Playwright in NY

A link to a piece by THE GUARDIAN's Michael Billington.

 

Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - theatre: All play and no work in today's theatre -- http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/04/all_work_and_no_play.html

 

I think he's right.  In a recent article, Robert Brustein wrote about how many playwrights today are writing on topics they've researched in books rather than stuff they've observed in life.  When you think of O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Lanford Wilson, and a lot of our other leading lights -- most of them had experience being poor or working in pretty rough conditions and drew on these experiences in their work.  Our most vivid work play is probably GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, based on time Mamet spent working in a real estate office.

 

I sometimes think that playwrights-in-training would be done great favors if they were scooped up and dropped in cities where they knew nobody, had no cell phones, and only had a hundred bucks in their pockets.  They might actually have to confront the lives of people unlike their own.  And we might see some different plays, plays that reflect more than the struggles of artists and the easy cynicism and the slapstick tragedy (nice phrase from Williams) that characterizes a lot of the young writing I encounter.  (Not to mention the endless Mamet, Durang and SOPRANO wannabes.  When I teach in colleges, I also always get ODD COUPLE on steroids -- stories about rude or insane roommates.)

 

Jeff