benefit

i think the bum at the bp once told me that greatest chair was charity or was it the greatest city being generosity; he definitely opens with the greatest nation being donation...gas is expensive as it is let alone giving this man feed money for crack so I laugh and tell him that's a good one and drive off like the fucking prick i am...anyway:

Join LiveWire Theater and Four Moons Tavern for an Evening with the Oscars!

March 5th starting at 6:30pm

This benefit will raise funds for LiveWire Theater's production of A Night of Innocent Games

Festivities include:
50/50 Raffle, Pool Tournament, Oscar Trivia

Four Moons is graciously donating part of the food and beverage tab from 6:30pm - 8:30pm to LiveWire Theater.

Moons is located at 1847 West Roscoe St. Be there or be a rhombus.

a space of mine

wet city productions has opened a page at myspace.com/wetcityproductions. any and all folks who want to be friends, please make a request and your wishes will be granted.

myspace is an interesting web community that I am just now exploring. in the two days i've landed, family members and long lost friends have surfaced. if anyone knows how to sync this blog with myspace that would be appreciated.

in other news, A Night of Innocent Games is coming soon. The play is inspired/adapted from August Strindberg's Miss Julie, the tale of an aristocrats daughter and her father's footman who spend a passionate night together. I've set the play in America, 1991 to fit with my language style and universality of the story. Visit livewirechicago.com for more details and ticket info. Hope you all come check it out.

LiveWire is also in heated discussion about our next season which will complete our move into the new artistic direction and set the future path of endless possibilities. Look for our season announcement by the end of April.

In Wet City news, well, post is getting exciting...that's all I can say.

Peace,
jaw

weeds, wallace shawn, and globalization

i'm going for back to back posts today because I haven't posted since v-day and well love is sickening anyway you look at it.

so home in my parents house is a treat not only because i get to visit with the folks but they have digital cable and ON DEMAND. this great feature lets me watch a multitude of shows I miss due to my lack of all but four stations in my one bedroom city apartment. this trip was dedicated to the Showtime series WEEDS. to my surprise, both parental units watch this show religiously and so we regressed to my yester-years and watch the show as a family. i remember doing the same with Cosby, Family Ties, Jeopardy... Weeds is a great show led by the beautiful Mary-Louise Parker. She came to my grad school and talked to students about acting, theater, film, etc. I missed her entire trip because I was trying to get into someone's pants, but we will not go into that story this post. Sufficed to say, I need cable. Besides Weeds, there is a plethora of shows out there I am missing with excellent writing, acting and quiet genius...Should I take my mother's offer to sponsor this addiction?

before leaving on my short trip, I browsed through the unread section of my bookshelf and decided what to take with me to read on the plane. I had just got a new play called Terrorism, but thought it best not to sit in the airport or on a plane with this. I fear flying as much as the next guy and wouldn't want to put any more ideas into the minds of my fellow passengers. I chose a Wallace Shawn play, Aunt Dan and Lemon. Shawn is an exceptional writer and the theatre company I am currently working with is considering some of his plays to produce in our next season. Aunt Dan and Lemon is no exception and a great tale of youth, sex, love and politics wrapped in a horror/black comedy. Lemon and Dan's relationship builds over many years to a longing for another chance at life and love. sad, funny, quiet and explosive all in a matter of pages. Read this play and all of Shawn's work. It's inconceivable!

it is great to come into work after a weekend away and fuck about. are there things to do? yes. will they get done? yes. now? no.

I finished The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman last night and am still absorbing the book. we must not fear, but dream. use our imagination to a positive end not a destructive one. globalization is happening. the only way to stop it is to set off a bomb. the only way to accept it is to read this book. globalization is a lot less mechanical than I thought before reading about the flattening world. Friedman breaths humanity into this very technical idea. how it all goes is now up to us...all of us.

fell

sitting at the kitchen table with my father and seven year old nephew we began to discuss the eminent downfall of a tree that I had planted when I was in high school a bit too close to the desk in the backyard of our home. the 25-30 foot cedar shed its prickly leaves all over the deck creating an unwanted aesthetic and cleaning hassle. it's got to come down before it grows any bigger. let's take it down after lunch. sounds good to me. so the three of us fell a tree. my nephew takes all the credit. my right hand is stiff and in pain but there was some unknown satisfaction in a hard afternoons work. the tree became mulch so the cycle continues. my nephew got to use the saw so he was content. my dad doesn't have to worry about mom complaining no more so he was pleased. i planted a tree for my tomorrow during a time when i worried way too much about the future so tomorrow came without any worries.

my brief trip home was great and I should do it more often. if only I didn't have to fly southwest. those fuckers need to learn how to land a plane. like they've never done it before I tell you.

love

three weeks cabbage rot
onions peel
sour milk

open heart lets her know
speak love
wrinkle skin

light source wide eyes
struck dumb
blood smile

he's talking about irony, when all I'm trying to be is funny

Shane Black, screenwriter of Lethal Weapon, Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Last Boyscout, to name a few said this during a screenwriter's expo I went to this weekend while answering a question on the relationship he has had with some directors. The Directors was thinking up here, pointing to his head, when I was thinking down here, pointing to his heart, Mr. Black went on to explain. And the Director went on to mark the script up in red, taking out the heart, in Black's opinion, and Black went on to get $4 million for 120 pages.

One example of the pearls of wisdom I received. Another is that if I want to be a screenwriter, I am living in the wrong city. Of course, I know this. Right now, I am still becoming a writer.

So, why did I go to such a conference and better yet, why did I spend so much money to attend? Well, I thought I might pitch some of my ideas to a few hollywood producers and see what they thought. Maybe make a deal, maybe break in through the conference...then I received another pearl. The big-shot hollywood producer told us budding writers that if they don't have a script, or if there script is not registered/copywrighted, don't pitch. Why not, a fellow attendee asked?

What do I owe to you? I have no loyalty to you. You pitch me a great idea without a script, well, then if I like it, I'm not going to pay you to write it. I'm going to take it back to my bosses and tell them it's mine and find a retained writer to work up the script.

The honesty was much appreciated, but not from all the attendees. It appeared that most people thought they were coming to make it in the business rather than only it being a possibility, and a slim one at best.

I came home on Saturday night and knew that I had 4 to 5 great ideas for a screenplay and throughout the day, I learned what I needed to have prepared to go into a pitch session with a hollywood producer. What i didn't have were the scripts and the rights to them. This is what I will have next time.

Watch me and wish me luck. Because film is about pictures and breaking in is a game of chance. You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

i don't have a title for this one. you can make something up if you wish.

It's always quietest before the storm they say. The match is always brightest right before it blows out, is another saying.

It's about to happen. Everyone see it coming. Yesterday was the day of days. Bringing five months of un-adressed issues to an end. A man of undeniable knowledge, smiles, great stories, stress and rage was brought to his knees. A reality check, brought to him by two of his closest comrads. The breath knocked out of his large chest. A friend of mine as well, yet still a person who at times made me want to put my fist through a cement wall. A friend nevertheless.

That was yesterday, and this is today. No communication lines have been used in the last forty plus hours. He is solemnly sulking and relentlessly repairing. Problems with equipment at work, not the situation. And so we wait. Biding our time. It's coming. Like a tornado, we don't know when, or how bad the damage will be, and to whom. An earthquake rumbling beneath the surface. The lights go out, and everyone runs in terror.

- Benjamin D. Bain

like they say in the theater

i took the Brecht [spoke with a thick german/jewish accent] out of it; the characters are always in their world, conversing amongst themselves...except for Krystal, who speaks to G-d. John will become noble. Julie will die.

Audience! You will not be alienated. I did not write that play.

jaw

the future is science fiction

coming true.

i watched this movie Primer that a cousin of mine recommended to me. two scientists happen upon inventing a time machine then are haunted by the doubles they create. it's a film you must watch again and again to get the full appreciation. I will do so and let you know...

I believe that once we are all connected, it will only be a short time until we are all sync'd. i hope to be out of it by then, but who knows, maybe I'd make a good clone.

peace,
jaw

the 21st century military alphabet

A=Alpo
B=Boo
C=Chuck
D=Dune
E=Enya
F=Funky
G=Gall
H=Hangout
I=Indian
J=Jennifer
K=Keno
L=Llama
M=Matt
N=Necessary
O=Obie
P=Poop
Q=Queens
R=Rodeo
S=Sprite
T=Tang
U=Unibrow
V=Vicky
W=Whiskey
X=Xylophone
Y=Yippie
Z=Zoo

preservation of life

let us talk about survival
each and every day
laugh at the silly hat
in awe of the cavernous tomb

fuck god and the righteous
the smell of my crossandwich is something you'll have to deal with
without egg, cheese and meat
it's just a croissant

naturalism

we are dealing with naturalism, which is "what is natural", waking up, hurting, living, life, etc. the point important to know is that in America, I believe, it is "natural" to dream. The American Dream is inherent in all of us who were born here and those who come to this country are searching for it. so, when we are updating a play to the modern American stage that was written in the naturalistic form (reflecting the thoughts and times of a country unable to dream), I feel that adding the dream element is, for lack of a better word...natural.

the modern history of Sweden shows that in the early 19th century there was a population increase due to a time of peace and prosperity, but by the end of the century, more and more Swedes were moving to America because of the lack of work as alcoholism and poverty rise in the countryside. Strindberg saw the problems of prostitution and morality emerge from the rapid industrialization and urbanization of his country. He began writing about the roles of the sexes that were unjustly imposed by society and was admired for his radicalism by the working class. But Strindberg's plays were also very misogynistic and we see that very clearly in his Froken Julie.

we see the class and sex struggle in his play and why the working class would admire such a piece, but when looking at the play in society today, we must not forget that women belong in this class as well...they actually belong in every class. and it is not just women who must be considered, it is the immigrant, it is the other race, the other religion, the other, etc... this is what is natural about the world we live in. In America, we have a freedom like no other country.

We are able to dream.

to dream is divine.