Marsha Norman blogs about August. If you haven’t seen the play, don’t read her post. But she mentions something very interesting:

“…Finally, at least for this go-round, I like what this play represents: a life-long association of a writer with a group of actors and a theater. This is why Shakespeare wrote so much, he had a whole gang of actors waiting to do his work. Go down the list — the writers who wrote a lot of wonderful plays were always associated with a community of actors they could write for: Shepard, Chekhov, Brian Friel, Alan Ackbourne [sic], David Mamet, Lanford Wilson, Caryl Churchill, Richard Foreman, Wendy Wasserstein. Playwrights who live apart from theaters and actors have a lot of trouble getting their work done. Playwrights need to be around actors, need to be a part of a theater’s life…”

We were recently thinking about this - a playwright’s association with “a group of actors”. It would be wonderful to structure the fellowship so that the same group of actors could work with our fellow on his/her play for the course of the fellowship year. Of course, we’d work around the actors’ schedules - but wouldn’t it be exciting to creating some type of acting company? (Obviously, we’d only set this up if the fellow wanted it.) I think about Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue and how in the rehearsal room the roles in that play became so indelibly associated with those actors, their speech patterns, their postures.

We’re hosting a benefit at In The Heights this evening. We’re having a little soiree at Angus McIndoe prior to the show. Naturally, we’re stressed out. Are people going to show up? Will there be enough food, etc.? Will people like each other? Party-planning is always so stressful.

Blogging is tough. It requires dedication and time.  And, lately, we’ve been short on time.  In addition to board meetings and grant writing, we’ve been casting two readings.  Readings baffle us.  Producing a reading is a pain, but casting a reading is the worst. 

We’ve come up with a haiku, celebrating the hard work and tenacity of the two casting directors who have been working on these readings (The Wife by Tommy Smith, directed by May Adrales; Mother Earth by Andy Bragen, directed by Jackson Gay).  Really, the following haiku is dedicated to all casting directors who, as far as we’re concerned, are the unsung heroes of this business:

Angie, Gwyneth, Reese,
Emma, Meryl, Cate and Madge —  
They do theater, no?

We’re largely non-partisan here at the Page 73 blog.

But we do like to have a laugh (or two) at the expense of our crazy primaries.