Marginalized Workforce Monument

Marginalized Workforce Monument

Walking from my house to BAM the other night I happened upon this astounding sculpture. I was amazed mostly because the work appeared so official in its construction, so sponsored, yet there was no bronze plaque attached to the base identifying and claiming authorship. It turns out to be what I had hoped it would be. “portraits and monuments celebrating our cities marginalized workforce” A subtle, brilliant piece of culture jamming by Specter, aka Gabriel Reese. Since 1995 I have…

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Can I Get a Witness

Can I Get a Witness

Matt Freeman keeps needing to rephrase his question in his comment section. Allow me: As long as the arrow hits its target, does the archer even matter? In Butoh the performer follows an internal narrative unconcerned with the external expression of such. In the rigorous pursuit of that narrative often an undeniable transformation of reality occurs. Arbitrary, yet endowed with purpose, this “creative accident” is a somewhat miraculous event. Although the alchemist is attempting a psychic/spiritual transformation, it is not…

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How Tweet It Is

How Tweet It Is

Recently there was a long thread of conversation on the dramaturg listserv on how literary departments should respond to rejected playwright submissions. I decided to explore Twitter as a new art form within this topic. I use the 140-character restriction after the fashion of restrictions that iambic pentameter or haiku pose. I posted the following Tweets (and revisions) to the list. Daily Twitter Submission (First Draft) Word Count N/A Characters (no spaces) 120 Characters (with spaces) 149 I hate reading…

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Theatrosphere’s TalkWriting

Theatrosphere’s TalkWriting

As the saying goes, rumors are as old as God. The first rumor was one that jumped the species barrier. The snake whispered sweet nothings in Eve’s ear, telling her “rumor had it” that the forbidden fruit was ripe with hidden promise. Eve swallowed the story whole. Like all rumors, the serpent’s tale had an element of truth. Knowledge would be the godlike quality in man, but as other scripture reminds us, the flesh is weak. Facts are hard or…

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The Road West

The Road West

After a year’s absence, I return to Rat Sass and the theatrosphere only in trepidation.  With good reason I suppose.  I have barely put my toe in the water and already Collide Flinch labels me mentally unstable.  (It’s so tempting to get into pots and kettles, tits for tats, with theatrosphere’s reigning Queen of Hysteria, but I digress.) The contrary persona of Rat Sass that I developed through my interactions in the theatroshpere may, just may, have run its course.  …

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Promote-O-Meter

Promote-O-Meter

In the comment section at Playgoer’s last year, when the Critic-O-Meter blog was first launched, I argued against the denigration of theatre criticism into a report card grading system. Most artists I know struggle against the standardized behavior and herding aspect implicit in the notion of “theatre consumer,” so this wannabe Rotten Tomatoes of the theatre world fell off my radar until recently when Isaac Butler’s heavy promotion of his current show caught my attention. The goofily named Critic-O-Meter wants…

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Hello loyal readers,

Hello loyal readers,

Has it really been a whole year? Thanks to all who have written me personally over this time asking about my neglect of Rat Sass. Well, I’m back. I think. We’ll see anyway. Although over the last year I have briefly visited the theatrosphere by writing in the comment sections of other blogs, for the most part I haven’t been following the beast too closely. From my initial browsing, I think not much has changed in this fiction. The narrative…

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Half-price Tickets for Outside Inn

Half-price Tickets for Outside Inn

Sorry to all readers. Serious personal matters have kept me from blogging and many other things in my life, including our theatre’s production at 59E59 Theaters of Outside Inn. The whole ensemble is proud of their work on the show and audiences are all enjoying it. It’s been up and running for a week now and reviews are starting to come in. Readers of Rat Sass and friends can get half-price tickets with the four letter promotional code RATS.  Come…

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Bloggers’ Nights for Outside Inn

Bloggers’ Nights for Outside Inn

Any blogger who has ever braved comment here at Rat Sass is welcome to a press comp to International Culture Lab’s Off-Broadway production of Outside Inn on any night October 2 through October 5. Just email telling me the night you wish to attend.

Avant Yarde Event Monday Evening

Avant Yarde Event Monday Evening

Eat, meet, and greet New work by TravSD and Katherine Adamenko 6pm-9pm: Potluck Barbecue and Performance Monday, August 25 The Avant Yarde 214 Dean Street (Between Nevins and Bond) Brooklyn Performance/reading will be approximately 40 minutes long. FREE admission with your favorite barbecue item or prepared dish to share. Please RSVP to Gabriele as seating is limited. ****************************** Sea / Herself: The (De)volution of a Beauty Queen SEA / HERSELF dances down feminine archetypes to unmask the authentic self. Hidden…

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She and the Empty Living Room

She and the Empty Living Room

My blogging will continue to be intermittent now that our October production approaches. We’ll be headed up north to Ithaca for rehearsals in September. Before we leave we will host one more Avant Yarde event, so stay tuned here for that announcement shortly. Markus drove Carolina to JFK Monday night, so she is back in Argentina now. She is gone and present at the same time. I am meditating on her performance with Markus in She and the Empty Living…

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The Last Rat Conference Comes Home Again

The Last Rat Conference Comes Home Again

The RAT Conference from 1994-2004 was the single most transforming element of our theatre ensemble’s history. Our present day aesthetic and ethic developed directly from that ten-year collaboration with other theatre companies and individuals from around the country and the world. For many years we found our strength of purpose and community in this “Regional Alternative Theatre” confederacy. Our theatre instigated and led many of the conferences including the final one in Argentina. Company members Melanie, Gabriele, Markus and I…

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Avant Yarde Event Monday Night

Avant Yarde Event Monday Night

Please join us for the next Avant Yarde event featuring a short play with actors who have lived and worked with our good friends from the South, the nomadic Argentine theatre group Willaldea. She, and the Empty Living Room A chamber play in one-act. An exploration of (anti)communication, disobedient tongues, a missing left foot, a dance, a relationship, a poem, or a broken heart. She and the Empty Living Room is a play in translation (literally) about the act of…

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We all still wish they all could be…

We all still wish they all could be…

I am mostly with E. Hunter in her theory about sex and geography. How is sex geographic? Or maybe it’s atmospheric? More likely. I can only speak for myself, but the humidity of the south really does have a positive effect on one’s libido. I’ve confirmed this theory with exactly one other southerner who also agreed that California can be rather dry. Ahem. But I think she needs to add that nobody can represent the essence of wet dreams better…

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How Theatre Failed/Saved America

How Theatre Failed/Saved America

UPDATE: Teresa Eyring’s From the Executive Director column is now online at the American Theatre site. Mike Daisey has responded with a rebuttal at his blog site. As one of his points, he scrutinizes Ms. Eyring’s unfortunate title, the same item that had struck me as the most egregious in her piece. Ms. Eyring’s title takes one’s breath away. If it were called HOW THEATRE WILL SAVE AMERICA it would still be defensible, if a bit sweeping—it could fantasize about…

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Staging the N-word

Staging the N-word

I received some insightful and referenced comments from the dramaturgs on the LMDA listserv concerning the use of the N-word on stage and the struggle of our current production to present it. But interesting how even within the context of a discussion of the word itself, there seems to be a taboo against typing the full six-lettered word nigger onto the digital page, as if not only any utterance, but also any “publication” of the word would easily transcend the…

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Avant Yarde Opening Thursday Night

Avant Yarde Opening Thursday Night

NYC friends, please stop by to say hi and for a bubbly toast to Charles. The Avant Yarde is located in a four-story private artists’ residence in the landmarked area of Brownstone Brooklyn. The site hosts artist salons, art potlatches, and commissions and installs temporary sculptures throughout the year. Avant Yarde proposes an alternative to the traditional performance and gallery space, attempting to position the exchange and experience of art outside the confines of the market while also examining conventional…

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Dramaturgy and PR

Dramaturgy and PR

Plays are part and parcel of their productions. Zeitgeist, site-specific elements and the actor/producer’s explicit talents and ambitions all inform the reality. Does the “event” of the production have any historical importance to theatre or the world? The “audience” of this event is not something that will be measured at the box office or necessarily in popular success. Jarry’s Ubu Roi and Chekhov’s The Seagull both premiered in 1896 to disparaging audiences. In most ways contrary to one another, both…

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