Saturday, June 30, 2018

Funny because it's true

This is a cartoon by William Haefeli from the June 18th edition of THE NEW YORKER. 
                        "I set a limit: one pity play per actor per year." 

All of my friends are welcome to substitute "playwright" for "actor."

As a result you're all excused for the rest of the year.   And yes, a "reading" counts.

When I have a play in production locally, usually the first few performances are filled with friends (which I deeply appreciate).   But it's very that cool that around week three I glance into the audience and don't recognize anybody.   "Ohmygod!  Actual strangers want to see this!" 

But I saw the cartoon and thought, what a perfect intro to thank my friends (and blog readers) who have come to see my work.  Pity is one thing but an empty theatre is way worse. 

Now I better get back to work on that twelve hour one-man show I'm writing about the time I got my tonsils out.  Should be ready by January.  See you all again next year!

9 comments :

  1. Well, it's not exactly agony to sit through your work.

    In my case, I suspect the theaters only let me ATTEND the shows out of pity.

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  2. Tonsils eh? Attractive as that prospect seems, don't you have a blog to write?

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  3. Good news!

    https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/hulu-just-added-all-256-episodes-of-mash/

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  4. "Pity is one thing but an empty theatre is way worse."

    True..... No one took pity on Peter Fonda's new movie.

    http://celebrityinsider.org/peter-fondas-movie-boundaries-bombs-after-barron-trump-pedophile-comments-163642/

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/28/wow-ratings-are-in-for-peter-fondas-new-movie-after-sick-comments-about-melania-barron-trump/

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  5. The new rule of theater-going: You never leave a Levine unhappy.

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  6. Your work is always high calibre, so your friends won't ever have to worry about being polite when you ask them what they thought.

    But I've often wondered what celebrity friends say to each other when one of them has made a stinker? When Gigli was released, did Ben Affleck's buddies tell him what a great movie it was? Did Joel Schumacher's friends tell him "Joel, Batman & Robin was fantastic! I really enjoyed it!"

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  7. Ken, sorry to threadjack and apologies if you've already seen these, but I recently discovered Quora and wanted to show you these topics.

    Obviously/of course you can join the site (if you haven't already) and comment yourself. I'll also go ahead and officially submit as a Friday question, what do you think of these comments on Cheers and M*A*S*H?

    "Would a revival of Cheers be too difficult to pull off now, because of the cast being considered too old?"
    http://qr.ae/TUpxnp

    "How realistic is the TV show M*A*S*H?"
    http://qr.ae/TUpxnv

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  8. That cartoon strikes a chord with me. I've had a similar situations with the improv/sketch shows I've been in. I could get friends to come out to one performance, but not two. Plus, usually the established and/or more popular groups got the best time slots. Its almost impossible to get someone to come out to a ten or eleven o'clock show on a work night. Some friends won't come at all. One guy I knew, literally, lived right around the corner from one theater. Less than a one-minute walk from his house and yet, he NEVER came to one of my shows. However, I did go to see his one-man-show. Paid full price, too. So much for reciprocity. As for Ken's plays, not only are they very enjoyable (usually head and shoulders above most others) but, as always I learn from them. Whether he knows it or not he's always teaching.
    M.B.

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