Archive

What signals the end of a play?

Traditionally the climax of a play has been thought of as a matter of plot. A plot usually has a central dramatic question that the audience wants answered, their curiosity keeping them awake and attentive during the play. When the big plot question is answered in the climax, the play seems over and the audience just needs a little time to settle down. The end as a matter of plot The dramatic question is traditionally a variant of will the protagonist achieve her goal? In traditional romantic comedy and some other plays, that answer is

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Kevin Perrin’s “The Shir Khan Bandar Bridge”

Kevin Perrin’s “The Shir Khan Bandar Bridge” blog post seems to me to have the potential to be one of those modest but telling anecdotes that succinctly illuminate the American military experience in Afghanistan, richer in specifics than a parable, but still lean and uncluttered. Kevin Perrin was in Afghanistan 2005-2006 as a U.S. Army infantry major in an Embedded Training Team, serving eventually as acting J-3 for joint operations in the 14 northern provinces . His brief blog post recounts a quiet encounter with an Afghan border police colonel. Without unnecessarily summarizing any lesson

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The Mozart mystery remains unsolved

In a letter to the Napa Valley Register (“Darwin’s Dilemma,” Sept. 1, 2017), Lowell Young suggests that extraordinary talents in music, mathematics and the other arts prove the existence of a creator. I find it quaint that some people still think that finding flaws or incompleteness in one scientist’s 1859 book undermines an idea that pre-existed and still exists independently of that book. Mr. Young says that Charles Darwin offered no convincing refutation to Alfred Wallace’s assertion that the theory of evolution did not explain extraordinary human talents. But Darwin’s inaction proves nothing. Darwin might

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Donald Trump and the Law of Unintended Consequences

No one should have a fuller experience with and understanding of the law of unintended consequences than Donald Trump. Serious blunders are inevitable for a president who is impulsive, narcissistic, and willfully and profoundly ignorant (of culture, history, economics, science . . .). Serious blunders are inevitable for a president who considers his intuition more infallible than actual facts, who (like Stalin and Kim jong un) can’t stand criticism, who thinks he knows more than experts, and who seeming cannot see a distinction between what is true and what he wants to believe. Sad! All

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Review: Icebergs

Icebergs is a light and reassuring comedy about deciding whether to have children in a worsening world. Los Angeles’s Geffen Playhouse has created a fine production for the world premier of playwright Alena Smith’s sit-com script. Audiences will enjoy a classic realistic set, purposeful direction, and good comedic acting. The production, directed by Randall Arney, benefits from good actors: Jennifer Mudge, Rebecca Henderson, Nate Corddry, Keith Powell, and Lucas Near-Verbrugge. The fourth wall setting designed by Anthony T. Fanning is impeccably realistic, and authentically Silver Lake Los Angeles, I’m told. Realistic sets have their drawbacks,

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10 ways to improve the presidential debates

All reality TV is boring and only pretends to be spontaneous, but the worst reality TV shows are probably the presidential and vice-presidential debates. They are not really debates at all, and probably never will be, but here are ten ways to make them much more honest and useful to voters. 1. Get a competent moderator A good moderator does not ask softball questions that the candidate has already been coached to answer, or a question that the candidate has already talked about ad nauseum. What good answer could possibly come from the question, “How

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Review: Don’t Think Twice

Don’t Think Twice shows the forced transformation of a small improv group from New York hopefuls to the newest arrivals in that vast community of artists all over the country who have abandoned their quests for celebrity careers, and settled for pursuing their art in small towns. As the film opens, members of The Commune, as they call themselves, barely make a living doing improv before small audiences in New York City. They live together in a makeshift space in the lower east side, waiting for their big break — that is, being hired by

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The Myth of the Missing Welcome

The Napa Valley Register reported a June 28, 2016, program to honor Viet Nam veterans at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville, an event sponsored by the Veterans Home of California. I am always glad to see veterans of different generations and their families get together. But the article title suggests that the event perpetuated a myth: “Vietnam Veterans welcomed home after 50 years.” The truth is that we Viet Nam veterans have been thanked, respected, praised, saluted, and honored for decades. Not just by veterans’ organizations, but by every community in America. I was disappointed

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Geoffrey Hill has died, and we inherit his poetry

The truly great poet Geoffrey Hill has died. Death, there is thy sting. Unlike nearly every other poet of every era, Geoffrey Hill precedes his poems in death. I performed a memorial reading of some of Geoffrey Hill’s poems today in the Dialog coffee house in W. Hollywood, California. I was the only one there aware of this ceremony, of course, because I read silently, while having lunch. At the table next to me, five young women were being lavishly and theatrically chatted up by a waiter old enough to seem harmless but not old

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Why the American jury system is endangered

As the United States Balkanizes into hostile political and racial demographics, one obvious victim ahead is our jury system. I have no clue as to how the jury system will be modified, but I do not see how it can possibly survive in its current, flawed form, however important it is to democracy. Our jury system will likely collapse once Americans believe that we cannot rely on jurors to render fair judgments based exclusively on trial evidence and bench instructions — both carefully restricted — rather than on political ideology, race, or other pre-existing allegiances.

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Civilian War Casualties Day

Why the American jury system is endangered

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The myth of the missing welcome