“Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ball game to see the umpire. Judges have to have the humility to recognize that they operate within a system of precedent, shaped by other judges equally striving to live up to the judicial oath. And judges have to have the modesty to be open in the decisional process to the considered views of their colleagues on the bench. When I worked in the Department of Justice, in the office of the Solicitor General, it was my job to argue cases for the United States before the Supreme Court. I always found it very moving to stand before the justices and say I speak for my country."
“But it was after I left the department and began arguing cases against the United States that I fully appreciated the importance of the Supreme Court and our constitutional system. Here was the United States, the most powerful entity in the world, aligned against my client. And, yet, all I had to do was convince the court that I was right on the law and the government was wrong and all that power and might would recede in deference to the rule of law. That is a remarkable thing. It is what we mean when we say that we are a government of laws and not of men. It is that rule of law that protects the rights and liberties of all Americans. It is the envy of the world because, without the rule of law, any rights are meaningless."
“Mr. Chairman, I come before the committee with no agenda. I have no platform. Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes. I have no agenda, but I do have a commitment. If I am confirmed, I will confront every case with an open mind. I will fully and fairly analyze the legal arguments that are presented. I will be open to the considered views of my colleagues on the bench. I will decide every case based on the record, according to the rule of law, without fear or favor, to the best of my ability. And I will remember that it's my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat. If I am confirmed, I will be vigilant to protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court, and I will work to ensure that it upholds the rule of law and safeguards those liberties that make this land one of endless possibilities for all Americans.”
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| Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and President Donald J. Trump |
A long time ago (1971) in a galaxy far, far away (Providence, Rhode Island), I answered an ad seeking freelance arts reviewers for a weekly newspaper (Boston After Dark?) which asked applicants to include samples of their writing. Not having been published at that time, I composed a fairly dismissive review of a show I had recently seen in Boston during its out-of-town tryout.
Though I never heard back from the newspaper's editor, I received a valuable lesson in arts coverage from a friend of mine who, at the time, was a house soprano at the Metropolitan Opera. She advised me that, no matter how disappointed I may have been by any performance, brutally dismissing a composer's work was not fair game because (a) that person was probably not present at the performance, and (b) that person may have dedicated a year of his life to the creative process which had resulted in my brief exposure to his work as a member of the audience.
Over four decades of writing about the arts, I've learned that it's much harder to write 500 words about a performance one loathes than to write 500 words about a performance one loves. Even with the help of an impressive scatological vocabulary and a sense of having wasted one's time attending a particular performance, a play of little merit may not have much of a future and is usually not worth beating to death. Though there have been a few times when I've let it all hang out (a particularly misguided film adaptation entitled The Nutcracker in 3D comes to mind), on the whole I much prefer to describe my arts experiences from a curatorial perspective rather than a self-righteous, vindictive standpoint.
With Americans now being held as a captive audience to the political theatre inspired by Trump's impeachment, I strongly recommend watching this TED Talk by Oskar Eustis, who explains the vital relationship between theatre and democracy.
With the recent holiday season behind us, the Bay area's theatre community is returning to the stage with plenty of provocative material to challenge audiences. Two productions offered premieres that, in nearly every way, were the polar opposite of each other.
- One was a solo performance crammed full of historical material; the other a formulaic script solidly set in the present.
- One crackled with energy as its playwright-director-actor crawled all over the stage, raced up and down stairs, and went all out in a performance that would have left Robin Williams breathless; the other was filled with the kind of personal potshots that bring to mind "tall poppy syndrome."
- One opening night played to a half empty theatre, but a loudly appreciative audience; the other had a full house but left me feeling surprisingly underwhelmed.
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Say what you will about San Francisco's John Fisher (the artistic director of Theatre Rhinoceros), but you can never accuse the man of being lazy or suffering from writer's block. A prolific playwright who specializes in making the most with the tiniest budget in town, Fisher has an impressive collection of gay plays under his belt that includes Combat (1998), Partisans (1999), Amnesia (2003), Special Forces (2007), Ishi: The Last of the Yahi (2008), Fighting Mac (2011), The Battle of Midway! Live! Onstage! (2014), and Shakespeare Goes To War (2015).In recent years, Fisher has combined his hyperactivity with a lifelong passion for military history and cinema's depiction of war stories. His talent for weaving his wealth of war trivia into stories about growing up in a family that was not particularly demonstrative (and was certainly challenged by a child with such a wild imagination) has become increasingly evident in some of his plays. In 2017, Fisher performed a one-man show entitled A History of World War II, The D-DAY Invasion to the Fall of Berlin at the New York Fringe Festival, The Marsh in San Francisco, and subsequently took his show to several venues in Southern California.
As part of the third annual PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, Fisher premiered his latest flight of fancy, A History of the Civil War, which he co-directed with Jerry Metzker. The show's promotional blurb describes it as "an incisive examination of the American Civil War framed through the childlike lens of 'playing war' -- A History of the Civil War is an adventure story about America’s bad habit of hiding behind states' rights when what it really means is prejudice." Substitute the word "slavery" for "prejudice" and you'll get a strong idea of the driving force behind Fisher's manic tour de force.
What initially piqued my interest in this play was its mention of the March 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads between two iconic Civil War ironclads: the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac) and the USS Monitor.
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| The CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac) |
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| Officers standing on the deck of the USS Monitor |
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| A painting depicting March 1862's Battle of Hampton Roads |
Few people get to combine the passion they developed for reading during childhood with the zest that a certain generation (OK, Boomer) applied to re-enacting scenes from popular Westerns as they played "Cowboys and Indians" back in the days when children actually went outdoors to play. Although Fisher only had two opportunities to perform A History of the American Civil War during the 2020 PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, one can assume he will revive this show at The Marsh or some other venue around town. When he does, don't miss a chance to see history brought roaring back to life in ways that would boggle the minds of most academics, Civil War historians, and devoted Civil War re-enactment actors.
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Early in my writing career I developed a keen distaste for music critics who would greet the world premiere of a new opera with the accusation that the composer's music was "derivative." It's an easy word to toss around without offering specific examples from previous compositions. But when it comes to cinema and theatre, far too many cultural landmarks have become well-established to be conveniently ignored.Some playwrights enjoy success by updating or creating a sequel to a popular work of art. Matthew Lopez's updating of E.M. Forster's 1910 novel, Howard's End, into a six-hour drama entitled The Inheritance won raves from critics in London and New York. Modeled after Henrik Ibsen's groundbreaking 1879 play, A Doll's House, Lucas Hnath's 2017 drama, A Doll's House, Part 2 has received numerous productions from regional theatre companies.
It gives me no joy to report that New Conservatory Theatre Center's world premiere of Ryan Fogarty's new play, You'll Catch Flies, is so haunted by the ghosts of Edward Albee's groundbreaking 1962 drama, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Mart Crowley's 1968 play about a coven of gay bitches (The Boys in the Band) that the word "derivative" seems inescapable when writing about it. Fogarty has followed the time-tested formula of bringing together a small group of unhappy people, plying them with enough liquor to encourage their worst behavior, and focusing their malice on an old friend whose life has taken a sudden turn for the better (and who might be hiding a scandalous secret).
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| Marty (Robert Kittler), J (Chris Steele), Cory (Max Seijas) and Marcos (Vaho) in a scene from You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
While half a century may have passed since Albee and Crowley's plays first shocked audiences, with the addition of new technologies (such as email, social media, and smartphones with built-in digital cameras) just about the only thing missing from You'll Catch Flies is Michael's final line in The Boys in the Band: "If we could only stop hating ourselves so much." The frienemies who populate Fogarty's script include:
- Marty (Robert Kittler), who has been away from the group lately for a very good reason. Having been adopted at a very early age, he recently became old enough to seek out and reunite with his birth parents, who live in Denver. While visiting his biological family he was able to satisfy the feelings of emptiness that had haunted him throughout his life, even though he had a loving pair of adoptive parents.
- Cory (Max Seijas) is Marty's newfound biological brother who has no interest in going to gay bars because he finds the people he meets within them to be boring and superficial. He and Marty have grown extremely close in a very short time, are thrilled to be in each other's company, are already completing each other's sentences and frequently make physical displays of their affection for each other. Cory is even thinking of moving East so they can live together. Bottom line: the two men are so happy that Marty's friends could puke.
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| Marty (Robert Kittler), Marcos (Vaho), and Cory (Max Seijas) in a scene from You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
- Marcos (Vaho) was once part of this tight-knit group but, after a brief fling with J back when he still thought he was straight, Marcos fled to Spain where he came to terms with his sexuality and sent his friends a group email announcing that he had officially come out of the closet. He has since settled down with a lover named Glenn, but came back to the United States in response to Dev and Smitty's invitation to some sort of reunion party and, possibly, to mend fences with the estranged J.
- J (Chris Steele) is currently single, still carrying a torch for Marcos, and still socializing in gay bars. When he manages to get Marcos alone on the balcony of Dev's apartment, J becomes physically aggressive and proceeds to get Marcos all hot and bothered.
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| Former boyfriends J (Chris Steele) and Marcos (Vaho) share an intimate moment in a scene from You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
- Smitty (Sal Mattos) is an amateur photographer who likes to capture people's portraits when they are unaware of being photographed. With no concern for privacy issues or personal boundaries -- and obsessed with the idea that, even though they're both consenting adults, Marty and Cory might be hiding a delicious secret -- Smitty is determined to get video proof of an incestuous relationship between the two brothers.
- Dev (Devon Marra) has a steady job in marketing that he likes and has no plans on leaving. His work pays enough to support both him and his unemployed lover, Smitty, without either man having to worry about financial security. Unfortunately, they have difficulty communicating with each other. Though Dev has severe doubts about the wisdom of Smitty's latest brainstorm, he can't find the right words to prevent his lover from hurting their friends. A bitchy queen/truth teller who routinely purses his lips and poses as if waiting for his closeup before delivering a zinger, Dev comes across as a third generation version of Crowley's effeminate Emery.
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| Dev (Devon Marra) delivers plenty of bitchy zingers in You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
In his program note, Ed Decker (New Conservatory Theatre Center's founder and artistic director) writes:
“In this world premiere, the sharp-tongued banter of familiarity hides a deep well of missed connections and miscalculation. Maintaining healthy relationships and finding genuine intimacy in today’s world is much harder than it looks. With all the communication tools at our fingertips, it remains increasingly difficult to bridge the gap and find our way towards healthy, loving bonds with one another. Through its tenderness, comedy, and rough-edged relationships, You’ll Catch Flies is a bracing splash in the face -- a reminder that we can still learn a great deal from being in the same room together.”
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| Former boyfriends Marcos (Vaho) and J (Chris Steele) argue in a scene from You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
“Extending ourselves, looking into each others’ eyes and tussling with communication in real time is a potent antidote to any potential withering of links between us. We all want to be held in someone’s arms, understood and encouraged. While we may not always want to admit it, we need each other. The innate desire we have as a species to connect is strong and thankfully unrelenting. The good news is that we keep trying. In my view, forging and fortifying the ties that nourish our humanness is certainly worth all the effort required.”
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| Smitty (Sal Mattos), Marcos (Vaho), J (Chris Steele), and Dev (Devon Marra) in a scene from You'll Catch Flies (Photo by: Lois Tema) |
With costumes by Jorge R. Hernandez, a unit set designed by Sarah Phykitt, and lighting by William Campbell, Fogarty's script (which has been directed with a fairly heavy hand by Tom Bruett) gives the distinct impression that the characters onstage may have spent plenty of time cruising men in gay bars, but never really matured past middle school.
Performances of You'll Catch Flies continue through February 23 at the New Conservatory Theatre Center (click here for tickets).
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