Michael Riedel has a column continuing the long, long tradition of pining for more Right Wing Theatre and lamenting the general liberalism of the theatrical establishment. You can read it here. I have to say, though... without knowing the qualities of the individual works involved, it's hard to know whether there's anything to what's going on with these two shows, according to Riedel, one is a piece of anti-choice agit prop, the other a one man bioplay/hagiography about Ronald Reagan.
I've written about this issue many times on this site. Probably the best encapsulation of a lot of my thinking about this can be found here.
I'll just add three things...
First: Raise your hand if you think the lack of Right Wing Plays in our theaters is one of the top five problems facing American Theatre today. I don't think so. Nor do I think that the sudden appearance of more right wing plays would solve any of the big problems-- shrinking audiences, low pay, lack of funding, high ticket prices, lack of youth involvement, cultural irrelevancy, the new play development system etc.-- that are facing mainstream theatre.
Second: For a political system that supposedly abhors victimhood and victimology, right wing writers sure do whine a lot about how their victims of Big Bad Lefty Artistic Directors.
Third: I don't think artistic directors have an obligation to put on work they don't like, support or believe in simply in the interest of balance.
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