Fw: Bay Area RATs, take note

["Megan Monaghan" <meganmonaghan@email.msn.com>]

This was sent to me, and I thought "what a RATty idea -- pay your audience
instead of the other way around!

It came from Thick Description, entitled "Joe Louis Blues - We Pay You
previews this weekend!"

I have not seen their work (there's that 1200 mile commute to consider) but
I recommend you consider checking it out.

Best,
Megan

-----Original Message-----
From: Thick Description <boxoff@thickdescription.org>
To: joelouis@thickdescription.org <joelouis@thickdescription.org>
Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 11:17 AM



>Breathless hype from Thick Description -
>where the stakes are high for our new production of Oliver Mayer's JOE
>LOUIS BLUES.  Feel free to resend this anywhere you like,
>especially if you want to tell folks about this weekend's previews (get
>$1 for seeing great theater!)....
>
>Thick Description’s 2000-01 season begins Saturday with the preview
>performances of JOE LOUIS BLUES, a new play from Oliver Mayer (the
>playwright of BLADE TO THE HEAT, which we performed in 1997).
>JOE LOUIS BLUES previews Saturday and Sunday, November 11 and 12
>at 8 pm  - remember, at our previews audience members are paid $1 to
>attend.
>
>What's the show?  Read below -
>it's from the Critics' Pick section of San Francisco Magazine, November
>2000...
>
>Heavyweight Contenders
>Thick Description Plays to its strengths in Joe Louis Blues.
>by J. H. Tompkins
>
>In Oliver Mayer's plays, the dialogue echoes the feint and jab of a
>boxing match, and the characters circle each other as warily as
>opponents in a ring.  In fact, two of this L.A.- based playwright's best
>works take place in the world of boxing.  A few years ago, Thick
>Description, one of San Francisco's most accomplished small theater
>companies, mounted a sparkling production of Mayer's 1996 play, Blade to
>the Heat.  This month, the company returns with round two, the
>engrossing Joe Louis Blues.
>
>Founded in New York City 12 years ago by Tony Kelly, Karen Amano, Rick
>Martin, and David Yezzi, Thick Description relocated here in 1990 and
>almost immediately began mounting strong, sometimes stunning productions
>of plays such as Octavio Solis' Santos & Santos.  Late last year, the
>troupe opened the doors of its own playhouse, on Potrero Hill, with
>Amano's Under Western Eyes.
>
>The ties the founders formed with talented locals such as Solis and
>actors Rhonnie Washington and Peter Callender have only deepened with
>time, enhancing the collaborative process and adding richness and depth
>to the company's work   "Like everything we do," says Kelly, who directs
>most of the productions, "Joe Louis Blues is not just my vision of the
>author's vision of the play.  It draws on everyone's experience and
>thoughts."
>
>Set in a Harlem jazz club in 1942, the play follows four people down the
>time-honored boulevard of broken dreams.  Sax and clarinet player Sidney
>Bechet (the character is based on the real-life musician) is about to
>open a tailor shop as a hedge against the future.  Cornetist Demas Dean
>and his girlfriend, singer Leila Rivers, are struggling to launch their
>own careers.  Club owner Vantyle Mayfield has placed all his hopes and
>savings on a scheme to win a fortune playing the numbers.
>
>The curtain goes up on the four listening to a radio broadcast of world
>heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis winning another title fight.  Later,
>Louis himself wanders into the club and inadvertently triggers a chain
>of events that run their dreams straight into sober realities.  Beneath
>the surface, and driving the action, are issues of race, loyalty, hard
>choices, and hardened hearts.
>
>In Mayer's world, boxing is entwined with music.  The late R&B singer
>Jackie Wilson figures into Blade's plot, and the title Joe Louis Blues
>refers not just to a state of mind but to the music itself.  "Oliver is
>a storyteller first and foremost," says Kelly, whose relationship with
>the playwright goes back to the mid-90s, when Kelly was the literary
>manager at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Mayer had the same job at
>L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum, "but he's got a keen sense of history and
>kick-ass record collection."
>
>In addition to music, playgoers will find that Mayer brings a strong
>cinematic sensibility to his work.  So perhaps it's not surprising to
>hear that there's talk about turning Blade to the Heat into a film for
>cable television.  But why wait for a movie when you can see a
>production of an equally compelling -- and perhaps better presented --
>Oliver Mayer play right here?
>
>JOE LOUIS BLUES opens Monday, November 13, at 8 pm and runs Thursday -
>Sunday nights till December 10.  Tickets are $20-10,
>sliding scale; call 415 401 8081 any day between 3-6 pm for
>ticket sales and more info.
>
>The Thick House is at 1695 18th Street, near Carolina Street on Potrero
>Hill.
>
>
>