CHARLE'S MEE'S BIG LOVE
The Play I'm Working on at LSU

Sorry about the short posts tonight; I'm pretty busy, even on the weekends these days--tonight I had to work on line memorization for Big Love, which has the potential to be the greatest work of art I've had anything to do with. The play easily falls into the category of what I've defined here as Real Art; that is, it is blatantly political, dealing with women's rights, and the tension this necessarily creates between the two genders. Really, it's all over the place in its politics, hitting on class issues, violence, sex, you name it. Here's what the playwright says on his website:

what I like

I don't write "political plays" in the usual sense of the term; but I write out of the belief that we are creatures of our history and culture and gender and politics—that our beings and actions arise from that complex of influences and forces and motivations, that our lives are more rich and complex than can be reduced to a single source of human motivation.

So I try in my work to get past traditional forms of psychological realism, to bring into the frame of the plays material from history, philosophy, insanity, inattention, distractedness, judicial theory, sudden violent passion, lyricism, the National Enquirer, nostalgia, longing, aspiration, literary criticism, anguish, confusion, inability.

Click here for the rest.

But it's not at all dry: this is one of the most universally human scripts I've ever come across. And it's all in verse, cool verse that doesn't alienate those who think of themselves as non-poetic, or get in the way of itself. It's really beautiful stuff. Horrible stuff, too, but in a good way.

Anyway, here's a monologue I was learning earlier where my character, Giuliano, speaks to three sisters, part of a larger group of fifty sisters, who are fleeing from a mass arranged marriage with their fifty male cousins:

GIULIANO
The wedding presents have come
now that everyone knows where to find you.
Frankly, I’ve never seen so many gifts
so much silver
so many white things
so much satin ribbon.
Do you think
we could save the ribbon?
Because
I wouldn’t mind having the ribbon
I haven’t taken any yet
I was going to ask you
if you don’t want it
because I have a collection of Barbies and Kens
and this ribbon would go with the whole ensemble
so perfectly
this ensemble that I have
they are all arrayed together with their hands up in the air
because they are doing the firewalking ceremony
and Barbie has her pink feather boa
and her lime green outfit with the flowers at the waist
and the gold bow at the bodice
and Ken is doing the Lambada
so of course they all have mai tais
and they’re just having a wonderful time
and their convertible is parked nearby
so you know they can take off to see the sunset any time they want
and when people come over and see my collection
they just say wow
because
because they can’t believe I’ve just done it
but I think if that’s who you are
you should just be who you are
whatever that is
just do who you are
because that’s why we’re here
and if it’s you
it can’t be wrong.
Some people like to be taken forcibly.
If that’s what they like, then that’s okay.
And if not, then not.
I myself happen to like it.
To have somebody grab me.
Hold me down.
To know they have to have me
no matter what.
It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Everyone should be free to choose for themselves

Guess what? The whole play is online, so if this excerpt grabbed you, go read the whole thing. It'll only take an hour or so.

This is going to be a really great experience; it already is because the rehearsals are extraordinarily stimulating. I'm even going to get to sing and play on my guitar an old Rodgers and Hart song, "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," which you may know as the song that Hannah's parents sing in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters, right in the middle of the show. I'm also happy because we're being directed by Leon Ingulsrud, who I consider to be a kindred spirit, artistically speaking. He's got a real rock and roll attitude about the theater, and is definitely a creature of my own fucked up generation, post-modern through and through.

I'm pretty lucky, I think.

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