green days

have you all been following the situation in Iran? I find it fascinating.

I don’t really know how to talk about it or write about it.  Without being there, without having an Iranian friend by my side to guide me through the intricacies, it is overwhelming to just follow twitter feeds and blog postings.

Just so, I suggest taking a look through out the day at Andrew Sullivan’s blog on the Atlantic. He has done an amazing job of keeping up to date and filtering with the bits and pieces of news.

And also I just wanted to make note of Twitter responding to how it’s being used in Iran by changing their maintenance time so as not to stop the flow of information during daytime in Iran.

I hope the situation ends peaceably and I send out hope to Iran that they can create a society that reflects all the people not just the religious extremists.

sudden interest in theater news

The Washington Post today has four theatrically inclined articles. On a Tuesday. Is this sudden interest on the part of the editors due to Obama? Is theater finally something that those who don’t work in it care about?  Or is it just a coincidence.

Blue Sky Puppet Theater, ‘Legacy of Light’ Actress Sidelined, After Plodding Start, ‘Tartuffe’ Rollicks, Olney Shows Off a Radiant ‘Glass’ Act

and while we are speaking of interior design

the New York Times yesterday followed the curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum as she walked around the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.  I found a lot of her thoughts on design fascinating and she sounds like someone it would be nice to walk around a furniture fair with.  I was particularly taken with her idea that furniture should be multifunctional. I agree completely. I enjoyed that she said that one of those functions could be humor as long as that humor didn’t negate an objects other function. I always forget that when it comes to functionality the effect something has on the emotions can be just as important as an objects utility.

And speaking of art and function. A blog (was it boing boing, i no longer remember) pointed me to the Wants for Sale website. An artist couple paint pictures of what they want and then sell the pictures for the amount the thing they want costs.  Here’s a flickr set of the paintings and the real objects once bought. I love this idea. It’s so straightforward.

wait for it

I first heard about the Marshmallow experiment listening to one of my new favorite podcasts* Radio Lab a few weeks ago.  The basic experiment which happened in the 60s tested childrens self-control in the face of a mighty challenge – to eat one marshmallow now or to wait and get two.  They found that there were some children who were emotionally distraught over the idea of having to wait, there were some who tricked the system and there were some who were able to delay gratification.  The study itself is interesting, though more interesting is the work that’s been done since the original experiment. The researchers were able to keep track of the original subjects and look at whether their reactions to the marshmallows were an indicator of how they would live their lives. Those who were able to delay gratification ended up more sucessful in their lives. The skills that they used to wait for two marshmallows ended up being the same skills that helped them study rather than party, and other similar choices.

I am reminded of the podcast by a New Yorker article I just read that outlines both the original investigation and the experiements the researchers are still actively pursuing.  It all just makes me think about where I would fit on that scale.  I feel like as a child I would have possibly been able to resist the marshmallow (maybe my parents would tell me differently) but now I don’t know if I could. I mean, I obviously could resist a marshallow in front of me but I have a hard time with delayed gratification especially when it comes to the internet. I think the internet will skew the data coming out.  Here I sit with my wordpress page open, and up in my tabs gmail (with gchats going), fbook, the new yorker open and if I wanted to check something else at the moment I could. Then next to me is my phone with it’s own assortment of distractions. And everything is automatic. And everything is updated. And when you send something out you expect something quickly back in return. If an email goes unreplied over a couple of hours or even minutes you start to wonder if something is wrong.  I see people online in gchat and I want to say something to them just so I can have them say something to me – even when there is really nothing for us to say. I crave the contact that the inernet gives me – that’s why I write on a blog as well.  I want to know that my words are being read (and I know when I look at my stats). And I want to hear that people are responding to them.  That’s why I get excited when someone comments.

artists are people too

I don’t know if you knew that. That artists are people. People who are losing their jobs. People who raise kids and buy food. People just like everyone else. People who are doing a service to the community by making art. Art is important. Artists are important. But it seems some people in this country don’t think so.

The Coburn amendment that passed last night restricts the use of federal funding in the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act from being used by those in the arts. The actual language states:

None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project..

Rep Jack Kingston actually said in reference to giving money to the NEA: “We have real people out of work right now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that’s going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous.” (found on the createequity blog) Did you catch that? Real people. Artists aren’t real people our jobs don’t count.

I can’t even begin to describe my anger. I get even more angry as I read these quotes from op-ed’s from Americans for the Arts:

* “True to form, Congress has loaded the [bill] with hundreds of billions in wasteful spending. The bill includes $650 million for digital TV coupons, $140 million to study the atmosphere and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. None of these proposals would create jobs or boost our economy. They’re just old-fashioned waste” – Op-ed in the Indianapolis Star

* “The National Endowment for the Arts would get $50 million for new exhibits to deem America racist and sexist.” – Op-ed in the Norwich Bulletin

* “The National Endowment for the Arts, for example, is in line for $50 million, increasing its total budget by a third. The unemployed can fill their days attending abstract-film festivals and sitar concerts.” – National Review Editorial

* “I just think putting people to work is more important than putting more art on the wall of some New York City gallery frequented by the elite art community.” [U.S. Rep Jack] Kingston said. “Call me a sucker for the working man.” – Congressional Quarterly report

So what can be done? Click here to let your Senator know what you think. Unless of course you are an artist in dc, ’cause we are just screwed on so many levels.

worth a look #1

a selection of the things that over the past week have grabbed my attention.

Broadway Officials Warn That Ticket Tax Would Cripple Theater Industry
NY Times 2/4/09
It’s somewhat an odd article but certainly an interesting topic. Basically it boils down to the state wanting to heighten the taxes on Broadway theater tickets.  The odd thing about the article is that after talking about pros and cons and debates it goes on to say that producers are realizing they should be exploring a way to lower prices.  So, this strikes me as odd because the state wants to make it more expensive so their response is to make it cheaper. I mean, that’s good, it should be cheaper, but still there just seems to be something about this article that feels off.

Parabasis: Interview With… Dan LeFranc!
2/4/09
An interview with Dan LeFranc whose play 60 Miles to Silver Lake I saw this past weekend. I found the play rather stunning and I’ve met Dan and think he’s a swell guy, so I am really excited for his success and was interested to read the the interview. Oh, and dc peeps go and see his Bruise Easy when it’s at Catalyst later this spring – the director formerly known as citymouse and the actress always known as the awesome Gwen Grastorf are involved.

The Accident, Focusing on a Crime in Israel, Makes English-Language Debut Feb. 4
It’s time for the next show at Theater J! It’s the English Language premier of the Israeli play The Accident. I directed the reading last year when the play was under consideration. I find the play fascinating and can’t wait to see it.  Below is a press release quote from Ari and don’t forget you can still read the Theater J blog, even though I no longer write for it. (and speaking of the J, their blog pointed me towards this hilarious craigslist ad that was posted following what seems to have been their wild inauguration party)

Theater J artistic director Ari Roth stated, “What’s so amazing about the play, is that it’s at once an incredible metaphor illustrating how an entire class of society lives in a state of denial and, at the same, it’s a thrilling sexual drama….It’s both sexy and disturbing. And it’s about Zionism without ever explicitly mentioning Zionism. It’s also about Israel as it relates to the Far East, not just the West, or its Middle East neighbors. There’s something incredibly up-to-date about this portrait.”

Kennedy Center to Help Arts Programs in Economic Trouble
2/3
This is an exciting development out of the Kennedy Center. To quote the article, “Essentially, the program is a high-tech support service through which arts administrators can talk to the center’s personnel about shrinking income, budget-conscious audiences and other difficulties in keeping the doors open.” It always feels good when you see the big guy reach out to the little guys.

Adam Szymkowicz: Advice for playwrights starting out
Some really great advice for playwrights that can also be expanded to anyone who wants to work professionally in theater. My favorite is number fourteen: Do what is best for your work but be nice to people. Pick your fights. Don’t be a dick. Theatre is a really small world and word gets around. So does karma. (possibly)

I can’t translate the title of this page but do take a look
I don’t understand any of it, and I didn’t save the boing boing link i found it on. But there are amazing photoshoped pictures of St Petersburg (i believe) superimposing war images over the modern images. I found it mesmorizing to look at.

And speaking of war Jewschool wrote about a really disgusting misuse of power and religion in the Israeli army: Military Staff Rabbi incites Israeli soldiers to revenge

For something completely different, a distraction from that world:

Old Jews Telling Jokes is a fairly self explanatory website. They have videos (which I can’t figure out how to embed, darnit) with older Jews telling jokes.  They update twice a week and there is something very comforting about watching the videos I must say. I suggest bookmarking it yourself because it’ll make you happy twice a week.

I also wanted to post a music video from the band Nous Non Plus, a NYC based francophone band who used to be part of Les San Cullottes. Buut I can’t figure out how to embed videos that aren’t youtube or google so here’s the link, if you are a fan of peppy quirky french pop and clever fun film work and food porn (and i mean food porn) it may be worth your time.

let’s talk about sex baby

yesterday was the first day of the collaboration class.  Through the next semester we will meet once a week (all the first year playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors and stage managers) and watch each other create 15 minute pieces of theater.  Over the year I will have helped to create three of the plays.  It’s a long class 6 hours on a Monday. And usually we will only be working during 1 hour of the class. The rest of the time is observation. “if you get bored,” said Anne, “breath…think of it as meditation.”

yesterday was very exciting. We got the first look at all of the pieces that playwrights are working on and I am totally excited, not just by the pieces which are all great starts, but by the artists in general. We gots some seriously talented people in this program and that is super and inspiring.  I was nervous about the length of the class originally but I realized while watching yesterday that sitting in the class feels the same as sitting through a long rehearsal.  It feels just right. It feels like what I’ve done my whole life – there is a lot of sitting and observing in dramaturgy – and what I probably will be doing my whole life.

I mentioned before the piece I’m dramaturging: An Adaptation of a Sex Scene.  Our reading was very successful. The piece is attempting structurally to recreate a night of sex, a specific scene not sex in general, using structure and language.  The writer comes from a poetry background and her words are carefully selected and constructed to create an almost pornographic story when in reality in the actuality of the piece there is no nudity and almost no physical contact. The piece pulls together all of the conflicting emotions and physical sensations of a night between Him and Her – two lovers who obviously do not know each other very well.  Yet, as in most good plays, none of this is stated it’s all implied.  It was very clear that the piece made the audience feel uncomfortable. Which was the intention.  A new draft was created within hours of the class ending and later this week we will rehearse with it some more and present the new draft on monday.

Our subject manner and ambitions are nontraditional for sure but the timing seems to be right with the New York Times Magazine doing their cover story of women and desire.  If you haven’t read it yet I suggest you do. I found it fascinating, the most clear account of what I knew and didn’t, what I suspected and wondered, most interesting to me were the differences between how women desire and how men do.  There is a whole level of feminism that tries to push forward that women are equal to men. That we are the same except for the technical biology. I feel like that is the zeitgeist I was raised in.  The article goes counter to that showing ways in which biology can effect sexual desire and emotion. The findings were not always what I would have guessed but reading it made complete sense.

Working on the piece I was reading it as research as well. I wrote down a couple of quotes to share in rehearsals, all which made complete sense to the work we were doing:

‘The female body,” she said, “looks the same whether aroused or not. The male, without an erection, is announcing a lack of arousal. The female body always holds the promise, the suggestion of sex” – a suggestion that sends a charge through both men and women.

…

She pronounced, as well, “I consider myself a feminist.” Then she added, “but political correctness isn’t sexy at all.” For women, “being desired is the orgasm,” …- it is in her vision at once the thing craved and the spark of craving.

…

“Really,” she siad, “women’s desire is not relational, it’s narcissistic – it is dominated by the yearnings of ‘self-love,’ by the wish to be the object of erotic admiration and sexual need. Still on the subject of narcissism, hse talked baotu research indicating that, in comparison with men, women’s erotic fantasies center less on giving pleasure and more on getting it. “When it comes to desire,” she added “women may be far less relational than men.”

counting down the days

two and a half weeks left in the semester and then over a month of nothingness. Not that I have nothing to do in that nothingness. I’m planning exciting activities like cleaning my room, reading a novel or two, seeing all the people I’ve sent all those facebook messages to saying ‘you’re in new york! I’m in new york! let’s hang out but not until winter break,’ cooking, not making money, watching tv, celebrating new years, chanukah, not having anything to do, updating the blog, working on my project, going back to dc for a week, seeing friends, and that’s how I shall fill my days of nothingness. I’m very excited.

But in the meantime I’ve got two and a half weeks of finishing projects, papers, assignments. two and a half weeks of stressed out work. So I need to get back to that right now. But since I’m guessing I’m not going to be updating the blog much, if at all, until the break I wanted to leave you with links to other blogs that I find enjoyable.

For those of you are are interested in theater – The Guardian Theater Blog both will keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in London theater but also brings up interesting questions about the future of theater and how it connects to audiences, etc.

For those of you interested in food and/or Jewish things – The Jew and the Carrot is filled with interesting info, fun tidbits and recipies.

For those of you interested in fashion – The Thoughtful Dresser is the most intelligent fashion blog out there. Written by a prize winning novelist and journalist it takes a look not just on what’s in and out but on what fashion means and how we relate to what we wear.

For those of you who like taking a look at the daily life of someone famous – The Orwell Prize is posting in Blog form the daily diaries of George Orwell (from 1938 – 1942). Some times they simply say things like ‘one egg’  (22/11/38) but sometimes they get more interesting. It’s also interesting how every day in my blog reader I get a blog from the past, and that this will continue on for another few years.

And finally, for those of you who are curious about what I’m thinking and reading – my Delicious account will continue to be updated as I read the news and my blog reader.

things that made me cry this week

more on my misunderstood city

Michael Dove alerted me this morning to a Slate article originally written at the time of Clinton’s Inauguration now posted as a welcome to Washington for Obama. The article is extremely upsetting to me on many levels. The main one, as Michael discussed on the Forum blog is the glaringly wrong comment “The theater is still second-rate at best.” There are more responses on Slate from the rankled DC theater community.  But that’s not all that upset me. The article admits that there are two Washington’s which I agree with but totally dismisses the non-government DC pointing out only that it is suburban and yet has a high murder rate. Really? Ugh. It just makes me mad. The main thesis of the article seems to be DC is a bad horrible place and if you move there and end up staying it’s not because you have found something worthwhile but rather because you’ve been brainwashed. I find it totally irresponsible of Slate to have published something that so false saying that it shows something true about Washington’s “character.”