EXTRA CRITICUM

Vanda is like a River...(even though I liked the original title better)

I've been stuck at home all week with that sinus thingie...you know what I'm snifflin' about, and one of the most frustrating things about it is that I haven't had a chance to get out to the EATfest.

I'm a proud member of Emerging Artists Theatre, and a fan of a lot of the individual playwrights. The play I'm FINALLY getting to see this weekend is Vanda's Memory River. Vanda's work in the last several years has focused mostly on period pieces in which unexplored/secret lesbian histories are dramatized, or look at a particular part of history through lesbian eyes.

A Shout Out to Carl Theodor Dreyer

I will make this brief, as it is a shameless plug for someone who has been dead for 40 years.

BAM, in their infinite wisdom, is having a festival devoted to the works of the great Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer. Foremost among these works is The Passion of Joan of Arc. It is a silent film from 1928 about the trial and execution of (you guessed it!) Joan of Arc.

A SHAMEless plug for my show--On The Night of Anthony's 30 Birthday Party...Again

My play On The Night of Anthony's 30^th Birthday Party…Again has gone into rehearsals, and I'm very excited.  See info below:

Make Me Whole (my piece in Where Eagles Dare One Page Play Festival)

February has been quite a month for me.  I was asked to participate in the documentary "ENVY" as one of 16 performers each telling a 90 second monologue re: an envious moment in our lives and now this.  Well hey, it's nice to have back to back projects going on, I believe it's a sign of things to come (looking at the glass half full?  Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?)  It's a fun little project and my piece is being directed by my friend and talented ex-Theatersports member, STOMP performer,etc. Peter-Michael Marino.  Hope you can make it.

Missing Blossom Dearie

News of the death of Blossom Dearie made its way to my INBox this week and I've been missing her ever since. In fact the whole week has been colored by fragments of her tunes sung in that unmistakable teensy canary pitch-perfect voice dancing around inside my head.

I remember the first time my friend Martin took me to hear her perform at Danny's Skylight Lounge and Seafood Bar. This was one of those quintessentially New York venues that somehow managed to be both a quaint little hole-in-the-wall and a serious destination for the cognoscenti. The room sat maybe 50, if that, but I'll never forget the way Blossom strode up onto the stage, taking her position at the baby grand with a confidence and a seriousness of purpose suitable to Carnegie Hall.

A Good Night

It’s hard to be a good writer. It’s hard to be a good daddy, too. I usually feel that I am failing at one of them. Sometimes, I feel like I’m failing at both.

I have never been someone who spends a great deal of time writing. I write for about two hours at a stretch, usually twice a week. What allows that system to work is that I am writing all the time in my head. The writing pot simmers at the back of my consciousness all the livelong day. So when I sit down to write, it’s mostly done. I just have to work it out technically and get it on the page.

Critic on the Spot: Mixed Roots Festival Directors v.3

Putting a new spin on our Critic on the Spot series, this week we feature an ongoing exchange with festival co-directors Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox because, let's face it, the gatekeepers are critics at heart. Aren't they?

We wrap up this exchange with two questions from Andrew Altenburg and Rolando Teco.

Critic on the Spot: Mixed Roots Festival Directors v.2

Putting a new spin on our Critic on the Spot series, this week we feature an ongoing exchange with festival co-directors Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox because, let's face it, the gatekeepers are critics at heart. Aren't they?

Let's see... Here's a question from Alan Carter.

New Opening Date for We Pedal Uphill - Mar. 20

The opening date for We Pedal Uphill (Stories from the States) has just been set for Friday, March 20th. Hope all my E.C. pals will mark their calendars and show us the love with their twelve bucks. The film has been a labor of love and blood, sweat and tears... 3 years in the making, featuing some of my favorite actors in the whole wide world. It's gonna run at the Cinema Village for ONE WEEK ONLY, so plan ahead.

Here's the trailer (takes 30sec. to load):

Critic on the Spot: Mixed Roots Festival Directors v.1

Putting a new spin on our Critic on the Spot series, this week we feature an ongoing exchange with festival co-directors Heidi Durrow and Fanshen Cox because, let's face it, the gatekeepers are critics at heart. Aren't they?

Let's see... First up to query Heidi and Fanshen are Rolando Teco and David Licata: