Gee, Mel, can't you just get over it?
Mood:  on fire
I've been muy busy this past month, between The King and I rehearsals and getting ready for Halloween. For a day, Monday, I was the Whore of Babylon. When I get an online picture, I'll post it here:

Don't Fear the Terror! Scriptures for Halloween

And, as for The King and I, we open in Flushing Saturday night!

Free Synagogue of Flushing

Instead of applying for a grant from the Queens Council for the Arts, which was looking for unproduced work, I applied for an open grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts. I traveled to their offices and delivered my package, including a 20-page excerpt from the middle of Travis Tanner, on the afternoon of the deadline, October 3.

New York Foundation for the Arts: Artists' Fellowships

I received my final payment--on time, no less!--from Elena Holy for the production of Travis Tanner. She also asked us participants to contribute stories of Fringe participation for a publication for the upcoming Tenth Annual FringeNYC. Here's an excerpt of the e-mail I sent to Elena:

In your letter you have asked for stories for the tenth Fringe Festival. I'm thinking
of writing a challenge to reviewers not to play it glib and cool at our expense, but
to give us honest feedback that tells us, even briefly, where we playwrights and
producers went right and where we went wrong. As a tutor, I'm learning more and
more that effort should be acknowledge and honored, even if the product falls short.
After all, we aren't Broadway producers with millions of dollars and a huge staff at
our hands. Many of us, as Martin Denton pointed out, are producing on shoestring
budgets while holding down day jobs.

As glad as I was to have Travis Tanner accepted into the Fringe and as grateful that I
am that it was performed, doing the show cost me much financially and emotionally.
The reviewer should respect that effort, and the vision that inspired the effort, even as he
or she tells me in specific and correctable terms why my show, in his/her opinion, sucked.
To walk out on a show after only fifteen minutes, as Hy Bender did, and then give a flippant,
rather than valid, reason for doing so, violates the purpose of a reviewer and the trust of a
playwright. I want to say as much in a public forum.

Here's what Martin Denton said on his blog:

Theatre artists are workers, and they're craftspeople; they have pride in their work, same as you or me. They're also, in the off-off-Broadway world, almost certainly doing this work for little or no money, in time they've squeezed in around "day jobs" that pay the bills. For this reason, generosity becomes what it's all about: these folks are being generous with their time, trying to create something meaningful and/or artistic and/or entertaining for us. The reviewer must be generous to the artist in return.
--Martin Denton, The NYTheatre i, Monday, September 26, 2005 10:22am
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/i.htm

On my blog I've also written my questions and ideas of improving upon Travis Tanner.
I may remove or adjust the September 27 entry, which may give away too much to
the public.

Also, I've received from the Dramatists Guild notice about an upcoming Bad Musicals
Festival. Since three out of four reviewers thought my show was irredeemable, I might
shorten the work to an hour and submit it!

I also told Elena I intend to volunteer for FringeNYC 2006.

I'm considering sending Hy Bender a copy of the Martin Denton quote.

Hey! I never shared here the last developments in the Bender-Lee e-mail exchange!

I had sent him an e-mail asking him what specifically about the story and content of my play he found objectionable. He wrote back, essentially saying that at this point it would be unhealthy for us to continue our exchange. I don't mind so much being called unhealthy--in some ways, I am. I do mind being publicly yet meaninglessly castigated by someone who sets himself up as an expert, yet won't give helpful specifics on his criticism. I find this lacking self-awareness at best, and cowardly at worst.

Now as an example of my own reviewing, I sent him my take, a mixed review, of the movie The Polar Express. He said subconsciously by referring to that movie, I might be answering my own question: "That film devoted tens of millions of dollars on special effects and elaborate cosmetic details; but it lacked heart, and characters we could care about, and a compelling story. And even though it had Santa Claus -- an iconic figure of childhood -- it didn't have the gravitas or sense of wonder that Santa is all about. This amounted to holiday name-dropping sans a firm grasp of the spirit of magic."

I had spend a few thousand dollars, and although my script involves celebrities, it was much more than that that moved me to write the script in the first place. And I had written an original story, not adapted and expanded a popular book. I wrote back to Bender, 9/13/05:

Dear Hy:

You couldn't possibly "know" within 15 minutes that Travis Tanner "lacked heart".
Something about that story disturbed you, but you won't share it with me, or you
won't even recognize it yourself.

There was plenty of heart and intelligence in the story for much, or at least some,
of the audience. One woman, who doesn't know me, told me I'd written "an intelligent
script". On the other hand, my own sisters, who loved what I'd done, nevertheless
each told me a different thing they thought the story was lacking. If you want to
know what it was, go here:

http://mnl_1221.tripod.com/fringeblog

Two of my teachers told me I'd written a wonderful script, though neither thought it
was perfect.

However, as Leila had to let go of Travis in the end, now, if you can give me no more,
I have to let go of you. Good luck and God bless.

Peace,

Melanie

Yes, I did let it go briefly, but it's back again, at least in this moment. And I really think there's a parallel between Hy Bender and Travis Tanner, a parallel he subconsciously "grabbed" and couldn't deal with. Look at the opening lines of the show that made him so "uncomfortable":

TRAVIS:
I didn?t build a career by being real
I built it by being shrewd
Years ago, this was the deal:
To be astute, and cute, and rude.
Now I?m older
Guerillas are bolder
And things are too real.
Is it time for a new type of deal?

Perhaps Hy also has build his career by being shrewd instead of real. And he couldn't stand my version of "reality".