I am not criticizing Peter Marks!

Let me say first, I know Peter and I find him to be a fair judge and he has always been very nice to me. Ok, he was very nice to me once, and I know he desires to see the smaller theatres thrive in Washington. Ok, so I am Biased, at least I admitted it.

MB alerted me to this article by Peter Marks in last Sundays paper. So finally Peter has stumbled on to the question that every theatre artist asks themselves after getting settled in Washington. Where is the political theatre?

The banter about it from a collage of artistic directors tells the same tale we've all heard...no one wants to see political theatre in this town, because that’s what they do all day. Ok, point taken. I'm sure if I had a job as a singing nanny, hunchbacked king, or...um...cat, I would not want to see my every day on stage.

Here is the thing, theatre and politics are about the same thing, ideas. People come at ideas from different perspectives, they try new things, they try old things a new way, they try old things the same way, tasteful, distasteful, and even fingernails on the chalkboard bad. Theatre has these traits too :)

Could it be that only Aaron Sorkin can make politics as play palatable for politicos? (Let me recover from that alliteration for a second.) Perhaps the theatre community and the think tanks/lobbyists/staffers should get together and inform each other.

I know what you’re thinking,” but then we have to talk to republicans!" Yes, this is true, but we need to anyway. These poor people are being held hostage by a radical fascist leadership - the need some art. They need to be encouraged to question there leaders, even if they are doing so from the opposite wing. We as theatre artist have pushed republicans out of the theatre, (that and their own issues with homosexuality, but that is their own ignorant fault...whoops...suppose to be building bridges) at least I know that I have, but then again, they do have the entire corporate media at their disposal.

Here is the weird thing, Peter is wrong. He just doesn't know where to look. I have directed 4 political plays in Washington over the past 3 years, been in as many, and the best show in Washington this season was Don Juan(which is you didn't see is a shame, it really was good, best I've seen in years...including Tony vacuum Long Days Journey.) And they don't always have poor ticket sales, Bright Room Called Day sold very well, at or near capacity every night.

Perhaps we must look deeper at the political material we select. Satire would seem to me to be the best way to go, everyone likes funny. Farce as well, French doors and banana peels...republicans love a good slip on a banana peel gag. And, for Christ’s sake, mix it up a bit. We have plenty of horrible things to say about the left too don't we? I mean, can we make fun of a party whose biggest rising star was the son of a goat herder? And lets face it, we need to take it upon ourselves to do this because...well...republicans aren’t funny. Sorry guys, stick to war movies and TV about terrorism.

"But Hairy Ape," you might say," what about Drew Carrey, Ben Stein, and Dennis Miller? They seem funny." You have bad taste and are easily amused by fart jokes. Ok, that was mean. The reality is that some scientists have proven that these republican humorists are in fact...not funny. You can look it up. But I imagine a viewing of Miller's show in CNBC, any episode of the cleverly named Drew Carey Show, or anything Ben Stein did after Ferris Bueller (you don't think he wrote that bit himself do you) will prove the work of these humorologists.

So here is the deal. We let you in, you buy tickets. You help us understand the nuance of politics; we help you to be funny. The gay stuff you are going to have to work on, but we might be convinced to let you bring your guns...as long as you’re using them to protect patron’s cars while they watch the show.