Special Quote of the Day/Week-William Shakespeare

Since Monday was Talk Like Shakespeare Day, and it was the day in which the Bard died in 1616 (conversely, Willy Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564).

The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival takes place in High Point every year, and this year, the troupe will bring Shakespeare's most famous play "Romeo and Juliet" (editorial comment: I personally prefer "Othello" and "Macbeth") in a modern setting. That performance will run from Sept. 9-30.

Here is the quote from the beloved playwright:

"Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."http://www.ncshakes.org

Quote of the Day/Week- August Wilson

Today, we quote one of our favorite playwrights August Wilson (1945-2005) in honor of Black History Month. A production of his 2004 play "Gem of the Ocean," which is set in 1904, will take place in Wilson's hometown of Pittsburgh.

The performance will be from the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre at the August Wilson Center from June 2-10.

Ironically, we quoted another local hero former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who is originally from Louisiana, on our other blog "The Daily Vampire" yesterday.

Here is Wilson's quip:

"Blacks in America want to forget about slavery_ the stigma, the shame. That's the wrong move. If you can't be who you are, who can you be? How can you know what to do?
We have our history. We have our book, which is the blues. And we forget it all."

SIDEBAR: We learned this interesting trivial bit last week upon learning that it was the 41st birthday of actor Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter on "Dexter," the Showtime series about a serial killer who kills people he believes to be serial killers. In the first season of the show, which recently finished season six, Dexter and his female companion Rita are watching "Terms of Endearment" (1984), which won the Best Picture Oscar that year.

Well, in season four, John Lithgow, now age 66, who had a supporting role in that film, made a 12-episode run as Dexter's nemesis Arthur Mitchell, otherwise known as 'The Trinity Killer.'

Quote of the Day- Sam Shepard

Since the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, is presenting the 1985 Sam Shepard play "A Lie on the Mind," starting Oct. 5th, we thought we'd quote the playwright/actor here. I'm not sure these are encouraging words for beginning playwrights:

"You can't make a living at playwrighting. You can barely scrape by."

Bonus Road Trip- Theatre to Theatre

Since Washington, DC, like many places on the east coast, ranging from Myrtle Beach, SC, to Chapel Hill, NC, to Norfolk, Va, to.......well, you get the idea, is expecting massive chaos and flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene, it may be good to think about fleeing town.

Mike Madden of (Washington) "City Paper" blogged earlier tonight that an eastward shift in Hurricane Irene's path may help the nation's capital miss some 'real ugliness.'

So, we thought we'd compare the distances between two very historic theatres, the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, and the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., relatively close to the Tenneesee border- just in case anyone still really wants to leave the DC-metro area, and perhaps that would include members of Congress.

The drive which passes through towns like Front Royal, Mount Jackson, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Roanoke and Radford will take awhile even though no state line will be crossed after one leaves Washington, DC, and enters the Virginia suburb of Arlington.

The Barter Theatre, which started in 1933, has seen actors like the late Gregory Peck grace its stages. Currently, the Barter is producing several plays, including "Elvis Has Left the Building," which deals with Col. Tom Parker's frantic mission to find Elvis Presley in time for a major concert in 1970.

Meanwhile, the Ford's Theatre, which is best known for being the place where President Abraham Lincoln was assasinated by John Wilkes Booth, prompting the following quip from comedian/author Sarah Vowell: "No one really goes to the Ford's Theatre to actually see a play," is going to be performing an interesting musical called "Parade" from Sept. 23- Oct. 30.

Though the play is a musical, the subject of "Parade" is a very serious one as it depicts the trial and eventual hanging of Leo Frank, a Jewish man from Atlanta in the early 20th century, who was accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl named Mary Phagan. It is now generally believed that Frank was wrongfully convicted and executed for the crime.

So, our question is just how far apart these two zip codes are.

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours, 15 minutes

B) 4 hours, 45 minutes

C) 5 hours, 15 minutes

D) 5 hours, 45 minutes

Alas, Hurricane Irene is devastating the communities of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, my state of residency, and my thoughts are with everyone in that area.

SIDEBAR: Even before we remembered that liberal turned neocon playwright David Mamet ("Oleanna/"American Buffalo") penned a roman a clef about Leo Frank entitled "The Old Religion" (1997), we were going to mention him because of his new memoir "The Secret Knowledge."

In this new book, Mamet apparently discusses the reasons which resulted in his radical political shift, which include disillusionment with labor unions and his partisan support for Israel.

Mamet's novel about Frank is told from the condemned man's point of view, and it is a work which illustrates the role of race, ethnicity and religion in America.

One has to wonder if there are any similarities between the new Mamet and the old Mamet, which was brought forth brilliantly by "The Village Voice" blogger Rosie Gray regarding a "Financial Times" piece in which Mamet talked about his Noam Chomsky to Ayn Rand conversion and the art of playwrighting.

Gray said that it was amusing to read that Mamet is an admirer of Sarah Palin, a person which one would think might make a convert revert to his old political orthodoxy. She added that everyone needed to remember that Mamet was no longer 'a brain-dead liberal' (his own words).

But, the blogger pointed out that during his interview with FT, Mamet had a meal which consisted of a 'very liberal' salad with balgamic vinaigernee. The playwright/essayist/filmmaker also resides in Vermont part-time; it is considered to be the most liberal state in the union?!

Quote of the Week-Lorraine Hansberry

Today's quote comes Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) who died tragically young. She is best known for her play "A Raisin in the Sun," which also became the basis for a critically-acclaimed film of the same name:

"Obviously the most oppressed of any oppressed group will be its women."

We are featuring Hansberry because the National Black Theatre Festival recently concluded down the road in Winston-Salem, NC. Among the featured plays was a work called "Voices from Haiti," which was featured in the Greensboro alt weekly "Yes Weekly."

The festival also included the play "Let Freedom Ring" by Ted Lange, who is best known for playing the bartender Isaac on the the 1970s hit show "The Love Boat." The North Black Reportory Theatre Company in Winston-Salem, which has plays year-round, also had a play in the festival.

SIDEBAR: My hometown of Roanoke, Va., may not come to mind when it comes to art, but the Star City has an acclaimed art museum in the Taubman Museum of Art. There is also a relatively new city-wide campaign called "Art in Roanoke" which features public art displays all over Roanoke.

The art on display includes "Trojan Dog" by Roanoke artist Ann Glover at a fire station on Memorial Avenue in close proximity to the Grandin Theatre. There is also "connect" by Erika Strecker from Lexington, Ky., on Campbell Avenue near the offices of "The Roanoke Times." And, there is perhaps the best one of the seven displays in Crystal Spring Park near Roanoke Memorial Hospital called "Jelly Bean" by artist John Clement from Brooklyn, NY.

I will devote an entire blog entry to the project in a later entry.

SIDEBAR TWO: I will be on hiatus from now until next Monday for a variety of reasons. But, while I'm away, I hihgly recommend visiting the unique blog "New Black Man" from Duke University professor Mark Anthony Neal, who was recently on "The State of Things," a local/regional public radio talk show on WUNC-FM (90.7-FM, Chapel Hill), which is hosted by Frank Stasio. I am not an African-American myself, but the blog gives one an interesting perspective on the world around us.

Quote of the Day: Anton Chehkov

Los Angeles Theatre Works (LATW) is releasing an audio production of Anton Chehkov's very famous play "The Three Sisters" this week. The cast includes Jon Hamm from AMC's "Mad Men."

Here is the quote from the Russian legend:

"One usually dislikes a play while writing it, but afterward it grows on one. Let others judge and make decisions."

THE DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME DEPT: As someone who got into the bad habit of 'spying on the enemy' a few years ago, I actually get emails from right wing groups I hate and despise. One of these groups is the pompously-named Campaign for Liberty, based in Bristow, Va., outside Washington, DC. I got a chain email from the group leader John Tate, and I simply responded (and, I am not going to retract it!) by saying: "You bozos have moved so far right that Barry Goldwater would be a hippy now."

This actually made me realize that I wasn't sure how to spell hippy. The Urban Dictionary spells the term which is in reference to '60s era pot-smoking beatnicks 'hippie,' but both spellings exist at various places on the net.

SIDEBAR: I've definitely lived in a unique life as a human secularist with Muslim heritage (I am a Turkish-American) living in a very Christian fundamentalist part of North Carolina. But, during Ramadan, when Muslims have to go without food and water until sundown, I both appreciate what Muslim endure and I take delight in the fact that as a human secularist I am not subjected to their religious rituals. Of course, people like the Rev. Terry Jones, the Koran-burning minister in Gainesville, Fla., hates people like me just as much!

Last week, NPR's signature show "All Things Considered," reported that Omar Shahin, an imam (Muslim cleric) in Phoenix said that many people from his mosque were asking him if they could drink water given that it was 105 degrees outside. Shahin told NPR that if one was feeling sick from the dehydration, that it was indeed acceptable to go for the Dasani bottle.

In the same report, Johar Abdul-Malik, who is the director of an Islamic center in Falls Church, Va., near Washington, DC, said that he missed his soy tea green lattes at Starbucks.

Quote of the Week_ Michael Frayn

This month, we are featuring quotes from famous playwrights.

We begin with Michael Frayn. His most-famous play "Noises Off!," a radical over-the-top comedy (Frayn has also written dramatic plays like "Copenhagen"), will be presented by Playmakers Rep Theatre Company in Chapel Hill, NC, from April 4-22,
2012. I suppose if you are a perfectionist, you can go ahead and order tickets!

Here is the quote:

"A man sits in his car at the traffic lights, waiting for them to go green."

Special Quote of the Day- Voltaire

Since today is Bastille Day in France, the country that brought us Tintin (just kidding, Belgium!), we thought we'd quote from the famous philosopher and plawright Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778) whom everyone simply knows as Voltaire. And, here is the quote:

"Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need."

Of course, he said all this a few centuries before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.

Quote of the Week-Italian Playwright Dario Fo

Today, we continue quoting famous Italians this month (and, we will add one in July) by quipping playwright Dario Fo (b. 1926) who is best-known for his play "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" (1970). Interestingly enough, the play had its American debut at the famed Washington, D.C., playhouse Arena Stage. The theatre is now performing the Tennessee Williams classic "The Glass Menagerie."

Fo's plays deal with themes, such as Italy's dealings with organized crime, the Catholic church's political stance on abortion and the Middle East.

Here is the quote from the playwright who also penned "Trumpets and Rasberries" (1981):

"Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible."

We first heard about Fo through a Jeopardy question, of all things.

SIDEBAR: This will give us a good preparation for our upcoming People with Long Names List, Part Two, which we hope to post within the next few weeks.

We have recently become more interested in tennis after watching an HBO documentary on the rivalry between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg between the years 1979-1982.

So, here are the results of today's women's quarterfinals tennis matches from Wimbledon.

For starters, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat the Austrian Tamira Paszek. The Russian tennis goddess Maria Sharapova destroyed Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. In a close match, Sabine Lisicki of Germany won over Marion Bartoli.

And, finally, it a match between two eastern Europeans with long, difficult games, the Czech star Petra Kvitova edged Bulgarian Tsetana Pironkova.

We certainly hope we got the results right, and perhaps more importantly spelled all these names correctly!

Special Quote from Tom Stoppard

Since we were in Washington, DC, last week, we thought we'd share this quip from Tom Stoppard (b. 1937) as one of his earliest plays "The Real Inspector Hound" (1968) is being performing by Metro Stage of Alexandria, Va., until May 29 (which is Sunday).

The one-act murder mystery set in an English mansion, may sound like a Scooby-Doo episode (the animated cartoon which maintains a large following was coinceindentally written around the time o Stoppard's play) examines the roles of fate and free will, according to Wikipedia, and who are we to argue with them?!

Here is the quip:

"Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean where's it all going to end?"

SIDEBAR: I saw that Mill Mountain Coffee, which has four locations in the Roanoke, Va.-area (my hometown) has a sign which says "No Soup for You" for Saturday and Sunday as they don't serve soup over the weekend. I thought it was an interesting way of borrowing a phrase that became hip in the 19990s, though I wonder if customers who are older than Bob Dylan (he turned 70 over the weekend) might this rude and obnoxious. But, Mill Mountain does serve lobster bisque soup at some point during the week. I imagine there are recipes in "Good Housekeeping" and perhaps even back issues of "Down East" (a Maine travel magazine).

Quote of the Week- Lillian Hellman

Today, we continue quoting figures who were either socialists or communists this month since May 1 is associated with Marxism. Though I'm not one myself, I consider Marxists to be a bit more intellectually sound than the radical Chicken Little evangelists who are forecasting mushroom clouds on Saturday.

And, we turn our attention to the great playwright Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) who is best known for three plays in particular, "The Children's Hour" (1934), "The Little Foxes" (1939) and "Toys in the Attic" (1960).

According to Wikipedia, Hellman was blacklisted because her long-time lover the noir novelist Dashiel Hammett was a communist and because Hellman also refused to name names.

Here is her quote:

"Belief is a moral act for which the believer has to be held responsible."

SIDEBAR: I must profess that I could not agree with my friend Chris Knight in Reidsville, NC, who tweeted the following today: "Call me old-fashioned, but if a man can't be trustworthy with his wife, he can't be trusted with elected office." I think Knight was eluding to a certain actor/body-builder who became the governor of California, but it did remind me of current Republican presidential candidate newt Gingrich.

A former congressional rep from New York put in the former house speaker in his rightful place by saying: "Newt will be knocked off his message more times for his own actions than by others."

SIDEBAR TWO: Since there are times when I can be a bit overbearing around others, I was wondering if there was a term for a male diva. And, according to the Urban Dictionary, there is. We are divos. But, we should not be confused with people who can be called devo, though we love the '80s New Wave band Devo. That term refers to male divas are possibly homosexual or meterosexual!

Special Quote of the Day- George Bernard Shaw

We continue our quotes from famous people from Ireland with a quip from author/playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) who penned "Pygmalion" which became the basis for the Broadway musical and film "My Fair Lady."

While we our quoting famous people from Ireland, we are listening to Mardi Gras music, including a great tune from Tom Waits, to commemorate today's festivities in New Orleans from WXDU (88.7 FM-Durham, NC), which is the student-run radio station from Duke University, from the net.

Washboard Dave is the DJ at the moment, and according to the station's web site DJ Andy B., who has a program from 10:00 p.m-midnight on Thursdays is the DJ of the Month. Of course, this has nothing to do with Ireland!

Here is our quote from Shaw:

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

I wonder what he would make of blogging? Perhaps, it would have prevented him from writing "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893), another one of his classic plays.

SIDEBAR: At 9:05 p.m., my friend Les Blank's landmark documentary film about a film "Burden of Dream" airs on Flix, a subsidiary of Showtime. You will either come away sincerely admiring filmmaker Werner Herzog or questioning his sanity for shooting a full-scale epic in the Amazon River jungles of Peru.

SIDEBAR 2: Have a morbid side that wonders just when and how someone like acting legend Erroll Flynn died? (I actually never got around to looking that up, but there are better things to do in life and for that matter- even online). Well, you can check out (deadoraliveinfo.com) where I learned that I have now outlived another icon stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce who died around the time when I was born by 75 days.

Quote of the Week- Samuel Beckett

During the month of March, we will be quoting famous people from Ireland on Tuesdays since St. Patrick's Day is coming up later in the month.

We start today with Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) who is best known for penning the great play "Waiting for Godot" (1953).

The late Susan Sontag directed a stage performance of 'Godot' in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while the city was under siege in 1993.

Haris Pasovic, the producer of the play production, put political pressure on Sarajevo's mayor in 2005 to have a city street named in Sontag's honor, and that ultimately became a reality.

'Godot' is meant to symbolize God. Beckett was considered to be an avant garde plawright but his work has actually been frequently performed. In addition to Sarajevo, the play was once performed by inmates in a California prison.

Here is the quote from Beckett:

"Do we mean love, when we say love?"

Quote of the Week- Wendy Wasserstein

Here is our Quote of the Week from the late Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006) who died way too young at age 55. She won a Pulitzer and a Tony for her modern-day classic "The Heidi Chronicles" in 1989.

"Because of Mozart, it's all over by the age of seven."

Quote of the Week- James Baldwin

We are actually quoting playwrights today, but even though the late James Baldwin
(1924-1987) is best known as a poet, he wrote a number of acclaimed plays including "The Amen Corner" (1954).

Ironically, he went to DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx where Neil Simon, last week's subject for our Quote of the Week, also went to school. Baldwin graduate in 1942 while Simon graduated from DeWitt in 1944. Playwright Frank Gilroy ("The Subject Was Roses") also went to the high school which is where many, many famous people (Stan Lee, Will Eisner) graduated from.

Here is the quote from Baldwin:

"A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled."

Quote of the Week- David Mamet

Today's Quote of the Week is from 'is he actually now a Republican' playwright David Mamet whose most famous play "Glengarry Glen Ross" is now being staged at The Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, RI, until Oct. 3.

Mamet is also a screenwriter, film director and novelist. His latest film (we believe) "Redbelt" is available through Netflix.

"I always thought the real violence in Hollywood isn't what's on the screen. It's what you have to do to raise the money."

Quotes of the Week- Neil Simon

For those of us on the east coast of les etats unis, a venture to San Diego might be very difficult, but for those who venture or reside there, The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego will be performing two acclaimed Neil Simon plays at the same time!

Both "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Broadway Bound" will be staged there from Sept. 14-Nov. 7.

There is also a Neil Simon Festival in Cedar City, Utah, which is also quite far from the New York settings of Simon's play. They have already announced their 2011 schedule even though the plays will not be performed until the July 14-Aug. 11 production run. The plays are two from Simon "Barefoot in the Park" and "Rumors," and one from the late Larry Shue "The Nerd," which is perhaps one of the funniest plays I've ever read (have yet to see it performed!).

Simon turned 83 on the Fourth of July.

Here is the quote from the man who also wrote "The Odd Couple" and "Plaza Suite:"

"Take care of him. And, make him feel important. And if you can do that, you'll have a happy and wonderful marriage. Like two out of ten couples."

Quotes of the Week- Tennessee Williams

As of today, we are including quotes from famous people, either alive or dead, who are from one of the 32 countries participating in The World Cup, taking place in South Africa later this week.

Today, representing our country, The United States (or l'etats unis as they say in France) we go with the late, great playwright Tennessee Williams, best known for penning "A Streetcar Named Desire," which was made even more famous when it became a Marlon Brando movie.

Here is the quote from Williams who gave us that inspirational line: "STELLA! STELLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!" :

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."

For those who are not hip to American theatre history, we can also give you this quip from the alternative comic strip character Zippy the Pinhead who actually has a Twitter account! Though, these lines could very well come from his creator Bill Griffith:

"If I am elected no one will never have to do their laundry again!"

Quote of the Week- Bertolt Brecht

Today, we continue our series our quotes from left-wing radicals with one of our favorite left-wing radicals the poet/playwright/screenwriter Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) who lived a very interesting life in many different countries.

I had the opportunity to see a Roanoke College (Salem, Va.) production of his play "The Good Person of Szechuan" (written in 1943) some five years ago.

The German writer also penned the works "The Threepenny Opera" (written in 1928) and "The Caucassian Chalk Circle" (written in 1948).

Brecht lived in America for eight years after fleeing Nazi Germany, by way of Scandanavia, but he relocated to Eat Germany in 1949 during the notorious HUAC period (brought on in part by then-actor Ronald Reagan) which would have probably lead to his being blacklisted.

Here is our short, but poignant quote from Brecht:

"Don't tell me peace has broken out."

Spedcial Quote of the Week from Tom Stoppard

Alas, the great playwright Harold Pinter (1930-2008) is no longer with us, but his contemporary Tom Stoppard sure is. Here is one of his quotes:

"If an idea's worth having once, it's worth having twice."