There is something pathetic about reality TV and there is something even more pathetic about me writing about reality TV. However, I think that it can be justified in the same way as certain academics justify pro wrestling or some other “thing” that becomes an art form even as it destroys other art forms.
I am speaking specifically about The Bachelor…and it makes me cringe to do so…it’s reality television, which is a misnomer to be sure. If Theatre and scripted TV are the realm of the director, reality tv is the realm of the editor, and these editors concocted a doozy of a story line with all the characters, twists, and turns you’d want out of a scripted evening soap opera…all without paying actors, writers, or royalties…fantastic.
Dude, Jason, you’re forgetting that you are on TV in a sleep deprived state with semi naked women massaging you…of course when that ends you’re going to be bored…the “relationship will lose its luster.” Do you want a wife or a tv deal?
To any students reading, I think I realize now that I am a true Brechtian. Reality TV is the worst kind of Stanislavskian theatre. It pretends to present naturalism, but in truth is presenting realism, fooling the audience (and “cast”) into believing they are watching/participating in “real life” when in reality they are part of a well-crafted story run by puppet masters. Brecht would show the strings, Stanislavski is content to allow the trickery.
So, my students have started to read this, which means I have to be a little more…oh nothing really. The students who read this are cool with me being me and honestly the me that is me is not that far off from the teacher me, so there you have it. In fact, I only get un-me when confronted with nonsense, which, while it happens on a daily basis, I do tend to shrug off.
Teaching truly rocks. I am so happy, and it’s not that fake sort of supposed to be happy, I am truly happy. I wish you all could have seen the students in Romeo and Juliet. They really pulled it off…AND THEY’RE FRESHMEN!!! I’m starting to imagine Tempest with seniors or the Scottish Play or Richard III. Probably a comedy next year, though, because this year’s shows have been very deep, somber affairs.
Truly, I could bemoan the state of professional theatre in the Bay Area, but why focus on the negative? I’ve got the best job in the world. Demanding? Sure. Frustrating? At times. Always thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful.
Just read a story on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/06/17/holmes.broadway.ap/index.html
I’m not upset that Katie Holmes is going to be on Broadway. I wish her all the best…or would if she and I ever spoke.
What bothers me about this are TICKET PRICES!!!
Come on, people. You’re performing Arthur Miller for God’s sake. You can’t justify the ticket prices with pyrotechnics. Why the hell are you charging this much? Because you can?
Theater, especially Broadway, is becoming the exclusive realm of the wealthy. It shouldn’t be. We need to restore an egalitarianism to the theater if we have any hope of continuing to grow a new generation of theater-goers and theater practitioners.
Put Katie Holmes or Daniel Radcliffe in a play…great.
Sell lots of tickets…great.
Extend the run so that everyone who wants to can see it…great
Or, hmm…let me see…following the course of current Broadway logic: Charge $1000 per seat and get one night’s performance out of it.
Theater is for everyone!
Dear Los Angeles,
Our time was short, but meaningful. In less than a year together, I found you to be a frightful mistress. You mistreated me from the start with a promise from many of your faithful denizens to call me who never did. Then cars broken into, apartments broken, windshields broken, hearts broken.
You made me stronger, though, and you made me realize something that New York never taught me. You taught me that I have to believe in my instincts as an artist. I am not the type of person to sit around and let things happen. I need to take action. I am a man of action with a decent deficiency of patience.
So, LA, it’s time for me to go be an artist on my own terms, and to do art the way that I believe I should. I am moving up north into the arms of a much more loving mother, San Francisco Bay Area, and I’m going to teach, and write, and act, and live life, and love.
It’s hard to say if I’ll miss you when I’m gone, but you don’t hold a candle to New York City. It’s like what they say in the musical City of Angels: “LA, truth to tell, is like a pretty girl with the clap.”
love,
Rob
First, the good. Sophia’s Fall website is launching. Check it out at www.sophiasfall.com. Thank you to all who support my work. There is more brewing. I have plays percolating that are ready to be served up shortly. It is great to feel the creative drive anew.
Second, the wha??
O.k., so I left New York and am pursuing work on my own terms in Los Angeles. What does that mean? Well, I quickly tired of doing shows that I didn’t feel a connection with in the hopes that Guffman would be in the audience. I burnt myself out, I suppose. And now, well, I regularly hear “so sorry that you’re giving up. You were so good.” It is as if I’ve died the artistic death.
Well, it’s not true. I am still artistically very much alive and kicking. In fact, I feel more artistically engaged than I have since I first started out in New York full of possibility and innocence. Doing work on my own terms, creating a life and career around what I believe is important is at least as risky as sitting in NYC or LA waiting tables and praying for an audition. It is proactive.
Part of that life and career will involve teaching. That has always been a passion of mine and is a great way, the best way for me, to earn a living doing something that I love. Making the world a better place is why I got into this business. Creating my own celebrity is not.
The great thing is that teaching encompasses a great deal of what I want to do. It will allow me to direct and write for my job. That will carry over into acting as well, in order to stay fresh with my craft and be a part of new and exciting plays and musicals along side classics.
That’s my line and I’m sticking to it.
It is not my typical MO to question another performer’s talent or ability in any way. However, when a story like this comes my way, it is difficult not to let out a little scream of protest.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/14/people.aiken.ap/index.html
For those of you not in the know, Clay Aiken is going to be in Spamalot…on Broadway. It would be nice to imagine this is some sick Python-esque joke upon a hapless theater-going public (why does a theater-going public always have to be hapless?), but more than likely it is an attempt, like so many shows on Broadway these days, to make an extra buck or bolster diminishing returns on a show that has reached its economic pinnacle and needs to be bled for all its worth. That’s why Scary Spice went into Rent (farewell, by the way, we hardly knew you) and why Huey Lewis went into Chicago as did myriad others in myriad shows.
But there’s something different here. Before, take the Huey Lewis or Scary Spice example, the celebrity fit the milieu of the piece. Here, dare I say it, Clay Aiken is at perfect odds with Monty Python’s sensibilities. He fully admits he doesn’t understand the humor or even like it terribly much nor has he ever really enjoyed acting. I think this will, unfortunately, hurt Spamalot more than help it. John O’Hurley in the Las Vegas company sounds like a great fit, for a counter-example.
It’s bad enough that Clay is putting some poor unknown actor out of work, but more than that, it shows how far commercial theater will go to earn a buck, how willing they are to sacrifice every ounce of integrity. It again reaffirms for me that good art rarely mixes with good profit.
You may say, it’s only a comedy, this isn’t Shakespeare (Clay Aiken as Hamlet, anyone?) but it is Monty Python, which has been very important for me in the development of my sense of humor and my intellect, actually. Where else does Spam mix with Philosophers and questions about the nature of organized religion. Sure, Castle Anthrax is purely juvenile, but what about the discussion between Dennis and Arthur about the different governments? That’s going to drive curious young minds straight to the library.
Clay Aiken, however, makes me want to blow my brains out.
For whatever reason, I have amassed a lot of friends, no, not friends, connections, on Facebook. It’s great, especially reconnecting with those people who I have not seen in over 10 years, most of whom remember me as an awkward, obnoxious little boy. I almost reconnect with them for the sole purpose of somehow communicating through the credentials in my profile. “See, I’m normal…I turned out alright.”
Truth be told, it’s not a collection of friends the way, for example, the block on your street growing up might have been. It is more of a catalog of connection. Everything from “I married this person” straight on down to “I met this person in a chat room yesterday.”
Often times, you don’t even get a note from the person you connect with, or leave a note for them. I think that should be standard Facebook etiquette. If I ask to connect to you, you should send me a note saying hello, and vice versa. That would be nice.
So, if any of my facebook friends, or connections, read this. I’m sorry I didn’t send a note when we first connected, but let’s catch up. There is a great deal of strength to be shared between old friends, and a great deal to learn about each other. I know I was intense, but hey, so were most of you. We have both grown up.