JUNE 1997 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ Spotlight on: A New Feature - Norman's Theatre Voices: The 1997 "I Never Thought of it That Way" Awards Rubin's Corner: Taking a Chance (Julie Taymor/The Lion King) CyberTheatre Monthly: Member Favorites (Theatre Development Fund, Broadway Live!, Dramatists Play Service) The Play's the Thing: Greek Theatre, Santuary of the Gods TRE Trivia: Command Performance (reprint of the '96 Tonys Trivia Questions) Gossip & News ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices in Contemporary Theatre The 1997 I Never Thought of it That Way Awards The Victor/Victoria fashion-sense medal: To every single woman who wore black. Ladies, when you wear on basic black to the family picnic because you work in the Arts, I'm sure you look so svelt and sophisticated no one dares talk to you. When you attend an arts event, EVERYONE works in the arts. If you all, or 90% of you wear black, it looks like a funeral, or the negative of a debutante party. Not cool, not sophisticated - just sheep in mourning. Willie Loman Award for Artistic Vision: Jekyl & Hyde's Lighting Designer, Beverly Emmons. While the likes of Ken Billington (lighting designer, Chicago) and Julie Taymor (Director, Juan Darien) used their minute in the spotlight in the nominee interviews to talk about the art of their disciplines, their individual approaches, their vision, and how they try to express it, Ms. Emmons treated us to a testimonial for Vari*Lights. Most Creative Pre-Awards Campaign: Chicago producers Barry & Fran Weissler send subpoenas signed by the Razzle-Dazzle lawyer, Billy Flynn. What are these awards for, again? : Allowing viewers at home to "meet" the designers, choreographers, and directors and to see snippets of their work in the video interviews adds so much to the related awards. Not having scenes from plays really takes the edge off their awards. Now that PBS is providing an additional hour of airtime so CBS needn't worry about their presumed-attention-deficit audience leaving between song and dance numbers, let's revive the practice of showing a short scene from each play. If they don't make all the presenters incant "The American Theatre Wing Tony goes to" I'm sure there will be time. Speaking of which, for the second year, the Take a Reality Pill Award goes to convoluted phraseology to avoid using the word winner. To Win is a perfectly fine Anglo Saxon verb connoting success through striving and effort. To be afraid of using it implies an unhealthy denial of the nature of awards-giving. The Reality Pill Runner-Up: Off-Broadway Producer Daryl Roth, who complained of the pre-awards campaigning this year (which was comparatively low-key, most producers sent out CDs or placed ads in Variety) as "a bit too much like the campaigning for Academy Awards. It seems to have gone a little out of control. There's certainly nothing wrong with marketing your show. It's a vital fact of business today. But the sort of thing going on is really just going for the votes." One is tempted to ask what color the sky is in Mr. Roth's world. The Reality Pills will be presented by a Broadway Producer we haven't heard from this year: "Put yourself in the shoes of the producers of these shows, many of which have opened in a last-week-of-April marathon just before the deadline to qualify for Tony nominations. No single one has gotten the attention (they would have received) if they opened in a saner way. " Isn't it nice that some one out there still has some perspective. What was that noise Award: To all the sound designers who weren't nominated because the Wing still doesn't acknowledge their discipline as an awards category. Now that they've added an award for the long-overlooked orchestrators, isn't it about time they also added one for sound design. Not audio engineering , mind you. Sound Design. While we're on the subject, leafing through my Tonys History, I see there used to be an award for Stage Technicians. What happened to it? Why was it discontinued? The Better Late than Never Award: To the American Theatre Wing. Some film-shooting prevented the Broadway community from rendering its usual tribute at the passing of long-time Shubert President Bernard B. Jacobs by dimming its lights. The posthumous awarding of the Lifetime Achievement honor was a nice way of making amends. "If you don't like me, Tell me to my face" Award: to whoever is picking these photos of Sharon Ott - the photo in the Tonys program wasn't exactly flattering, but it's a Da Vinci portrait compared to the still they used in the Broadcast. Shoot that gift-horse in the mouth Award to Peter Stone, who managed to slam the time constraints, PBS/CBS show structure, and drama critics in the course of his acceptance speech Those Darn Critics Award to The New York Times, for dryly reporting that "budget, technical problems and improbable subject earned (Titanic) more than its share of taunts and labored jokes" as if their own critic had never written that the show's songs "never seems to leave port". Still, we like the Times, so at their request, we'll give the award the Tonys didn't... Best use of a head of hair to Robert Cuccioli: worn in a ponytale for Dr. Jekyll, lose-flowing for Edward Hyde, and woven into a haircloth blindfold when the reviews come out. He says JH "has a life of its own" and will continue to thrive despite the unanimous pans. It's numbers are down since the awards, where featured shows (even Steel Pier) are up. Still it has a cult following and can always go back on tour if Bway doesn't work out. The Well-Done, Who Knew You Were Listening Award: to Gary Smith, Executive Producer of the Tony Awards, for doing away with rude orchestral grumblings that used to chase winners offstage just because they express their joy and gratitude for more than 40 seconds. You added a veneer of true class to the awards. Kudos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM THE MAILBAG... I think that are many reasons that "average" people are not coming to see theatre these days. Many shows are written to shock. It is done through language and violence mainly. Your average theatre viewer typically wants to have a good time at the theatre and wants thought provoking shows not just shows that shout at them. That is why the major shows, usually musicals, are well attended. The patrons are pretty sure they at least will not be offended, which is a lot more than you can say about many shows these days. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Your opinions are invited on these and other burning theatre issues. Start a thread in the Theatre Forum Bulletin Boards, or to contribute to the TRE letters column, drop an e-mail to Theatre_msn@msn.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner TAKING A CHANCE When "The Walt Disney Company" decided to make a theatrical version of the most successful animated film in history, "The Lion King", they began searching for a visionary to help Simba come to life on the stage. Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney, decided to hire Julie Taymor as the director of the production. I was lucky enough to hear Ms. Taymor at a preproduction seminar in late June. Taymor is singularly equipped for this task. The 44-year old artist not only has a prodigious theatrical imagination, but an immense stage vocabulary. She has acted, written scripts, and libretti, designed sets, costumes and masks as well as directed. Her background includes work with American experimentalist Herbert Blau, mime study at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in France, backstage research with the Awaji puppeteers in Japan, years of work exploring rod and shadow puppetry, and masked dancing in Indonesia. Ms. Taymor is active in sculpture, music, and painting. In 1988 Julie did a musical called "Juan Darien". This was revived last fall at New York's Lincoln Center Theater. The production incorporated Bunraku and kuruma ningyo puppetry techniques from Japan, mask and shadow puppet artistry from Indonesia, elements of Czechoslovakia black-light puppetry and Western fairground traditions. This mixture win the production a Tony Award nomination as the best musical of the year. In the "Lion King" Taymor needs to create not only mere human beings, but an entire ecosystem. She is determined during this production to keep both characters and human handlers visible. Her idea is "to create a kind of double event" in which the audience is "always aware of the human and the animal simultaneously" Each character was designed by Taymor and her puppet co-creator Michael Curry. They sculpted versions of animal faces for actors to wear like headdresses, above their faces. For other animals she used entirely different techniques. Timor, the meerkat, is a variation of one-person kuruma ningyo puppet with the performer's limbs and head attached to the corresponding parts of the animal. The giraffe actors walk on all fours, using arm and leg stilts. The warthog, Pumbaa, with squat little legs, has its head attached to the actor's belly and the puppeteer's head worked into the creature's spiky hair. Body masked performers even animated the flora of the African terrain, vines, slither, giant banana leaves fan open and jungle grass grows from the side of a actor. For a wider landscape 20 women bear platters of grass on their heads while animal miniatures maneuver though the moving plain. She intends to use African textile and music during the entire production. Ms. Taymor showed scale models, masks, scenic designs and costumes for the show which will have its world premiere in Minneapolis on July 8 at the Historic Orpheum Theatre. This will be the only place it will play before opening on Broadway on October 10. 1997. If your expecting a warm, fuzzy "Lion King", forget it. "I don't do cute", Taymor said unequivocally. The challenge was that you must have this extraordinarily populated firms with huge landscapes filled with animal characters including a stampede of wildebeests. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Play's the Thing Greek Theatre: Sanctuary of the Gods An acting teacher told me that to him theatre was a sanctuary. His statement might seem odd to those unfamiliar with the stage, but to those that have experienced the reverence of a theatrical performance on or off stage know his words to be true. there is something spiritual and worshipful about theatre. Since theatre had its earliest roots in religious ritual and worship, it is not surprising that theatre people would feels that way. As far back as ancient Athens, with the rise of the Greek civilization, people have used theatrical rituals to replay the acts of the forces that drive our universe. For the Greeks, theatre and worship were the same. There is not much recorded about theatre until 534 BC when Thespis, who is generally acknowledged as the first actor to step out of the traditional chorus, won the first Athenian prize for his tragedy. The plays of Thespis, according to Aristotle and other authorities started as dithyrambs, or choral hymns, sung to Dionysus. These hymns told the stories of how Dionysus, child of Zeus and a mortal, taught humans to grow grapes and other vegetation, was subsequently destroyed and turned into a god. In later years these stories gave rise to the adventures of popular figures. The plays eventually fell into three classifications: tragedies, recalling heroic tales and using the gods for miraculous endings; satyr plays with its chorus of satyrs which mocked the heroics and entertained audiences with bawdy behavior; and comedies of farcical looks at current issues and life. Each of the three were performed at specified festivals of religious worship. Each type also employed the use of a chorus to act as the mediator between scenes. Masks were used in each play. Verse was the typical style used in the writing of the plays. For all these commonalties, the most common element connecting the plays were their connect to the worship of Dionysus. While some claim that tragedy grew from the worship of Dionysus, others say that tragedy sprang from the ritual rites at the graves of heroes or demi-gods. Aristotle claimed that comedies derived from phallic songs, ribald hymns to Phales, a god of fertility and friend of Dionysus. The satyr plays came from the stories of Baccus, another name for Dionysus, whose companions were satyrs, half-man and half-animal creatures with horns, tails and hoofs of a goat. In fact, the word "tragedy" is rooted in the Greek words tragos, meaning goat, and ode, meaning song. These plays seem to have the worship of Dionysus as a common origin. All this speculation still leads to the fact that the plays were performed at annual festivals in honor of Dionysus and the altar of Dionysus stood at the center of the playing area floor. In ancient Athens, people did not attend plays as we do today. Entertainment was not the prime outcome expected. These plays were the center of religious and civil rituals for the year. The Dionysian festivals occurred in late January through early February and were called the Lenaea was the older of the festivals and later became the time to present the comedies. In late March/early April the more important festival called the Great, or City, Dionysia took place and the tragedies dominated the celebration. It was during the Great Dionysia that the playwrights Aeschylus and others competed for prizes. The Great Dionysia was like the World's Fair for its time. Lasting a week, the festival pre-empted trade and government. During the festivals the actors were paid by the state but the productions were paid for by wealthy citizens of the city. These "angels" as they are called today were given the title choregus. The City Dionysia last about five or six days. Day one consisted of the procession of the ship-like boat of Dionysus led in by a priest, sporting events and general festivities. On the second and third days the dithryambic contests were held. The last two or three days were the competitions of the plays for prizes. A different playwright presented three plays and a satyr play. The playwrights were chosen to compete by an official called an archon. After the competition was finished, a jury determined the winner by casting lots. Of the early playwrights Aeschylus is said to have written more than ninety plays and won thirteen of the first prizes. His contemporaries included Sophocles who won eighteen contests and Euripides who is said to had won only five first place prizes since his plays tended to be less than kind to the sacred characters of the time. Between these three playwrights over three hundred plays were written yet only thirty-three have survived. The three main characters of a Greek play included the protagonist, the leading actor who was on stage the most; the antagonist, the obstacle to the protagonist accomplishing a goal; and the deuteragonist, an actor taking on parts of secondary importance. The fourth character in Greek theatre was not just one but about twelve to fifteen men who made up the chorus. The chorus acted as the perfect spectator as their reactions helped the audience clue into how they were to react. Generally the chorus also expressed opinions of problems facing the characters and often advised the main character. They became the voice of the playwright by illuminating the playwright's point of view. Most of all the chorus provided the spectacle of the play. The identical masks worn by the chorus, along with the many members chanting or moving rhythmically, captured the audiences with visual stimulation. The use of masks, with its origins in religious ritual, served many functions in Greek theatre. The masks made it possible for the same actor to portray two or more different roles on stage. Since the masks resembled large helmets that fit over the head of the actor, the exaggerated features could be seen better over the distances of the seating. The open mouths of the masks are said to have even acted as megaphones that aided in vocal projection. On the upper part of the mask was a cone-shaped projection call the onkos which added to the size and impressive look of the face. This was also used to denote dignity and varied in size to depict the status of the character portrayed. A wig also became part of the mask and was used to distinguish various characters for the audience. A tyrant wore a black wig, a handsome youth was bedecked in ringlets and elders wore white hair. Other costumes of the period included the cothurnus, or tragic boot, a boot with a wooden sole of varying thickness. By increasing the height of the actor, the character portrayed was given the appearance of grandeur. The thickness of the sole, like the size of the onkos, denoted the dignity and status of the character. Chorus members and actors in comedies never wore these shoes, but wore low shoes or footwear common to the period. The chiton, a long garment reaching from the neck to the ankles, were worn by actors along with an overgarment called a mantle. The chitons could be brightly colored, striped, or covered with patterns of the day. Actors playing queens generally wore tunics of purple, or white trimmed in purple and trailed behind the actor like a train. The chiton added to the appearance of height and dignity of the wearer. The two types of mantles used were called the himation and the chlamys. The himation was a long drape that covered the right shoulder and most of the body. The chlamys was a short cloak worn over the left shoulder. Mantles were also quite colorful. In the satyr and comic plays the actors wore mantles over shorter version of the chiton. Another feature of the comic costume was the phallus, exaggerated padding front and back and symbolized the male gender. The padding was wore under a tight-fitting, flesh-colored garment that covered the entire body. The tunics were shorter than the average citizen wore so that the phallus could be seen. Chorus members all wore identical masks and tunics of everyday appearance as the chorus was to represent the general public. The chorus of the satyr plays wore goats horns and hoofs. Tails and phallus' were attached to a loincloth and were worn over a flesh-colored body suit to indicate that the satyrs were naked. The ancient Greek theatre underwent many changes over the years. As a result of a theatre accident in which a scaffold collapsed and caused injury and death to many people, the auditorium was enlarged and the space under the seating was filled in with dirt. The fifth century theatre in Athens could accommodate about 17,000 spectators. The wooden benches were placed in circular rows around the orchestra, or the dancing place which was the staging area. At the center of the orchestra was the altar. For many years the altar was the only permanent structure. Around the time of Aeschylus and Sophocles a new section was added, called the skene, which acted as the dressing area for the actors. On the front of the skene was a highly decorated fascade called the proscenium which was about ten to twelve feet high and touched the edge of the orchestra. Another later addition was the called a parascenium, a wing projecting toward the orchestra at either side of the proscenium. The proscenium could function as a temple, a palace or whatever was required and the roof areas of the proscenium, skene, and parascenia, which were flat could also be used. On either side of the skene was a parados, or entrance used by spectators to enter the theatre. The chorus also entered the stage via the parados. Three mechanical elements were important to the Greek theatre: the eccyclema, the mechane, and the theologeion. The eccyclema was a small wooden platform on wheels. Since most of the death and destruction scenes took place off stage one of the doors of the skene would be opened and the eccyclema pushed out. On it would be a group of figures, in a tableau of the deaths or deed that had taken place inside the building. The tableau would be a reenactment of the crime with the corpse or corpses present and the murderer(s) standing above the scene with a bloodied weapon in hand. The mechane, or machine, was a crane with pulleys attached by which weights could be raised or lowered. Located at the top left-hand side of the skene, it was used to make the characters of a play appear or disappear by supernatural means. The mechane enabled miraculous rescues to take place on stage and gave rise to the earliest of special effects in theatre. A god or hero could be lifted in or out of the play and could even be held suspended in mid-air. Characters could also be shown sitting in a chariot or on a winged steed, but usually the actors were suspended from the rope using hooks and bands fastened around their bodies. The machine had to be quite strong and supportive since at times two or three characters were on it. The expression deus ex machina, or "god from the machine" was coined because of this fascinating piece of equipment. The third element, the theologeion, was very similar to the eccyclema. Above the skene was a narrow, movable platform that was used to display the gods in a stationary pose in heaven. The gods looked as though they were watching from above the actions of the mortals below. To understand the typical structure of a Greek play, let's look at Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. This play is probably the most widely read of all the Greek plays and also coined the psychiatric term used by Freud "the Oedipus complex." Oedipus Rex became the prototype for the climactic structure of playwriting. The play is made up of sections called odes, or songs by the chorus, and episodes, from the Greek for "coming in besides," that which came between the choral sections. The structure looks something like this: PROLOGOS - the exposition that sets up the problem. The city has fallen under a curse due to the murder of its old king. PARADOS - the entrance of the chorus, setting the mood to follow. EPISODE ONE - plot development. Oedipus talks to the chorus about how to find the murderer of the old king. Gives way to the rising action. ODE ONE - Chorus recounts what happened. EPISODE TWO - Oedipus confronts Creon. Jocasta tells of the oracle regarding her son. Building complications. ODE TWO - The chorus sings again, a prayer about men and the Gods. EPISODE THREE - Oedipus finds that his adopted father is dead. Reversals and discoveries made. Oedipus discovers he was adopted. Jocasta realizes Oedipus, who is her husband, is also her son. ODE THREE - Chorus, a prayer to Apollo. EPISODE FOUR - The herdsman enters and Oedipus makes the final discovery that he murderer the old king who was his father, fulfilling the oracle of Jocasta. Climax of play. ODE FOUR - Chorus, the role of fate in the lives of men. EXODOS - Resolution of the play, the blinding of Oedipus. This structure is said to be the pattern after which the five act plays of Shakespeare and other playwrights followed. In Oedipus Rex, the main characters portrayed are: the protagonist, Oedipus; the antagonist, generally thought of as Creon; and the dueteragonists, the parts of Jocasta, Tieresias, the herdman and the messengers. Since most of the actors played more than one part, except for the protagonist who was on stage most of the time, it is possible that the same actor playing Creon also played one of the messengers as well. There are no records of who played which characters specifically, but in reading the play one can figure out a logical solution by determining who is on stage at any given time. For the ancient Greeks, religious and civic rituals were blended together. All of life revolved around this unseparated responsibility to citizens and the gods. Greek theatre became the perfect blend of these responsibilities and allowed the people of Greece to come together and worship the gods of old and the democracy of new. For them, the theatrical experience was a spiritual enactment of all that they believed. For us, the theatrical experience is the reenactment of the of what they left behind. The stage and the temple are joined as one to become the sanctuary of celebrating rituals. past and present. Internet Sites relating to Greek Theatre Didaskalia: Your electronic source for the latest developments in Greek and Roman drama, dance, and music as they are performed today. Theatre history: Visual documents SIRACUSA'S GREEK THEATRE XXXIV CYCLE OF CLASSICAL SHOWS On-line reservation service Theatre History Sites on the WWW Theatre Network Resources Classic Public Domain Texts The Oedipus Trilogy THEATRO Page represents the fruit of the efforts of ISTOS NET and its attempt to honour the prolific Greek theatre tradition. Classical Drama Sites QUOTE OF THE MONTH "The goal is to try and have people in the audience take away something that lasts and will haunt them, be it either a subject for debate or of their dreams. They'll have an unresolved experience. " --Robert Brustein WHAT DO YOU THINK? Your opinions are invited on these and other burning theatre issues. Start a thread in the Theatre Forum Bulletin Boards --- Caprice Woosley is currently pursuing her BFA in theater (directing and playwriting), after 25 years working in and around the theater. She is a produced playwright, actress, and amateur dramaturg who enjoys researching plays. She is a host in the Writing Forum where she co-hosts a Writing Discussion Group. She also hosted "Shakespeare Unplugged" and "Murder and Mayhem" in the Theatre Forum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TRE Trivia - Command Performance: Last year we had a count-down trivia game leading up to the Tony Awards, some users made up a petition to reprint those questions. Y'all must be masochists, but here they are: Never before presented together in one collection, the Theatre Forum Theatre-Trivia Marathon... GAME #1 A Rose by any other name Object: Identify the musical by the clue given e.g. clue - "A violinist upon the vaulted structure" answer - Fiddler on the Roof Ghost of Madama Butterfly Orphan Grab a Firearm So long Seagull AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF Me and the Chessman Hanks Film Turned Musical Waterway Less than a nickel more than an opus Tiny atrocity boutique Barbie's Bio Injure Nonstop celestial illumination More than 999 Inn During 12 smogfree hours of sunlight you may gaze as long as you wish Two seats away from Stephen The way to get to the top sans exertion Kodak Slide tray Orchid Percussion Solo Melodic Chap Peanut Butter Tale of the non-Easterly border Superlatively Cheery bloke Audible Notes Spanish Hombre Taxi Unit of Sunlight Seraphim Metropolis Greetings, GI Joe Something amusing occurred while I was logging on to msn GAME #2 Not in our stars Object: Identify the actor who originated the given roles e.g. Professor Henry Higgins answer - Rex Harrison King Arthur (Camelot) Grizabella Eugene Morris Jerome (Brighton Beach Memoires) Charlie Brown Prior Walter (Angels in America) Heidi Holland (The Heidi Chronicles) Mr. Applegate (The Devil, Damn Yankees) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Amadeus) Lt. Col Nathan Jessep (A Few Good Men) Blanche DuBois Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd) Song Liling (M.Butterfly) Thomas Jefferson (1776) Mordred (Camelot) Che (Evita) Guido Contini (Nine) Hornbeck (Inherit the Wind) Albin (La Caga aux Folles) Mama Rose (Gypsy) Don Quixote (Man of La Mancha) Tevye (Fiddler on the Roof) Lola (Damn Yankees) Lettice Douffet (Lettice & Lovage) Franz & Dennis (servant Act I; technician in Act II; Sunday in the Park with George) Anita (West Side Story) Vicomte de Valmont (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) Sweeney Todd Sam (Master Harold and the Boys) GAME #3 The Play's the thing Object: Identify the play from which the dialogue is quoted e.g. "I have always relied upon the kindness of strangers" answer - A Streetcar Named Desire "Mr. Nabisco, sir! You could be the first to sell the concept of munching to the Third World." "If the shrimp stays pink, the audience gets it. If it turns green, we feed it to the stagehands." "To John. And Ringo and Paul and George, forever" "All I've got in the house is Yoo-Hoo and Sugar Smacks. Bring whatever you like to eat and drink you're gonna be there a while. And don't wear that perfume, it wrecks my concentration." "Lawyers are like nuclear warheads. They have theirs so you need yours - but once you use them they f*** everything up." "Jewish curses are the worst. I personally would dissolve if anyone ever looked me in the eye and said 'Feh.' Fortunately WASPs don't say 'Feh.'" "If I had a nose like Florine I wouldn't go around saying Merry Christmas to anybody." "Of course its not a real relationship. I don't have real relationships. I place myself beside emotionally teetering women and wait for them to fall on me." "And God said, 'Let there be doors that open when they open and close when they close, and let the doors separate the world in front of the set from the world behind it.'" "Rich people do something nice for you, you give them a pot of jam...They have entire stores filled with fancy pots of jam wrapped in cloth." "All they can do is change the rules; they can never stop the game. I don't go away; I adapt." "That is not your forte, Ms. Schoen: thinking things up. At the moment you exude a certain gray integrity. Please do not try to contaminate it with color." "I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?" "It is obvious that cats have declined as badly as composers. Domenico Scarlatti owned one which would actually stroll across the keyboard and pick out passable subjects for fugue. But that was a Spanish cat of the Enlightenment. It appreciated counterpoint. Nowadays all cats appreciate is coloratura. Like the rest of the public" "I may be devious and underhanded enough to be a successful murderer, but not, I think, a Broadway producer. One mustn't overestimate one's talents." "Ah, do you love the little birds so much that when they come and sing to you, you give them this to perch on?" "Intimacy is a complex thing. You have to be careful who you share it with...but without it, life is just breakfast, lunch, dinner and a good night's sleep." "You should have seen him. He came up with postures of despair that would have made Michaelangelo jealous." "Each Angel is an infinite aggregate myriad entity: they're basically incredibly powerful bureaucrats." "This is a tough one, I find it completely unredeeming in every way. Morally, ethically and sexually - but its got style - A-minus!" "the world's not so crazy, Kolenkow. It's the people in it." "Yes, 'grounds:' What are your reasons for divorcing me? And please remember that my failure to appreciate k'niche will only hold up in a Russian court." "Who would have thought three women artists in a Houston Loft would capture the national imagination? It's odd what people find comforting" "There's Freedom to say anything you want as long as you don't say everything you want" "We've had close upon a hundred saviors and prophets here. Every ship brings us some. Missionaries, anarchists, Salvation Army, all sorts. Its astonishing what a number of churches and idiots there are in the world." "Women only call each other 'sisters' after they've called each other a good number of other things first" "It's a principle of mine, Mrs. McGee. Whenever I'm down on my uppers, I always take lunch at Fortnum & Mason's" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CyberTheatre Monthly Member Favorites: Theatre Development Fund Those wonderful folks who brought us the Time Square TKTS booth, are the largest not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts in the country. Their site at http://www.tdf.org/ includes newsletters, searchable New York listings, information on their voucher and educational programs, costume rentals, and even travel packages. Broadway Live! The League of American Theatres and Producers, formed in 1930 as The League of New York Theatres, is the national trade association for the commercial theatre industry. The League's constituency includes theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters and general managers of Broadway and touring legitimate theatrical productions in New York and over 90 major cities across the United States and Canada. The League's overall goals are to oversee and promote the common interests of its members, increase awareness of, and interest in, Broadway theatre across North America and to provide a full range of support for more profitable theatrical productions. The League also co-produces the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards. The League now has a website, at http://www.broadway.org/, which offers a miriad of show, theatre, and box office links, fanclub and membership information for non-members, and a complete message and resource center for League Members. Check them out. The Dramatists Play Service Long before the Drama Bookshop set up shop on Playbill, the DPS had a happening site at http://plaza.interport.net/dramatists/text/main.html. Their PlayFinder isn't online yet, but that still leaves Featured Plays , Center Stage, Page to Stage (my favorite), New Plays, Now In Print and the ongoing 52nd Street Project . What are your favorite MSN haunts? Many shows and forums have theatre tie-ins, or just demonstrate a great sense of showmanship. Submit your picks at Theatre_msn@msn.com *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1997, Mersinger Theatrical Services