{"id":49,"date":"2007-02-07T09:25:16","date_gmt":"2007-02-07T13:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/?p=49"},"modified":"2007-02-12T12:59:19","modified_gmt":"2007-02-12T16:59:19","slug":"the-bounty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ratconference.com\/blog\/?p=49","title":{"rendered":"The Bounty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josey Wales: You a bounty hunter?
\nBounty hunter: A man’s got to do something for a living these days.
\nJosey Wales: Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard Nelson confesses he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a philosophy for teaching playwriting. Instead he offers as the criteria qualifying him as chair of the playwright program, the fact that he believes he is the first \u00e2\u20ac\u0153working playwright\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in that position.Nelson begins his video presentation<\/a> for the Yale School of Drama with a personal rendition of its legacy. Citing the playwriting program as the oldest in the country, he emphasizes that the founder, George Pierce Baker, was the teacher of Eugene O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill. He then singles out O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife Carlotta and her bequest of the playwright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s papers, specifically the publication rights of Long Days Journey into Night<\/em>, as the gift that keeps on giving<\/a> to the program.<\/p>\n

\"hismastersvoice\"<\/a>The infomercial is an enthusiastic mixture of hype, flimflam, and self-delusion with the implicit message that the young playwright enrolling for study at the School of Drama will be taught how to make his living writing plays. And like the school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patron, Eugene O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill, the playwright need not sacrifice his art to achieve this.<\/p>\n

The ironies of using O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill as Yale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patron abound. Although O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill did study playwriting under George Pierce Baker, it was at Harvard, and a full decade before the program at Yale began. But more, whatever talent O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill possessed in 1914, was negated by his submission to the jejune \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dramatic technique<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of Baker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s teaching.<\/p>\n

With the appointment of Richard Nelson and the institutionalization of his new product-oriented vision of playwriting, the biggest irony in flaunting O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill as patron is no longer simply an irony. The unpleasantness of Yale\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complicity in the bad faith exploitation of the playwright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s masterwork Long Days Journey into Night <\/em>has never been called to task. Only with the help of Yale was Carlotta O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neill able to usurp the playwright\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent<\/a> that the drama not be published until 25 years after his death and never be produced.<\/p>\n

\"deadman\"<\/div>\n

With this attitude and policy shift, the School of Drama flips completely on end the notion that the legacy of authors and dramatic literature is an act of commerce essentially within the realm of art and ideas. The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bounty\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of future playwrights will now be abridged into its most pede$trian value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josey Wales: You a bounty hunter? Bounty hunter: A man’s got to do something for a living these days. Josey Wales: Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy. Richard Nelson confesses he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a philosophy for teaching playwriting. Instead he offers as the criteria qualifying him as chair of the playwright program, the fact that he believes he is the first \u00e2\u20ac\u0153working playwright\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in that position.Nelson begins his video presentation for the Yale School of Drama with a personal…<\/p>\n

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