June 07, 2006
I AM KILLING THE AMERICAN THEATER
filed under: Stuff to laugh atIt's easy to bemoan the current state of the American Theater - dwindling revenue, spiralling production costs, derivative material and ever-smaller relevance to culture at large. Many fingers have been pointed at many possible contributing factors to this downturn. But Michael Feingold has finally figured out the real problem:
Me.
The Village Voice today fires the final fusillade at our poor critically-derided production of Not All Korean Girls Can Fly in the EST Marathon, and this one places the blame squarely and contemptuously at my feet:
It's Fox's ill luck that her play is tainted by coming after the bill's opener, Lloyd Suh's Not All Korean Girls Can Fly, a lame lump of would-be satire, or something, that suggests an extremely pedantic ethnic-studies lecturer trying to parody Joe Orton. Though it makes little sense, Suh's script probably isn't as bad as RJ Tolan's dreadful production—all screaming and ineptitude—makes it seem. That Tolan is the artistic director of Youngblood, EST's emerging-playwrights group, makes the shrill relentlessness even more dismaying: All the vampire musicals on Broadway couldn't drain young blood away from the theater faster than this. One can't blame the actors: Both Cindy Cheung and Jonathan Tindle, who do the bulk of the screaming as, respectively, a frantic Korean American mother and a surgery-crazed doctor, give evidence in the few quiet moments Tolan allows them of the ability to do better in saner directorial hands.
As Graeme points out, "It's true. You've single-handedly destroyed the American theatre with a 20-minute one-act play. Imagine what you could do with a full-length."
I guess this means no Obie...
Posted by rjt at June 7, 2006 02:51 PM
aw, c'mon rj, I was planning to use that american theatre for something later on... jeez.
seriously, though, feingold is a very smart man who writes soley to display his own erudition and relevance, irrespective of what play he attends. the dude makes straw men for a living, i wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Posted by: david at June 7, 2006 03:35 PMYour single-minded pursuit to destroy American Theatre from the inside-out has finally been revealed! Blast you Feingold, you soul-less muckraking bufoon! Please allow me to say, RJ has never touched my young blood, or the bodily fluids of any other current members. It's only the alums he goes to for succor.
Posted by: EFren at June 8, 2006 07:28 AMI have single-handedly ruined a few productions myself, although I haven't tried to massacre American Theatre. (shame on you)
At least it was the Voice. I got "everything in this play was good. Except Kate Sandberg" in the New York Times. That was cute.
Oh, and I got "there were two problems with this play. One was [the director]. The other was Kate Sandberg" in Vermont. Where it doesn't count.
I'll still work with you. (although after this comment that may seem like cold comfort)
Posted by: beeg at June 8, 2006 01:26 PMYou could still get an obie. I've decided I will not read any of my reviews. Hopefully I will be able to do this. For the sake of my sanity. Do you think this is foolish?
Posted by: Adam at June 8, 2006 02:35 PMHe is an excellent critic. Did you see? Did you see how he wrote Youngblood and then later wrote about "young blood"? He's clever that Feingold is, a treasure...why he's like fine...gold...?
Anyone?
C'mon!
RJ blows!
Perj
This. This here. This is why you're my hero.
Posted by: Qui at June 8, 2006 07:03 PMI can bust his kneecaps for ya, if you want >:)
Posted by: red091077 at June 9, 2006 02:39 AMRJ, seriously, don't get discouraged by this one off-the-mark review; I saw your play last week and thought it was really neat and funny. The woman playing the chinese mother was particularly talented, and I do not think they were 'screaming' or 'inept.' Anyone else whose seen the play & agree with me want to chime in to lift RJ's spirits?
Posted by: David Aji at June 9, 2006 04:15 PM