Friday, July 31, 2009

Statement: Producing the Play

Textual Problems
Big Love operates much like a musical comedy in that it interweaves spoken scenes, song and musical interludes, and choreographed movements. How to make these three different formats work equally well poses the first main challenge in that it greatly affects casting of the roles of the brides, grooms, and Giuliano. A corresponding challenge is whether the director should tackle all three areas or enlist the aid of a musical director and choreographer. Age appropriateness particularly affects the casting of Bella as does Mee’s suggestion for double casting Bella/Eleanor and Piero/Leo. The dialogue clearly indicates that there are an additional 47 brides and 47 grooms to be married; how many are actually included depends on each production’s resources, particularly given that each bridal couple appears in formal wear (and for only this one scene at the end of the play). Performance space poses numerous challenges in that actors must be able to tumble and roll on the floor as well as get it wet (from the bathtub) and sticky nasty (with Bella’s splattered tomatoes early in the play and with all the fake blood and pulverized cake during the wedding massacre). Mee's stage directions indicate that Lydia gets naked and takes a bath (in the filled tub onstage) and that the three first grooms arrive overhead via helicopter accompanied by tremendous wind.

Contextual Problems
As a Raven Rep slot in the Showcase Theatre, our production will face limited financial and spatial resources. If we have three additional couples (instead of 47), then we end up with 12 people in formal wear getting married along with 3-5 guests—15-18 total actors in the Showcase who must also be able to “dance” the wedding massacre. The small acting space also makes the “sticky nasty” scenes difficult for staging and cleanup, and the closeness of the audience could turn the whole performance into something resembling a Gallagher show (the audience has to sit under plastic to avoid the splattered watermelons!). Regarding the number of “triple threats” required by the casting, we will be competing for talent with only one musical (not two as during the fall semester) and one less student-directed slot. Given the physical hazards of the tumbling sequences and the wedding massacre, I think funds should be requested for a workshop with a fight director.

Other Productions' Solutions
Most of the productions employed fight directors and/or choreographers to help with the acrobatic and often dangerous staging. At the University of Washington, the school's rappelling team was brought in to train the grooms how to land on stage. UT Austin went the opposite direction and allowed its bridal couples (all MFA actors) to improvise their fight choreography. Berkeley Rep covered its thrust stage with pink wrestling mats to help soften the actors' fall, while Columbia University seemed to exacerbate the situation by turning the stage floor into a huge sandbox. Some productions (namely the original and subsequent versions directed by Les Waters) employed Mee's double casting for Bella/Eleanor and Piero/Leo, although most others split the roles. The University of Washington had the largest supplemental cast with 7 additional brides and as many additional grooms, while Dallas Theatre Center reduced each by one. Production photos clearly indicate non-traditional casting when regarding race and ethnicity, particularly for the brides and grooms, but no apparent employment of disabled actors in this inescapably physical play.

The Critics Respond
The central issue noted by most of the critics stemmed from the relationship between the text (which is itself an assemblage of pre-existing texts just adapted by Mee) and the staging (both that suggested by Mee's stage directions as well as individual production choices). The issue is, basically, how much is too much? The original director (Les Waters) was both praised and damned for his over-the-top staging when it finally reached (in its fourth incarnation) the Big Apple. Similarly, how big characters might be played concerned some reviewers, who felt that, no matter how outrageous the characters might act, they still must preserve their core humanity. Other reviewers negatively noted the incongruous halting of the action posed by the inclusion of the many, often lengthy, pop culture moments, particularly the two songs; still others welcomed the theatricality as a way of offsetting the long-winded and didactic monologues. Few questioned or discounted the playfulness and sheer fun of the live experience.

(724 words)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Berkeley Rep 2001

Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Berkeley, California
April-June 2001

Director: Les Waters
Scenery: Annie Smart

Costumes: James Schuette
Lighting: Robert Wierzel
Sound: Matthew Mezick

Three breathless brides rush onto a stage which is carpeted with pink wrestling mats (for good reason, as we shall see), wearing white gowns and backpacks and one of them immediately jumps out of her clothes and into a bath. [...] Before the nuptials are concluded we get a food fight, an orgy and bloody murder.
Suzanne Weiss, Culture Vulture
http://www.culturevulture.net/Theater/BigLove.htm

The happily-ever-after ending threatens to define the bigness of the play’s title as universality. Fortunately, Waters’s absurd curtain call upsets the security of that resolution. The cast, mostly brides and grooms still splattered with blood and wedding cake, take their bows while lip-synching and dancing to Prince’s “Kiss.”
Catherine Scott Burriss, Theatre Journal
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_journal/v054/54.1burriss.pdf

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Woolly Mammoth 2002

at The Kennedy Center
Washington, DC
June 2002


Director: Howard Shalwitz
Set Design: James Krozner
Costume Design: Elena Zlotescu

The naked Lydia is greeted by Giuliano, a masked Dionysian transdresser in Barbie-style stiletto heels who pipes an obbligato gay man's version of love throughout the play. After Lydia dries off and puts on her slip, her sisters Thyona and Olympia struggle onstage dragging their hope chest.

James Krozner's set -- part padded cell, part "The Bold Look of Kohler" -- is a particularly whimsical wonder that provides the perfect playground for Howard Shalwitz's intensely physical direction of a top-notch cast, bedecked in wildly eclectic, fantastical costumes by Elena Zlotescu.
Jonathan Padget, Metro Weekly
http://www.metroweekly.com/arts_entertainment/stage.php?ak=15

Gate Theatre (London) 2006

Gate Theatre
London, England
September 2006

Director: Melissa Kievman
Design: Hannah Clark
Sound: Neil Alexander
Lighting: David Howe
Choreography: Ann Yee

Melissa Kievman’s colourful, joyous production sports a pink set by Hannah Clark which evokes la dolce vita, the modern Italy of Mee’s text. Her energetic cast swing from lip-synching to pratfalls and from angry declamation to sentimental longing, with little more than the bat of a well-kohled eyelash.
Aleks Sierz, The Stage

So why do I hesitate to recommend this play wholeheartedly? In part because [...] it treats no aspect of its politics - sexual or otherwise - with any seriousness.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

University of Washington 2009

University of Washington School of Drama
Seattle, Washington
February 2009

Director: Desdemona Chiang
Scenic Design: Deanna Zibello
Costume Design: Kathleen Hegarty
Lighting Design: Lara Wilder
Sound Design: Matt Davis

The production falters ever so slightly during the few momentum-halting musical numbers. Pop culture non-sequiturs are a difficult endeavor and should be included either with caution or absolute abandon. In this case, though fun, they lack the gripping energy of the rest of the play.
Trevor Pendras, The Daily

The play is technically challenging. Chiang called in members of the UW Climbing Club to teach her actors rappelling (for when they make their entrance from the helicopter) and a choreographer to help the actresses fling themselves on the floor multiple times without hurting themselves. A wind machine will help create the illusion of a helicopter, while trick swords will produce the “blood.”
Nancy Wick, University Week

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Columbia University 2009

Columbia Stages
Columbia University
Riverside Theatre (Riverside Church)
New York, New York
February 2009

Director: Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Set Designer: Laura Jellinek
Lighting Designer: Mike Inwood
Costume Designer: Amy Pedigo-Otto
Sound Designer: Chris Rummel
Fight Director: Alicia Rodis
Dance Choreographer: Clare Cook


[The director] uses a large, rectangular sand pit ... to evoke a sense of play that enables the many different media to converge.
Louisa Levy, Columbia Spectator
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/02/17/out-sandbox-our-minds

University of Texas 2008

Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Department of Theatre & Dance
Austin, Texas
February 2008

Director: Fran Dorn
Scene Design: Michelle Ferrier
Costume Design: Allison Heryer
Lighting Design: Darren Levin
Sound Design: Derek Moon

Dance-like movements, coupled with potent monologues and a slow-motion fight scene all strengthen the characters objections to societal pressures. The cast was encouraged to improvise the fight choreography to keep the scenes original.
Jill Harris, The Daily Texas

The stage picture almost never stops moving, and though the movement serves to distract on occasion, for the most part it works [...] Much of the play is dancelike and is, in fact, set against music...
Barry Pineo, Austin Chronicle

Friday, July 24, 2009

Balagan Theatre (Seattle) 2008

Balagan Theatre
Seattle, Washington
April-May 2008

Director: Jake Groshong

Fight Director: Kevin Inouye

I think the cast's many bruises were not achieved by makeup. The stage is padded like a wrestling mat, and by the bloody finale, the mat's intersecting jigsaw parts are ripped out in a gratifying mess. There's athletic grace (plus a flash of male nudity and rude gaiety) in the physical shenanigans. But the high points are mostly comic...
Tim Appelo, Seattle Weekly
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-04-30/arts/sinking-into-strange-lands.php

Actors are occasionally barely clothed, action is nonstop. The audience doesn't know if it should laugh or cry. The stage, at the end, is one of the messiest stages to reset. Clothing is covered with wedding cake and fake blood.
Miryam Gordon, Seattle Gay News
http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews36_18/page24.cfm

Dallas Theatre Center 2003

Arts District Theatre (DTC)
Dallas, Texas
February-March 2003


Director: Richard Hamburger
Set Design: Rem Koolhaus andOMA
Costume Design: Linda Cho
Lighting Design: Marcus Doshi
Sound Design: David Budries
Fight Direction: Colleen Kelly

Big Love offers dazzling spectacle, but it wears out its actors and its audience with relentless physicality and too many paragraphs of Mee's faux intellectual hooha. The characters, when they're not flailing about like moths in a jelly jar, speechify instead of speak, always at top volume.

Brooklyn Academy of Music 2001

Next Wave Festival
Harvey Lichtenstein Theatre
Brooklyn, New York
November-December, 2001

Director: Les Waters
Set Design: Annie Smart
Costume Design: James Schuette
Lighting Design: Robert Wierzel
Sound Design: Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen

To show their involvement, the audience alternatively laughs, hisses, and gasps, at times in horror, and at others in delight. We are not mere spectators but participants. Les Waters directs an extraordinary cast whose talents go far beyond mere acting.
Dave Lohrey, CurtainUp
http://www.curtainup.com/biglove.html

Big Love's director should get the electric chair. [...] Ruining fine performers with lame shtick and cheeseball antics, he forces Mee's acrid battle of the sexes into a frilly corsage box. [...] There isn't a fresh moment within 100 yards of the theater, just the putrid stench of broad acting, bad timing, and dumb Italian accents....
James Hannham, The Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-12-04/theater/it-s-all-greek-to-mee/

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Statement: The World of the Play

Although Mee notes that the setting of Big Love is neither real nor naturalistic, he does set his play on the terrace of a villa on the west coast of Italy. An early exchange between Piero and Lydia suggests they are somewhere north of the Golfo di Saint’Eufemia, which is south of Naples. The ocean is visible from the villa as is the ship on which Lydia and her 49 sister brides have escaped. The terrace’s dominant scenic element is a tub, which already is filled with water, and which will be used by Lydia in the opening scene. Given the ready presence of the tub and the villa’s seaside location, I have selected the spa resort town of Castellammare di Stabia as the specific location for the play.

The time is a “midsummer evening--the long, long golden twilight.” Midsummer is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and is traditionally celebrated by Italians on June 24. As for year, the numerous cultural references in the play suggest the present—or at least the near present—a period that enjoys the internet, Go-brand cosmetics, and Monique Lhuillier wedding dresses, all of which were available by the mid-to-late 1990s. Noting that the play was developed and produced as part of the 2000 Humana Festival, I have set the year of the play as 2000.

Castellammare was built near the ancient Roman ruins of Stabia, a thermal spa resort, which was destroyed in 79 A.D. by the eruption from Mount Vesuvius that also buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. Capitalizing on the area’s 28 hot springs, the modern town has two thermal spas which attract both locals and tourists, the latter of whom also may be attracted to the nearby Amalfi coast for weddings and honeymoons. Tourists usually can be identified by their lack of “bella figura” or fashion sense which dictates the attire and attitudes of most Italians, even the poorer ones in the south. Tourists were plentiful throughout Italy in 2000: hundreds of thousands flocked to Rome for the Jubilee Year (Holy Year) and for World Pride (Gay Pride). Italy also saw thousands of largely unwelcome refugees fleeing from the war-torn former Yugoslavia.

Castellammare is reknown for its cuisine, and a dessert is named in its honor: the biscotto di Castellammare, which is essentially a oval-shaped vanilla cookie. The coastal towns boast fresh seafood and produce throughout the year. The Stabian towns particularly favor anchovies, tomatoes, olives, and watermelons. Ice cream is an all-day favorite and is probably the only food most Italians would ever eat not seated. Given that our play takes place during one midsummer evening, it should be noted that an Italian tradition is to spruce up a bit and take a walk (passeggiata) after supper. An in-town walk may include a stop for a glass of wine or beer and a chance to catch up on the latest gossip.

Italians, especially those in the south, are infamous for their ways of expressing themselves physically. Gestures are readily employed to signal personal pleasure and displeasure as well as to ward off evil. Accustomed to living in more densely populated towns than most Americans, Italians often stand much closer to each other when conversing. Although strangers tend to shake hands when first meeting, old and new friends still greet each other with an "air kiss": a kiss on the right cheek and then the left but without the lips ever making contact with skin. Arguably more homophobic than their northern cousins, southern Italian (heterosexual) men may be seen strolling down the street arm-in-arm and embracing each other warmily and without qualms.

Many foreigners come to this region for their honeymoons. The government's requirements for civil weddings are quite simple but require arriving three days before the wedding. Catholic weddings, however, are much more complicated and require considerable paper work that must be initiated weeks, if not months, in advance. Wedding cakes come in a great variety of shapes and flavors and may not even appear to be "cakes" by American standards. (Many varieties contain custard and/or fresh fruit and are identified as torts or tarts.)

The differences between northern and southern Italy are worth noting. The south (the Mezzogiorno as it is known historically), like its counterpart in the U.S., has a warmer climate, is primarily agricultural, and very bound by family, religion, and tradition. Unfortunately, the recent economic meltdown has raised unemployment levels, which already among the worst in Europe, and many southerners have migrated to the north in the hopes of better job opportunities.

(760 words but still need to revise)

Italian Wedding Cakes (Just for Fun)

Torta Mimosa
yellow sponge cake with vanilla custard creme
Torta Chantilly
pastry-based with Chantilly cream
Mille Foglie
multiple layers of pastry/cake with cream/custard and fruit

Crostata di Frutta
fruit tart

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The World of the Play: Macro View

1. MM: A Peaceful New Millenium?

The International Year for the Culture of Peace was designated by the United Nations as the year 2000, with the aim of celebrating and encouraging a culture of peace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_for_the_Culture_of_Peace

Presidents of North and South Korea sign peace accord, and at least symbolically, end a half-century of antagonism (June 13).
http://www.infoplease.com/year/2000.html

After making it into the new millenium without systemmatic Y2K catastrophe, and months before the Twins Towers tragedy and years before the global economic meltdown, there was little reason to expect anything but good times on the horizon.

2. Guests Welcome?

2000 Jubilee Year (Holy Year)
The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. [...] Christian Jubilees, particularly in the Catholic tradition, generally involve pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome. At various times in Church history, they have been celebrated every 50 or 25 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(Christian)

Official End of Yugoslavia
In Sept. 2000, federal elections in Yugoslavia formally ended the autocratic rule of Slobodan Milosevic, who had entangled his country in almost continuous war, first with the breakaway republics of Croatia and Bosnia (1991–1995) and then in the Serbian province of Kosovo in 1998, which ended with the NATO bombing of 1999. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0877236.html

Illegal Immigrants
Italy's long coastline and developed economy entices tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and northern Africa.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IT.html

In addition to the 50 brides and their would-be grooms, Italy was inundated with visitors in 2000, many (pilgrims and tourists) bolstering the economy and cordially welcomed, while others (refugees) strained the very notion of Christian charity.

3. Mad Cow Disease

Millions of European consumers may be at risk of catching Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), the fatal human version of BSE - despite their governments' assertions that their countries are free of the cattle disease, the European Union's most senior scientists warned in a report yesterday. Up to 400,000 people in some member states could be exposed to infected material from a single cow if it were allowed to enter the food chain because it had displayed no clinical signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/jan00_news_mid.html

Europe--if not the entire world--becomes obsessed with contaminated food, particularly when imported from other nations.

4. Rome Hosts World Pride 2000

Italian organizers of World Pride, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) festival scheduled to take place in Rome in July 2000, face a mounting campaign to close the event down. The Catholic Church and the extreme right, including Italy's powerful neo-fascist movement, are pressuring Italian authorities to deny or revoke permits for the event. Basic freedoms of expression and assembly are in danger.
http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/globalactionalerts/495.html

The clash between progressive and reactionary politics and the role of institutionalized religion becomes quite clear and provide an unsettling context for openly gay Giuliano in Big Love.

5. George W. Bush Elected U.S. President

During the George W. Bush administration, public opinion of America declined in most European countries. A Pew Global Attitudes Project poll shows "favorable opinions" of America between 2000 and 2006 dropping from 83% to 56% in the United Kingdom, from 62% to 39% in France, from 78% to 37% in Germany and from 50% to 23% in Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Americanism

The zenith of the European notion of the "ugly American"... I experienced this first-hand three years ago in each city I visited in Italy, France, and England. Still, at midsummer 2000, when Big Love takes place, Bush had not been elected and this negative attitude was much, much lower. How this relates specifically, I don't know; however, I find it curious that the American author didn't make any of his tourist visitors American.

6. North vs. South

Italy has a diversified industrial economy, which is divided into a developed industrial north, dominated by private companies, and a less-developed, welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with high unemployment.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IT.html

The economic gap between the rich industrialized north and the poor, more agrarian south has widened in recent years. Unemployment in the south as a whole has gone from 18.7 percent in 1993 to 21.4 percent in July 1996, while joblessness in northern Italy at midyear was only about 6.2 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/15/world/north-south-divide-in-italy-a-problem-for-europe-too.html

The setting of our play is the coastline just south of Naples. Tourism is vital because the mountainous terrain cannot support significant agriculture. The region is demonstrably poorer with much of the population unemployed; perhaps this is why Giuliano continues to live at home (next door) and work for his uncle.

7. Italy's Out of Control Economy

Italy continues to grapple with budget deficits and high public debt--2.0% and 105.6% of GDP for 2007, respectively. Italy joined the European Monetary Union in 1998 by signing the Stability and Growth Pact, and as a condition of this Euro zone membership, Italy must keep its budget deficit beneath a 3% ceiling. In June 2006, the European Commission warned Italy it had to bring the deficit down to that level by 2007.

The Italian economy is also affected by a large underground economy--worth some 27% of Italy's GDP. This production is not subject, of course, to taxation and thus remains a source of lost revenue to the local and central government.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countryInsights/economy.asp?countryID=59&regionID=2

Although we might like to think of the Mafia as a thing of the past or as restricted to the island of Sicily (where it originated), organized crime continues to control a huge percentage of the Italian economy.

8. Computers & Internet

Released on February 17, 2000…. Microsoft marketed Windows 2000 as the most secure Windows version ever but it became the target of a number of high-profile virus attacks such as Code Red and Nimda. Over nine years after its release, it continues to receive patches for security vulnerabilities nearly every month.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law enacted by Congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers. CIPA imposes certain types of requirements on any school or library that receives funding for Internet access or internal connections from the E-rate program – a program that makes certain communications technology more affordable for eligible schools and libraries. In early 2001, the FCC issued rules implementing CIPA. More recently, Congress enacted additional protections for children using the Internet.
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html

In his indictment against modern society, Constantine rails against the internet and its easy access to porn. In 2000, Windows 2000 was released but was immediately plagued by viruses; later that year, Congress passed CIPA to help shield youngsters from online porn.

9. Getting Married in Italy

Dreaming of a romantic seaside wedding in Italy? Get married on the Amalfi Coast, in the Southern Italian region of Campania, the most perfect and enchanting location for an outdoor seaside wedding in Italy.
http://www.weddingsontheamalficoast.com/

Italy does not have many requirements for getting married - even with short notice. As a result couples that want to travel to Italy for a destination wedding can do so with confidence and arrive only a few days before their wedding date.
http://www.italian-weddings.com/marriage_requirements_italy.html

If you are Catholic and want a Catholic wedding, however, the requirements are so numerous that I will just share a link (to the requirements page):
http://www.italian-weddings.com/marriage_requirements_italy/catholic_requirements.html

The Amalfi coast is a very popular place for foreigners as well as Italian couples to get married. (This coast includes our play's setting: Castellammare.) Although I doubt Mee had any plans on depicting a realistic wedding, I think the notion of the Greek couples sailing to Italy for a civil wedding is very plausible. (Most Greeks are Orthodox rather than Catholic and, therefore, would not have to meet the Catholic requirements.)

10. Wedding Cakes

The history of the nuptial pastry, though, is even stranger than these modern rituals suggests. In ancient Rome, marriages were sealed when the groom smashed a barley cake over the bride’s head. (Luckily, tiaras were not fashionable then.) In medieval England, newlyweds smooched over a pile of buns, supposedly ensuring a prosperous future. Unmarried guests sometimes took home a little piece of cake to tuck under their pillow.
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2009/07/13/the-strange-history-of-the-wedding-cake/

Italian wedding cakes are very traditional and quite different from the elaborate American and British confections. The focus is on the finest ingredients elegantly prepared. The Millefoglie is an ever popular option: a crispy puff pastry base holds spongecake layers and further puff pastry held together by creamy chantilly and vanilla pastry cream. The result is an absolutely scrumptuous, crunchy, creamy and melt in your mouth concoction.

TORTA MIMOSA ALLA BAVARESE:
Sponge cake filled with Bavarian cream and vanilla.
CROSTATA DI FRUTTA:
Classic fruit tart with vanilla cream.
MILLE FOGLIE:
Puff pastry with Chantilly cream.
TORTA CHANTILLY:
Sponge cake, Chantilly cream, white chocolate shavings on top.
DIPLOMATICA:
Puff pastry base, sponge cake, vanilla cream or chantilly cream.
ST. HONORE':
Puff pastry, sponge cake, cream puffs and chantilly cream.
BIGNOLATA ALLA VANIGLIA:
Vanilla flavoured chantilly cream and cream puffs filled with whipped cream.

http://www.italian-weddings.com/wedding_services/wedding_cakes.html

In Mee's play, the collective wedding is comprised of three elements: music, processional, and wedding cake; there is no minister or civil servant to perform any ceremony. Thus, the cake itself is very important. I probably would have assumed that most wedding cakes (bride's) are pretty much the same. Not so.

Images from Castellammare di Stabia

The World of the Play: Micro View

Location: Town of Castellammare di Stabia in Italy
Time: Midsummer (June 24), 2000


1. Spa Resort Town

Known as City of Waters - Città delle acque – Castellammare has 28 natural springs, with mineral waters characterized by different compositions and healing virtues. The springs gush out of the rocks of Mount Faito, and give life to two thermal spa[s].
http://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/castellammare-di-stabia-spa

This might explain the dominating presence of the bathtub in the middle of the set; the plot begins when Lydia arrives and immediately disrobes and soaks in the bathtub. Note that Mee does not provide the name of the town; he does infer that it is north of the Golfo di Sant'Eufemia and on the coast.

2. Violent History/New Press

Castellammare was built over the ruins of the ancient Stabiae: a delightful village totally destroyed in 79 AC by the violent eruption of the volcano Vesuvio, which buried even Pompeii and Herculaneum.
http://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/castellammare-di-stabia

Stabiae is about to be wrested from anonymity, thanks in no small measure to a local high school principal and one of his students. Large-scale excavations are scheduled to begin this summer on a $200-million project for a 150-acre Stabiae archeological park—one of the largest archeological projects in Europe since World War II.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/stabiae.html

Mount Vesuvius looms precariously within view and occassionally produces tremors and earthquakes--an apt metaphor for Mee's retelling of, arguably, the ancient Greeks most violent tragedy. We'll be hearing more about the ruins and this ancient Roman town in the months to come.

3. Midsummer

Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place around the 24th of June and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between cultures. The 24th of June is a throwback to the old Julian calendar when the summer solstice usually fell on that day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer

The entire action of the play takes place on this one day (midsummer), which is also the longest (light) day of the year and a day of special significance to pagans, witches, and writers like Shakespeare.

4. Munchies!

[Biscotto di Castellammare are] Made with flour, sugar, pastry, vanilla, butter and water, have a typical elongated shape. ... Today there are already packaged and are sold mainly in the summer on the streets of the Campania coast, along with tarallini coated with sugar, another typical stabiese specialties.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscotto_di_Castellammare

The summer nights in Castellammare di Stabia have some traditions, including the famous stuffed with Nutella staples .... Another specialty of the area, which can be tasted in many places we recommend, is the fresh watermelon, served by some kiosks with drinks and ice cream.

You can relax with a pleasant air of the sea, and above all enjoy the traditional dishes that always offer the famous caponata (anchovies, tomatoes, etc..), The Peppered Mussels, lupins and olives and finish with the legendary biscotti of Castellammare di Stabia, born in 1848, by its elongated shape. All these for cheap.
http://www.beb-bonnenuit.com/en/

During the course of this long, midsummer day, what refreshments might be served to the Greek visitors? Why not these biscotti along with fresh melon and ice cream?! Serving these would provide viable activity for Giuliano when he is onstage.

5. Gay in Naples

In many ways Naples is a conservative city: the family is very strong here, as is religion. However, there is also a healthy disrespect for rules of any kind and perhaps it is because of this that there exists a surprisingly tolerant attitude towards all things gay. This is not to say that the gay scene is especially out in the open, or that the city is overflowing with gay clubs and bars (it isn’t). Indeed the issue is often suppressed or ignored, and with children usually continuing to live with their parents into their mid-thirties, problems often arise.
http://www.footprintguides.com/Naples/Gay-and-Lesbian.php

There seems to be little reaction (postive or negative) to Giuliano's comments about his sexuality, exploits, and hobbies. Maybe this quote explains any seeming indifference. (Castellammare is just 18 miles southeast of Naples, the largest city in southern Italy.)

6. Gift Giving Etiquette

Do not give chrysanthemums as they are used at funerals.
Do not give red flowers as they indicate secrecy.
Do not give yellow flowers as they indicate jealousy.
Do not wrap gifts in black, as is traditionally a mourning colour.
Do not wrap gifts in purple, as it is a symbol of bad luck.
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/italy-country-profile.html

During one scene, Eleanor and Giuliano bring in many wedding gifts. We should be mindful of the color of the wrapping paper (and if there are to be any flowers onstage).

7. Bella Figura

In Italy, the philosophy of La Bella Figura rules the land, especially in the south. Bella Figura means “the beautiful figure” but is actually a way of life emphasizing beauty, good image, aesthetics and proper behavior. Italy is a place of grandeur and elegance and this is seen in the details. For example, even the uniforms of the Italian policemen, soldiers, and carabinieri are more stylish and elegant than those of neighboring countries. Even the road sweepers are more fashionable in their immaculate white coveralls.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/36469/the_italian_philosophy_of_la_bella.html?cat=16

Clothes are important to Italians.
They are extremely fashion conscious and judge people on their appearance.
You will be judged on your clothes, shoes, accessories and the way you carry yourself.
Bella figura is more than dressing well. It extends to the aura your project too - i.e. confidence, style, demeanour, etc.
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/italy-country-profile.html

How does this affect the clothes (and mannerisms) of the resident Italians in the play? How does Eleanor, as the English tourist, contrast with them?

8. Climate: How Hot?

Thanks to its particular position, Castellammare di Stabia is privileged by its unique climatic conditions: a combination of a temperate sea, woodland and mountain climate. In fact, the City is siteude in the centre of the Gulf of Naples, at the foot of Mount Faito (1.100 m.), on the road leading to the Peninsula of Sorrento. The climate is the mild and pleasent both in summer and winter. In the hot months average temperature is around 25°C, and in the cold months around 16°C. Castellammare di Stabia was officially definded "Metropolis of Waters, Climates and Sea" during the 13th Congress of Hydrology, Climatology and Physical Therapy.
http://www.comune.castellammare-di-stabia.napoli.it/vivere_la_citta/storia.asp

If the average temperature during "hot months" is 25 degrees Celsius, then that would be 77 degrees Fahrenheit, hardly hot by Texas standards. Alert the costumer.

9. Population and Density

Castellammare di Stabia has a population of 66.929 inhabitants (Stabiesi) and a surface of 17,7 square kilometers thus showing a population density of 3.781,30 inhabitants per square kilometer. It rises 6 metres above the sea level.
http://campania.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/na/castellammaredistabia/castellammaredistabia.html

Compare with Huntsville, Texas: As of ... 2000, there were 35,078 people, 10,266 households, and 5,471 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,135.1 people per square mile (438.3/km²).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsville,_Texas

Don't be surprised if your Italian colleagues stand much closer to you than you are used to or even feel comfortable with. Italian personal space is smaller than that of northern Europeans and significantly smaller than that of Americans.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countryInsights/culture.asp?countryID=59&CategoryID=8,1

So, Castellammare is about twice the population of Huntsville but about 8 times more crowded (438 vs. 3,781/km2). Our consideration of space (and personal space) changes when we consider density. Our Italian town really isn't so much great with sheer numbers of people but they practically live on top of each other. This must affect notions of privacy and intrusion in the play.

10. Cheek Kissing & Physical Intimacy

Italians greet friends with two light kisses on the cheek, first the right and then the left. Even if you're merely acquaintances, this form of greeting is usual, both on arrival and departure. When groups are splitting up, expect big delays as everyone kisses everyone else. On first introduction a handshake is usual, although not necessarily the firm businesslike shake other nationalities may be used to.
http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/manners.html

You'll also observe people [i.e. men with women, men with men, and women with women] walking arm in arm or holding hands in public. This often occurs in the evening, during a customary stroll known as "passeggiata."
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countryInsights/culture.asp?countryID=59&CategoryID=8,1

In this play, strangers become new friends. How does this affect the ways they interact physically, particularly when first meeting each other? I have also read that the lips never make actual contact with the face: they're "air kisses."

11. Gestures & Gum: Be Careful Not to Offend

Placing the hand on the stomach signifies dislike, usually for another person.
Rubbing the chin with the fingertips, and then propelling them forward, is a gesture of contempt
Contorting the fingers and hand to resemble the devil's horns pointed outward is an obscene gesture.
Pointing the fingers inward, however, is a sign to ward off evil.
Pointing with the index and little finger is a gesture used only when wishing someone bad luck.
Slapping one's raised arm above the elbow and thumbing the nose are both considered extremely offensive.
In public, behaviours such as gum chewing, leaning, and slouching are unacceptable.
Likewise, it is rare to see Italian businesspeople eating as they walk along a street. Eating an ice-cream is the only and perfectly acceptable exception to this.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/countryInsights/culture.asp?countryID=59&CategoryID=8,1

How the resident Italians in the play communicate with each other and how they interpret (and misinterpret) their foreign guests could be a chief source of humor in our production.

12. La Passeggiata

As evening falls and the harsh sun inches out of the your favorite piazza, an evening ritual is bound to begin, the Italian tradition of passeggiata, a gentle stroll (slow! think slow!) through the main streets of the old town, usually in the pedestrian zones in the centro storico, the historic center. Italians tend to dress up for passeggiata, and tourists are usually easy to spot in their shorts and fanny packs. Older folks sit along the route, nursing a beer or a glass of wine in the bar, and watching for things to gossip about; la passeggiata is where new romances are on display as well as new shoes. Passeggiata is especially popular on Sunday evenings. During the summer, some Italians even drive to nearby cities, the coast, or the lakes for a special passeggiata.
http://goitaly.about.com/od/italytravelglossary/g/passeggiata.htm

What do our characters do during their free time in the evenings. A passeggiata appears to be the answer.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Statement on Non-Traditional Casting

In his “Note on Casting” (see below), Mee insists that issues of race and disability are not key to his plays; from the few plays of his that I have read, I have no reason to think otherwise. Gender, however , is a critical factor, particularly in Big Love. Based loosely on Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women, Big Love presents the proverbial “battle of the sexes,” in this case between a band of 50 (!) Greek sisters who have run away to Italy to prevent prearranged marriages to their cousins. Considerable text is spent defining, debating, and debunking traditional definitions of gender, i.e., what women should be and do contrasted with what men should be and do. These two separate but certainly not equal worlds are bridged only by the presence of Giuliano, Piero’s gay nephew, who feels as comfortable in drag (and a female-driven world) as in male attire. Given the central role played by gender, all male roles in our production including Giuliano must be played by men and female roles by women.

Regarding race and ethnicity, I recently saw a production of Big Love in which the man-hating Thyona was played by a black woman and the nearly silent Oed was played by a young black man. Although I fully endorse and practice non-traditional casting, I realize that some casting choices might be interpreted in ways that were never intended: if the only black actors in that company played the “bitch” and the “dumb jock,” might this have sent an unintentional but nevertheless inappropriate message? Further, if the only married couple (in our SHSU production) to survive the massacre at play’s end (Nikos and Lydia) is either non-white or inter-racial, is another unwitting message conveyed? What happens if the brides are all white and the rejected grooms are all non-white?

Similar questions might be raised by the casting of Giuliano, the only openly gay character. When Giuliano reveals his passion for Barbie dolls and his encounter with the older man on the train, should these come as surprises to an unsuspecting audience? Or, does Giuliano exhibit identifyably "gay" characteristics from his first appearance onstage? Does casting an openly gay actor in the role needlessly endorse or enforce stereotypes if only within the department? Or, does casting against type risk the possibility of real or perceived parody during the cross-dressing scene leading into the wedding massacre? At this point, I would recommend casting and playing a Giuliano every bit as masculine as the grooms, but with a masculinity free from the defensive and culturally conditioned mysogyny of the Greek grooms.

Physical capability does matter with the casting of the three representative brides (Lydia, Thyona, and Olympia) and their respective grooms (Constantine, Nikos, and Oed): according to Mee’s stage directions, all six engage in near acrobat feats such flinging themselves to the floor and immediately getting back up…only to repeat several times more. In addition, the three brothers rip their own shirts off in one testosterone-laden scene; the appearance of personal fitness and virility certainly would be appropriate, although casting against type, e.g., cocky and corpulent, might enhance the comic irony.

In his cast of characters, Mee lists “Bella/Eleanor” and “Piero/Leo,” thus suggesting that one woman play both Bella and Eleanor and that one man play both Piero and Leo. While doing so is physically possible given the order and composition of the scenes, it does not add, I believe, to our understanding of this world, its characters, or its themes. Certainly, the doubling might be fun for the actors and audience, but given our myriad student actors hoping to be cast, I cannot justify the doubling.

at 600 words; would like to revise

Characters

Cast of Characters

women
LYDIA, the first of the runaway brides we meet; engaged to Nikos
(though often identified as Greek, Lydia clarifies that she and her sister brides come from Greek-heritage, although they now live on the Italian coast)

THYONA, Lydia's man-hating sister; engaged to Constantine

OLYMPIA, Lydia's materialistic and youngest sister; engaged to Oed

BELLA, grandmother and matriarch of the house (here in Sicily); has 13 sons (including Piero)

ELEANOR, an English guest at Piero's house; coupled with Leo
note: Mee indicates that an actor may play both Bella and Eleanor

plus as many as 47 additional brides (sisters of Lydia, Olympia, and Thyona)

men
PIERO, Bella's oldest son and proprietor of this house

GIULIANO, Piero's unattached, gay nephew (who lives next door with his dad but works or hangs out at Piero's)

LEO, an Italian guest at Piero's; coupled with Eleanor
note: Mee indicates that an actor may play both Piero and Leo

CONSTANTINE, the oldest, angriest, and most chauvinistic brother; engaged to Thyona
(the brother grooms are all Greeks who moved to the U.S.)

OED, the quietest brother; engaged to Olympia

NIKOS, the most talkative brother; engaged to Lydia; the only groom to survive the wedding massacre

plus as many as 47 additional grooms (brothers of Constantine, Oed, and Nikos)


Playwright's Note on Casting (not required)

I am an old crippled white guy in love with a young Japanese-Canadian-American woman, and we talk about race and age and polio and disability, but race and disability do not consume our lives. Most of our lives are taken up with love and children and mortality and politics and literature—just like anyone else.

My plays don't take race and disability as their subject matter. Other plays do, and I think that is a good and necessary thing, and I hope many plays will be written and produced that deal directly with these issues.

But I want my plays to be the way my own life is: race and disability exist. They are not denied. And, for example, white parents do not have biological black children. But issues of race and disability do not always consume the lives of people of color or people in wheel chairs. In my plays, as in life itself, the female romantic lead can be played by a woman in a wheel chair. The male romantic lead can be played by an Indian man. And that is not the subject of the play.

There is not a single role in any one of my plays that must be played by a physically intact white person. And directors should go very far out of their way to avoid creating the bizarre, artificial world of all intact white people, a world that no longer exists where I live, in casting my plays.
http://www.charlesmee.org/html/cast.html

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Fable & Plot Summary

Fable

A young woman (LYDIA) in a torn wedding dress arrives onstage. She sees a bathtub, undresses, and gets in the tub. She meets a young man (GIULIANO) and tells him that she and her sisters have run away to prevent being married to their cousins. (They are from Greece but have come to Sicily on the big ship that now sits in the harbor.) Giuliano leaves and Lydia is joined by two of her sisters (OLYMPIA and THYONA). Olympia sings, “You Don’t Own Me,” and eventually is joined by her sisters.

An old lady (BELLA) arrives carrying a basket of tomatoes. She uses each tomato to describe her 13 sons: for sons who have disappointed her, she smashes the tomato. Then her oldest son PIERO arrives. The three sisters beg him for refuge, which he eventually offers them. After mother and son leave, Giuliano returns and shares his story about playing with Ken and Barbie dolls as well as an encounter with an older man on a train with whom he might have fallen in love and spent the rest of his life.

At some point, we meet an English woman and her Italian companion (LEO), who are houseguests at Piero’s, and at another point, Piero has a slow “father-daughter” dance with Lydia.

Finally left alone, the three sisters each offer a monologue about their feelings about me. Olympia wants a man, but only if he can live up to her idealized dreams. Thyona hates men…period. Lydia is more realistic and wants a relationship built and mutual love and respect. The climax of these monologues is the women flinging themselves to the floor, then getting up, and then repeating several times.

The grooms finally arrive (via helicopter) wearing flight suits covering their tuxes. There is an exchange with the sisters but Piero arrives to welcome into his house and freshen up. While the men are inside, they “negotiate” a wedding that will occur immediately here at Piero’s villa.

The men return in different, casual clothes and offer monologues about/against women, all while flinging themselves to the floor (as the women had done earlier). There is an encounter of the 3 grooms and 3 brides before Giuliano and the houseguests return bearing wedding gifts. The men announce that the wedding will happen asap.

The three sisters conspire: they will marry their grooms but, on their wedding night, murder them…which is what they do with additional, recently arrive sisters and grooms (up to 47 more of each). The wedding massacre is staged as a huge movement piece with music. Giuliano attends, also wearing a wedding dress.

Lydia and Nikos have fallen in love with each other, and Lydia cannot bring herself to murder Nikos. After the slaughter, Bella volunteers to “judge” the sisters. After hearing each, she acquits them. The final scene is the awkward and uncertain departure of Lydia and Nikos.

Dave's Outline of Text, Music, & Movement (not required)

The style is a collision of text, music and movement—what we think of as the elements of musical comedy, but crashing together in unusual ways...
http://www.actorstheatre.org/HUMANA%20FESTIVAL%20CDROM/play_love.htm

Lydia and the bathtub (movement)
Lydia meets Giuliano (text)
Thyona and Olympia arrive: "You Don't Own Me" (music)
Bella and her tomatoes (text)
Piero meets the sisters and offers refuge (text)
The sisters' indictment of men (text)
Arrival of the grooms (text)
Sisters rolling on floor "These men!" (movement and text)
Giuliano and Barbies and wedding gifts (text)
Giuliano sings "Beguiled Again" (music)
Eleanor and Leo arrive (text)
Lydia and Leo dance (movement)
Giuliano's "I knew a man once" (text)
Lydia and Nikos on love and marriage (text)
Lydia and Nikos' long, long sweet dance (movement)
Brothers rolling on floor (movement and text)
Cake arrives: wedding on go (text)
Three sisters conspire (text)
Eleanor and wedding dresses (text)
Weddings and murders (movement)
Aftermath and judgement (text)
Lydia and Nikos leave (movement)


Plot Summary

Big Love is set on the coast of present day Italy. The action begins with the arrival at an Italian villa of eight of fifty Greek sisters who have fled (by yacht) their wedding ceremony to their Greek-American cousins. The sisters meet Piero, the wealthy owner of the villa and supplicate themselves to him asking for asylum. They claim international refugee status and seek Piero’s protection from their arranged marriages to their cousins. The brothers eventually pursue them to Piero’s villa via helicopter. While one brother, Nikos is truly puzzled by his betrothed, Lydia’s flight, another is outraged. Constantine is ready to take what is his, as he states, “I’ll have my bride. If I have to have her arms tied behind her back and dragged to me. I’ll have her back.”

With the arrival of the brothers and Piero’s compliance to their demand to be married immediately, the girls decide to take action. All of the sisters make a pact to murder their husbands on their wedding night. With that knowledge the girls prepare for the wedding with the help of some houseguests of Piero as well as his feckless nephew, Giuliano, who longs for his own wedding and bedecks himself in hopes of being able to participate in the day’s big event.

Wedding gifts arrive and a cake is ordered as the tension escalates. With the marriage ceremony completed, the celebration begins with toasts and a first dance. During this the grooms are all murdered except for Nikos, Lydia’s husband. The couple is discovered by the sisters and Lydia is put on trial for “treason.” Bella acts as judge and after hearing both sides of the story, she acquits Lydia. The celebration continues and the sisters bid farewell to Lydia and Nikos, who depart to an uncertain future, leaving the sisters face their own future alone.
http://www.trft.org/TRFTPix/BigLoveStudyGuide.pdf

Exegesis (Selective)

"If Emanuel Ungaro had a villa on the west coast of Italy" (stage direction)

Born into an Italian tailor family in Aix en Provence, Emanuel Ungaro was able to find his freedom over thirty years ago when he rose to the challenge of creating his own fashion house.Ungaro found his style with mixes of printed patterns, bold contrasting colors, and exceptional draped looks. This flair for femininity easily translated into a line of spectacular fragrances known the world over.
http://www.sephora.com/browse/brand_hierarchy.jhtml?brandId=1493

"segues into the intro for You Don't Own Me" (stage direction)

"You Don't Own Me" is the title of a popular song by Lesley Gore from 1964.... [and] is about women's rights of how their husbands/boyfriends controlling their lives and freedom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Don

"Fetish Go Glitter Body Art in Soiree" (Olympia quote)

Go* Cosmetics have been manufacturing quality makeup for 7 years. You will find all the latest fashions, highly pigmented colours and with such an extensive range, you will be spoilt for choice. All cosmetics come without the high price tag!
http://www.ionacosmetics.co.uk/go-cosmetics-37-c.asp

Simply gorgeous glittery makeup for any time of the year, but particularly great for the party season. You can use our Glitter Cosmetics on your eyes, face and body with so many colours to choose from.
http://www.ionacosmetics.co.uk/glitter-makeup-84-c.asp

"Our people came from Greece to Sicily a long time ago and to Siracusa and from Siracusa to Taormina and to the Golfa di Saint'Eufemia" (Lydia quote)

Taormina has been one of Sicily's top travel destinations since it became part of the European Grand Tour in the 19th century and Sicily's first resort. Taormina has remnants of its Greek and Roman habitation....
http://goitaly.about.com/od/taormina/p/taormina_sicily.htm

"I'd have a house full of Kosovars and Ibo and Tootsies, boat people from China and godknows whatall." (Piero quote)

displaced and/or refugee populations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee#Boat_people

"Do you like a Cuban? A Vegas Robaina? A Partagas?" (Piero quote)

high quality, handmade Cuban cigars: http://www.cigars-review.org/

Cuban cigars are illegal in the United States.... an American citizen cannot even purchase or smoke a Cuban cigar while traveling abroad....
http://cigars.about.com/od/cubantradeembargo/qt/0062002a.htm

"Ken is doing the Lambada so of course they all have mai tais" (Giuliano quote)

The association of Lambada and the idea of “dirty dancing” became quite extensive – the appellative “forbidden dance” was and is often ascribed to the Lambada – mostly due to the 1990 movie Lambada, although the people who dance this rhythm in Brazil and everywhere else prefer to define it as a sensual and romantic dance rather than an erotic one.
http://worlddance.suite101.com/article.cfm/lambada

"There was an enourmous sterling silver bridge designed by Julian Schnabel." (Lydia quote)

... first rose to prominence in the 1980s as a painter. Colourful, controversial, he was the painter as media superstar. As if painting itself is not big enough to contain him, Schnabel then diversified successfully into film-making....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3670616/Julian-Schnabel-Larging-it.html

"I was hoping for a wedding dress from Monique Lhuillier, but back home in Greece, all I could find was an Alvina Valenta, not even a Vera Wang" (Olympia quote)

[Lhuillier] designed Christine Baumgartner's wedding dress for her Fall, 2004 wedding to Kevin Costner shortly after designing both of Britney Spear's dresses for her wedding to Kevin Federline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monique_Lhuillier

Alvina Valenta gowns are known for their timeless elegance, sophistication and most especially their attention to detail. All of the dresses are finished by hand, as well as the beading and their signature hand rolled roses. Every hem is finished with lace right down to the petticoat hem! Alvina Valenta gowns are made of the finest silks, satin shantung, and satin organza to name a few.
http://fashionbride.wordpress.com/tag/alvina_valenta/

PIERO: "Giuliano, mi dispiacce, ma..." GUILIANO: "Si, si. Lascia me."

Giuliano, I don't like it, but... Yes, yes. Allow me.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lasciare#Italian.23Italian

Basic Facts

Big Love by Charles Mee

Basics

full-length play in English without act or scene divisions

5-6 M (with extras), 4-5 F (with extras)

inspired by Aeschylus' ancient Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women
http://www.panix.com/userdirs/meejr/html/big_love.html

setting: a midsummer evening, the present (2000)
location: exterior of Piero's house on the Italian coast (Sciacca, Sicily)

running time appr. 1 hour and 40 minutes
http://www.curtainup.com/biglove.html
1 hour and 30 minutes
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A594640

Genre (need at least 2 different labels)

vaudevillian tragicomedy -Dave Lohrey
http://www.curtainup.com/biglove.html

a comedy about rape
http://www.trft.org/TRFTPix/BigLoveStudyGuide.pdf

lyrical fantasy
http://www.amazon.com/Humana-Festival-2000-Complete-Plays/dp/1575252260

fiercely extravagant adaptation -Liam Otten
http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/1787.html

Playwright's BIO

Charles L. Mee is an American playwright and author. He was born in Barrington, Illinois in 1938. He was stricken with polio in 1953, which he details in his 1999 memoir A Nearly Normal Life. His plays include: The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, Full Circle, The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Snow in June, Hotel Cassiopeia, True Love, bobrauschenbergamerica, A Perfect Wedding, Big Love, Viena Lusthaus, Orestes 2.0, The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador, Fetes de la Nuit, Summertime, Wintertime, Agamemnon 2.0, Iphigenia 2.0, Paradise Park, Queens Boulevard, Chiang Kai Shek and First Love. As of February, 2007, all of his plays are available on his website …. Mee is also an accomplished historian, having written about the Potsdam Conference and World War II. He currently teaches playwrighting at the Columbia University School of the Arts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_L._Mee

Publication

originally commissioned by the Actors' Theatre of Louisville 2000 Humana Festival

available for purchase at amazon.com in Humana Festival 2000: The Complete Plays

also available online (free and without copyright restrictions) at playwright's website:
http://www.panix.com/~meejr/html/big_love.html

Rights

professional: contact Thomas Pearson of International Creative Management at tpearson@icmtalent.com

amateur: contact Libby Edwards at charlesmeeplays@yahoo.com