Re: RAT Reading Series --What, Brecht thinks?

[jonoh1@juno.com]

On Sat, 16 Oct 1999 16:57:59 EDT MFarkash@aol.com writes:

>
>I still believe that these reading series generally constitute wasted 
>energy. 
>I know of one LA playwright who's had his play read at five different 
>venues 
>over the past seven years.  Why does he persist???  Why must I be made 
>to 
>feel guilty when I don't come see every durned rewrite?  It's all the 
>worse 
>because the play does not work.
>Like most of us, he's trying to get his plays done.  Early and often.
>
Dear Michael,
  While I tend to agree that readings, for me, generally constitute
wasted energy, I don't believe that's true for everybody. One person's
boring reading is another person's resume credit. These things really do
count. And not just in terms of the generally accepted definition of
"success". You ask why your playwright acquaintance persists. I might ask
the same question were it not for the fact that years ago I worked at a
theatre bookstore where every month I had to suffer through the
machinations of a local playwright's forum that met there to hold play
readings of original work.  Sometimes these plays were brand new other
times they were rewritten. So I had the dubious pleasure of sitting
through some seriously crappy plays more than once myself. In fact, I
don't remember a single one (there were probably two dozen or so that I
had to sit through as part of my job) that I would have considered
publishing, producing or, please god, sitting through ever again. My ears
still bleed at the vague recollection of some of them. But what I <do>
remember is the thrill it gave the playwright to have a chance to
communicate something they considered worthy of communication. Whether or
not I agreed with them mattered little. They were given a forum to voice
something. Perhaps your acquaintance persists because he knows that the
play will probably never get a full production and yet feels compelled to
at least try to improve the work from reading to reading. Does he rewrite
the piece every time or is it always the same? I'm also curious to know
if the playwright you mention has ever been told that his play doesn't
work? Or do his friends just dutifully show up with a forced smile on
their faces, nodding their implied approval? If it doesn't work, does
anyone bother to tell him why? Something else to consider when weighing
the pros and cons of either staged or sit-down readings is the
opportunity it affords the actors. As an actor (as well as a producer,
director and sometime writer) I'm more than happy to do a reading of a
script. Even if it's flawed. I even partook of some of the readings in
the aforementioned bookstore. I look at it as a chance to work my magic.
Besides, it was a helluva lot easier escaping into a character than
having to sit back and listen to that twaddle.
Best of luck,
Jonathan

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