All the Blessings of a Glad Father

I have been asked on more than one occasion over the last three months, “Why The Tempest?”

The first impulse, and the most superficial, came while directing Macbeth for Socrates Sculpture Park’s Halloween Harvest Festival. If you have ever been out to Socrates, you are no doubt aware of the unique design of their cobblestone stage. As wonderful as that performance space was in the role of Macbeth’s the blasted heath, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be even better standing in for Prospero’s not so deserted island.

Beyond that impulse, the compelling reason to produce The Tempest for me is Prospero’s relationship with his daughter. It is because of his tenderness and care with Miranda that Playlab NYC celebrates Father’s Day with The Tempest.

Shakespeare’s plays are filled with fathers. In Linda E. Boose’s article “The Father and the Bride in Shakespeare,” she points out that fathers and sons appear in the action of twenty-three of the plays in the canon, and fathers and daughters in twenty-one. Unfortunately few of Will’s patriarchs are deserving of neckties or homemade ashtrays. Oh sure, we hear wonderful things said about King Hamlet, but none of the dead king’s actions on stage amount to much more than, “Me, me, me.” No one wants to be a stepchild in the household of Titus Andronicus. And the less said about Lear’s parenting skills the better.

But in The Tempest, we have a father who genuinely cares for his child’s well-being. Prospero has his faults of course, which parent among us doesn’t. Like Shakespeare’s famous magician, I’m not always very patient with my two-year-old, and I worry that my son isn’t listening to me as closely as he should. Between you and me, I too look forward to my child’s nap time so that I can plot revenge with my imaginary friends. As a father though, I would certainly use all the power at my command to see to my son’s education and happiness.

Prospero’s character lapses never get in the way of his relationship to his daughter. He tells Miranda early in the play, “I have done nothing but in care of thee.” As an audience we never are given reason to doubt him. Prospero is the most successful parent of all of Shakespeare’s fathers. I hope that you will come out and join our celebration of dads this Father’s Day weekend.

A Decided Loss

In New York, there seems to be a variety of theater companies reviving plays or musicals that have fallen into neglect. The Mint Theater Company and Musicals Tonight! are not only two such organizations, they are probably the most dedicated to preserving forgotten works.

Both the Mint and Musicals Tonight! have done award-winning work when it comes to unearthing lost treasures of our theatrical heritage. I find it unlikely that David Mamet would have adapted Harley Granville-Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance if it hadn’t been one of the Mint Theater’s many successes. And I will take the Equity Showcase Code presentations of Musicals Tonight! over City Center’s Encores! series any day. Whereas Encores! feels that Hair is a neglected show, Musicals Tonight! is bringing affordable presentations of lesser-known works by Irving Berlin, Rogers & Hart, and Victor Herbert to audiences again.

That said, from time to time I have come across scripts or references to some neglected little theatrical bauble, and I say, "Wow, I would like to see that on stage." And the person next to me usually says, "Did you say something to me?"

E. E. Cummings’ play HIM, Offenbach's Le voyage dans la lune, Dion Boucicalt's play Vampire, and Victor Herbert's adaptation of Little Nemo in Slumberland are the ones that immediately spring to my mind. But the one that calls to me the strongest is Professor Ralph’s Loss of Breath.

Like the Cummings play, I came across Loss of Breath in the Dunbar Library while attending Wright State University. On the third floor was the collection of plays. A collection that was such a mess you could never find anything for which you were actually looking. The only way to make use of your time, trying to find scenes for class work, was to sit on the floor and immerse yourself in the stacks. I confess that I spent a lot of time and money at the library’s copiers with out of print books, making myself whole copies.

Seventeen years later and I continue to be so tickled by the Professor’s puppet show, that I have been working for the last year to adapt it into a live action theater show. If you ask me Playlab NYC’s first toe in the water as a company was the two weeks in March that I was able to spend with my friends John Pieza and Todd Courson working on the text. Having the luxury to play with not only the original text of Poe’s short story, but also my photocopy of the original puppet script from WSU as well. I am indebted to John and Todd.

I hope that if you ever find yourself in Dayton, Ohio with a couple of hours on your hands that you will go to the Wright State Library and seek out Professor Ralph’s forgotten treasure.

Adventures in Theatrical Piracy!

Have you always wanted to shout insults at some poor Blockhead? Always wanted to allow friends to trash your living room? Maybe you should throw your very own “It’s a Rocky Horror Christmas, Charlie Brown!” party.

RHXCB was born out of a mistaken belief that everyone in America, nay in the world (!) knew the perennial Peanuts holiday special. Backwards AND forwards. I have since been surprised to learn that I am the only one with the cartoon dialogue on vinyl, and the only one who spent their childhood listening to it year round much to the chagrin of my sister, who to this day won’t even let her own children watch the special for fear that they’ll want an aluminum Christmas tree.

I also have a strong belief that “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has a number of things in common with The Rocky Horror Picture Show; a dance number that everyone knows, a floor show, and most importantly slowly paced dialogue with odd pauses that were ideal for audience partici—pation.

Looking at RHPS it always seemed to me that there were essentially five different kinds of audience participation.

1. The use of props
2. Talking back to the screen
4. Some mild virgin hazing
5. Acting out the action in front of the screen

So I took these five points and applied them to Charlie Brown. Throwing foam packing peanuts and pine needles, reciting the story of the first Christmas with Linus, decorating a virgin as a Christmas tree at the finale, and a lot of yelling at the TV.

Because I figured he would get a chuckle out of it I shared my audience participation with a friend of mine. He ended up asking if he could use the Charlie Brown mash-up as a kind of party game. His idea was the TV special was just short enough for the joke to not wear out its welcome.

To say my friend takes everything way too seriously, would be an understatement. One of the things I point to as proof of him over-thinking everything is that he actually did a workshop of my "script," and then gave me notes!

The first year my friend, Kevin hosted the party, he told me eight people were there. And four of them lived in his apartment at the time!

This is, I think, a picture from the second year Kevin and his wife Jennifer tried to host the party.

They sent me a copy of this when they wanted to convince me to come out and help them host the party. If I remember correctly there is a picture from a different angle showing them watching Food Network? Needless to say after I got done laughing at them, I agreed to come help them with the party.

Now I don’t want to brag, but this is what the party looks like when I am there to help out.


So if you run into Kevin or myself ask us about getting the instructions on how to host your own party! Also if you are a member of Facebook, you can check out the "It's a Rocky Horror Christmas, Charlie Brown!" fan page.

An Attitude of Gratitude

As Playlab NYC launches, I think that it is important that we thank Kate Gibson. Kate is the Executive Director of The Red Door Theatre Company, a company she founded two years ago. Red Door is dedicated to providing opportunities for theater artists, at various stages in their careers, and to producing shows in a risk free environment. She has been working hard over these last couple of years to create a supportive, creative community for the people that have joined her at the Red Door.

I first met Kate eight years ago when she came to assist at Professional Artists, a talent agency where I was working as an agent. And in 2001 just before she went to grad school, I had the opportunity to direct her in the role of Grace Galt in Emma and Company at the Wings Theater.

Last August, The Red Door Theatre Company was preparing to present Macbeth as a part of the Halloween Harvest Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park. When she lost her director, Kate asked if I would be interested in directing. I was flattered and the experience was a needed kick in the creative pants.

It was while working on Macbeth that I thought The Tempest would be an excellent choice for the stage at the Sculpture Park. It was during rehearsals that Kate introduced me to Kyle Grant who joined the show as my assistant director and stage manager. Kyle will be directing our maiden production. Through Kate’s efforts at building her creative community I was able to meet many talented people some of whom I hope you will have the chance to see in our own Playlab NYC productions.

So thank you Kate.

I encourage you to take a moment to see what The Red Door Theatre Company is up to.

Welcome!

Kevin and I have been thinking about this venture for a long time. We started talking more seriously last year. Kevin was directing an outdoor performance and he asked me to help him coordinate the props and costumes. After the project was over we realize that we work well together. As we were watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV, we decided that 2008 would be the year for us to get our act together and get this theater started.

We will be starting with Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I hope that this show will set the tone for years to come.

So here we are, we hope you enjoy watching our theater grow as much as we will.