Today I wrote what may be the three most satisfying words a dramatist writes: END OF PLAY. They went on the bottom of page 103 in Scene 12 of a new full-length comedy. (One only hopes...
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 09:30PMImpoverishment is the default condition of most theatre artists, including playwrights, composers and lyricists. Very few make a living from their art and many struggle to make ends meet and…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 07:05PMHow much should playwrights worry about cast size when they write a script? This unsavory question is driven by the economic mess that has imperiled nonprofit theatres in recent decades. Wri…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 10:15PMThe Washington State Lottery identifies the odds of winning its Lotto jackpot as one in 6.99 million. That’s one of 6.99 reasons why I never buy a lottery ticket. The odds of writing a pla…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 03:39PMI have seen many productions of Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya over the years but am not likely to ever experience one with such intimacy as I did recently at Soho Rep in New York. It was...
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 04:41PMCommercial theatre in New York is a financial long shot at the best of times. Only twenty to twenty-five percent of Broadway shows turn a profit. Those odds get a lot longer for straight pla…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 11:34PMWhat are the optimum conditions for creative output, particularly as regards working solo or in a group? (David Licata in a recent post praises artist residencies for the fertile conditions …
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 04:11PM“It’s a strange, compulsive business, the urge to make plays. To act in them, or write ‘em, or produce ‘em. It’s no use appealing to reason.” That’s Henry James counseling a fr…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 02:33PMJohn Hurt, the superb British actor, gave an entertaining and enlightening interview this week on the “Charlie Rose Show.” Hurt is currently appearing in Samuel Beckett’s play Krapp’…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 12:48PMI recently read The Abominable Showman (by Howard Kissel, 1993), a biography of legendary Broadway producer, David Merrick (1911-2000). Merrick was Broadway’s foremost producer in the thir…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 12:30PMA terrific interview with playwright Terrance McNally and actress Tyne Daly (musical Gypsy; television Cagney & Lacey, Judging Amy) recently aired on the Charlie Rose show. The 30-minute…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 10:21AMRoland wrote a short post a couple of weeks ago about an innovative ticket sales strategy at ACT Theatre in Seattle, prompting me to dig deeper. I write regularly about marketing and revenue…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 08:16AMThis week I visited a cherry orchard to experience something I’ve been avoiding. I discovered that it’s actually pretty good. Five years ago the Metropolitan Opera, led by its new and in…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 09:04AMWar Horse and Jerusalem, two plays developed in Britain’s subsidized theatres, received high honors last month at the Tony Awards. Michael Billington is one of England’s foremost drama c…
SOURCE: Extra Criticum at 10:38AM