Parabasis

Paneled on July 8th!

Hey everyone,

Want to hear me mouth off in person instead of reading my poorly-proof-read thoughts on theatre, politics and sundry other topics?  Of course you do! Which is why the good people at CUNY have invited me to speak on a panel. Not only that, the other panelists are The Playgoer, TONY's amazing Helen Shaw and  Erik Pipenburg. 

Who is Erik Pipenburg? He's the Senior Producer for Theatre for the M*-F*ing New York Times Online, that's who!  We'll be talking about how the internet is changing coverage of theatre and the online-only content of the Times itself.  All of this follows what I'm sure will be a fascinating discussion with Pipenburg about the Times' online theatre content.

Here's the website with all the info!

And here's the blurb w/ logistical info!

Join us for an evening discovering the vast landscape of The New York Times’s online theatre section. Erik Piepenburg, Senior Producer for Theatre, will present excerpts from the Times’s online theatre coverage, including the site’s signature audio slide shows, photo essays and other interactive features. Piepenburg will give an inside view into how the pages are created and how The New York Times integrates journalism, digital storytelling, blogging and coverage of the world of theatre in New York and beyond. Followed by a discussion with New York artists, bloggers, and producers Garrett Eisler, (The Playgoer), Helen Shaw, (Time Out), and Isaac Butler(Parabasis).

Wednesday, July 8th @ 6:30PM.

Martin E. Segal Theatre, Graduate Center, CUNY 
365 Fifth Ave at 34th St. 
Free! First come, first served.

Hope you can make it... and if you do and we haven't met before, please introduce yourself afterwards if you feel so inclined. I greatly enjoy meeting and talking with readers!

The Plot Thickens!

My obsession with Sarah Palin is threatening to hit Andrew Sullivan like levels (maybe soon I'll be wondering about Trig's maternity and paternity...). It's hard not to be obsessed when, like a high schooler going through a bad breakup, Sarah Palin has taken to posting semi-coherent messages on facebook! (Particularly hilariously constructed sentences bolded by yours truly)

Happy 4th of July from Alaska! Today at 4:55pm On this Independence Day, I am so very proud of all those who have chosen to serve our great nation and I honor their selflessness and the sacrifices of their families, too.

If I may, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the last 24 hours and share my thoughts with you. First, I want to thank you for your support and hard work on the values we share. Those values led me to the decision my family and I made. Yesterday, my family and I announced a decision that is in Alaska's best interest and it always feels good to do what is right. We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two - and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes. Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities.

For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor, about what is best for our wonderful state. I even made a few administrative changes over that course in time in preparation for yesterday. We have accomplished so much and there's much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier - I've never been one to waste time or resources. Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments.

The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the "politics of personal destruction". How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it's right for all, including your family.

I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I've never thought I needed a title before one's name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. 

Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

God bless you! And I look forward to making a difference - with you!

A friend of mine said yesterday that she may be the great language-based performance artist of our time. I'm beginning to agree.

A couple of things: she has yet to share her "reasons" for resigning. her reasoning makes no sense.  Second, she talks about how the media has been kinder to other politicians who have given up their office and resigned due to a higher calling. Who is she talking about? Third, there's the constant reference to herself as, essentially, anointed by God to do... whatever it is she's going to do next.  I find that really disgusting.. God told her to resign? She's pursuing a higher calling?? Fourth, I don't know what the word ironic is meant to mean in this thing.

Anyway, second Palin's attorney is threatening the media with libel suits. No, I'm not kidding:

In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.

"This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law," Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore.

I'll Admit it, I'm Obsessed

With Sarah Palin's Adios Amigos speech, that is. 

I always felt like Sarah Palin off the cuff had about all of the coherence of a spam e-mail for discount cialis, but the amazing thing is that speech she gave was prewritten (by her, the announcement was so abrupt her aides didn't have time to write it) and it still comes across like the insane ramblings of a spam e-mail filtered through babelfish.

And the last line is a classic:

In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." 

That's only one of many amazing moments in it. And I by amazing, I mean terrifying that McCain wanted to make her a heartbeat away from the Presidency but still now that that's not a possibility HILARIOUS.

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing! 

I wouldn't know how to diagram that paragraph above if you paid me to.

I think if you were to try to de-[sic]ify that, it would look something like this:

We need people who will respect our Constitution.  People who realize that government's supposed to serve from the bottom up, not move towards the top down big government take-over that we're having now. We need people who will be protectors of individual rights and who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are oh wait fuck it I can't do this anymore.

Anyway, the point is... She actually wrote this stuff down, and clearly didn't revise it. And is claiming that having done this along with having served out only slightly more than half her first term as governor means she's ready for the big time.  Oy. Vey.  

I'm not one of those people who thinks that it would be better for this country to have a strong, sensible conservative party, so this doesn't bother me one bit. Personally, I'd rather see a drastic realignment where today's moderate/conservative Dems and "moderate" republicans represent conservatism and a second, further-left party be born. 

Remember When I Said

Re: Mark Sanford that the worst thing in American Politics right now seems to be rising star/standard bearer/presidential hopeful for the Right (and particularly the Christian Right)?

Seems I was more right  than I thought:

(h/t Matt)

Just When I Thought I was Out... Sarah Palin Dragged me Back In

Just when you think politics couldn't've gotten all that much stranger this week... Sarah Palin announced that not only is she not seeking reelection... she's resigning??:

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose," Palin said in a statement released by her office.

One of two possibilities. First, there's some real hidden dark secret type reason she's resigning (maybe she had an affair with Mark Sanford?) Second, she continues to exude this kind of bizarre, entitled behavior. She's only going to be governor if it can be awesome for her?  Otherwise she's picking up her ball and going home? What the hell is that?

On another note, one thing she's right about though... We should shorten lame duck terms and sessions, something we could easily do if we decided to. There's no reason why, after the American people had thoroughly repudiated his party and agenda at the ballot box GW Bush and the Republicans should get to keep causing as much damage as possible for two and  a half months.

Congrats and Well Wishes to the Weinert-Kendts!

On the arrival of their new addition, their son Oliver!

I've been texting back and forth with Rob today and he said he didn't have internet access so it was okay for me to blog about it!

Happy 4th of July everyone, I'll be back... Sunday. At the earliest.

Our Thoughts Today...

Are with Scott Walters, having just found out from his blog that his father recently suffered a stroke and passed away.  

Gender Bias Gets Confusing! (But Poetic)

Female scenarist Sheila Callaghan sent me a very very bizarre translation of a blog post of mine she found on the web which is hilarious and strange and actually kind of beautiful:

First, the samples were incredibly deficient rare. I recognize being
asked whether or not I tinge the characters were likable, and
day-dreaming, "How the bottomless dimple do I be aware? They each
from, like, three lines." The samples were not proofed after spelling,
punctuation, and grammatical errors- not the heretofore class, btw;
after all these years, I can doggedly broadcast the difference- and
that made me, as it again does, grumpy. That, in mixing with the
shortness of the samples, made me conclude that these were in all
efficient perfect trifler scripts. The shortness is akin because the
samples weren't discharge with quiet to extended adequately to be
dismissed improbable a superficies after the arc of the monkey tricks,
the characters, or discharge with to adequately assess the calibre of
the editorial, errors aside. I had perfect itty-bitty to be dismissed
on.

Additionally, we were asked to kind how favourite we were to ruin such
a monkey tricks and how much we tinge our coterie and marketing people
would be behind it, but we were not in any degree asked why we tinge
those things.

I be aware and like the editorial of the women whose samples, as it
turns in default, I was reading, and, in reconsideration, the samples,
in my judgement, did not ruminate the calibre I'm hardened to seeing
from them. I would from appreciated being good to- at the perfect
least- opt from a catalogue of things detailing why we were interested
or uninterested. "Wouldn't accommodate in our trouper space" and/or
"No roles after our abiding actors" are unambiguous, pragmatic answers
that coerce a muddle the doctrine of gender jokes in assessing
concerned about. This is abundant than "It sucked," which, of
ghetto-blaster to be unshakable, is perfect face down to biases of all
sorts. Some companies, my own included, from perfect peculiar missions
that authorized destined scripts regardless of calibre.

I recognize also being asked how fairly we tinge this or that book
accommodate our company's mВtier, but not in any degree asked what
that mВtier was or why we tinge it would or wouldn't accommodate. This
deface requisite from been included in the aggregate, and I of the
unambiguous answers would coerce a muddle the general idea of gender
jokes. Many of us doggedly rated some scripts perfect licentious in
this class after reasons other than calibre, ruin on as some would
doggedly kind them higherfor reasons other than calibre.

The scribbler also mentions that she recommended a female scenarist,
namely Sheila Callaghan, to the people doing the memorize.
I in grunt longing, having looked heretofore some of the memorize,
that they had had more trouper people snarled in devising it. She also
mentions that she's approximately reassuring of the efforts behind the
memorize and is not dismissive of the doctrine of gender jokes in
trouper, but distinctly would like to assure the memorize redone with
advance methodology. A expert trouper yourself would've told you that
doollee at its most skilfully is sternly as principled as the low-end
of wikipedia, and someone with some existence in the institutional
dramaturgy creation could to all intents from filled them in on how to
diagram the gendered submissions in a more real-to-life technique.
That being said, I certainly don't of joined e-mail to a listserv
invalidates the memorize, and I of that at least in shared terms the
jokes memorize however seems look like and it does dexterous b beat up
the facts on the area in terms of the living of female playwrights
today.

I think my favorite sentence in that is "How the bottomless dimple do I be aware?"  What's yours? I also like how, even if you don't know the original post, it's still comprehensible. Barely.

A Designer Prepares-- Part 3 of 4

Good news, Lucas Krech has decided to add a bonus 4th part to his A Designer Prepares series.  Here's part 3:

A Designer Prepares - Back in the studio

Once all the concept meetings are over and done with and the scenic and costume designs complete, it is time for me to begin thinking about actual lighting instruments and gel colors. Until now all my thinking has been conceptual, but this is the point in the process where I take the concept and turn it into a reality. That harsh noon sun becomes a bank of PARCans, the moon a 2K Fresnel.

This is also the phase of the process where I begin to analyze the set (or location if a site-specific piece). The director and I may have discussed a low setting sun in a particular scene. Now, with the set drawings in front of me, I can figure out where that light can be placed. The ideas developed in our production meetings combined with my own notes begin to be translated into a lighting system for the play.

The analysis of the space is critical. Be it a built set or a found space, every one is different and each demands its own lighting approach. During the concept meetings it is very important that the scenic designer and I work in close collaboration to facilitate the design ideas. It is unfortunate for everyone when ideas discussed for weeks or months turn out to be unrealizable because the set was not designed to accommodate them. In the same way, my work must accommodate the needs of the scenery and costumes, and render the colors and forms true to my collaborator's vision.

This is perhaps the most personal part of the process for me. Up to now everything has been based around reactions to external stimuli. I have been reacting to the text, to the set, to my collaborators. Now I am at the point where I choose how I want to engage with them. Do I accentuate the angles of the space or compress them? Do I push the colors further or hold them back? Obviously these are not either/or questions but rather a matter of degree.

My first step is to analyze the set as a formal volumetric object. I try as best as possible to leave aside my notions of the play and simply look at the set as an empty space into which light can move. I will abstract the set to its basic forms and look at it thusly. Some are quite simple, a rectangle perhaps or a circle, while others are very dynamic and complex. As I begin to break the set down into simple geometric shapes, patterns emerge that show me how light can move. This analysis provides a sense of where lighting can and should be symmetrical and where that symmetry should break. While most of my final compositions tend to be asymmetrical, it can be incredibly useful for the lighting systems to be as symmetrical as possible. One achieves asymmetry then by simply turning off half the system.

Every space allows light to move in a particular way. Long spaces are more conducive to sidelight while walled-in spaces more easily allow backlight. Every play will use a variety of lighting angles, colors and textures. Many of these choices are guided by the set. This is why a close collaboration is so important. If a low angled sidelight is wanted, there had better not be a wall in the way. So too can ceilings, often beautiful, be problematic when not part of an overall conceptual approach to the text. It is critical that all members of the creative team be on the same page with regards to the visual needs of the play.

With my analysis complete I begin building the systems. Going back to my notes, I turn that sidelight into the afternoon sun or that diagonal backlight into the late night moon. I build my systems without specific concern for color or texture. I will note "warm" or "cool" or "leafy" but leave the specifics for once all the lights are placed.

Throughout this phase I keep two thoughts in mind. First, everything I do must facilitate the overall concept and second, the concept may change.

That first thought is rather straight forward. I translate the ideas into a lighting system. I find some way to express visually each idea we have discussed. Sometimes every idea will have their own light or system of lights and other times there are several ideas that can be combined into one system.

That second thought is a bit more nebulous. While we all like to think that we will come up with a perfectly workable concept in meetings and rehearsal, the truth is sometimes we put everything on stage and it just doesn't work. It thus becomes necessary to devise a lighting system that has the capacity to become something wholly other than originally designed to be. This has led to a development in American and English lighting design to use a large number of small spotlights working in concert to cover the stage from a particular direction. If the whole stage wants to be filled with that idea of a harsh noon sun you turn them all on. But you may find that the follow-spot idea for the soliloquies does not work in tech and what you want is a backlight special. Then you simply turn on one light from the noon sun idea and you have special lighting for that one moment.

Once my lights are all placed, and control channels/circuiting assigned I move on to color and texture. The palette of colors and patterns is critical for showing off the set and costumes and performers in their best light. The wrong color choice can turn a brilliantly colored set grey, or cause an amazingly dynamic costume to appear lifeless. So too can the effect of color on skin tones make someone appear with a healthy glow or sick and wasted. All these effects may be the right choice in the moment, but they must be chosen and the desired effect created at the proper time.

The color and texture palette in many ways sets the tone for the piece. It also serves as a kind of visual glue with regards to how the scenery and costumes interact. Be the design multi-colored or a tightly controlled range, the lighting is integral to unifying the visual experience for the audience.

Choosing the wrong color could make a secondary character more prominent than the lead, or give presence to the scenery over the performers. It is a delicate balancing act that necessitates a close visual reading of the design renderings. Just as the written text had to be read and analyzed so too does the emerging visual text need to be read and analyzed. The difference between a yellow-green or a blue-green can mean the success or failure of the whole lighting scheme. The right color can make a dress shine like the sun with very little light, while the wrong color can result in you pouring thousands of watts of light onto it with little to no impact.

Not only must the lighting work in relation to the scenery and costumes, it must also maintain integrity relative to itself. The final construction of the lighting plot is a delicate balancing act. For the lighting designer, it is the most private aspect of the whole play making process and yet it is the part that soon will become the most public.

I Have F*ing Had It With this S*

During the Bush Administration, we were all told that lefties secretly desired the destruction of the United States because Noam Chomsky and a few others had said that maybe just maybe 9/11 was a result of certain foreign policy chickens coming home to roost.  Never mind that Chomsky et al. weren't saying we deserved it, and that they were widely reviled and denounced by Democrats and mainstream left type. Nevermind that  it took Michael Moore being right about just about everything he's ever made a movie about, being financially successful and winning an Oscar to keep him in the conversation and anyone wanting to appear "reasonable" had to continue to distance themselves from him.

 Now we have right wingers openly wishing for Osama Bin Laden to attack this country with some sort of large "device" in order to save us from ourselves. Yet Republicans still opening associate with these people-- who openly wish death and destruction on their fellow countrymen so that we'll get jingoistic enough to kill large numbers of arabs-- and nothing fucking happens.  This is crazy, and it's not good for our country that socially these views are accepted as part of mainstream discourse.:

GQ MJ

Out of everything surrounding Michael Jackson's death, in many ways the mot powerful and persuasive one for me was this collection of pre-solo material from GQ.  It's ALL amazing.  It also plays into my own taste-- I like psychedelic soul in general more than 80s pop and R+B, so I've always preferred Jackson 5 to Michael Jackson's solo work in general. Not that there aren't certain MJ solo songs i love-- Wanna Be Starting Something, PYT, Billie Jean etc.-- but come ON.  The following song is a rarity found on a boxed set for fuck's sake. As the writer for GQ said, "This is what they were sticking in a drawer. That's insane.":

I think it's also worth noting how utterly insane the lyrics to Wanna Be Starting Something are... :

You're A Vegetable, You're A Vegetable
Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable
You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable
They Eat Off Of You, You're A Vegetable

???!???!11!?!1!?