tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4131728244854401872.post5903708253513838638..comments2023-11-05T03:28:11.911-08:00Comments on Insurgent Theory: MINNEAPOLIS!!!Ben Turkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04838599516482103220noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4131728244854401872.post-46997468650401597862009-06-12T09:18:32.268-07:002009-06-12T09:18:32.268-07:00Hi there, I'm Mr. Milwaukee Dumbass, nice to m...Hi there, I'm Mr. Milwaukee Dumbass, nice to meet you!<br /><br />I should have to point out only two things in response to my anonymous detractor. 1. I went to the guthrie and saw the show i critique. I doubt he/she came to our show (would be hating me even more). 2. I'm not so chicken-shit that i can't put my name on my comments. <br /><br />But, i guess i'll waste five minutes defending myself against anonymous stupidity again. First, in the preamble to my post i acknowledged that these are my impressions after spending one weekend in Minneapolis, not the results of exhaustive in depth research into the exact ethnicity of the neighbors. I don't think the neighbors make Bedlam "cool" i think the close proximity to public transportation and the inclusion of the bar and the grease pit make it well-located. <br /><br />I don't like Eugene O Neil, i hate shakespeare. Guess what? "Quality" is a subjective term, your preferences are not universal. I prefaced my summary of the Kushner play. I said it "seems to be saying... to me and hopefully a few others." See how that leaves open many different interpretations? You seem to think there is one proper reading of a play and anyone who disagrees is a dumbass.Ben Turkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04838599516482103220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4131728244854401872.post-30950314319922153672009-06-12T07:28:01.064-07:002009-06-12T07:28:01.064-07:00This is a comment on this entry, posted to FringeF...This is a comment on this entry, posted to FringeFamous, which linked to it with the exclamation "Nailed It!"<br /><br />Nailed it...in a conjecture-filled, assumption-laden, uninformed dumbass kind of way.<br /><br />Dumbass highlights include:<br /><br />"Bedlam is a building on the West Bank, surrounded by muslim immigrants on one side, public transit train tracks and a bike path on the other."<br /><br />Like squares and rectangles, East-Africans (or just black people, god knows what you're talking about) and Muslims are not always the same thing, nor does having a theater surrounded by a large Somalian neighborhood make you an inherently awesome, diverse, artisically vibrant, immediate theater. For instance, how many so-called "muslims" saw your show? Dumbass.<br /><br />"First, i hate [The Intelligent Homosexual...] because it is a well-made family drama, it's all about catharis and narrative and big sets and character development and blah blah blah. This counts against it, because plays of this sort fail to get beyond shallow entertainment."<br /><br />Tell that to Eugene O'Neill. And Arthur Miller. And Shakespeare. Isn't King Lear about a family? Dumbass.<br /><br />"...but if more than half of the student rush line has grey hair, then the Guthrie isn't attracting enough young people to sustain itself (expecially with its astronomical infrastructure costs)."<br /><br />It's not a student rush line. It's a public rush line. Sometimes, people with grey hair aren't rich. (Shocking, right?) Sometimes they like to see world-class theater. You know, family dramas performed by well-paid professional actors? (Or are they all racists because they don't like muslims...) And since when do young people sustain a theater's infrastructure costs? Theater audiences have been "dying off" for centuries now. You know why it never actually happens? Because when old people die, there is always a new crop of slightly less-old old people who have some savings, free-time, and the inclination to go to the theater in that free time. Dumbass.<br /><br />"In short, the play seems to be saying: "a revolution was possible, but we fucked it up and now it's too late." I love the play for saying this, at least for saying it to me and hopefully a few others."<br /><br />That play isn't saying anything "in short". It has well-developed characters from one monumental (and monumentally fucked up) family with strong, sometimes divergent beliefs who struggle to make sense of their lives. It's not supposed to tell you and your dirty-Hippie friends from Milwaukee to take over the establishment. Oh wait, that's right. It's a well-made family drama, therefore artistically worthless and designed to appease the masses at "Guthrie Corp." Dumbass.<br /><br />"If The Guthrie and Kushner are the corporate regional theatre system's best bet at investing in the future of theatre, then it's no wonder these traditional theatre people are preoccupied with death and contemplating suicide."<br /><br />Again, maybe you should have read King Lear, instead of jerking-off on a First Folio, making puppets out of your dirty socks, playing some shitty punk rock, and calling it "great acting, stunning visuals, and dense concepts". Like you'd know if you saw it. Dumbass.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com