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12/12/2009

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kimber

You GO, Paul Mullin!!!!!

Leslie

I heart Paul Mullin.

Darian

"Good Friend for Jesus’ Sake Forbear and Never Build another Proscenium Stage"

HAHAHA. I can't wait for that one. And Amen.

Louis Broome

Sir, if by your statement, "I'm done bitching in bars," you mean to imply that such an activity is a poor use of time and energy, you do bitching and bars a great dishonor. The plots that led to the American and French revolutions were hatched in bars; both were born of considerable bitching and drinking in bars.
Bitching in bars was fundamental to the great success of the Elizabethan theatre. Plays were purchased based on readings given in bars. Given the circumstances - playwrights, actors and company managers drinking together – Elizabethan barmaids and barmen beheld a volume and quality of bitching likely unsurpassed in the history of Western Civilization.
The theatre of our time desperately needs more bitching in more bars, not less. Social media, in its purest form, flows from bottle to glass to gullet

Bill Salyers

It sounds like Seattle theater is a very different scene now than it was in the 90's, when I was there, Jeff Reid was an artistic director, and Paul Mullin was an angry YOUNG man.
With nostalgia for that past and hope for the future, I look forward to reading all of these.
Nice work, Paul.

Paul Mullin

Louis, I knew it it was just a question of how long until someone called my bluff about bitching in bars. I'm just glad it was you, who shares my love for it as well as my adoration for the greatest living mixology artist in Seattle and quite possibly anywhere, Zig Zag's Murray Stenson.

COMTE

In order to raise the caliber of the bitching around here, we probably need to find a more suitable bar in which to do it, or preferably several.

And I've got you linked on my web site now, so you bet I'll be keeping track.

Paul Mullin

I wouldn't worry too much, Chris. There's a reason why the title for the piece on Equity is near the bottom of the list. Fact is, I'm nearly done trying to convince AEA members that they need to reform their union for the sake of their artform. And everyone else seems to consider the point blatantly obvious. So I'll be surprised if I can sustain the energy to build these essays at the level I want to all the way to the bottom of the list. But if I can, trust me, Equity will get the logic lashing it so richly deserves.

Account Deleted

In order to have a meaningful conversation about making Seattle a world class theatre town I think you need to define what world class means...

Does it mean:

- Seattle theatre is regularly discussed in world newspapers?
- Seattle productions get consistently reviewed in the NY Times?
- Other countries regularly import Seattle productions to run in their local theatres?
- plays written by Seattle natives are produced in other countries?
- Seattle theatre gets lots of mentions in The Drama Review?
- Dan Sullivan gets elected President of Norway?
- Some Islamic leader issues a Fatwa against a locally grown playwright?

I mean, what the hell does world class mean? I think you need an essay on that. What does it mean? What goals do you propose than when met signify arrival? How is Seattle tracking today against those goals?

Joshua Conkel

Dear Paul Mullin,

I don't know you, but I think I heart you. If there had been more people like you in Seattle I might not have jumped ship for New York about two seconds after I graduated from Cornish.

I grew up in Kitsap County and I used to see plays in Seattle when I was a teenager. (This was in the 90's. Anybody remember that show "Poona the Fuckdog"?) The scene seemed very vibrant from the outside. By the time I graduated from Cornish in '03 it seemed very different. I don't know if the scene actually changed or if my perspective changed. I suspect it was the actual scene, since so many houses were closing down.

Anyway, I got a job here which is why I came, but I miss Seattle all the time. I really, really hope it becomes the world class theater town you're aiming for.

Paul Mullin

Welcome Joshua!

I don't know you either, but I heart you back and thank you for your comment. Ironically enough I moved back to Seattle from NYC just as you were moving in the opposite direction, so I can tell you without hesitation that the city definitely did change from the fervent '90's to the Zeroes. The acting talent got older and better, more professional, but also, sadly more risk averse and less likely to give the finger to the Big Houses or Equity holding them down.

Also, the fringe theaters became more risk averse too. Customarily the bastions of new work, they did less and less of it in the Zeroes until, when finally called on it, they offered distinctly "Big House" excuses like "It hurts our box office. We make less money on new works." Like an Annex or an AHA! ever let that weak crap ever stop them from choosing something original over the hot thing from Off-Broadway 2 years ago.

I've been targeting the Big Houses a lot here, but fact is, the fringe houses here have lost heart and true direction. Except for Annex, but Annex can't do it alone.

Mark Rose

There are no venues in Seattle, no subversive cadre of off the wall playwrights willing to jump into the cauldron. I love it here - live here, study here sometimes at Freehold - but if I want to feel alive and inspired and challenged I go to NYC.

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