When our team assembled for The Lehman Trilogy some time ago, the three actors, John Maness, Michael Gravois, and Kevar Maffitt and I never knew that expereince would help us build such a strong, ongoing bond. Well it did.
Last night I had the great pleasure to watch two of the brothers in the Theatre Memphis production of Hamlet, featuring Kevar Maffitt as the Dane, and John Maness as Claudius. I did so sitting along side the third brother Michael Gravois.
Let’s just say this. Kevar climbed the mountain that is portraying Hamlet brilliantly, captured the play and the audience and took us for quite a ride. Kudos to Kevar and to John, who was also excellent as Claudius, for their excellent work in this oh, so difficult play and oh, so difficult challenge for actors.
We sat towards the back of the house so tha we would not become distrations during the many direct address monologues in the show. That said, the director gave Kevar the freedom to move about the house in those soliloquies and he chose to come up the stadium seating aisle and deliver the end of the famous “to be or not to be” monologue directly to Michael and I.
It was quite a moment among brothers. The bond continues.
They certainly don’t make movie theatres like they used to. That’s not surprising or new, and long ago signaled a passing of a time when building special places for people to gather became less of a priority than so many other concerns. Chicago’s Uptown Theatre was one of those special places back in the day. It’s been decaying and shuttered since 1981 and every now and then efforts surface to try and bring it back to life.
The Uptown celebrates its 100th birthday on August 18. Built as a grand show palace by Balaban & Katz and the architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, it was hailed as spectacular, and a “splendiferous palace of a place.” The Uptown sat 4,320 in what was called “an acre of seats.”
Offering movies and live entertainment it was billed as a “shrine to democracy where there are no privileged patrons. The wealthy rub elbows with the poor — and are better for this contact.” It also had air conditioning.
Obviously a lot changed throughout the years, talkies took over from silent films, the Great Depression, and the advent of TV changed the dynamic. The Uptown part of town itself fell on hard times and saw big changes, and during much of my time in Chicago was the last section of the lakefront resisting redevelopment. The final act on the Uptown stage was a concert by the J. Geils Band in 1981.
Robert Loerzel has a terrific piece looking back at the Uptown Theatre in the Chicago Tribune that’s more than worth a read as we approach the show palace’s centennial. There’s also an excellent gallery of photos, which the photo above is from. The link should be a gift link, although I don’t know how long that lasts. Loerzel has also authored a new book, The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace
When I first moved to Chicago in 1999 there were still a few of these show palaces in operation around the city, but the Uptown had long since shuttered. I got to take a tour of the place in the early 1990’s and the scale of what it once offered was impressive to see, only dwarfed by the decay and disrepair.
There are still efforts to try and find funding to restore the Uptown, but I’m sad to say I think priorities have shifted in such a way that we won’t see that happen.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
“Always tell the truth. It’s the easiest thing to remember.” -David Mamet
I first arrived in Chicago in 1999 aiming for a theatre career. I arrived just as David Mamet, one of the bright lights in the theatre firmament at the time, was spreading his wings and moving on from the city that birthed the characters in his plays. Here’s the thing, I was never that big a fan of his work.
I saw the genius in it, but in the viewing it was always as predictable as it was entertaining. In later years after Mamet had found success in film I actually came to believe that his work for the big screen was actually better than it ever was on a stage. As an example, I enjoy the film version of Glengarry Glenn Ross more than I ever have on stage and I attended the Amrerican premiere of that play at The Gooodman Theatre back in 1984. The Spainish Prisoner and State and Main are delights that I always enjoy revisting.
To be fair, I’m in a minority among my professional peers. There’s no denying Mamet’s influence in the theatre and film. Personally, I was more a fan of Sam Shepard’s work. The two ran neck and neck in popularity in my early days in the theatre. But that’s not what this is about.
Somewhere along the way, Mamet became even more of an enigma when he opened up about his political views, which in some ways spun in counter orbit to the milieu of much of what his plays seemed to profess. His plays had a power dynamic that while not completely in sync with the “eat the rich” vein, both celebrated and condemned the powerful, alongside empathy with the downtrodden or less capable.
He was always a gadfly who reveled in that reputation. But there’s reveling, and then there’s reveling. At times it seemed as if he aspired to assume a Bertolt Brecht-like influence. I’m referrring more about his views on theatre, than his political views. Check out his book True and False, or the videos and articles you can find all over the Internet.
No matter what you thought of his work on the stage or in the cinema, once he began commenting about politcal and social issues he became, I dare say, more entertaining than any piece of dramatic literature he created.
In a recent podcast with Sam Fragoso, Mamet revealed that part of the reason for his seemingly 180 degree turn in professing his political beliefs was because those in the media and literary circles that had always promoted him turned away from his work. No criticism stings more than being ignored. I’m not sure what’s the chicken or what’s the egg in that discussion, but it was a statement that did leave quite a bit of egg on his face. He later got fed up with Fragaoso and walked off the podcast.
Continuing to stay in the entertainment news this week, Mamet authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called Sorry, Billionaires — There’s No Escape, essentially saying we’e all doomed regardless of how we’re measured on the wealth scale in life. Biilionaires who think they’ve built doomsday hide-aways will be undone by the laborers they hire to keep the places running. Of course those less privileged don’t even matter in the equation. It’s a reguritation of the history of the world that Brecht and Sondheim did better.
The thing of it is, for many Mamet was always as entertaining as he was enigmatic . I find him more so in these later chapters of his story, even with its odd and often confusing mix of woke hurt feelings bouncing up against his conservative bent.
But then, as Mamet, contradicting his maxim about truth says, “it’s not a lie. It’s a gift for fiction.”
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
It’s the Dog Days of Summer and it’s been a hot one so far. We’re traveling again, but there’s still some interesting Sunday Morning Reading to share. Some of it hopeful, some elegiac. Some just geeky and fun. Enjoy.
Kicking things off is a piece in The Atlantic from Anna Deavere Smith called When You Don’t Look Like Anything. She’s a singular artist always worth paying attention to. Her story of her 50-year search for the American character is certainly more than worth your time. Damn good stuff.
A.R. Moxon popped up on my radar this week with a piece called Total Eclipses. It’s part 2 of a series, the first being Be Bolder, Not a Boulder. If you’re like me and looking for any light at the end of any tunnel these days, do give both pieces a read.
NatashaMH offers up An Ode To The Poetic Detours. It’s about writing and where she finds inspiration, but more broadly, it’s about observing, noticing, listening, seeing, and feeling between the lines we sometimes get trapped within.
Will Dunn asks Are Emoji’s Killing Language? I’ve been saying they are for quite some time. For the life of me I don’t understand why we seem intent on regressing back to an age of hieroglyphics instead using the complex beauty of words and language.
Health is a big deal in tech these days, especially when it comes to adding features to improve monitoring what’s going on in our bodies. Frankly, as someone who uses medical devices for monitoring my diabetes, the promises to add that kind of monitoring to smart devices, along with blood pressure and other conditions, sound hollow, seeming as realistic to me as self-driving cars. We may get there one day, but for now it’s mostly a clever way to market something new to increase the bottom line. Victoria Song takes a look at Samsung’s recent effort to check out our level of antioxidants with their smartwatch in I ‘Fooled’ Samsung’s New Antioxidant Feature With a Cheez-It.
Much has been made of Paramount’s caving to Donald Trump, leading to the firing of late not comedian Stephen Colbert. That was quickly followed up by the Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s skewering new season opener of South Park. Paramount paid up, got its merger, and in an Aristotelian, if not Mel Brooksian sense there’s some grand comedy in the entire thing. I’m a fan of Alexandra Petri’s piece examining the moment pre-South Park titled Are You Laughing Yet?
Sometimes we just need to laugh at what feels like no laughing matter.
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Readinghere. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
The play is adaptation of the 2005 movie of the same name that Clooney co-wrote, directed, and starred in, based on CBS journalist’s Edward R. Murrow’s work to expose Joe McCarthy during the Red Scare in the 1950s. In the movie Clooney played Fred Friendly, Murrow’s producer. On the stage he plays Murrow.
The Broadway production has met with critical acclaim and just recently announced that it had recouped its initial investment during its run that began in March of 2025.
I’m a big fan of the movie (I wrote a little about it here) and imagine I will also be of the stage version. I’m sure the story’s central message of standing up to bullies and demagogues translates just as well in a live version as it does on film.
I’m looking very much forward to watching this and would encourage you to as well. I know there are some who see Clooney as one of the villains in our recent political turmoil. And some see CNN has a willing accomplice to the madness we face. Even with what may seem like all of that irony, I would urge you to set that aside and give Good Night, and Good Luck a watch. As I said then
This isn’t some moment of nostalgia for a time gone by. It is a recognition that where we are now is a place we’ve been before. This time around those that control the media and messaging have, for the moment, much more control than they did in Murrow’s day. Make no mistake, they had some control then, but now it’s more pervasive and the Murrow’s, Friendly’s and Paley’s are fewer in number.
Setting aside the historical significance of this broadcast of a live play, and the paradox between the message and the messengers, I can’t think of a better reason to watch given where we are and will continue to be for some time.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
William Shakespeare is the playwright and poet that described us all. He did so with intelligence and wit. Today, April 23, is the day most mark as his birthday. The record of his baptism is April 26th, so it’s a decent bet the date is close enough.
There really is nothing new in human behavior under the sun. In his plays and poems I don’t think he missed much in describing every thing good, bad, noble, and foolish about how we operate with each other and within the world. In my view, it’s a shame more of us don’t pay enough attention to his cataloging of humanity. But then he predicted that as well.
Here’s an intriguing side note on this very intelligent man’s celebrated birth date. I asked several AI engines on what day was he born. Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and DeepSeek returned April 23rd as the likely date with the typical (and mostly accepted) disclaimers that we celebrate that day, but there’s no definitive proof it was the actual date. I asked Siri and Alexa, both returned April 23 as the definitive date. Intriguing that Siri didn’t try to pass that off to ChatGPT. I’m sure Amazon will now offer me all kind of suggestions to purchase anything Shakespeare.
So, I’ll amend slightly my statement about the Bard describing us all and there being nothing new under the sun. He’s correct in that we’re both smart and too often not smart enough to understand what we do and do not know, but he might have missed the mark when it comes to artificial intelligence. Or did he did he?
I’m reasonably certain his works have been fed into AI engines and Chatbot training given that they are long in the public domain. I’m also reasonably certain they ignore his nothing new under the sun descriptions of human interactions in the same way those of us still walking around do.
“Lord, what fools we mortals be!”
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
So much of what we’re living through in this age of destruction in America was unavoidable before it started, but and yet we avoided doing what was necessary. Damage is happening and will continue. The children’s rhyme of Humpty Dumpty comes to mind and that doesn’t have a pleasant ending.
Even if you can’t put all of the pieces back together in the same way they were before, the attempt is worth it. It’s not easy and it’s not without risk. The question of the moment is all about how American businesses will respond to the Trump tariffs. The general consensus is those costs will be passed along to consumers, in effect creating a tax.
I happen to agree with that consensus. Our problem is that too many American businesses are afraid to confront the bully, and also afraid to cut into their profit margins. The only way to conquer that last fear is to confront the first one.
While not the same by any stretch of the imagination, here’s a story from my past that’s somewhat analogous, at least on the bully fighting part.
I used to run the Wayside Theatre in Middletown, Virginia. At the time it was indeed a one stoplight town. The theatre served the local surrounding counties (it sat geographically at the intersection of three counties) and parts of two adjoining states (West Virginia and Maryland). It also served the Washington DC suburbs with easy access down Interstate 66. In the immediate town the theatre helped bring customers to several restaurants and antique stores along its one Main Street. Saturday and Sunday matinees were always a delight to see folks strolling down the sidewalks between the various businesses before and after a show.
After years of the same very local political leadership, a newcomer to the town succeeded in ousting the mayor. One of his first initiatives was to approach me and say that he was going to enact a $1.00 per ticket surcharge on the theatre to increase the town’s revenue.
We argued back and forth about this for few months because obviously I didn’t want to see this happen. When I suggested to him that we’d print out each ticket with his name on it saying “This $1.00 Surcharge Brought To You By Mayor Brown,” he didn’t take me seriously at first, but when I showed him a mock-up of the ticket, he saw the light.
He and I had several other contretemps over the years but ended up being friends in the end, primarily, I believe, because I did stand up to him in that first instance. I’ve won and lost battles to bullies in a similar fashion throughout my life and career.
Again, it’s not a perfect analogy of what we’re facing as a country, as a society, and as a planet. Even so, to my way of thinking, when you’re confronted with a challenge from someone who wants to toss around their power — real or make believe — you need to stand and deliver or sit down and shut up, taking what you deserve. You might indeed lose, but otherwise you’re just a coward for not trying.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
An often reviled 1888 play always returns to remind and haunt us when history recycles bad guys.
Alfred Jarry’s 1888 play Ubu Roinever goes out of style. It may disappear from the spotlight but always returns when ostentatious, overbearing, overeager and slobbish rulers ascend to power and use it injudiciously to cause harm and destruction. The message, like these monomaniacal megalomaniacs, recycles again proving there really isn’t much new under the sun.
Every now and then new productions or adaptations Jarry’s work hit stages to remind us and often revolt us. The original production of Ubu Roi, and many others since, have been reviled as offensive as the grotesque behaviors and characters the story reveals. At its core, Ubu Roiis a sort of parody of Macbeth with a little Hamlet tossed in along the way. To give you an idea, the title of the play is occasionally translated as King Turd.
In 2016 The Handspring Puppet Company presented their multi-media version Ubu and The Truth Commission, featuring live actors, puppetry, documentary footage, music and animation. It’s worthwhile viewing anytime, but in our current moment it’s a necessary kick in the teeth. You can see the entire thing (about an hour and a half) on YouTube at the link in the featured video below.
Handspring makes the story, like all of their work, entirely their own and it’s not only quite a treat, but given that this production happened in 2016, seems eerily and entirely prescient for the moment we’re living in.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Shows come and go. Some create bonds that transcend the impermanence.
One year ago tonight we opened The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. Openings come. Openings, and shows, go. This one has stuck with those of us who lived, worked, sweat, froze, caught COVID, and finally got the show in front of an audience. You can watch the trailer below.
My undying love and gratitude to the three gentlemen who played the Lehman brothers (and everyone else) in the show, Michael Gravois, Kevar Maffitt, and John Maness (pictured left to right below.)
Along the way they became my brothers as well. It was one of those shows that creates a bond that will never break, regardless of the adventures we each and all pursue in the future. Those are the rare shows. They are the rare talents I got to work and play with and always cherish.
Onwards.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 