whuz goin on?

That's one of my favorite lines from the new play, Captain Overlord's Folly or the Fool's Revenge. Girl Clown enters, smiling sweetly, late in the second act, dragging a bound and gagged man she's been riding like a horse for an hour. She looks around at the chaos that has over-taken the stage and, still smiling, asks:

"Whuz goin on?"

We're heading down to Rowan on Sunday for a two-day workshop on the piece, focusing on the brutality and violence.

I tell people, when they ask, that I'd love to work on a nice, sweet thing. I'm a pretty nice guy. But when the world is going crazy and thuggery is every day gaining ground, I can't seem to help but respond with theater that is angry, dark and sometimes mean. Always funny is the goal, but if you're going to engage, then you've got to honestly look at the environment.

And it's getting dark out there, kids.

One fun thing that's not too over-the-top brutal is Bad Christmas, by Greg Kotis. We're going to produce it next year around, well, Christmas and we're doing an under-rehearsed staged reading of it tomorrow night at Barrow Street Theater. It's funny as hell and features the Kotis Family Players (Ayun Halliday, India Kotis and Milo Kotis) along with Clancy Production veterans Paul Urcioli, Bill Coelius, Ben Schneider and Spitfire McGee aka Nancy Walsh, joined by The Man Who Talks Alone, Mike Daisy, in the pivotal role of Jim-Jim the Elf. Or Jo-Jo the Elf. One of the elves, Ben plays the other one.

Very funny and a solid holiday treat, I think. You walk out smiling and knowing all about Odin. You'll never look at Santa the same.

Still working on the tag-line.

A Christmas Carol for the rest of us.

Something, I've got six months to sell it.

Tomorrow night, 7 PM, Barrow Street, free. Lasts about an hour. Come on down.

And the answer to yesterday's Quiz was, yes, Ann, King Sunny Ade and His African Beats. You win, but so does Rose for choosing Queen Fudgie on general giggly principle. That's brave. You're smarter than anyone, but Rose is brave.

Don't know why I feel it's important to acknowledge that you always win these things (except when Erez plays) and at the same time screw with you at your weekly award ceremony.

I just get mean sometimes, see?

I blame the world.