Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 1/31/16

What southern Florida is talking about this week ...

The arrival of John Guare to town.

That's John Guare as in playwright John Guare ... as is John Guare who wrote 'Six Degrees of Separation' and 'The House of Blue Leaves'.  (And that's 'House of Blue Leaves' as in the very first play that I was in to start my acting career at Lebanon Valley College, way back in the fall of 1989.)

If you look closely, that's John Guare's signature and the year 2016 now in the spot on the original cast-signed poster of mine (and if you look even more closely, that's my caricature in the fur lined coat with the briefcase).  You'll see that he crossed off his name and placed his original signature after the presentation on Sunday afternoon -- a presentation that included a student performance of two of his early one act plays ('The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year*' and 'Something I'll Tell You Tuesday'), and a few words from him defining success.

A few (summarized) bon mots ...

• Read not the critics ... because if you believe the good, then you have to believe the bad.
• Remember the last words of Gertrude Stein who challenged that it is NOT "what is the answer?" BUT is "what is the question?".
• Once you are successful, you aren't allowed to do the same thing a second time.
• Go toward the uncomfortable and explore it in your writing ... astonish yourself.
• Do not give away the right to change your work*.
• He recommended the biography 'Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh' by John Lahr as one of the best books about theatre.
• In the end, freedom is success.

*A quick note about 'The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year' ... find it and read it and you will be pleased to see the earliest appearance of blue leaves.  When it was pointed out to him, Guare said that he was also somewhat surprised as he had forgotten the reference in it.

**A quick note about Robards, to whom the lead role in 'House of Blue Leaves' was offered.  When he came back to say that he could only take it to Broadway if the ending was changed and the couple reconciled instead of the actual ending, Guare turned down that revision and certain success for the integrity of what he had written.

JOHN GUARE -- A PRIMER:
http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/guare001.html

AS RECOMMENDED BY JOHN GUARE:
http://www.amazon.com/Tennessee-Williams-Mad-Pilgrimage-Flesh/dp/1491519738

GERTRUDE'S LAST WORDS:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein