Mike Mariano

Jason Grote cuts right to the point with a weblog post titled “I really, seriously think that I don’t want to invite the New York Times to review my shows, ever.”

He has good reason: the theatre coverage in the Times is often wretched. Some reviewers are bewilderingly ignorant, they show it, and the Times doesn’t seem to care.

Jason has his solution. I have mine: I dropped the New York Times from my feed list. I ran out of reasons to read them; nytheatre.com gives me the breadth of coverage that I want while others give me the depth. I don’t want to perpetuate any reverse-snobbery—this is pure pragmatism—but the Times is useless to me.

I guess that feed list link reveals what I do read and—look! It’s all theatre bloggers! I think that counts as a blogroll.

So if you’re not on the list of my theatre feedage, it means I hate you. And if you are on the list, it means I hate you even more. I keep my enemies close.

Where one stands while saying line X utterly colors the nature of an exchange. (If I’m looking at my scene partner, I feel one thing. If I’m avoiding looking at him, I feel another).

—Martha Lavey, cast member of Love-Lies-Bleeding, Steppenwolf Theatre

You know, I want to try that “less is more” kind of acting. Where you just—when you’re talking to someone you close your eyes. And then you look at them when you’re not talking to the person. I mean you open your eyes when you’re looking away but then when you talk to the person you go like that. And you open your eyes and then you look back at the person, but you never open your eyes when you’re talking to the person.

—Sheila Albertson, cast member of Red, White, and Blaine, Waiting for Guffman

Monosyllabic play titles are back!

We’ve got Pen at Playwrights Horizons!

And Well at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre!

Things haven’t been this good since the 1999 line-up of Wit, Art, and bash!

Dean dreams of writing a play with onstage defecation. I suggested a pair of one-acts billed as Number One/Number Two.

My title uses the “play title with a slash in it” rule established by Marat/Sade. But if trends continue, we should title it Poop.