My Friend Brad Kelly, (some Mirror readers may know him as the Director of Photography on some of the films I've made/been in,) snapped this photo by total chance last night. It has been confirmed as an actual meteor.
The vampire is usually an aristocrat, Count Dracula, with whom, despite his creepy Hungarian accent, men want to identify, and by whom women want to be bitten. After all, the sucking of blood is sexy, the spilling of semen in reverse, fluid for fluid. It is a symbolic, uncensorable but equally orgasmic representation of the sexual act. And when the victim herself becomes a vampire, the union is perfect and, what is more, everlasting.
Some such things account for the current renaissance—more properly recrudescence—of the vampire novel, movie and, presumptively, stage play. But the advantages of the movie (sexy young actors, detailed sex scenes, endless special effects, spectacular locales) and the novel (if skillfully written, steady stimulus for the imagination) are enormous. The resources of the stage, mostly live actors, are considerably more limited. And what happens if even the actors fail you?
(...)
There is more than one vampire opera, the best known being Marschner’s Der Vampyr. The Grove Dictionary of Opera entry about it opens with the subtitle Grosse romantische Oper and continues “in two acts by Heinrich August Marschner to a libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrueck after plays based on John W. Polidori’s story The Vampyre, itself a revision of Lord Byron’s Fragment of a Novel, sometimes called Augustus Dowell.”
At any rate, it's clear to me that one way for theatre artists of any color to make a difference is to connect with their own community - to tell its story. Yet I can't remember the last time I saw a play about our own racial issues on a major local stage. So I'd like to make a modest proposal to our colleges, theatres, and foundations - how about a prize, or a grant, or a commission to an artist of color for a play about Boston? With a production guaranteed? There are so many theatrical episodes in our past - from the slow creation of the "color lines" that still criss-cross the city to the shocking riots over busing in Charlestown - that there's almost a surfeit of material available. And we certainly do not suffer from a dearth of talented writers. So how about it? Maybe we could call it the Jim Spruill and Lynda Patton Prize. Or maybe the Martin Luther King Prize.
What happens when FAMILY is in STRIFE...
COMMUNITY is RUNNING SCARED...
YOUTH are ANGRY...
And STREET JUSTICE is TAKING OVER..?
SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER
A night of performance art answering the call!
4 One-Act plays
Highlighting the Violence in Urban Neighborhoods
In response to the rise of violent crimes in Boston, local theater artists join forces to create a forum for discussion through an evening of dramatic works and creative dance. “Screaming Bloody Murder,” a collaborative effort among Roxbury Center for Arts, Swagga Inc, and TYG Productions, will feature four one-acts from playwrights Mwalim, Frank A. Shefton, Vincent Ernest Siders and Sean Travis Taylor, as well as dance creations from Boston Tap Company and Swagga Inc. Following the performances there will be an open discussion about the works and the issues surrounding them.
Now while I share Gunderson's desire for "raising the status of poetic and dramatic literature in the everyday conscience of the American public" her proposal leaves me with more questions. Would this get more people attending live theatre? More interesting plays on stage? Free up more spaces for performances? Give "emerging playwrights" a better shot at being produced? Make it easier for playwrights to make a living on their writing? Get more playwrights interviewed on National Public Radio?
Is the Library of Congress really the agency best suited to this work?
