This week, I had the pleasure of seeing parts 1 & 3 of The Great Game, the 3-part series developed by Nicholas Kent for the Tricycle Theatre and now playing at the Skirball Center at NYU (I hope to catch part 2, since some of my favorite playwrights have their plays in that batch) It’s 12 one act plays performed chronologically with snippets of verbatim statements about Afghanistan. The first part covers 1842 through 1920, the second part 1979-1996 and the third part 1996-2010. What’s most striking about the piece is the scope of the project and the range of the actors. It’s a true force of nature that lives up to its ambition, while entertaining and education the audience. Marathon shows can be difficult to endure, but there is a great reward to experiencing these plays and understanding both the relationship between Afghanistan and the West and the relationship that artists have to Afghanistan (as you enter the theatre there is a small bazaar with rugs and crafts for sale). Some of the plays end abruptly (short plays about big ideas are very hard to write), some of them mimic one another (the first play and the last play are poignant bookends), but in all, they are an example of some of the best political playwrights at the top of their game writing some very timely theatre. Which begs the question (again): where are the American playwrights and directors doing these kinds of pieces?
Archive for December, 2010
There’s a certain frustrating paradox in being a playwright. One that requires a very specific alchemy in order to get the sort of recognition that people hope for. Before I thought it was finding a way to get things produced that was the problem, but now that seems like the least of my worries. Now I think about whether I need an agent, whether I need to do another mass mailing of submissions (the last time I did that was about 4 years ago and I’ve written about 4 full-length plays since), how to break through a little further into the realm of just being on people’s radar. Throw the question of grad school into the mix and it’s a very daunting task. And one that I think I respond to just by coming up with more and more ideas for new plays. The problem with that, of course, is that new plays are great as long as you finish them. But how can you finish them without hearing them read, seeing a reading or production and then revising?And then at that point, if they’ve been produced, theatres might not be interested anymore. It’s exhausting and intimidating and one of the reasons I’m grateful for my very supportive network of writers, family and friends.
For now, I’ll watch the heavy rain fall, stop researching the various ways of self-promoting myself and just do some writing.
