Well, if there really is a full-time position for the god of playwrighting, it would have to be a job-share arrangement between Melpomene (for tragedy) and Thalia (for comedy). This odd couple sometimes needs an interlocutor–someone deft enough to sound the depths of the long period yet familiar with the iconoclastic bent. Comedy and tragedy, as categories independent of genre, remain historically relevant and emotionally powerful…but these days there is more intercourse between them than there was, I think, in ancient Greece. It’s probably healthy. Oddly, you hear the expression “dark comedy” much more often than “light tragedy,” which goes to show that there’s work yet to be done.
Which brings me to my first full-length play, The Whistler. I recently brought it to a more settled state that I can share with Cincinnati theatre folks in a couple weeks through the good offices of Tim Waldrip, an acting coach and director there who invited me to come see his production of the play that made John Malkovich famous. I hope to have a table reading of The Whistler while I’m in Ohio; at any rate there’s a dinner in the offing with some very talented actors, teachers, and at least one well-established playwright. I’m reading or watching everything I can get my hands on by the folks who will be around that table. Continue Reading →