Now that the dust has cleared on Daguerreotype and my sleep cycle is somewhat normal again, I thought this would be a good time to talk about my first experiences with theater. With a successful run of a new show behind me, I thought it would only be right to pay tribute to those people who got me interested in doing theater in the first place. The first thing I was planning to talk about was the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, which pretty much dominated my theatrical world for most of childhood. Later, I would discover Long Wharf Theater in New Haven and the Wesport County Playhouse, but as a kid, the O'Neill was the only place that brought people to my school to perform. The entire school would be called to an assembly and we would all watch the show. I didn't really even have a choice. I would watch theater and dammit, I would like it. (Which probably explains a lot about my sense of theater.) So I was just about to write a sweet, loving tribute of The O'Neill circa 1992 when I saw this:
Preston Whiteway, the source of my feelings of inadequacy How did this happen and why do I suddenly feel like I'm wasting my life? Granted, at 23 I'm part of a young emerging Off-Off-Broadway theater company poised to do great things in the future. But this guy runs the O'Neill. His weekly paycheck is probably larger than the production budget for Daguerreotype. And lest you think this is simply about money, he also runs one of the most respected and influential theater centers in American theater, the place that developed new works by John Guare, Wendy Wasserstein and August Wilson. (Okay, I had to look at the web site to find that out, but it's impressive nonetheless.) The single most important theatrical institution in my young development is being run by someone less than 2 years older than me. This is either a sign of the vitality of American theater or a sign of its imminent collapse. I can't decide which. |
An investigative history of the Hartford Circus Fire of July 6th, 1944. Nominated for a Fringe First at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Hey I spent some time visiting the O'Neill this summer cuz I had some friends working there. Having also grown up in southeastern CT, the O'Neill was a huge part of my childhood as well. I interned there, my mom worked there... and to tell you the truth, it was weird being back this summer. Things have changed there a lot. We should talk about it sometime, offline. Cuz.. yeah. It's interesting.