Thursday, July 07, 2005
Reading on Saturday: What is the Purpose of a Reading?
At 1:00 this Saturday, July 9, Woolly Mammoth is hosting a free reading as part of its "Second Saturdays" series. Readings are all at the Touchstone Gallery at 406 7th Street, NW in the Penn Quarter. All readings are FREE (no reservations), begin at 1pm and feature a Q&A with the playwright afterwards. There are two short full-length new plays being read this Saturday...I'll try to make 'em. Details are below and on the free calendars. (Links at left).
I wonder what purpose readings serve. On a basic level, they allow the playwright to hear the words spoken out loud, which is a different experience than just seeing them on the page. Super. But sometimes I've heard playwrights get caught in a loop of endless readings. Note that the first play that Woolly is reading this Saturday has already had a previous reading. At some point, doesn't a theater have some kind of obligation to produce it or cut bait? They form a relationship with the playwright. But if that relationship just consists of having the playwright twist in the wind, re-writing and reading and re-writing, is that a good thing?
Of course, the audience gets a freebie, perhaps a play that is not perfectly appropriate for the theater's season or ensemble. I'm not AGAINST readings! I just think the relationship should be clear. If the theater is not going to produce the play, or help it be produced elsewhere, then TELL the playwright that rather than send her or him back to endless rewriting.
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The reading July 9 is of: "HELP WANTED: A PERSONAL SEARCH FOR MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT AT THE START OF THE 21ST CENTURY" by Josh Lefkowitz An epic, comic tour-de-force solo performance piece about a young man's discovery of what it means to be an Artist. From Ann Arbor, MI to Washington, DC, from Minneapolis, MN to New York, NY, from parking attendant to actor to astronaut to waiter, Josh Lefkowitz searches for peace of mind, a sense of self, and Spalding Gray.
THE BROOKLYN UNWASHED by Laura Zam A play about rotting fun houses and the wild water that sits just beyond. In 1971, a young father goes to Nathan's Famous, a Coney Island icon, for some French fries and never returns home.
Josh Lefkowitz is an actor, writer, and performer. He has acted with Woolly Mammoth, Center Stage, Signature, and Olney. He has collaborated with Eric Bogosian and Holly Hughes, among others. "Help Wanted" is Josh's first full-length solo show; it received a reading at Center Stage this past February. Laura Zam is a playwright and performer.
I wonder what purpose readings serve. On a basic level, they allow the playwright to hear the words spoken out loud, which is a different experience than just seeing them on the page. Super. But sometimes I've heard playwrights get caught in a loop of endless readings. Note that the first play that Woolly is reading this Saturday has already had a previous reading. At some point, doesn't a theater have some kind of obligation to produce it or cut bait? They form a relationship with the playwright. But if that relationship just consists of having the playwright twist in the wind, re-writing and reading and re-writing, is that a good thing?
Of course, the audience gets a freebie, perhaps a play that is not perfectly appropriate for the theater's season or ensemble. I'm not AGAINST readings! I just think the relationship should be clear. If the theater is not going to produce the play, or help it be produced elsewhere, then TELL the playwright that rather than send her or him back to endless rewriting.
***
The reading July 9 is of: "HELP WANTED: A PERSONAL SEARCH FOR MEANINGFUL EMPLOYMENT AT THE START OF THE 21ST CENTURY" by Josh Lefkowitz An epic, comic tour-de-force solo performance piece about a young man's discovery of what it means to be an Artist. From Ann Arbor, MI to Washington, DC, from Minneapolis, MN to New York, NY, from parking attendant to actor to astronaut to waiter, Josh Lefkowitz searches for peace of mind, a sense of self, and Spalding Gray.
THE BROOKLYN UNWASHED by Laura Zam A play about rotting fun houses and the wild water that sits just beyond. In 1971, a young father goes to Nathan's Famous, a Coney Island icon, for some French fries and never returns home.
Josh Lefkowitz is an actor, writer, and performer. He has acted with Woolly Mammoth, Center Stage, Signature, and Olney. He has collaborated with Eric Bogosian and Holly Hughes, among others. "Help Wanted" is Josh's first full-length solo show; it received a reading at Center Stage this past February. Laura Zam is a playwright and performer.
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Back from the reading. Though Josh Lefkowitz had been given top billing, with reason, we first had to sit through a bunch of disjointed crappy anecdotes about Brooklyn, about which I don't care. The only memorable parts dealt with the word "twat," which is a big word in Brooklyn, apparently, and domestic violence ("if you love someone, you hit them.") I think Woolly owes its audience, even a freebie audience, a more polished work.
Some people left, but I hoped that Josh's work, "Help Wanted: A Personal Search for Meaningful Employment at the Start of the 21st Century" was worth sticking around for, and it was. From the opening scenes as a parking attendant to the final scenes as an aspiring actor and writer, I thought Josh grabbed the audience with authenticity and humor and I wanted more. I was particularly grateful that his life story brought him to DC--to gay DC, black neighborhoods, even the Shakespeare Company's administrative offices, where he demanded an audition. More about DC! Enough about Noo Yawk already! But heck, the whole play could have been him as a parking attendant--that's how strong his acting is.
I guess a reading gives you a hint of what's to come from a promising person like Lefkowitz. As to the first piece, well, there's an audience for anything, I guess.
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Some people left, but I hoped that Josh's work, "Help Wanted: A Personal Search for Meaningful Employment at the Start of the 21st Century" was worth sticking around for, and it was. From the opening scenes as a parking attendant to the final scenes as an aspiring actor and writer, I thought Josh grabbed the audience with authenticity and humor and I wanted more. I was particularly grateful that his life story brought him to DC--to gay DC, black neighborhoods, even the Shakespeare Company's administrative offices, where he demanded an audition. More about DC! Enough about Noo Yawk already! But heck, the whole play could have been him as a parking attendant--that's how strong his acting is.
I guess a reading gives you a hint of what's to come from a promising person like Lefkowitz. As to the first piece, well, there's an audience for anything, I guess.
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