Anthony Perkins
I did not know this. Anthony Perkins left this statement to be read after his death: “I chose not to go public about [having AIDS] because, to misquote Casablanca, ‘I’m not much good at being noble,’ but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of one old actor don’t amount to a hill […]
Read MoreTHE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO
Has it really been almost 40 years since I saw (three times!) at the Public Theater THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO written by and featuring Christopher Durang, who died yesterday. Life-changing play for me. What can you say about a play that introduces you to Joan Allen, Mercedes Ruehl, and Olympia Dukakis in one […]
Read MoreBest Table Topics Speaker
Look! I won Best Table Topics Speaker at our last meeting of West Hollywood Toastmasters. I was asked to speak spontaneously about a song that had impacted me. I chose Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution” and recalled being part of a standing-room-only crowd to hear her sing it at Carnegie Hall the year her […]
Read Morescreenplay adaptation of my play THE FLID SHOW
More food for thought on this subject from, among others, my friend and colleague Mat Fraser (center photo). To show how things have changed: When I pitch the screenplay adaptation of my play THE FLID SHOW to producers now, there is never any objection to my desire to have Mat play the lead. When I […]
Read Morebacklash over BARBIE’s lack of Oscar nominations
Something seems to be being overlooked in the predictable backlash over BARBIE’s lack of Oscar nominations: Some people just didn’t think it was that great a movie (me included). And the Academy did nominate Gerwig for writing the film and Robbie for producing it, as well as a female actor, America Ferrera, in something of […]
Read MoreHerman Raucher
Herman Raucher has died at 95. He wrote SUMMER OF ’42, based on his own experience as a 14-year-old. The studio made him age the character to 15. Even back then such stories were being “corrected” from the truth. The theater company I belonged to premiered a play of his in the 1990s, when he’d […]
Read More“banned” before I left elementary school
A former schoolmate just found me on Facebook and reminded me that I had had a play of mine “banned” before I left elementary school. It was my attempt to write a Norman Lear-style comedy, and a rehearsal was overheard by a teacher and shut down. I was then called into the principal’s office for […]
Read Morealways happy to get a respons
I’m always happy to get a response like this from an executive about a pitch of my controversial, problem child screenplay DRAMA DEPARTMENT: “As someone who identifies as gay myself, Kevin sounds all too familiar. Even still, because of the specificity of his character and his decisions (the ‘messiness’ of his viewpoints and actions) he’s […]
Read MoreRyan O’Neal
“I’m studying . . .” It seems like just yesterday I was leaving the Stanley Theatre in Vancouver having seen the movie of the year. I was one devastated, blubbering eleven-year-old. My older brother Greg was embarrassed to leave the theater with me. If LOVE STORY works at all (and I maintain that it works […]
Read MoreBill McMahon
I just found out that the playwright Bill McMahon died. This is a scene from the last play of his I read, COVER, which was produced as part of the Midtown International Theater Festival starring my friend Karin Collison. When I read it, I told Bill I always tried to learn from him something I […]
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