EXTRA CRITICUM

How Should We Evaluate New Scripts?

Jay Raskolnikov has a great post on what criteria he uses when reading new plays. I think his list is pretty good. Check it out.

Of course, it got me thinking about the same question. How do I evaluate new plays?

Critic on the Spot: Leonard Jacobs v.4

Leonard Jacobs, National Theatre Editor and theatre critic for Back Stage and New York Press, is also the mind behind the popular theatre blog, Clyd Fitch Report. Brave soul that he is, Leonard agreed to be our first "Critic on the Spot" by fielding questions from some of our Extra Criticum authors.

Every few days, we'll post a new Q&A between Leonard and one of us. Here's #4 in our series, this one from David Licata.

A Girl and Her Guitar

So I’ve been in Germany a little over three weeks and I am a little chagrined that my first letter from Berlin—actually my first non-comment posting here at EC—is not about something appropriately continental and cutting-edge like, for example, the twentieth annual “Tanz im August” international dance festival (ending 8/31), the exhaustive Man Ray exhibition (closed 8/18) or even the local response to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which opened here last week. No, dear friends, my first dispatch concerns the antics this past evening of a 50-year-old Italian-American relic of the 20th Century, whom I shelled out my hard-earned Euros to watch cavorting half-naked at the same stadium where Jesse Owens (whom I played here in a 1987 Anne Bogart-directed spectacle in honor of the city’s 750th anniversary) upset the Führer so much in 1936. And he was half-naked, too… (Jesse, of course, not Hitler.)

Yes, last night Madonna brought her “Sticky & Sweet” tour to Berlin’s Olympiastadion. Triumph of the will, indeed.

Vote for the "We Pedal Uphill" Poster Image

Okay, so I need your help, kids. The powers that be have narrowed it down to two possible images to use for the poster of my film, We Pedal Uphill, which will be released later this year. I figured I'd try polling our savvy Extra Criticum readers as to which image you find more arresting. In brief, We Pedal Uphill paints a sobering portrait of a country at odds with itself—America, post-911.

A.                                            B.
    

Please post comment here and share your thoughts on these two images.

Thanks!

Director Calls Himself a Whore

This item caught my eye from Today's New York Times:

Critics may not be allowed an early peek at 20th Century Fox’s “Babylon A.D.,” but one person close to the film has already given his assessment. In an interview with AMCtv.com, the movie’s director, Mathieu Kassovitz, called the film “pure violence and stupidity,” Variety reported. Mr. Kassovitz, who also directed “Gothika” and appeared in “Amélie,” apparently delayed production on “Babylon A.D.” for three weeks for personal reasons. He also failed to meet many press obligations, according to the studio. The film includes Gérard Depardieu and Vin Diesel. Mr. Kassovitz said in the interview that parts of the movie resembled “a bad episode of ‘24.’ ” Fox declined to comment on Mr. Kassovitz’s remarks, but did say that it was still planning to release the film in the United States on Friday.

You gotta love a guy who's willing to put it out there like that. Of course, it does beg the question: "Did somebody put a gun to your head and force you to accept this job?"

$146,500 for a Development Consultant?!

Picture this. You're sitting in an Off-Broadway or regional non-profit theatre waiting for the premiere of a new play to begin. The house lights dim and a spot comes up on the stage, into which steps the visionary Artistic Director of this company.

He or she makes a warm and humor-laced introduction, graciously expressing appreciation for the work you are about to see and its great cultural worth. Somewhere during this curtain speech there will be an appeal to give. This is, after all a non-profit theatre company and, as we are frequently reminded, ticket sales generally don't cover more than 30% of expenses, if that.

Critic on the Spot: Leonard Jacobs v.3

Leonard Jacobs, National Theatre Editor and theatre critic for Back Stage and New York Press, is also the mind behind the popular theatre blog, Clyd Fitch Report. Brave soul that he is, Leonard agreed to be our first "Critic on the Spot" by fielding questions from some of our Extra Criticum authors.

Every few days, we'll post a new Q&A between Leonard and one of us. Here's #3 in our series, this one from Robert David Sullivan.

Show, don't tell

The director of ABC News could use a Playwriting 101 course. During last night's coverage of the Democratic Convention, the talking heads took a detour from their banal analysis to note that the speech of Gov. Brian Schweitzer, going on at that very moment, was one of the best so far. The text was direct, the delivery was forceful, and the audience was responding with great enthusiasm.

It would have been nice if they had let us hear the speech.

Critic on the Spot: Leonard Jacobs v.2

Leonard Jacobs, National Theatre Editor and theatre critic for Back Stage and New York Press, is also the mind behind the popular theatre blog, Clyd Fitch Report. Brave soul that he is, Leonard agreed to be our first "Critic on the Spot" by fielding questions from some of our Extra Criticum authors.

Every few days, we'll post a new Q&A between Leonard and one of us. Here's #2 in our series, this one from Andrew Altenburg.

The Whole Picture

I’ll admit it. I’m a channel-changer. While I’m not the type that has to constantly scroll through all the channels in order to find a thirty second bit that he likes before moving on to the next channel, when it comes to big news events like this week's Democratic National Convention, I channel change a lot in order to try to get a variety of viewpoints (usually the motivation for a new channel is when my blood starts boiling at some inept analysis).

So it happened that last night I ended up toggling between Thirteen’s (where I work during the day) coverage and MSNBC.

That Dorothy Parker—Extended!

Congratulations to Carol Lempert, writer and performer of That Dorothy Parker and her director (and E.C. pal) Janice Goldberg. Their show has been selected by this year's New York Int'l Fringe Festival for their Fringe Encore Series.

Here's a brief 411:

Street Theatre: Is the dramatic template for this election "The West Wing" or "Amadeus"?

Steve Benen notes that Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as a running mate only adds to the eerie similarities between real life and The West Wing (and real life again):

Everyone remembers the seventh season of "The West Wing," right? A young, charismatic, relatively inexperienced member of Congress, who happens to be part of a minority group, endures through a lengthy and contentious Democratic primary season, and defies the odds against a better known and better tested party favorite to win the nomination. Waiting for him is an older Republican senator from out west, who's occasionally rankled various constituencies in his own party.

Critic on the Spot: Leonard Jacobs v.1

Leonard Jacobs, National Theatre Editor and theatre critic for Back Stage and New York Press, is also the mind behind the popular theatre blog, Clyd Fitch Report. Brave soul that he is, Leonard agreed to be our first "Critic on the Spot" by fielding questions from some of our Extra Criticum authors.

Every few days, we'll post a new Q&A between Leonard and one of us. Here's the first, from John Yearley.

Are Soaps Dead? I'm Not Sure, But Pass The Vicodin

First, the bad news. The dentist said I would have to have two teeth removed...root canal and then ... a bone graft.

A what? What the hell is ... a bone graft? Well, truth be told, I could go into detail. But I wont. Let's just say, it's as hideous and painful as it sounds. More bad news. Out of pocket, even with insurance...this little trip to the dentist was going to cost me $2,000 (well, actually $1904, but why quibble?) As a journalist, $200 would have been a lot...but $2,000? Kill me now. It gets worse. On the way back from said dentist, my car died.

In years gone past, I would have greeted such a day with "Oh well, that's life." I might have even drowned my sorrows in some booze, but I don't drink (as a journalist, I did enough imbibing in the 80s). Ah, I know...soap operas! The old standby. When you're having a piss-poor, miserable, are-you-kidding-me? kinda day, nothing is -- or should I say was -- better than getting lost in a couple of daytime dramas.

Performance

In the past week I have seen some great performances, not on stage but on canvas and paper.The performances on paper are by Philip Guston at the Morgan Library and those on canvas are by Kirchner in the current MoMA show, Kirchner and the Berlin Street.

My intention in mentioning these artists is not to comment on their work, but to point out that as I see it every time an artist of any kind creates something and there is a potential audience for it, it is a performance.