Jitney (2001), is #8 in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh/Century cycle, one play per decade set in the working class areas of the city, focused on black expJitney (2001), is #8 in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh/Century cycle, one play per decade set in the working class areas of the city, focused on black experience, largely unchanging for the poor through the century. It was first written in 1979, I think the first written, set aside, and thoroughly revised in 2000. The setting is 1977, at a dilapidated jitney cab station (think: gypsy; this was before Lyft or Uber, kids! Like, ancient history!).
As with the other plays, the play features vibrant dialogue, sharply defined characters, anguish and humor. Characters include VietNam vet Youngblood, who is seeing Rena; they have a two-year-old son; Turnbo, a busybody with a gun--that ever present specter of potential and often actual rage and violence; Becker, who manages the place and whose son, Booster, has just been released from a 20-year prison sentence for murdering a (rich) white woman he was seeing, who lied to her father that she was raped--not dating--Booster.
Those last two stories are central, with all of their angst and doubts and worries and failures to accept and forgive, so there’s a melancholy cast girding the action. Shealy, a numbers runner, Doub, a Korean war vet and alcoholic (and former tailor for Billy Eckstine) Fielding fill out the cast. Rena, as in most of Wilson’s plays, functions as its spiritual center, trying to raise a child, wanting love from Fielding, an some stability, damn it! One of these stories turns out better than the other.
I knew nothing of the play before reading it, but I look forward to seeing it on stage. It's powerful and has that familiar anger and resilience and desperation and humor. I love Becker's last stand against the Man, and Booster taking the call at the end....more
I listened to this Audible Original play narrated by the two central figures in this drama, that played out on national TV, including 60 Minutes. A maI listened to this Audible Original play narrated by the two central figures in this drama, that played out on national TV, including 60 Minutes. A man who owned a lot of guns and raised his two sons to hunt as his Daddy and Granddaddy did before him, gets a call that one of his sons is dead, killed by the other son's rifle. And that son goes to jail for five years, from age 15-20, Dad testifying against his son in the trial. How did the gun go off if son #2 is telling the truth and he did not in fact pull the trigger?
Ask Remington. I'll leave it at that. Quite the story, pretty riveting. A story of guns, hunting, fathers and sons, and. . . greed at the expense of profits, the (sometimes? rarely? often?) way of American business. The subject of debate still....more
"You got love and you got death. Death will find you. It's up to you to find love"--Holloway “There are always and only two trains running. There is li"You got love and you got death. Death will find you. It's up to you to find love"--Holloway “There are always and only two trains running. There is life and there is death. Each of us rides them both.”--August Wilson
Two Trains Running is an old blues song (see below for links) and the title of August Wilson’s seventh play (1993) in his Pittsburg/Century Cycle. It involves as it usually does a group of black folks trying to make sense of their lives, featuring sort of similar, if not stock, characters that appear across the plays that occupy different sociocultural/political/moral positions on events of the day. There’s usually someone who is disabled in some way; there’s a mystic; there are angry ones, apolitical ones. Women are often the object of desire but are the bedrock of the community. Poverty always runs through the plays, involving the inequities of a system, and there are stories told by the characters to reflect those struggles.
Two Trains is set in 1969, with Dr. King and Malcolm X and the Kennedys (all civil rights activists) all murdered within 6-7 years in the sixties, when southern Baptist churches were burned and perpetrators walked free, when the Voting Rights Act of 1964 went into effect, and when riots burned in many American cities. Protests against the war. Days of Woodstock and flower power and amazing music; days of rage and despair.
When Sterling comes in to the diner he’s just out of jail--he robbed a bank just to see how it felt to have money for once-- he’s looking for a job but can’t find one, and hitting on Risa. He reminds me of Levee in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom or Hearld Loomis of Joe Turner's Come and Gone, the specter of violent rage looms. Sterling wants to go to a Malcolm X birthday rally, but no one else really wants to go. It’s a tumultuous wild time in the country with anti-war protests burgeoning. Malcolm X and MLK dead: Have we lost our way on the road to equality? Or was the road dynamited?
And of course one guy is running numbers out of the diner, so this is a way to make money (but not really). Crazy Hambone did work for a white guy and never got his promised ham and claims it throughout the play. The diner owner, Memphis, wants $25K for his diner, which they will raze to gentrify the neighborhood. Money! Got to have it!
One of the most powerful scenes in the play happens when Memphis tells the story of his being run off his farm while white men kill his mule in front of him, expecting it could happen to him, next, or any time. We have Holloway, the philosopher. We have Aunt Ester, who was in the first play and reappears throughout in spirit, and returns here. Is she 100? 322? She’s the wise woman mystical healer at the foundation of all the plays and implicitly, the black cultural tradition reaching back to Africa.
We have preachers who get rich on black practitioners’ tithing, and West, the funeral director who gets rich on steady work. Religion and death, two growth industries in the black community. I liked this play, which has as always terrific dialogue, and great characters, and (dare I say it? Spoiler alert, of sorts?) the most unpredictably happy ending of any in the series.
What do you think you know about the politics of California? Get an image of Governor Gavin Newsom? Do you think of that state as a contrast to today’What do you think you know about the politics of California? Get an image of Governor Gavin Newsom? Do you think of that state as a contrast to today’s Florida, where its Governor Ron DeSantis is attacking Disney World for the temerity of tolerating--nay, celebrating--queer humans? “You can’t say gay,” Ron says, and yea, verily, it comes into State law somehow. Oh, did I just say gay?! Oops.
Well, listen to this: Proposition 8, also known as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections. Look it up if you have never heard of it. There was a lot of back and forth legal proceedings with law suits and counter-suits and the like that year. Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004, which set up a lot of side-taking that continues today.
8 is a play by Dustin Lance Black (Milk, 2008) that premiered in NYC in 2011, recreating some of the closing arguments of the key, decisive trial, using verbatim transcripts, interweaving testimony from the plaintiffs and defendants in the case, sharing their stories for and against the proposition, though it is clear that the play celebrates the decision. It was written in part in response to a ruling that the trial not be televised, so he got hold of the trial transcripts and made them public in this way. Rob Reinter directed a production I heard from LA Theater Works featuring the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch (a lesbian actress who plays a known homophobic leader of the time who speaks at the trial), and Martin Sheen (and many others). There was also a musical that year on the trial that featured Jack Black.
Oh, and the guy who put led the charge to get gay marriage legalized in the historically GLBT-friendly California? None other than the former may of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom.
Anyway, 15 years ago, California's Proposition 8 stripped the freedom to marry away from gay and lesbian couples. Now, two of the nation's most renowned attorneys, David Boies and Theodore Olson, argued for the same sex couples and successfully pled their case. I don’t think this is one of the greatest plays in history but I was very moved and entertained by it. And it ain’t over yet, folks.
On a personal note, the very fact of my sister's having married a woman and producing with her a child who bears my name and is my godson is one of several reasons this straight man feels that this play is personal for him. The fact of her coming out created painful fractures in my family, many of whom are MAGA-loving, conservative Republicans. And since yet another one of my beloved family members came out in recent weeks, some of that fracturing continues, alas. ...more
LA Theaterworks one-act written and performed by Herbert Siguenza. The premise is that he is 77, still full of energy, and agrees to produced 6 paintiLA Theaterworks one-act written and performed by Herbert Siguenza. The premise is that he is 77, still full of energy, and agrees to produced 6 paintings in one weekend for a rich American woman. So ehe paints and narrates some of his life. His views on art, women, life provide a kind of introduction to the famous artist. Some attention is paid to one of his most famous political works, the anti-war Guernica. Picasso is never boring, with all his wives and lovers and emotional rollercoaster. Love him, hate m, but you can't ignore him in the history of twentieth century art.
I once saw an exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute, Picasso and His Women, that was a big hit, featuring a range of works honoring (mostly during) and vilifying (after) works depicting women. Sigienza does a nice job here, too, of getting at the spectrum of his views/relationships....more
"If only she had just remained quiet!"--one of the Church leaders before they all vote to allow her to be burned at the stake
I have read this play a f"If only she had just remained quiet!"--one of the Church leaders before they all vote to allow her to be burned at the stake
I have read this play a few times and seen this play performed in the stage and in film, but reread it because I am reading or rereading many of Shaw's great plays. And this is one of his four or five best, surely. It lacks the pontificating male I have this time around become so tired of hearing, but it features what we find in other plays, a strong woman character, a well-known name in the history of war, religion and feminism, Joan d' Arc, that the cynical and skeptical Shaw identifies as "Saint" Joan.
Joan comes from shepherd background, a farmer's girl, who hears voices that tell her she will lead the French Army to victory over the intruder British. So, "hearing voices" would connote, especially to atheists, insanity, schizophrenia, but not so Shaw or, of course, Catholics. Reviewer Manny notes that Joan nationalistically champions France over Britain, and even champions the army over the Catholic Church, as she--as if she were a Protestant--favors directives from God over directives from The Church.
Joan's a girl dressed as a male soldier, she chooses to fight instead of becoming a traditional wife and mother, she speaks up against older male authority figures (and she's usually right on matters military as well as faith), and these facts help to allow the males of The Church and France to have her to be burned at the stake.
A play in six scenes but I especially love the Epilogue, where we meet Joan and some of her detractors in the afterlife, Joan getting canonized four centuries later (which required The Church accepting a deep critique of itself, which it apparently takes a long time to do). I also love it that the skeptical Shaw endorses Joan as Saint and political leader and strong young woman. Beautifully written, undeniably moving, a classic....more
When you type in the title Lenin's Embalmers here you come up with two books first. One is this book, a play which I listened to, a production by the When you type in the title Lenin's Embalmers here you come up with two books first. One is this book, a play which I listened to, a production by the LA Theater Works, a comedy about two Jewish scientists faced with a demand by the then dictator and monstrous murderer Stalin that they make it possible to preserve Lenin or. . . face the Gulag. And/or death. But the description of the play includes the mention that this play is based on actual historical events. So, the second description of this title is the following, referencing the author:
"Professor Ilya Zbarski mummified Lenin two months after his death to maintain the Soviet founder's body in perpetuity. Between 1924 and the fall of communism in 1991, hundreds of millions of visitors paid their respects to the embalmed bodies of Lenin and later, Stalin. This text reveals the story of Zbarski, his family and of those who worked in the mausoleum laboratory."
The play is sort of "madcap," which is to say manic, played for laughs, where two Russian Jews--knowing Stalin was not actually devoted, let's say, to Russians who also happened to be Jews--are told to do something wild by Stalin or else. The play begins with a kind of joke, the kind of joke mad about ruthless dictators:
Three guys are in the gulag.
#1: Why are you in here? #2: I said Zbarski was a revolutionary. How about you? #1: I said Zbarski was a counter-revolutionary. They turn to the third guy. #1: What about you? #3: I'm Zbarski.
So this is in a science theater list produced by the LATW, and yeah, they embalmed him, though other means of preservation were discussed at the time. I thought it was pretty funny and a little scary, knowing millions of people who had been killed or starved at this monster's hands. A man who has been consistently defended and mourned by a certain aspect of the Russian population to this day: He made the trains run on time. I listened to it looking for insight into monstrously murderous Russian dictators. I mean, in case we ever see one again. Trump says Putin isn't a dictator, that he has never done anything wrong, he always tells the truth, and you have to believe him. I mean, these are the leaders of major world countries! Why would they lie?!...more
I don't recall reading this play and certainly never saw it or one of its film adaptations, but enjoyed this morning listening to an LA Theater Works I don't recall reading this play and certainly never saw it or one of its film adaptations, but enjoyed this morning listening to an LA Theater Works production of it while out on a run, so will now check it out of the library. I am an older teacher, so could connect to it a bit more easily now than ever; a story of an aging classics teacher who is retiring because of ill health. His wife has had many affairs and attacks him unmercifully throughout.
Andrew, also known as Crock, is conservative, prides himself on his lack of emotional response to the world, though his favorite play was Agamemnon, a play he once wrote an adaptation to--in rhymed couplets--when he was a boy. This he reveals to a student who he thinks is taking poetic liberties as he translates it to Crock from the Greek. Most boys make fun of the severely repressed Crock, including this student, but the student gives him a gift of the "Browning" version of the play with a complimentary inscription at retirement. This moves Crock in a way that also move us.
Ratigan was gay, growing up in a time when he had to live with this secret much of his life, so it would seem he sees himself in Crock, though I also heard in an interview with his biographer after the production that he saw himself in the boy, having had a classics teacher like Crock. Either way, I recommend the play, which I listened to free on Hoopla....more
The frontier! The gold rush! The promise of new life in the American imaginary had always (traditionally) been west, away from ur"Go west, young man!"
The frontier! The gold rush! The promise of new life in the American imaginary had always (traditionally) been west, away from urbanity, academia, business. Making a new life! Let's forgot about Native Americans for a minute, that American Dream said, there is endless land and resources and possibilities for progress; and for awhile the fantasy seemed to come true for many.
"And then, by god, I was rich"--Willy's older brother who goes to Alaska to make his fortune, in Death of a Salesman.
I kind of think of this play in conjunction with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (or any of his political campaign horror stories) by Hunter Thompson, a kind of unmasking of illusions on acid with guns firing. Shepard here depicts Austin, a Hollywood writer (with an Ivy League degree) and his drifter/thief brother as they meet together for the first time in six years. Austin is writing, meeting with a producer, his brother asking to borrow his car so he can break into homes in the neighborhood and steal tvs and appliances, such as microwave ovens and toasters.
When the producer arrives, the drifter bro floats a more marketable idea than his stuffy east coast bro could ever imagine, perfect for Hollywood. So the producer wants to do that project, no longer Austin's and suddenly we have a sort of comic Prince and the Pauper switch for the brothers, with Austin, out of a job, gets drunk and decides to break into several neighbors's houses t steal their. . . toasters! This absurd commentary makes it clear the True West is not the American Dream for either of them. Oh, and they bond over eating toast, the best moment in the play.
It's not a deep or particularly rich play, not one of the great plays of American theater, imo, but I enjoyed listening to the LA Theater Works production of it. It still resonates very much with the present age. ...more
Gareth Hinds has made a name for himself in the world of comics adaptations of classic literature. I first read his Beowulf, which I liked very much, Gareth Hinds has made a name for himself in the world of comics adaptations of classic literature. I first read his Beowulf, which I liked very much, then moved on to his Romeo and Juliet and others. This may be the best of them that he has done thus far. I say this as a fan of Macbeth, protective of its legacy. Hinds researched the history of the play and the historic representation of Scotland and Scottish history in doing this ambitious work. His artwork and integrity stand out in a somewhat dubious area of literature, that of graphic adaptation, which could be seen as--and often is--severely compromising the quality of the original.
Hinds gets that. He's an artist and doesn't merely want to just illustrate Shakespeare's words. He knows that there are countless film versions that have sacrificed the original language for an equally powerful visual vocabulary, such as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. Hinds wants to reach young people and have teachers use this book as a companion to, not replacement of, the original. He preserves much of the original language, especially in the most beloved scenes, which I was grateful for, though he admits he has severely cut much of the language and plot to get to what is for him the essence of the story, which we agree is worthy goal. You want struggling readers to know what is going on, and this is not a trivial issue. And he's a great artist. I appreciate his contributions to the appreciation of classic literature, even my beloved Macbeth. I liked this version quite a bit as a work of art in its own right....more
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness— Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!-- A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness— Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!-- Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
I saw a production of this play last night at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, where I have been seeing plays for decades, including several productions of O’Neill’s most famous plays such as Long Day’s Journey into Night, and the Iceman Cometh. A sentimental romance, it is the only comedy O’Neill wrote, coming in the middle of an almost unprecedented explosion of some of the very greatest plays in the history of theater. After seeing the play I decided to read it for the first time. On the one hand, no thanks; it feels like he was answering a challenge from his friends/viewers: Hey, Eugene, I betcha can’t write a play that will make us laugh and feel good about ourselves! On the other hand, it's solid, a reflective fantasy on the life O'Neill never lived, with a teen main character very much like himself, so that's interesting. What if he had had parents who confronted him about his drinking and encouraged him in love and life?
So Ah, Wilderness sort of works, and it has sweetness throughout, but the depth of his greatest and most sorrowful plays makes this play pale in comparison. Written in one month in 1933, it focuses on the happy Miller family on Fourth of July weekend, 1906. O’Neill was born in a hotel room; his own mother was a morphine addict; his father was on the road for years in a traveling production. O’Neill was put in a boarding school at 7, and throughout his tumultuous life he suffered bitter depression, alcoholism. He spent many years on the sea that he loved, but his life and work was tragedy, on the whole.
The teen and lead character, Richard, is an aspiring poet, just beginning to rebel against his parents. He shares snippets of what might have seemed at the time racy poetry that his girlfriend’s father finds, forcing his daughter to write a letter breaking up with Richard. The very next night an older friend of Richard talks him into going to a bar where he drinks for the first time and has a brief, funny, but pretty uneventful encounter with a lady of the evening. Richard rolls home drunk, and in big trouble, though later the next day he gets a note from his ex making it clear she still loves him, saying the note was a forced and false endeavor. The parents, too, initially upset, discover his penitence convincing and are pretty soft on him, taking the moment to also rekindle their own love for each other. Love, love, all around and a happy ending.
I have to say the play made me a little sad, since O’Neill himself never experienced anything like the happy and supportive family he depicts here— and two of his own children committed suicide, too--which is part of the reason why, though often pretty funny, Ah, Wilderness feels not quite convincing as an endorsement of Love Everlasting. One interesting aspect of the production I saw, though, was that a range of ethnicities are represented in the casting in a way that could not have socially (or even physically!) been possible at the time. The Irish Dad is married to an African-American mom, and Richard is a white red-haired kid. A sister appears to be Asian, a brother possibly Indian, and Uncle (brother of the Irish Dad) is also African-American, and so on. Blended family? Not in 1906! I liked that aspect of the production, though; it made for an interesting reflection on racial family-making, even if O'Neill's play wasn't about that. The play is a sentimental fantasy of love, and a kind of fantasy of 1906 life, or the life O'Neill never lived, in some ways. I liked seeing it, but give me anguishing tragic O’Neill every time. ☺
So O’Neill, born in a hotel room, also died in one. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."...more
Biedermann und die Brandstifter was the title of the German version of the play I was in at Calvin College in... 1973 for the German Department. BecauBiedermann und die Brandstifter was the title of the German version of the play I was in at Calvin College in... 1973 for the German Department. Because I was in the acting group, the Thespians, and in Herr Lamse's German 101 class, I was invited to be the Stage Manager AND play Ein Idiot, which was kinda true given my limited knowledge of German, and it was not a sophisticated production, but it was passionate, and I was very impressed with Frisch as playwright and political commentator. ...more
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