A Night at the Theater

Hello all,
I hope you are all having a great weekend. I'm having a productive weekend. It's nice to get stuff done. For this week I'm bringing back an old feature so be sure to enjoy.

Life Changing Reads: Theater Edition

Okay, a little autobiography to start us off. Confession time: In high school I was a mega-theater nerd. Yep I couldn't sing or dance, but I could be funny. And do Shakespeare. In the area that I live in we have a pretty vibrant theater community. There's two professional Equity theaters, and a great University theater program, that I go to all the time. Also there's the annual Shakespeare Festival which is not that far away. As a teenager I had a great drama teacher Mr. Newman who encouraged us to see professional theater as much as we could. He set up a program where we could see plays after school or on Saturdays with discounted tickets. I saw so many amazing plays this way some of them listed below.

However I do still have to wait a few years before I get the chance to see new plays. So I often, especially as a teenager, would end up reading plays. I know that plays are meant to be performed not read, but that isn't always an option. As I read the play I would often imagine the action. I would check the cast lists up front and see what actors had played it on the stage. Then I would cast the show in my head as I read it. Sometimes this was all I could do. Reading Doubt: A Parable this week (review forthcoming) I thought back to some other great plays that are immensely readable. These plays are so complex that I think I have benefited from reading the people in addition to seeing them performed.

1. Angels in America: Millenium Approaches & Perestroika by Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner's epic two part saga blew my mind when I read it in 1995. I won't lie I had heard about the play become it had LDS characters. Living in a LDS community I naturally drift toward anything with Mormons in it. This is why I love HBO's Big Love. Anyway I was deeply influenced by Kushner's compassion for his characters. Even the flawed individuals like Joe Pitt and Louis Ironson. Prior Walter's journey through love and pain is amazing. Also I was captured by his version of the cellestial and religious faith.

2. Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
I first heard of Tom Stoppard when I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1991. Yes I was oddly precocious at age 12. I picked up Arcadia off the library shelf at the original Main Library on the second floor. I had no idea what this play Arcadia was about. I ended up devouring the play over the course of 3 days and then I read it again. On the first read thru I knew that I didn't understand it all. Yet I was compelled by the surprising/unexpected ending to instantly read it again. Stoppard, at his best, is a writer whose character's are in a battle between the emotional and rational. Septimus/Thomasina, and their counterparts Hannah/Bernard, engage in philosophical arguments that create the conflict of the play. There aren't any explosions, or silly romantic entanglements, just the age-old argument: What should we follow? Head or Heart? This is a common theme in his work and is also at the heart of Coast of Utopia. I think his plays need to be read, in addition to being seen, in order to get the whole picture.

3. Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill
I saw a production of this play when I was senior in high school. The production was 4 hours and I saw it as a chance to test my endurance. The play is four hours of intense family dysfunction played out by four characters over the course of a day. And it is amazing. Somewhat autobiographical, this play is raw and honest. It feels like the audience is the fly on the wall as this family falls apart. Now if you are not up to a long night at the theater then reading the play is a great alternative. You can take a break in between monologues. O'Neill takes the time to show us everything good and bad about this family. I saw a little bit of myself in every character. And I also realized how lucky I am not to be a Tyrone.

So if you get the chance check these plays out. Have a great weekend! Book Slave.