Re: RAT Re: obscurity

[Pwpny@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/1999 6:07:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
kcron@ix.netcom.com writes:

<< who does the reading serve?? it does not serve
 me as a playwright, it serves the theatre. >>

I can only speak for myself and my company: the reading is for the writer. We
don't accept finished work (or really, any work that we haven't created
ourselves or commissioned) so it's all in progress. It isn't finished, that's
why PWP is interested. When we have readings, they are for only a few
people--friends of ours whose opinions we trust and some friends of the writer
whose opinions she/he trusts.

And, speaking purely personally here (Ralph and Catherine have heard me say it
millions of times): as entertainment, readings are BORING! I've only seen two
staged readings that I've enjoyed, both at the Public. One was Ruth's "Battle
of San Jancinto" and the other was the last in Mac's Crows trilogy (the name
escapes both Catherine and me at the moment... sorry Mac). Ruth's was directed
by Liz Diamond and Mac's by Jim Simpson (and with the Public Theatre's muscle
behind the readings), which is probably why they were so good....

Barry