Congrats to Mike Daisey on this terrific review of his show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” which plays Berkeley Rep through the 27th. As a member of that Apple religion, and someone who has started to consider nailing some questions to the church door, I would very much like to see this show. A quick review of my schedule shows that a trip to the Bay Area isn’t possible between now and then, so I hope this is coming to LA.
To tackle one of the statements that Daisey seems to be making in this show — that we have already become “cyborgs” because of our constant attachment to the internet — I think that’s right. And I’m not sure it’s a bad thing. It gives more people more access to information than ever before, which is theoretically the goal of the enlightened intelligentsia. And given recent history, it seems effective in toppling dictators very quickly.
Here’s a nice profile of the screenwriter behind “The King’s Speech,” who, it turns out, has suffered from stuttering his entire life. Before reading this, I couldn’t relate to the idea of dreading attending awards shows because he might have to stand up and say a few words, but I sure can now. I went to high school with a stutterer, a nice kid named Paul Mosetti. We were friendly, but not the closest of friends, and I graduated more than 30 years ago. So why can I remember his name? Because one time in front of everyone I called him “Paul M-m-m-m-m-m-mosetti.” I still regret that.
When his Tonight Show gig was falling apart, I became one of those millions who started to watch Conan O’Brien. I had never been much of a fan, and I didn’t like his Tonight Show gig at all in the first episode or two that I watched after its debut. But that final week or two had me, and a lot of people, evaluating. As I noted at the time, angry = funny.
As this extremely interesting piece from Fortune points out, O’Brien was the beneficiary of very new tools of his trade: Twitter and Facebook, among others. Purely by luck, he was able to surf the sort of social-media tidal wave that swamped Hosni Mubarak last week. Everywhere we look, whether it’s on shirtless Congressmen on Craigslist or hapless television executives, the impact of new media has just started to be felt. These are the early days, and we haven’t figured out anywhere near what we think we have. Welcome to Gutenberg 2.0.
When you work in theatre in Los Angeles, you sometimes get to meet people you grew up watching on TV. Betty Garrett, who died yesterday at the age of 91, was someone I saw on “All in the Family” and “Laverne & Shirley” when I was a kid. Before that, she was better known as a leading lady starring alongside the likes of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. I didn’t know Betty well, but she was such a visible part of the Los Angeles theatre community for so long that I think some of us assumed she would always be here; at least, I made that assumption. I remember once going to some bizarre theatre thing outdoors at Griffith Park and sitting on the lawn — near Betty Garrett and near Marion Ross. She was one of the presenters and an awardee for an awards show I did (and now I find I’m sadly fuzzy on the details), and I saw her many times at Theatre West, where she was a founder and a performer, and elsewhere around town. What I remember most about her is her sense of fun and optimism. Ninety-one years is a good long time to live, and it seems she lived it well, but I’m sad that we won’t get to run into her any more in our theatres.
Here’s a montage that the fine people at Theatre West put together last year, in honor of Betty Garrett’s 90th birthday.
To quote my friend Terence Anthony, “Imagine how shitty life under Mubarak must’ve been for people to get this hyped over a military coup.” Precisely. It’s hard to get thrilled when the military assumes power. On the other hand, if Dick Cheney goes out of his way to praise you as an ally, as he did with Mubarak, I need you to go.
For one day only, Saturday March 5th, my esteemed playwright pal Trey Nichols and I are offering “The One-Day New Play Playwriting Workshop” at a theatre in Hollywood. It’s a fundraiser for Moving Arts, the theatre we’ve been associated with since… well, almost since before the dawn of the modern age of drama. (Which in our case would be the early 1990’s.) Here’s more info.
In just one day, we’ll cover a lot of ground about writing plays that scintillate, you’ll get to do plenty of loose and fun playwriting on the spot, and you’ll leave with the makings of a short play — which will be read by really good actors we’re going to personally shanghai into doing this.
Should you sign up to come do this? Hell yes. We’re serving breakfast and lunch, you’ll hear your pages read by professional actors, we’ve got 20 years’ experience teaching playwriting, and we’ll do our best not to be boring. (And it’s for a good cause: the event benefits a theatre donated 100% to doing new plays by emerging playwrights.) Never written a play before? Give us the day, and we’ll change that for you. Written plenty of plays, but ready for something different? We can handle that too. Just bring your laptop. And yes, Angelenos: There is plenty of free parking. Here’s everything you need to know.
As part of cost-cutting measures, the BBC announced last month that they would cease 172 websites — not just allowing them to go dormant, but deleting them. Now an outraged online citizen has revealed how little the BBC is saving in deleting those sites by archiving them all himself — at a cost of about $3.99.
