Theater Communications Group (the service organization that, among other things, publishes American Theatre magazine) is celebrating its 50th anniversary right now. Part of that celebration is a campaign called “I Am Theatre” that centers on mini video profiles of people from all corners of the theater world. And hey — I’m this week’s poster boy! Apparently, I am theatre! Check it out and let me know what you think.
Archive for August, 2011
Good stuff online
August 18, 2011Quote of the day: ACTING
August 17, 2011
ACTING
In Coming Up Roses, an indie feature premiering at the Woodstock Film Festival in September, [Bernadette Peters] plays a former musical actress, the disturbed mother of two girls who find that singing show tunes to lift the spirits doesn’t always work. “Yes, another light part,” Peters says, sounding mystified, or amused, by her choice. “And do you know what I had to do one day? I had to find a way to hit my 15-year-old daughter.” (The actress playing the role was 19.) “I mean really smack her around. I’ve never hit anyone in my life! After I did it, I felt like I was having a heart attack for a week.” For a second it seems she may have one again, but instead the moment resolves in a giggle. “Isn’t it a strange profession? When you have to look for something like that within yourself, it’s scary. And what’s also scary,” she adds, touching the moon at her throat, “is that you find it.”
— Jesse Green, New York magazine
In this week’s New Yorker
August 14, 2011
The highlights begin with Christoph Niemann’s timely cover illustration entitled “S.O.S.” (above) and continue with the issue’s centerpiece, a long definitive take-out on Michele Bachmann by political reporter Ryan Lizza. Certainly for anyone who suspects that the Minnesota Congresswoman who wants to be president is an intellectual lightweight unafraid to lie, inflate her credentials, commune with racist ideologues and right-wing nutjobs, and shove her conservative brand of Christian proselytizing down anyone’s throat, Lizza delivers the confirmation in calm, well-researched detail.
There’s also a fascinating article by Tom Bissell about Jennifer Hale, an actress whose vast experience doing voice-overs for video games has led people to regard her as the Meryl Streep of her field.
And then of course, the cartoons, including this one by Roz Chast. I love her greeting cards!
Plus, did you know she’s designed a drinking glass for Fishs Eddy??? You can get a look at them online here.
Good stuff online
August 14, 2011In my ongoing effort to catch up with back issues of The Sun, I’ve gotten to last month’s, July 2011, which has two extraordinary pieces to recommend.
One is a long interview by Tracy Frisch with psychologist Gail Hornstein, who challenges many accepted assumptions about psychiatric patients and encourages a more open-minded inquiry into what causes mental illness and how people get better. Hornstein wrote a beautiful biography of maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann called To Redeem One Person Is To Redeem the World, which had a big impact on me. She created the Hearing Voices Network, an international organization for people with various psychiatric diagnoses (mainly schizophrenia) in which empathy and nonhierarchical interactions supplant diagnostic labels and the traditional doctor-patient relationship. It’s a philosophy of treating that calls for tremendous patience, listening skills, and a level of mutual respect not often found in the medical profession, sad to say. You can read some of the interview online here.
Poe Ballantine, one of my favorite frequent contributors to The Sun, contributes an autobiographical essay called “Guidelines for Mountain-Lion Safety,” in which the instructions that generate the essay’s title double as life-learning for his son (and any picked-on kid) for dealing with bullies:
If you encounter a mountain lion:
• Don’t approach it.
• Never turn and run.
• Face the lion and stand upright.
• Try to make yourself look as big as possible.
• Some ways of looking bigger is [sic] to open your jacket, hold up your pack or bicycle.
• Throw rocks or sticks at the lion. Yell and make lots of noise.
• But if you are ever attacked, your best chance is to stay on your feet and fight back. These tactics will usually convince the lion that you are not prey and make it run away.
• Leave the animal an avenue of escape.
• Report any mountain lion observations.
You can read a long excerpt from the story online here.
Quote of the day: WRITING
August 14, 2011WRITING
Write every day, the muse insists. Don’t skip a day no matter how you’re feeling, no matter how many wars your country is fighting, no matter how many tornados are heading your way. Crawl into your storm cellar and pick up a pen. If you can’t think of anything to say, write the word God again and again. If you don’t believe in God, write the word dog. Everyone believes in dogs.
— Sy Safransky
another eye opens 