Re: RAT Altamont Now

[brad rothbart <scrdchao@nni.com>]

>brad,
>my play would be on that list if you'd read it.
>--Karen in Seattle, tired of being obscure!!!!!

Karen,

Send it to me. I'll read it.  Gladly.   411 Norfolk Road Flourtown PA
19031-2109.
Seattle ios a grate place to become unobscure ( at least within Seattle),
but realize that the whole idea of Seattle is , in itself, fairly obscure
to the rest odf the counrtry. People have overrun it in the last few years
just for that reason- it represents the other, the unnkown territiory, a
different ethos. It used to be the last stop of the pioneers on their  way
to GoldRush, literally  the last frontier.

Please understannd that that list , aklthough I wrote it quickly, comes
from years of reading work/. I first discovered Mac Wellman and Eric
Overmyer in one of the Wordplay series (i think it was IV), (and Jeff Jones
and Len Jenkin) at the UW theatre library.   I found a collection of Mac's
plays, called The Bad Infinty, and found that I was entranced by his
writing. ...

 3 years later in 1994, I found  Native Speech   by Erik Overmyeratt Drama
Bookshop. I remembered the name and was intrigued.  I bought it , read it ,
and was repulsed by it. I found it repugnant, and yet I  was drawn to it I
hated myself for continuing to read it. I n the end I realized that what
made it so  horrifying ,also made it  necessary.  To this day, I can't
forget it.

  I met Ruth Margraff at  a July 4th party a few years ago, and was really
impressed by this quiet, kind , sweet person. That meeting did nothing to
prepare me for her actual work, however. I was lucky enough to attend an
open  rehearsal of one of her pieces at  the New York Rat Conference.   I
was so knocked out that  when a workshop reading of a scene  from another
of Ruth's plays was led by Jason Neulander  (of Salvage Vanguard) at the
New York Conference, I volunteered to participate and found myself
completely terrified, afraid that I would not do this gorgeous script
justice.

 Bucci I also met at the New York conference He was a fun guy  who talked
about bringing the rock'n'roll ethos  back into theatre, which is also an
interest of mine.  I'd heard great things about his work from everyone, and
based on my encounters with him, I knew that I wa.nted to  do one of his
pieces if he'd let me.

Shelley Berc's  play I found in Plays for the End of the 20th Century, (
which I had only bought because there was a Reza Abdoh and an Erik Ehn play
in the same book-- how bad could it be : ) )  I rrad Shelley's play  once,
was amazed  at the depth , vulnerability, r and  level of risk in it,
decided it was the best play I had ever read, read it 5 more times in
succession, and began recommending it to all my friends.   Through the
magic of email, Shelley and I began to correspond and became friends.

 BTW,  for all NYC RATs,Sshelley is teaching a workshop, called the
Creativity Workshop, in Mamhattan   on 6 and 7 march. the webpage is
http://www.creativityworkshop.com and the phone info # is  212.249.1602
Yes, that was a  shameless plug once removed.

The point of all of this, Karen , is to say that in some ways I am in a
very privileged position. I am a freelance director, not an artistic
director. I don't have to put a season together,and hope it  has an
audience out there. I am free to do what I want. What I want to do right
now is twofold.  One, to direct the plays that have been obsessing me for
years.  Two, to promote  and produce the works of my fellow RATs, my fellow
travelers, those messengers of the future who deserve to be heard and are
not, at least in Philadelphia.  I don't know you, or your work,. and have a
list of plays already, therefore I felt no compulsion to  put you on any
list. It' s really not about you, don't take it that way.

One of the best things about these RAT Conferences is that they are
alchemical events-- they turn electrons into flesh. It was incredible for
me when I actually got to  put faces to list names...  So write, express,
voice  your unique opionion.  Buit also come to LA,  listen, watch,
debate, hang, drink RAT SASS,  share a  bagel with someone you don't know.
Just  be a RAT with your RAT brethren.

I hope to be reading your work soon.

Namaste,


brad