You Reap...

Oh Scott McClellan, how I have missed you. So odd that I placed you prominently on the "Wanted for Lying" board in my production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist, isn't it. And now your finally ready to just come out with it and admit that you are a lying bastard. Or, rather, that at least the president is a lying bastard.

One would think that I would be jumping up and down with glee at such a defection - alas, no. Scott McClellan is just as much a a two bit coward now as he was when he was the White House Press Secretary. If indeed he harbored the feelings he professes now, and did nothing about them - I'm afraid he's still the traitor I believed him to be back then, and perhaps a worse one.

The Iraq War exists purely because of the cowardliness of government officials serving from the year 2001 to 2004, members of the media working on the story from 2001 to 2004, and any voting adult alive in the country between 2001 and 2004. While I do take solace in yet another confirmation that the man currently occupying the White House is an utter moron - Scott McClellan's book does not vindicate anyone - or rather the reports of what he reveals in his book, I have not read said book.

One interesting poll I saw online today had a 62% to 38% inclination toward believing McClellan over Bush. Wow, that is bad. So I guess for me all of these revelations (which I had believed to be true for years prior to this books publication) are not the story and not encouraging. It's that the man in charge has fallen so far that not only would a former staffer, with whom he had a long and close relationship, throw the president under the bus; to add insult to injury, everyone thinks the guy trying to sell books is more credible.

Ahhhhh, justice.

They will be back next year

People who have theater companies, attention please. You need to know this. Do not, I repeat, do not plan your biggest and coolest thing yet for a presidential election year in Washington. No one goes to the theater in a presidential election year in this town. This is my third since I have been living here, and I am sick of every four years getting a thousand emails to please help fill the seats at a thousand different shows.

It's not the theater regulars that stop coming, it's, well everyone else. Your not doing anything wrong, other than mounting a big production in a year you should mount a small one. Normal people stop coming to the theater because there is better theater on MSNBC and CNN. Lawyers are working on campaigns, staffers are working on campaigns, retires are working on campaigns...everyone is working on campaigns. Thats what make the economy of this city go, and that is what is going to happen here every four years, period. Plan for it. Take it into account. If someone you know is starting a theater company, tell them not forget that DC has no audience in a presidential election year. Stop the madness.

Thank you.

Time for a Cutain Call

I have been inundated with commentary as of late, as to the validity of the two remaining Democratic candidates for president. This is how it is right now, and don't just shrug this off if you are not a basketball fan - it really is a good analogy. For those who do not know, in the NBA the Western Conference is vastly superior to the Eastern Conference. It has been this way for the past 8 years or so. For example: the 8th seed in the west had a record of 50 and 32, while the 8th seed in the east finished the season at 37 and 45. The Democratic Party is the Western Conference in this election cycle. Everyone has their favorite, but the reality is that the West will be the superior team when the finals come around.

Now there are a few things that can change that. In the NBA it's usually injury - just like Senator Clinton is trying to do to Senator Obama - she's trying to beat him up, so that she is seen as the stronger candidate. The problem for the Senator from New York is that for every blow she strikes, she ends up giving herself two. Just ask the Washington Wizards how that worked out this year (4-2 loss in case you weren't following.)

I have been sent editorials on sexism in the media/campaigns and racism in the media/campaigns, and you know what - they are both there. Hell, you could throw in ageism too. None of this is pretty - though the ageism is pretty funny stuff. But is it worse that the pro-moron bias of the past 8 years. Isn't this what we Americans seem to think "debate" is in our name-calling society?

Now back to my point. there is no "better" Democratic Candidate for the fall, just the one that wins. That is going to be Senator Obama. They say there are no second acts in politics - but that has obviously not been true this year. Senator McCain is going strong in his second act, and Senator Clinton is pushing her third act. Thing is, I think Americans are one act and two act play people. They really prefer the one act - it's shorter, cleaner, and when the curtain falls you go out drinking. They can take a two act play, especially if the theatre sells beer at intermission - but when its three + act's - most head for the doors during the intermission(s.)

Sometimes, you just have to take your bow and let the show close is my point - even if you think it was the better show - cause unfortunately for you, the better show is the one that sells more tickets...even if you think your art is better. So, Senator Clinton, take a step out on the stage and show us some statesmanship, or else you are really in danger of being that bitter kind of person that you claimed Senator Obama should not have described.

Masks On

So I've been teaching. The idea of me teaching the youth of America might seem like a gross miscalculation on the part of educators - but since they are international students, America's education system is not to be faulted - for that.

I teach Commedia dell Arte, the old Italian style. I had the good fortune to be taught the style in college - not by faculty, but our company manager brought in teachers from Hartford. I performed Arrlechino and random zanni's for 2 1/2 years both on campus and the streets of DC - literally the streets.

So I had 7 kids for a three session master class. Normally I just go in a teach them as much as I can in one session, culminating in some basic lassi at the end. But their teacher asked for more - and I obliged.

I'll skip the day by day and just say that we were able to put together a full scenario, about 20 minutes that had their teacher and myself falling out of our chairs. It was mostly about impotence - a great subject for commedia - and the the word "pre-dick-ament" played a large role. Also the female pantalone was wearing very short shorts under her cape that made it seem as though pantalone had forgotten to wear pants - really hysterical.

My own company took several months to put together our first scenario - granted it was about an hour long, and was very complex, but I still marveled at what these kids were able to accomplish with just a few sessions. Of course they are not ready for a real performance, we could have spent months on the precision of the movement, but the way they gave into the ideas, the spirit, and the commitment it takes to pull this kind of theatre off really made me feel good about myself from an artistic stand point for the first time in a while.