I am not Ronald Reagan

I've realized the phrase "Nancy and I" keeps cropping up in my writing and speech. Can't help but think of that evil old cocksucker and his terrifying undead spouse.

"Well, Nancy and I are glad you've joined us in our complete and knowing contempt for the poor. With your help, we can wreck this economy and get things back to the feudal system. Thank you my fellow rich white people. Ahh... Americans. My fellow Americans."

So, for the record, I'm not Dutch.

Missed the NYTR party last night at PS 122, but only because I miss everything. Bet it was a hoot. Those crazy kids.

Narrowed down the big Edinburgh International Festival Award project to two possibilities.

They are:

Captain Overlord’s Folly or The Fool’s Revenge (working title)

What begins as a Shavian well-made play of ideas is disrupted by the appearance, infiltration and eventual full-frontal assault of a gang of bouffou clowns. Having driven the actors from the stage, the clowns (or fools) attempt to stage the play from the beginning, only to be infiltrated and defeated by a posse of post-dramatic theater academics. A live-action history lesson of 20th century theater theory, Overlord is at the same time a funny, spooky and disturbing event, forcing an audience to question the both the reality of the stage and the artifice of everyday life.

and/or

Clancy’s Woyzeck (working title)
Woyzeck is a god-obsessed, paranoid-schizophrenic murderer. Kills his wife Maria, and then joins the Army. Goes to Iraq. He is severely disturbed, but only episodically, so during combat, (which brings on his attacks), his condition is not noticed. Everyone’s crazy and if you’re alive at the end of it, no questions asked. Woyzeck hooks up with Andy, a brilliant soldier. Andy and Woyzeck go to FOB Mercury where they meet the Expert and enter the world of torture. Woyzeck finds he’s good at this, but likes both sides. He volunteers for experiments with the Expert. Expert tortures Woyzeck. Woyzeck kills Andy, nurse (played by actress playing Maria) and Expert, drops an IED in the tent to end it all, survives, comes home a hero. Last scene, he’s among us:

“Finding some guys who’ve been through what I went through. We get together. We’re all pretty much doing the same thing nowadays. It’s good to be home.”

Play will feature live water-boarding, stress positioning, nudity, etc. As in Buchner’s Woyzeck, the lines between reality and hallucination will be blurred with an ensemble cast shifting constantly between characters and performance styles. Strong lighting and sound design will also keep the “reality” of the “world” of the play in constant flux.

Use of documentary war footage spliced with expressionistic images of scripted scenes on large screen stretching across entire back wall will also keep the hallucinatory environment active. Examples of this are footage from Falluja blending into Maria being stabbed blending into Hussein’s execution blending into company doing jumping jacks, etc.

NOTE ON TEXT
I don’t anticipate using any of Buchner’s original language, play will be “inspired” by Buchner, much as Fatboy was “inspired” by Jarry’s Ubu Roi.

Both would be very challenging and a lot of fun. More jazzed by Overlord right now, it's crazier. Doing Woyzeck is something every director wants to do, it's the director's version of the actor's Hamlet, but it's a little safer. We're going to try to develop both this year, madly looking for partners, resources, residencies, etc.

So, Nancy and I would appreciate your support. Tear down this wall. The bombing begins in five minutes. Remember that moronic mediocrity? I thought he had a lock on worst all-time President until this raging, swaggering idiot entered the field.