Calling all playwrights
"It's cold as hell ... what a great time to get some writing in," says Mark Southers in an e-mail blast to playwrights. His Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre will devote the month of March to a different staged reading every night, bringing the month in like a lion and out like a lamb, or maybe the other way around, with 31 new plays or parts thereof.
"Ted Hoover said I was insane and need to be committed," he says. But Hoover has promised a play, as have other local playwrights of note. Southers is looking for directors and more plays (completed or not or just scenes -- "it's your choice, the night is yours"), and there may be actor auditions, too. Call him at 412-377-7803 or 412-687-4686; e-mail scripts to austinsills@comcast.net.
Theater online
"It's my recurring nightmare," joked Bob Martin, Tony winner for "The Drowsy Chaperone": "lunch at Sardi's with a critic at every table, a form of aversion therapy, perhaps." No, it was just "brunch with the stars," a traditional attraction of last week's American Theatre Critics Association meeting in New York. This and the Broadway shows I saw have resulted in several new postings in my On Stage Journal at www.post-gazette.com/theater/onstage.
Speaking of stars, I found myself sharing the plane up to New York with Paul Organisak, veep for programming at the Cultural Trust, which means he's the main man in booking tours here; David Porges, City Theatre board chairman; and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, author of City's "The Muckle Man." In fact, I was writing my "Muckle Man" review as we flew.
As a critic, I usually get good theater seats. But at Broadway's "Spring Awakening," they were especially good, because we were right behind Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, who, along, with being fine actors are also really easy to see over.
The Call Board
Pittsburgh CLO will hold its fourth annual Alumni Network Event in New York City on March 12 from 6-8 p.m. at Angus McIndoe Restaurant, 258 W. 44th St. In its invitations, the CLO takes note of such alums as Rob Ashford, Carolee Carmello, David Chase, Victoria Clark, Alex Gemignani, Sutton Foster, Beth Leavel, Kathleen Marshall, Rob Marshall, Derek McLane, Ana Gasteyer, Jeff Goldblum, Shirley Jones and Chita Rivera, but anyone with a CLO credit is invited -- performers, directors, stage managers, CLO Academy students and former interns. To RSVP, e-mail alumni@pittsburghCLO.org or call 412-281-3973, ext. 230.
Speaking of the Marshalls: Did you note that Rob won a Directors Guild award for TV's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic"?
Don't forget this Sunday's Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for "Sister" Kim Richards, City Theatre's long-running comic nun. It's Feb. 11 (cocktails at 6:30, show at 7:30) at Elks Club No. 339, 400 Cedar Ave., North Side. Toastmistress will be Phyllis Diller (aka Diane Melchitzky). A donation of $10 or more is requested, with proceeds going to Elks charities. Reservations are suggested: contact Diane at 724-351-0158 or dmelchitzky@pointpark.edu.
Prime Stage Theatre is accepting registrations for Hearing Beyond the Text, a workshop for educators tied to its staging of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (New Hazlett Theater, Feb. 24-March 4). The workshop features Mary Badham, who played Scout in the 1962 movie (and famously lost the supporting actress Oscar to another child, Patty Duke), "sharing her experiences and strategies to make this literary classic relevant and enjoyable to students." The workshop is March 3 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; register at 412-841-7353 or studentmat@primestage.com.
Joe Warik writes that the "Lend Me a Tenor" he directed at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton, Fla., has received five Carbonell nominations (South Florida's Tonys), including best play and best director. The awards are April 9, just after Warik closes in Playhouse Rep's new rock musical version of "Mother Courage," so he plans to be in Fort Lauderdale with fingers crossed for the presentation.
Hail and farewell
Arthur Miller died on Feb. 10, 2005 -- the same day (56 years earlier) that "Death of a Salesman" opened on Broadway. Playwright and professor Frank Gagliano has presented his tribute, "Why I Broke Down When Arthur Miller Died," three times. Now the complete tribute is at the "articles and essays" link on Gagliano's new Web site, www.gaglianoriff.com, "the personal chronicle of a life in American Theatre: from the glory days of the Off-Broadway movement, to theatre's present decline and towards its uncertain future." Gagliano also promises "An American Playwright in Beijing: Spring 2007," when he'll be teaching at Peking University as it produces his play "Big Sur."
'Muckle Man'
Jim Hiscott, a former Pittsburgher now living in Washington ("may return home at retirement, since cost of living is so much cheaper than D.C., and am excited about all the great changes taking place"), wonders how City Theatre can call Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's "The Muckle Man" a "world premiere" when he saw it at the Source Theatre in D.C., five to six years ago, when "Roberto was a favorite of the D.C. theater scene." In answer, City says the play has been so rewritten as to count as new.
Robert Isenberg, actor/playwright/critic, points out that the North American continent "actually extends far beyond Newfoundland" to Iceland, where a narrow crevasse separates North America from Europe, geologically speaking.
The bottom line
Paid admissions at city's pro theaters for the week ending Feb. 4:
MuckleMan/City (55%) .................. 1,050
Catechism/City (85%) .................... 442
Forb.BwaySVU/CLO (33%) ...................509
First Published: February 8, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
