and only a few people will really "get it".

(Of course, as soon as I start passing judgments on other people and their work, I remember the non-hierarchical goals of the work and feel a bit ashamed to be so judgmental. Alas, I think we can all agree that some folks definitely mis-use the term and the techniques. Who those folks are, I guess, is up to each of us to decide.)

The CityParks Foundation's free summer series includes work from the Classical Theater of Harlem, Theatre for a New City, Absolute Theater, Universes, and more. In Charlie Kaufman's new film, "Philip Seymour Hoffman plays theatre director Caden Cotard; at a crisis point in his life he decides to mount an epic play so he can contribute something of artistic value. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse and builds a replica of New York City inside it." A hip, new Our Town in Minnesapolis. Dissonance opens soon in Williamstown. Second City on tour. Go behind the scenes of the making of a San Francisco musical. The Mint Theater Company has published a book!

Oh yeah, and ... iPhone the Musical. Did you get one?

Curt Columbus of Trinity Rep shares some thoughts on the realationship between democracy and theater. A Blind Squirrel reports from the EST weekend retreat with Christopher Shinn. Chris Jones argues that American Players Theatre in Chicago Spring Green, Wisconsin is a viable alternative to Stratford, Ontario. Michael Kantor has a rock n roll, somewhat grim and grisly new Sleeping Beauty. The Last Year In The Life of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As Devised By Waterwell A Rock Operetta. Howard Barker's No End of Blame will be performed by Potomac Theatre Project through July 13. The League of Independent Theater is holding a Coalition for Showcase Reform meeting on July 8.

Joshua James showed us something special for below the fold.

Are Australian theatres failing their eithnically diverse audiences? The Living Theatre has extended The Brig. Does Calista Flockhart really miss the theatre? "Multidisciplinary Artist and Playwright Lisa D'Amour is spending a few months in her home town of New Orleans this summer" and is blogging about it. David Cote has the lowdown on some opera-theatre hybrids in the works at the Metropolitan Opera. NYTheatre dot com can help you organize your NYC Fringe experience. Leonard Jacobs tells us about a new Rockefeller arts fund (for $250K and over groups).

If you're a blogger or a blog reader, or maybe just someone who cares about the future of writing that's about art, you oughta hunker down for a few minutes and read Nicholas Pickard's article The Future of Journalism & the Arts. It's a thorough examination of many of the issues facing the critics, businessman, and artists currently caught in the Bermuda Triangle that is "qualified" arts criticism. (The quotes are there because I'm unsure how to define that term, as we all should be.) We're in the middle of a massive paradigm shift. How it all turns out, is about 50% up to us.

Pickard himself is largely referring to an article in The Monthly, which is what he quotes here.

It would be difficult to overstate the serious media’s anxiety about the future of quality journalism. This anxiety stems from an old dilemma – is journalism a public trust or a business? – overlaid on a new dilemma: that as the internet matures into a successful commercial medium, the funding model for quality commercial journalism is collapsing.

Sheik and Sater are working on two new musicals. The Bang and the Clatter are bringing forgotten playwrights back to Akron. Albarn and Hewlett of Gorillaz fame "turn the Chinese fable of the Monkey king into an all-singing, all dancing spectacular". Cynthia Hopkins's amazing Must Don't Whup 'Um has shows coming up in Philadelphia and Chapel Hill, and there are tourdates, video, and audio here. English Touring Theatre company and the Watermill Theatre have recently appointed new artistic directors, in both cases - OMG! - women. Roger Crane, 61 years of age, is about to see his first play open on London's West End. Wallenstein, all ten hours, is being performed in an abandoned beer warehouse in the gritty working-class district of Neukolln ... the show’s 1,200 audience members are fed, watered and relieved during four intermissions.

Here's one especially for the writers out there.

Jeffrey M. Jones put up a detailed, revealing post on the various types an uses of stories. He provides several well-chosen examples (2 from the Grimm Bros.) to illustrate his point. Here's a cut from the intro.

If there's one issue dividing conventional theatre from the broad swath of contemporary dramatic innovation, it has to do with the importance of story—or to be more accurate, with the importance of recognition of story. In one camp are those for whom the value of any play is largely equivalent to the (emotional) value of its story. In the other are people like Karinne Keithley who, as she recently wrote me, are "pretty sure that telling stories is done better with movies and books than it is with theater," and don't give a rat's ass for coherence.

What is Chicago's longest-running Broadway musical? "Raleigh Ensemble Players win 'Tony'." Theatre fire in Cordoba, Argentina. Theatre J get strong reactions to Pangs of the Messiah. A bomb threat shut down a few London theaters last Friday. Here's some history of chicago theaters. NJ Rep readies Bookends, a new musical. San Diego's Cygnet Theatre announces its next season. The wonderful Dell’Arte Company will present Tartuffe, a contemporary adaptation, during the 2007 Mad River Festival.