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Welcome to The SPRING 2015 LITERARY Edition of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE. This Edition Contains The Best of Literary Events for Spring, including: Paul BEATTY in San Francisco, Timothy DONNELLY in Seattle, August WILSON in Chicago, Guest Artist Interview: Robert Shetterly and "Americans Who Tell The Truth". Bureau FILM: French Classic Betty BLUE, Bureau MUSIC : Why The Stones Are Bards, Jack KEROUAC Birthday Bash & Allen GINSBERG'S Beatnik Photograph Essay, The Icon Essay: Arthur MILLER + Links to 50 Productions in 2015, Mr. Harold PINTER is Insane, The Kazuo ISHIGURO Profile, Interview: Songwriter Patrick Rieger, The HAY Festival, Kerouac Project in Orlando, Beyond Baroque in L. A. & Bookstores Around the World. Our Media Partners: Asia Art Fair, The Magnum Moment with Writer Gay TALESE, Archived Fiction & New Creative Non Fiction excerpts from our Editor Joshua TRILIEGI, All This and more.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Having been recently asked, why I have never written the proverbial, 'Letter from The Editor,' I responded, " 1-They're a waste of space, 2- It's usually an ego trip, 3 - I write most of what is already in the magazine anyway". But here we are, two years since our first printed edition and about a dozen E - Editions since then, with upwards of 200 pages per edition, so I guess it is time to man this ghost ship. Yes, my name is Joshua Triliegi and yes again, I founded this Arts Magazine. Having been recently asked, why I have never written the proverbial, ' Letter from The Editor ,'
Who am I and what gives me the audacity to ever do such a thing to begin with ? Well, I am an artist, so was my father and his father. The Arts were always a big part of our life, painting, music, theater, reading books were basic pastimes in our home. We had a humble yet vibrant up bringing and the arts were infused into it. Both my parents were extremely creative, they were not academics, they were real working class people with a mid west flair for life. Living a full life itself was a very large part of my parents way. My father was an adventurer, my mother was a passionate and independent woman, me and my siblings picked up on those sensibilities. We were taught to make things of our own, rather than ask to be involved in someone else's thing. Our house was always open to diverse cultures. My parents friends were vast and varied, including, Americans of all colors, Asians, Latins, Europeans, The home was exotic in comparison to our neighbors, and possibly, to most homes in the United States. This Arts and Culture Magazine is a reflection of that home and that family and those times.
I began curating shows and promoting other artists in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As many of my friends, fellow artists and contemporaries began to go their own way, some into careers, others into families, others still into the world of life, I realized that I truly missed the conversations, the camaraderie, the community of those early formative years where art parties and art exhibitions and various art movements were happening in Los Angeles. After each show, we would sit around, expounding on art and philosophy and life. I realized, some years later, that many of the conversations were valuable and decided to create the publication in hopes that those types of verbal exchanges could continue on the page and indeed they have.
This is the two year mark from our first printed edition, but twenty years ago this year, the Original Bureau of Arts and Culture was founded as an Arts Space and Cultural center. So, we have been around a while. The Arts in America need some attention, not just financial donations to non profits or museums or what have you, the arts in America need to be written about, that is what we do here at the magazine. We bring you independent conversations that do not cater to any particular group. Wether you are aware of it or not, most other publications do. Even many museums, galleries and theaters have splintered off into a singular, 'members only,' style goal which, besides making money, has some other agenda, which I believe, taints the great art experience and hurts those not involved in that group or that singular outlook. I started the publication to create a new voice for the arts and this is that voice. Thank You.
- Joshua TRILIEGI / Founder of BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine 
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We Thank: Da Capo Press, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Pace/MacGill Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Georgia O'Keefe Museum of Art, Fine Arts Center Colorado Springs, Duke University, Andy Warhol Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Crystal Bridges, United Artists, Spot Photo Works, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art Huston Texas, Gallerie Urbane, Mary Boone Gallery, Pace Gallery, Asian Art Museum, Magnum Photo, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Fahey/Klein, Tobey C. Moss, Sandra Gehring, George Billis, Martin - Gropius - Bau Berlin, San Jose Museum of Art, First Run Features, Downtown Records, Koplin Del Rio, Robert Berman, Indie Printing, American Film Institute, SFMOMA, Palm Beverly Hills, KM Fine Arts, LA Art Show, Photo LA, Jewish Contemporary Museum, Cultural Affairs, Yale Collection of Rare Books & Manuscript and Richard Levy.
Contributing Photographers: Norman Seef, Herb Ritts, Jack English, Alex Harris, Gered Mankowitz, Bohnchang Koo, Natsumi Hayashi, Raymond Depardon, T. Enami, Dennis Stock, Dina Litovsky, Guillermo Cervera, Moises Saman, Cathleen Naundorf, Terry Richardson, Phil Stern, Dennis Morris, Henry Diltz, Steve Schapiro, Yousuf Karsh, Ellen Von Unwerth, William Claxton, Robin Holland, Andrew Moore, James Gabbard, Mary Ellen Mark, John Robert Rowlands, Brian Duffy, Robert Frank, Jon Lewis, Sven Hans, David Levinthal, Joshua White, Brian Forrest, Lorna Stovall, Elliott Erwitt, Rene Burri, Susan Wright, David Leventhal, Peter Van Agtmael & The Bureau Editor Joshua Triliegi.
Contributing Guest Artists: Irby Pace, Jon Swihart, F. Scott Hess, Ho Ryon Lee, Andy Moses, Kahn & Selesnick, Jules Engel, Patrick Lee, David Palumbo, Tom Gregg, Tony Fitzpatrick, Gary Lang, Fabrizio Casetta, DJ Hall, David FeBland, Eric Zener, Seeroon Yeretzian, Dawn Jackson, Charles Dickson, Ernesto DeLaLoza, Diana Wong, Gustavo Godoy, John Weston, Kris Kuksi, Bomonster, Hiroshi Ariyama, Linda Stark, Kota Ezawa, Russell Nachman, Katsushika Hokusai and Xuan Chen Contributing Writers: Robin Holland, Jamar Mar(s) Tucker, Linda Toch, Maria (Mom) Triliegi
THE MAGNUM PHOTO MOMENT
Gay Talese / Author of "THE BRIDGE : The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge" ©Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos
MAGNUM PHOTO : GAY TALESE BY BRUCE DAVIDSON
It is well known that Italian American Writer Gay Talese transformed Journalism by telling stories in a way that got Inside The Minds of his subjects. From the early days at The New York Times to his profiles at Esquire to his work in The New Yorker and especially his books which include, Unto The Sons & Honor Thy Father. Gay Talese's interest in a subject takes the idea of research into a whole other realm entirely. He is not only obsessive, he is detailed, he is funny and he's got the guts to go the distance. Above all, Gay Talese has the honesty and the temerity to inspire the next generation. In this image, taken in 1963, it appears that Talese is grasping the railing, but any clever viewer can clearly see that Bruce Davidson, who has the eye of a true artist, allows us to interpret that Mr. Talese wields the power of a Knight with a lance, look once again and it's, quite possibly: a very mighty pen.
The AUTHOR PROFILE: Mr. KAZUO ISHIGURO
QUOTE:
"One of the dangers you have to guard against as a novelist is repeating things you're deemed to have done well in the past, just for the security of repeating them. I've been praised in the past for my unreliable, self-deceiving, emotionally restrained narrators. You could almost say at one stage that was seen as my trademark. But I have to be careful not to confuse my narrators with my own identity as a writer. It's so easy, in all walks of life, to get trapped into a corner by things that once earned you praise and esteem."
New NOVEL: "Buried Giant"
AWARDS: The Man Booker
for "Remains of The Day" 1989
GRANTA Best Young Novelists 1983
The White Bread Prize for
"An Artist of the Floating World" 1986
Chevalier de L'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres 1998
DEGREE: Masters in Creative Writing 1980
Kent and The University of East Anglia
BORN: 1954 Nagasaki, Japan
RAISED: United Kingdom
PUBLISHER: Knopf
INFLUENCES: Yasujiro Ozu
NOVELS:
A Pale View of Hills (1982)
An Artist of the Floating World (1986)
The Remains of the Day (1989)
The Unconsoled (1995)
When We Were Orphans (2000)
Never Let Me Go (2005)
The Buried Giant (2015
Artist : John Baldessari National City (W,1,2,3,4,5,6,B) 1996 / 2009 Courtesy of Richard Levy Gallery
THE BOY WITH THE MOHAWK
JOSHUA A. TRILIEGI / Advanced Chapter from The Creative Non Fiction Project
Out of nowhere, the boy with the mohawk lay broken. His ears were ringing, his muscles constricted, his bones ached, he pissed himself and was now about to die. Surrounded by friends and his only brother, he looked up into the cold Texas night and wondered how it had come to this ? The ground was cold and wet, he could feel the darkest regions of a chill engulfing his body, small spasms and convulsions rippled through his veins, like shards of glass crystallizing in his blood stream. His head pounded so loud that he could not hear what was being said. He looked into his brother's eyes and thought about their parents. He was really going to get a lecture this time. Then he felt his veins spilling into the atmosphere. The boy had some choices to make, either survive, hold onto the body, no matter how broken, no matter how battered, whether it functioned or not. Or let it go and roam the sky, high above this world, above the hatred, above the abuse, above the stupidity, above the judgement, above the concert of earth, where he had just began playing a solo.
"The ground was cold and wet, he could feel the darkest regions of a chill engulfing his body, small spasms and convulsions rippled through his veins, like shards of glass crystallizing in his blood stream. His head pounded so loud that he could not hear what was being said. He looked into his brothers eyes and thought about their parents. He was really going to get a lecture this time."
He could hear the screaming, through a muffled ringing in his ears, he looked up into the eyes of his closest friends and had suddenly thought of a dozen things he wanted to tell them. Ideas for a new song, a joke he heard on the radio, how much he really loved them, that life was basically good, that they were just getting started and not to worry about him, that he really loved his mom and dad, that life would go on and this would pass, that he just found a bootleg copy of a great documentary, that he was sorry, that maybe he had spoken to soon on occasion, that tragedy was apparently an unavoidable part of life and this is what it looks like, then he fell back into his head, scrambling the remaining few thoughts with a dyslexic like quality. The decision to stay or go was now eminent. The boy had always liked his independence, liked to walk, liked to talk, enjoyed his basic faculties. There was no way he was going to be pushed around in a wheel chair, it just wasn't for him. Nor did he care to be comatose for a long period of time. He had no interest in relearning the entire english language. And so, the boy simply let it go. He separated himself from his body and suddenly his clarity returned and a panorama from above came into view. There was his body, there were his friends, there was the night and the parking lot, people sprawling out from the pancake house, the boy felt a euphoria and although he had left his body down below, he had no intention of leaving town anytime soon. Before he was to bother with entering heaven, there was going to be hell to pay. The boy thrashed across the sky like a tornado on the horizon, he suddenly felt the presence of a familiar circle of entities, he finally hit the big-time, by tomorrow this time, everybody was going to know who he once was.
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Artist : John Baldessari National City (W,1,2,3,4,5,6,B) 1996 / 2009 Courtesy of Richard Levy Gallery
The town that had seemed so large suddenly became small. What normally took him an hour to walk, now took him seconds. He was not angry about being run over by the quarterback, but he did wish that they simply had the chance to fight one on one. He actually felt sorry for the other boy and watched from high above as the sedan pulled up to the house of his passenger and dropped her off, then headed home. The girl ran towards the front door and cried late into the night. She eventually told her parents what had happened and he knew then that the girl would be somewhat helpful in all of this. That his tragedy, his accident, his loss of an identity, a body, his life, his death, had a witness from both within and without. The vehicle that came out of nowhere had more than a reaper of death, but an angel of life, how fitting for him. He had always elicited little bits of sympathy, here and there, from girls and women, and often times, the very opposite from boys and men.
"The girl ran towards the front door and cried late into the night. She eventually told her parents what had happened and he knew then that the girl would be somewhat helpful in all of this. That his tragedy, his accident, his loss of an identity, a body, his life, his death, had a witness from both within and without. The vehicle that came out of nowhere had more than a reaper of death, but an angel of life, how fitting for him."
How delicate it all was, he thought to himself, as if speaking aloud. That the difference between life and death was just a few hours, a few minutes, a few seconds. He had no idea. Nineteen years on earth had not taught him to fathom the depths of the universe which were becoming very clear to him. The levels of existence, the mysteries of life and of death suddenly made obvious. The freedom and exhilaration of being involuntarily torn from his own remains was indescribable. Even though he could feel it, could see it and certainly could still taste and smell the blood and gasoline, he was beginning to understand that something had indeed ended and yet, there he was, not ready to leave. Like after a concert, he and his friends would linger, eventually, there would be an after party. This was the after party, he thought, the after party of my life. That would make a great song, he thought to himself, damn. When he looked down toward his parents house, he could see his brother and his friends explaining how the whole thing started and had the feeling that life on earth was full of petty grievances that he had always somehow rebelled against. He now felt just the slightest bit justified in some of his convictions and ideas and he could see that his absence had already created an emotional turmoil which showed itself to him as something similar to a grey cloud. When he looked upward, he saw layers of varying degrees of lightness. From the pitch black of the Texas night below him, to a pure circle of light at the very top. He knew that his place was up above, just intuitively understood that he would eventually have to rise to the surface, but for now, he stayed submerged, somewhere between the earth and a final destination. His emotions would not let him move on so quickly. There were too many plans in place, unmet goals and dreams to realize for him to travel on now. Anyway, he still wanted to see how this after party played out .
TO GET A FREE COPY OF JOSHUA TRILIEGI'S ON GOING NOVEL," THEY CALL IT THE CITY OF ANGELS," TAP THE LINK GET A COPY FOR FREE SEASON ONE AND TWO WITH FINE ART IMAGES BY ARTIST DAVID FeBLAND COURTESY OF GEORGE BILLIS. SEASON THREE BEGINS IN AUGUST OF THIS YEAR: A CHAPTER A DAY WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED M - F ON ALL BUREAU SITES AND ENTIRELY IMPROVISED FREELY
image by David FeBland Courtesy George Billis gallery
AVAILABLE TO ORDER IN LIMITED EDITION PRINTS AS MAGAZINE DONATION
PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY ©JOSHUA TRILIEGI / BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE
Classical Music Archives #1 Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla CA U.S.A
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August Wilson Celebration Now through to April 18th 2015
"August Wilson is one of America's … wait a minute, scratch that… One of The World's most Important and Entertaining playwrights and a big influence on my Education in the Theater. His Dialogue & Characters sparkle and hum with Truths. I don't read him only during African American month, I read August Wilson every time I need to be reminded of my roots in the theater. There is no one like Wilson. He's original, he's funny and he hits you deep inside, where it hurts, makes you yearn to live, to overcome, to remember where you came from. It would be easy to compare him with Eugene O'Neil and visa verso. Yes, I have a degree in Theater, but I actually learned more while reading August Wilson. Not long ago, I heard somewhere that he had passed away, beg to differ, the great ones, artists, writers, performers, musicians, they don't die, they live forever in the work: Mr Wilson is very Much Alive and Well."
- Joshua Triliegi / Bureau of Arts and Culture
Born in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Wilson set many of his plays in the neighborhood of his youth. Though no thorough-line exists between the plots of each “20th Century Cycle” show, several characters or their children appear in many different plays. With these plays Wilson shined a passionate, provocative and soulful light on all the confounding, frustrating and beautiful contradictions of life. Many Goodman productions of his works featured frequent Wilson collaborators and interpreters such as Charles S. Dutton, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Viola Davis, while others were vividly staged by Chicago favorites like Chuck Smith and Jonathan Wilson. When the new Goodman Theatre facility opened in the fall of 2000, it was only fitting the first production in the theater’s new home would be an August Wilson play: King Hedley II, produced in Chicago prior to it’s Tony-nominated Broadway run. Wilson was also on hand to deliver the dedication address for the new theater on November 9, 2000, in front of an audience of Chicago’s civic and artistic leaders. Throughout his esteemed career Wilson earned two Pulitzer Prizes (for Fences and The Piano Lesson) and nine of the 10 plays in his series were nominated for the Best Play Tony Award [ Jitney has only been produced off-Broadway and was thus ineligible for Tony honors ]. In honor of his legacy, the Goodman’s 90th Anniversary Season will feature a powerful revival of his masterpiece Two Trains Running. Associate Director Chuck Smith will also curate a city-wide celebration of the playwright’s work featuring readings of all 10 plays from the “20th Century Cycle” performed at theaters across Chicago.
GREAT PEOPLE READ GREAT BOOKS : THE JAMES DEAN READING LIST
James Dean / Dennis Stock / Magnum Photo
GIANT By Edna Ferber [ Years before he actually got the Role as Jet Rink ]
MOBY DICK By Herman Melville
GOLDEN BOUGH By James George Frazer
CHARLOTTE'S WEB By E. B. White
STANISLAVSKI DIRECTS By N. M. Gorchakov
COMPLETE WORKS OF William Shakespeare
THE AMERICAN ICON: ARTHUR MILLER
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI for BUREAU of Arts and Culture / LITERARY Edition SPRING 2015
Arthur Miller is turning 100 years of age this year and as it turns out: his works are more important than ever. Miller went toe to toe with mainstream ideology, with the dilemma's of war, with group thinking and paranoia, with religion, with celebrity machinery and even with the government of the United States of America during one of the worst chapters in our history: The McCarthy years. For those of you too young to remember or too old to want to remember. Senator Joe McCarthy led a witch hunt that was focused on left leaning individuals of all sorts, but specifically, those in the field of entertainment. Directors, writers, actors and producers were demanded to testify against their friends and associates publicly, privately, overtly or with discretion. Arthur Miller did no such thing, he refused to name names. He was found in contempt of court and later exonerated of all charges. Miller is a soul searching playwright who introduces ideas in the great American sagas such as, "Death of a Salesman," "All My Sons," "The Crucible," and spreads them out like a deck of cards for all to see and eventually to play with. Theater, unlike film, has a forever and ongoing growing relationship with interpretation, with the populist, with the times and with the future. Millers plays are produced all over the world, "Death of a Japanese Salesman," was extremely popular overseas. The Arthur Miller literary works are and have been interpreted and produced in dozens of languages and remain extremely relevant. Ever since the attacks of 9/11, here in America, a very similar situation surfaced, creatively and culturally speaking, we have not quite recovered. The freedom to speak out against abuses of power, against political policy or those in power is almost entirely absent.
Major news organizations have fallen to the wayside, when it comes to investigative journalism and most others march in step with the current politically correct aspects of today's society. Entertainers are afraid to speak out for fear of losing a role or a job or alienating either their audience or the advertisers. Miller's plays delve into these subject matters deeply, dramatically and with a great deal of consequence to relationships. "Salesman." deals with family deceit, the changing of American values and memory. "All my Sons," is a scorching and scathing look at the war machine, that has direct ties to rather recent political family histories here in America. "The Crucible," is a direct metaphor for the McCarthy era as well as an intensively researched project that brings to life the disturbing, but entirely factual witch hunts that happened in America and abroad : 100s of women were murdered for hysteria and paranoia. Millers plays are not overtly political, they are much more about relationship, family and community at every level. Ultimately, they are about mankind. The popularity of his catalogue has only grown through the years and deservedly so. On a personal level, Mr Miller's life had some extreme ups and downs and through it all he remained calm, elusive, focused and intelligent. Miller has always been very forthright about his works, his views and his ideas of life. To my mind, he is a true patriot, unafraid to ask the difficult questions that arise when involved in an experiment as beautiful as America. He served as the president of the PEN Organization in the mid 1960s. Miller also has the special quality that says to anyone at anytime: "Fuck You," as you can see he expresses in the image related to this article during a press conference. In the back pages of this edition you will find an extensive list with links to over fifty up and coming Miller plays around the world. And so, today we salute the man, the mind, the icon, the artist, the writer and the great and beautiful defiance of this Original American of Letters: Mr. Arthur Miller.
ROBERT SHETTERLY: PAINTER
Guest Artist for Spring 2015 Literary Edition of BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine is Painter and Social Historian Robert Shetterly. He is the Creator of an On - Going Series of Portraits entitled, "Americans Who Tell The Truth." Yeah, the title alone is loaded with a multiplicity of meanings & interpretations. We were initially attracted to the Artwork itself, and have since been drawn in by the large cast of characters that make up this original and interesting series. Today, We honor the Art of Robert Shetterly & Americans Who Tell The Truth.
by Joshua A. TRILIEGI for BUREAU OF ARTS AND CULTURE LITERARY EDITION SPRING 2015
At first glance, one notices the vibrant colors, the bold backgrounds and the striking faces staring directly at the viewer. Closer inspection reveals inscriptions and quotes scratched directly into the canvases. Looking closer yet, one begins to actually behold the energy, the spirit, the 'vibe', if you will, of the subject. Somewhere between the WORDS they have spoken and the faces they were given and often times, mingled with the historical aspects of American history: Robert Shetterly's subjects come to life. The portraits are awake, they speak to us, they educate us, they demand respect in one way or another. There is bravery, beauty and brevity in this body of work. For sure, it is indeed, politically charged and at the same time, on either side of the aisle, politically speaking, many of these, "Truths," being espoused could ultimately be embraced by any person who cares deeply about America and beyond that, the rights of human beings everywhere. On the American front, the subjects vary from respect for the environment, to the right to be a pacifist, to the concerns of racial equality, to the rights of women, to the original values of the native Americans and on into the original purpose of creating a country like America to begin with. This is a series of paintings that many of the founding fathers and mothers of America would appreciate. With over 200 portraits and no shortage of subjects to honor, Mr. Shetterly has found a way to take his inspirations and hand them directly back to the people of the world in an absorbing and educational manner.
The subjects vary from extremely famous personalities to little known local activists who have brought to light the simplest universal truth to an issue that concerns themselves and the broader world. In a time of increasingly draconian rule with multiple abuses of power at the highest levels by some of the most powerful overbearing decision makers in America: The Series is a Beacon of Light. The power of an Individual, You, or Mr. Shetterly, or Me, or any of the American Subjects lovingly painted here, is very much alive. One may not even realize this fact, without perusing the Series itself. It is a very liberating and honest sequence of images, ideas and complete revelations. America is a beautiful idea, it promises so much freedom, so much opportunity, so much success and yet, the flip side of that promise is the very fact that if we as a people do not stand up for those original values, we stand to lose them and quite possibly, we already have. "Americans Who Tell The Truth," is an important, relevant and absorbing series of works that, in my estimation, is one of the most forthright, timely & intriguing series of paintings to have ever been created about America. Why? Because the truth is very hard to come by these days. The truth is a commodity, like money or property. Those who have it know how good it feels. Those who want it will do anything to get it. Those who try to take it away will lie to do so and in that act itself, become the antithesis of TRUTH. Such is the paradigm of the equation. Telling The Truth in America can lead to many sorrows and yet, it could also lead you to the presidency. Retaining that truth, once you get there, may be all but impossible. Mr. Shetterly's art retains an integrity and a value that will last well beyond the terms of any president, senator or congressperson, so too his subjects. How then do we proceed ? For starters: Simply Tell It like It Is.
ROBERT SHETTERLY: INTERVIEW
Joshua Triliegi : The Project entitled, "Americans Who tell the TRUTH" is a very intensive and wonderful body of work. How did this series come about ?
Robert Shetterly : The Americans Who Tell the Truth project was not something I intended to do. I had never painted a realistic portrait. In the wake of 9/11 our government began using 9/11 to beat the drums of war for an attack on Iraq. Iraq, as I hope you all know, had nothing to do with 9/11, no links with al Qaeda, nor did it have weapons of mass destruction. This was a tumultuous time. The 2000 election was full of corruption, then 9/11, then an avalanche of lies and fear to promote an unnecessary, illegal, immoral war. I was in a rage of grief for all the potential victims. And I was in a rage of grief for the total failure of our democracy. I was not surprised that the government was lying, but I was outraged that the corporate media was cheer leading for war and not exposing the lies. In a functional democracy, the Iraq war could not have happened. I felt alienated and marginalized more than I ever have in this country.
"The answer for me turned out to be very simple. Instead of obsessing about the people who were lying, I chose to begin surrounding myself with Americans I admired. I painted their portraits & scratched quotes from them into the surface.I chose a constituency I believed in and could draw strength from to stand up against a corrupt government."
I had a career as a surrealist painter and print maker, but all of my work seemed irrelevant now. I knew that I had to use the thing I do best -- art -- to gain a voice. And I also knew that if I presented my anger through my art, no one would be interested. I had to take the energy of that anger and use it in the service of love, compassion and justice. But how? The answer for me turned out to be very simple. Instead of obsessing about the people who were lying, I chose to begin surrounding myself with Americans I admired. I painted their portraits & scratched quotes from them into the surface. I chose a constituency I believed in and could draw strength from to stand up against a corrupt government. The US has always had a large gap between the values it professes and the reality of its actions. I was painting some of the people who have dedicated their courage and persistence to closing that gap so that the ideals of equality and dignity and freedom are present for everyone. I began with a goal of 50 portraits. I've now painted over 200.
Joshua Triliegi : The Title itself has a connotation, almost humorously, that not all Americans DO tell the truth. What is your criterion for choosing a subject and tell our readers about the working process of a single portrait ?
Robert Shetterly : Frequently, when I tell people the title of my project, I get an incredulous look and the comment, "I didn't know there were any Americans who tell the truth." Most Americans are deeply cynical about the level of dishonesty in all of their institutions, but particularly the government, the media, the corporations and the financial world. Sadly that cynicism most often translates into apathy. Apathy as much as institutional dishonesty destroys any hope of democracy. People also know at some level that governments all over the world are failing to govern, and that unless some serious world issues are dealt with, we will all be overwhelmed by these problems.
"When governments fail to do the right thing, the people must lead. I've been choosing to paint people both past & present who have done that leading. Without facing the problems and telling the truth, there is no trust; without trust there is no hope. I try to choose people to paint from the entire spectrum of fundamental issues of social, economic and environmental justice. I choose some very well known people and many unknown."
When governments fail to do the right thing, the people must lead. I've been choosing to paint people both past & present who have done that leading. Without facing the problems and telling the truth, there is no trust; without trust there is no hope. I try to choose people to paint from the entire spectrum of fundamental issues of social, economic and environmental justice. I choose some very well known people and many unknown. My point is not to paint only icons, extraordinary people who make the rest of us feel insufficient. I want to show that many great changes for the better were instigated by very ordinary folks. I spend more time researching my subjects than I do painting them because this project has become all about education. I spend most of my time now in schools showing the portraits, telling the stories, exhorting, and hopefully inspiring, kids to be better citizens.
Joshua Triliegi : The Works themselves are beautiful. They are somehow connected to early portraits of The Founders of our Nation, and at the same time have a slightly folk sensibility and yet they are very freshly presented. Tell us about your education and how that influenced the actual style and look of the work.
Robert Shetterly : I'm a self-taught artist who learned to draw & paint by copying the work of artists I admired. Leonardo, Durer, Degas and Goya taught me to draw. Rembrandt, Matisse, Magritte and Francis Bacon taught me to paint. There were many others. And you are right --- I am greatly influenced by folk and outsider artists because of their intensity and honesty. But the style of these portraits was a direct result of my intent --- to paint people of integrity and make that integrity the context of the painting. That's why the backgrounds are only color fields.
"I've learned enough about art to know that the quality of the painting is what authenticates the message. I'm trying to honor people I admire and present them as role models. Whatever success I may have at doing that depends on the my attempt to make real art, not simply political placards. So, as simple as the basic composition of these portraits is, it's very important to me to make beautiful paintings"
I want the viewer to focus entirely on the character of the subject and then on the subject's words. However, I've learned enough about art to know that the quality of the painting is what authenticates the message. I'm trying to honor people I admire and present them as role models. Whatever success I may have at doing that depends on the my attempt to make real art, not simply political placards. So, as simple as the basic composition of these portraits is, it's very important to me to make beautiful paintings. If viewers can appreciate the work for its artistry, they may be more inclined to be sympathetic to its message.
Joshua Triliegi : The color Fields in your work are extremely important, you also utilize quotes and then there is the actual portrait itself. Discuss the challenges and rewards in committing to a project such as Americans Who Tell the Truth.
Robert Shetterly : I think I may have answered the first part of this question. I'll focus on the second. When I first began this project, I really didn't think I could do it. Besides not having painted portraits previously, I decided I would not sell the portraits --- selling them seemed wrong. The people I paint have freely given so much. But how was I going to live? I had supported myself and family by selling art. I told myself that I needed to take this leap. That I would trust the world to either support the project or not, but I needed to do it. Frankly, though, choosing not to sell the art gave me a great sense of freedom. I could say whatever I wanted, make all my own choices about whom to paint.
"When I first began this project, I really didn't think I could do it. Besides not having painted portraits previously, I decided I would not sell the portraits --- selling them seemed wrong. The people I paint have freely given so much. But how was I going to live? I had supported myself and family by selling art. I told myself that I needed to take this leap. That I would trust the world to either support the project or not, but I needed to do it."
If it failed and I ended up with some portraits in my basement that nobody wanted to see, that would be OK. Instead, as soon as I began to show them I began to be asked to talk about them, to tell stories, to talk about history, ethics, social change. It's been over 13 years now that I have committed myself to this project and my learning curve is still vertical. My life has totally changed. The portraits have required me to be an artist/activist/teacher. I travel to schools, colleges, museums, libraries, and churches all over the country and even outside the country to talk about the portraits. The great challenges remain --- never relaxing the quality of the work and doing enough research so that I can talk intelligently and accurately about history, politics, economics and social change.
Joshua Triliegi : Please explain to our readers about the line you walk between artist, social Commentator or witness to truth, in this case, and the actual organization level of presenting these works in the way you do around the world.
Robert Shetterly : Part of the obligation I've taken on by spending so much time --- literally & figuratively --- with my subjects is the necessity to attempt to act in the world with the same degree of courage. On the one hand, in schools I present the portraits and the quotes as places to begin dialogue: What do you think of this person? What she said? Is he right? Why? What forces was she up against? What's the historical context? Could you do that? Why was it necessary? But on the other hand, as an activist I need to put my body & integrity on the line, commit civil disobedience if I need to, take risks. If I don't do that, I undercut the lesson I am trying to teach about commitment. I have a great small team that works with me on enhancing the educational goals of the project, and another group I do political action with. Each reinforces the other.
"I present the portraits and the quotes as places to begin dialogue: What do you think of this person? What she said? Is he right? Why? What forces was she up against? What's the historical context? Could you do that? Why was it necessary?"
Joshua Triliegi : Looking at your list of Portraits, one immediately realizes that Americans that Tell The TRUTH, sometimes, pay a big personal price. Here at the magazine, we have indeed begun to experience some of that. Discuss, if you will, your views on Honesty in America.
Robert Shetterly: When one witnesses for the truth, stands up against the power of the status quo, one takes a risk. When one tries to expose institutional corruption and hypocrisy, that attempt can be very divisive and meet with ridicule, humiliation and attack. Power wants to maintain itself and all the profit that flows from that power. Challenging it makes one vulnerable to all the means it controls --- law, police, media, politics. But then where would this country be without the people who have challenged the status quo? Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rachel Carson, Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden. Thousands more.
Joshua Triliegi : I see a touch of Andrew Wyeth in your work. Would you discuss your formative Influences ?
Robert Shetterly : My influences are various. I'm particularly interested in portrait painters who succeed at revealing the character of their subjects. Andrew Wyeth often does that. So does Alice Neel. I think, though, what's important to stress here is that an influence is someone who has helped you see. Not to see like him or her, but see for yourself. For me, having the patience to learn how to draw well has been my most important portrait influence. Being able to render the the eccentricities of any face, to really see what is there, is a big part of honestly conveying the character of the person.
"Most of our courageous whistleblowers don't even have have the opportunity to make their case to the public. The powerful use the law to sequester their voices. But, often the facts can overwhelm the attempts to suppress them ---whether it's about climate change, torture, mass surveillance or political and financial corruption. In a sense this is a great opportunity for truth tellers in America."
Joshua Triliegi : Edward Snowden and Bill Ayers are in the series and have names from more recent contemporary social events. Where do you think America is headed in terms of Truth ?
Robert Shetterly : That's a tough question. Never in our history has the media been so pervasive, so powerful, so continuous in its denunciation of those who challenge political orthodoxy or risk everything to tell the truth. That's intimidating. Most of our courageous whistle blowers don't even have have the opportunity to make their case to the public. The powerful use the law to sequester their voices. But, often the facts can overwhelm the attempts to suppress them ---whether it's about climate change, torture, mass surveillance or political and financial corruption. In a sense this is a great opportunity for truth tellers in America. The general public has so little trust in the honesty of most institutional leaders that they are open to the prophetic voices. The problem is for those voices to get access to the media. The powerful are not trusted, but they do still control who gets heard.
Joshua Triliegi : Do you have any particular Portraits that are significantly memorable, if so please describe why.
Robert Shetterly : Well, each portrait is memorable if only for the energy expended in attempting to make a good painting. But many of the subjects have become friends whom I continue to work with. For instance, Lily Yeh, the woman who founded Barefoot Artists & uses art to rebuild broken communities all over the world. I went with her to work in a village of genocide survivors in Rwanda & to a refugee camp in Palestine --- some of the most memorable events of my life. I painted John Kiriakou, the CIA agent who blew the whistle on US torture policy and we unveiled his portrait together in DC right before he was sent to prison. I got to know Judy Bonds, the courageous activist from southern West Virginia against Mountaintop Removal Coal extraction. Actually, I don't like answering this question because each portrait has a story like this & has enriched me enormously. I want to tell them all. Each person brings me into contact with courage. And, as William Sloane Coffin says, "Without courage there are no other virtues."
"… Each portrait has a story like this & has enriched me enormously. I want to tell them all. Each person brings me into contact with courage. And, as William Sloane Coffin says, "Without courage there are no other virtues."
Joshua Triliegi : Whats going on with The project this year and how can our readers support and participate ?
Robert Shetterly : AWTT keeps expanding. We are launching a series of new educational initiatives. I would hope people would visit the website and spend some time there exploring the people, the issues, the ways of teaching. Your readers can support our work by modeling their own citizenship on some of the portraits, by telling teachers about the project, by buying cards and posters, by writing to me with suggestions of people to paint. But mostly your readers can understand that most of the institutions that we have entrusted to care for the common good, to care for the future of our children, to care for stewardship of the earth, to care for the maintenance of democracy have failed. It is up to us not only to insist on better governance, but to do it ourselves. Our institutions --- political and economic --- are locked into systems of profit and exploitation which are endangering the future. We don't have to accept that. We shouldn't accept that. Morally, we can't accept it. And there is great personal and communal joy in building a sane, sustainable world.
All Items on This Page Are only a Portion of The Magazine
JACK KEROUAC &
The Waiting Game
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI / BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE MAGAZINE LITERARY EDITION
In The Spring of 1951, Jack Kerouac began the final scroll version of On The Road with the now famous opener, "I first met Neal not long after my father died …" It would be another six years before the public would even read that line & while waiting for his big break, he almost went insane. When it finally did happen in 1957, the book transformed writing style forever and for twelve years straight : Jack never stopped. Jack's frustrations started early on and strained many of his relationships with his life long pals and gals. On many occasions, the angst was actually justified. Kerouac knew he had pierced the veil with the new style used in On The Road. He saw it happening all around him, the Arts in America were changing and a whole new WAY of seeing and expressing was happening everywhere. Marlon Brando was screaming from the stages of New York City and Jackson Pollock was on the cover of LIFE. But it would still be too early for the likes of the public to catch up with trailblazers that included both mid - century and mid - decade breakthroughs such as James Dean, Elvis Presley and Jack Kerouac, who would all have major public notoriety by the mid to late 1950s. James Dean with three films back to back: Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden and Giant. Elvis Presley with a groundbreaking performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, that did indeed eventually lead to an entire sexual revolution. And of course, Mr. Jack Kerouac with the eventual publishing of On The Road and a lifelong respect and notoriety to originality and love of life.
The writer describes in a letter, dated Oct 8, 1952, scribed to his life long friend, contemporary and sometimes foe, Allen Ginsberg, " This is to notify you and the rest of the whole lot what I think of you. Can you tell me even for an instance … with all this talk about pocket book styles and the new trend in writing about drugs and sex, why my On The Road written in 1951 wasn't ever published ?" He goes on to describe his basic frustrations at more inferior books that were published and admonishes many of his friends and associates for being jealous: Which was most likely true. In fact, even Ginsberg himself was learning from the new Kerouac style. On the one hand, Ginsberg had helped to liberate Kerouac's formalities with his free form poetry. Later Kerouac was also informed by the letters of his inspiration for On The Road : Neal Cassady. On the other hand, each were dearly close to Neal and an unofficial contest began between the two writers. It was not only about who could lay down the best descriptions and who could out do the other in words, Ginsberg stepped up the competition with physical acts that Kerouac could never compete with, nor did he care to. But when Jack sat down to write the scrolled version of On The Road in the Spring of 1951, all the lessons were over and he became the leader of the so called Beat Writers and Movement. Kerouac had yet to be crowned publicly, but everyone in his circle knew he had ascended gracefully. Versions of the novel were being read all over the publishing world, it became a sensation and a point of derogatory conversation among the academics. One such comment, by a writer nobody even remembers anymore was, "That's not writing, that's typing." Kerouac had outdone them all and none could admit it. He was & still is the king of the beat writers. If he were alive today, he might simply ask, had you read his work ? What did you think ? Kerouac believed that Writing was Everything .
Not long after scribing one of his darkest letters to Allen Ginsberg, Kerouac visited William Burroughs at his Rooftop Studio in Mexico City. Burroughs was going through a particularly rough patch himself. The thing to remember and indeed to learn from the Letters of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs, all of which are now available to the public, is that life as an artist is messy, troublesome, challenged. We often like to picture our celebrities, our icons, our hero's in some state of forever coolness. Well, the fact of the matter is that everybody has the ups & the downs. Life On The Road had its excitement, its entertainment and it's education, but there was always the other side of that coin. The letters provide a very real glimpse into the challenging aspects, the in-fighting, the quarrels and the very difficulty of actually writing, living, publishing and retaining and or losing friends in the battle. In a letter dated Jan 10 1953, Kerouac writes to Neal Cassady and his wife Caroline from William Burrough's flat. "Bill just finally left Mexico, last night, how sad. They were asking for more bond money… I feel like … I will never see him again … And I'm completely alone on the roof. Now or never with a great new novel long anticipated from me in N.Y. - day & night lonesome toil. "
In another letter, written the same week, addressed to John Clellon Holmes, author of the first novel to be published by the beat writers entitled, "GO", Jack describes further Burrough's dilemma. " Burroughs is gone at last - 3 years in Mexico - lost everything, his wife, his children, his patrimony - I saw him pack in his moldy room … Sad moldy leather cases … medicines, drugs - the last of Joan's spices … all lost, dust, & thin tragic Bill hurries off into the night solitaire - Ah Soul - throwing in his bag, at last, picture of Lucien [ Carr ] & Allen [ Ginsberg ] - Smiled, & left. " Burroughs who had shot his wife, in a game of 'William Tell ' had been dealing with legal issues and a court case that went sour when his own lawyer actually shot someone and had to flee the scene. All of this is represented best in David Cronenberg's film entitled, "Naked Lunch." Possibly the best film to capture the nightmarish qualities that dogged William Burroughs and his life.
By this time, Kerouac had already patched up friendship with Ginsberg after the recent afore mentioned letter and was now moving ahead with another project. He sometimes worked on several works at any one time. In the same letter to Neal Cassady, Jack mentions a piece he wrote over a 5 day period, in french, that describes a fictional meeting in 1935 between him, Neal and Burroughs in Chinatown: "… And some sexy blondes in a bedroom with a French Canadian rake and an old Model T. You'll read it in print someday and laugh. It's the solution to the "On The Road" plots, all of 'em and I will hand it in soon as I finish the translating and typing." This story written in French over a 5 day period in January of 1953 is most likely the work that is currently in the news. Apparently a canadian publishing house has bought the rights to publish, so the world will finally get a chance to posthumously read yet another 'new' work by Mr. Jack Kerouac.
Jack Kerouac did make several breakthroughs prior to publishing On The Road , and then he knew it was just a matter of time. Finally the cultural malaise that had clogged mainstream America with conservative values of the early Fifties were dissipating. By 1956, in a letter to his agent, Sterling Lord, dated Sept. 17, 1956, Jack describes being photographed by a high profile magazine with Poets Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg. " The other night Mademoiselle magazine took our pictures … for a spread … title : Flaming Cool Youth of San Francisco Poetry. Life magazine also wants to take my picture in a few weeks at Corso's reading … Two of my pieces are to be published in Black Mountain Review … I think I'll finally make some money for you finally, so that makes me feel better, all the time and faith you put into me. As the years go by I realize how nice you've been Sterling, and I welcome it with a feeling of warmth, coming as it does from the 'brrr' world of New York Publishing."
A year earlier Kerouac had stayed in the Berkeley Cottage of Allen Ginsberg after hitchhiking from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, living on California red wine and commiserating with the poets who would eventually open the floodgates at the now famous, SIX Gallery Poetry Readings in the Bay Area. The poets included : Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Gary Snyder, Philip Lamentia & Kenneth Rexroth. Jack would have varying degrees of friendship with this group of poets and plenty of personal opinions and misunderstandings as well. His friendship with both Lawrence Ferlnghetti and Gary Snyder would lead to the writing of The Dharma Bums and Big Sur. The latter also the subject of a recent film of the same name produced by Bureau of Arts and Culture friend and associate, Mr. Orion Williams. In a letter written to Philip Whalen dated Nov 22, 1955 Kerouac describes his stay in Berkeley, " Dear Phil, Thank You for the needed hospitality - Now I know that the hidden reason for my coming to California again when I really didn't want to, was to meet you & Gary - The two best men I ever met - I'll drop you a card from where I'll be next week - Yours forever in the Dharma, Jack "
Kerouac writes to Gary Snyder in a letter dated Jan 15 1956, thanking him for suggesting to apply as a look out in The Washington State Cascade Mountains. "Just finished [writing] a long novel … Visions of Gerard, my best. most serious, sad & true book yet … If I should ever make big money with my books, count on seeing me in Japan for sure… Me, my letters are like this, long and confused, because that's my mind, long and confused, I'm writing a dozen things and typing all the time and all fucked up & enthusiastic and shooting baskets in the yard and running in the woods with kids & dogs and so this letter has distraught look." A year away from publishing On The Road and at an all time low, Kerouac writes to Malcolm Cowley in May of 1956, " I'm in a real straits now, my jeans are all torn, I'm living in a shack with a woodstove, rent free, have no money whatever, don't care (much), and am waiting day after day for word from you concerning … On The Road … it breaks my heart to be neglected so." But within weeks Kerouac headed up to Washington State and renewed his work & attitude.
Although, the relationship between Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac was a contentious one, it was also a very true friendship. In the spring of 1957, Allen loaned Jack enough money to travel abroad to visit Bill Burroughs in Tangier. Burroughs had recently taken the cure in England and was bent on gathering his various writings and creating a novel with the help of his friends. Kerouac writes to Edie Parker on Jan 28, 1957 from New York, just before the trip abroad, describing Burroughs, "He is a great gentlemen and as you may know has become a great writer, in fact all the big wigs are afraid of him (W.H. Auden. etc…) Allen never loses track of me even when I try to hide. He does me many favors publicizing my name. Well, we're old friends anyway. But I can't keep up with the hectic fame life he wants and so, I won't stay with them long in Tangier."
While in Tangiers Kerouac received edited versions of recent works and was aghast at the hack job. Rather than have his work butchered by the publishers, Kerouac holds firm to his belief in his work and writes to Sterling Lord on March 4, 1957, " I'd rather die than betray my faith in my work which is inseparable from my life, without this faith any kind of money is mockery…" Still in Tangier with Burroughs, he follows this up on March 25 1957 with another letter to Mr. Lord, " I feel like I definitely did the right thing… that it will definitely bear fruit in the end. Hemingway went through the same trouble in early 1920s and had he succumbed to the ideas of the editors, there would have been no 'Hemingway Style' at all and nothing great about The Lost Generation. Ditto Faulkner in 30s." Meanwhile, Jack made a living typing up Burroughs' manuscripts in trade for meals and took long hikes around Tangiers, absorbing the culture & the scenery.
Two things happened in early April of 1957 that changed the face of literature. The first was notification from Kerouac's agent that On The Road had been sold & the second was that Allen Ginsberg's epic poem entitled, "Howl," had been banned and deemed unfit for children to read. Finally, exactly what the two authors had been working on all their lives, for Jack, it was acceptance, for Allen, it was a defiant chance to challenge the establishment. Both had succeeded in their goals.
To this day, both works are taught, studied and read just about everywhere with fine film adaptions of each. In a letter to his agent, dated April 3, 1957, Kerouac describes his appreciation and plans for the future. " It's wonderful, Sterling, the way you have been making things hum. I am going to take advantage of this apparently prosperous year and come right home and set up my abode proper. I have an idea for a wonderful follow up for On The Road … Meanwhile I have been digging Morocco… last night Ramadan, the annual Mohammedan fast, started here, with a blast of cannon shot in the bay and then, like smoke over rooftops at 2AM came the lonely sweet flutes … the saddest sound in the world." Within a month Kerouac had returned to America, had gathered all his belongings and moved to Berkeley California. Within a week, Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books was arrested for selling HOWL. One of the most celebrated court cases in history followed. Is it Art or Is it Obscene ? Eventually Allen Ginsberg triumphed and it became a victory for intellectuals, artists & writers who push the envelope.
Jack Keruoac had finally gone public. Neal Cassady, Jacks inspiration for the novel, On The Road, had become a character in another man's work of art. He had been a drifter for years, a wayward and wandering soul. Neal would go on to be an influential part of the American subculture with writers such as Ken Kesey, who penned, "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'. One of the few novels that Jack Kerouac, not only appreciated, but deservedly so, wrote an introductory blurb. Neal himself would be dogged by bad luck from the law, eventually doing time in prison for an entrapment drug deal with a substance that is now used by doctors throughout the world: marijuana. Neal Cassday's letters of this period are available in the book untitled, "Grace Beats Karma: Letters from Prison.' Even to this day, he is the target of lesser than human beings, who have no idea what living is even about. In the final lines of the newly published Original Scroll version of On The Road, Jack Kerouac writes, "I know by now the evening - star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks in the west and folds the last and final shore in, and nobody, just nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Neal Cassady, I even think of the Old Neal Cassady the father we never found, I think of Neal Cassady, I think of Neal Cassady. " The End.
All Items on This Page Are only a Portion of The Magazine
JACK KEROUAC : The Novels + Other Selected Works
The Town and the City 1950
On the Road 1957
The Subterraneans 1958
The Dharma Bums 1958
Dr. Sax 1959
Maggie Cassidy 1959
Mexico City Blues: 242 Choruses 1959
Book of Dreams 1960
Tristessa 1960
Visions of Cody 1960
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity 1960
Lonesome Traveler 1960
Pull My Daisy 1961
Big Sur 1962
Visions of Gerard 1963
Desolation Angels 1965
Satori in Paris 1966
Vanity of Duluoz 1968
Pic 1971
Scattered Poems 1971
Old Angel Midnight 1973
Trip Trap: Haiku on the Road (with Albert Saijo & Lew Welch) 1973
Heaven and Other Poems 1977
San Francisco Blues 1991
Pomes All Sizes 1992
Good Blonde and Others 1993
Book of Blues 1995
Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters, Vol. 1, 1940-1956 1996
Some of the Dharma 1997
Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings 1999
Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 2: 1957-1969 2000
Orpheus Emerged 2000
Book of Dreams 2001
Book of Haikus 2003
On the Road: The Original Scroll 2008
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks 2010
Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters 2011
The Sea Is My Brother 2012
The Haunted Life 2014
O Rich and Unbelievable Life : Uncollected Prose 2016
HAROLD PINTER
The COURAGE of ARCHITECTURE
Harold Pinter is a madman, stark raving mad and he's going to drive you mad too. Idiosyncratic idioms of the bravest order. Timeline experiments of the mind and the memory and yet, something deceivingly simple going on, hard to put your finger on it, then suddenly you realize with a start, "Oh, yeah, I get it, Its my F*ing Neighbors up there on stage." These people are all too real. This is strange, this is interesting, this is surreal, it's very close to absurd, but then it comes round again and boom: It hits you. I personally really enjoy the two person plays such as, "The Dumb Waiter," and "The Lover," and all his short bits between two characters. The multi person family dramas are extremely intense, difficult, emotionally stark and extreme, insular and harsh. He became increasingly more vocal about politics throughout his career and topped it off with a Nobel Prize Speech, which although quoted here, must be read in its entirety to understand the bravery of his political observations. For American audiences, it is safe to say that the early works of David Mamet owe a debt to Pinter. The film work with Joe Losey was highly influential to English cinema and the choices they made, regarding abstraction, mental variation with timelines and a trust in the capacity for the audience, to go with the flow, was enormous. Harold Pinter is simply insane and we would have it no other way. When we define the word 'original,' it should simply say: Mr. Harold PINTER.
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HAROLD PINTER : PLAYWRIGHT . POET . WRITER
Quotes from The Nobel Prize Lecture : " Art, Truth & Politics "
In 2005, Julian Sands was approached by Nobel Prize winning playwright and poet Harold Pinter, to prepare a selection of his poems for a special presentation in London. Pinter “apprenticed” Mr. Sands, spending hours sharing his feelings on how his work should be delivered. Every pause, every nuance in tone, had, and has meaning. A bond was established between these two artists - one that gives a distinctive and very personal voice to Pinter’s words. This extraordinary collaboration became the foundation for a wonderfully rich, humorous, and fascinating solo show directed by John Malkovich. A Celebration of Harold Pinter. Performances at the Edinburgh Festival in 2011 and in New York at The Irish Repertory Theatre were followed by engagements at Steppenwolf in Chicago, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco as well as in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Budapest, London, and Paris. This is an evening of Homeric theater with an extraordinary actor, great words, and an audience. Devoid of pretension or glittery trappings, A Celebration of Harold Pinter gets to the soul of the man- poet, playwright, husband, political activist, Nobel winner, mortal. A Celebration of Harold Pinter was nominated for a 2013 Drama Desk Award.
"Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavor. The search is your task. More often than not you stumble upon the truth in the dark, colliding with it or just glimpsing an image or a shape which seems to correspond to the truth, often without realising that you have done so. But the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost."
"When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimeter and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us. I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man."
"It's a strange moment, the moment of creating characters who up to that moment have had no existence. What follows is fitful, uncertain, even hallucinatory, although sometimes it can be an unstoppable avalanche. The author's position is an odd one. In a sense he is not welcomed by the characters. The characters resist him, they are not easy to live with, they are impossible to define. You certainly can't dictate to them. To a certain extent you play a never-ending game with them, cat and mouse, blind man's buff, hide and seek. But finally you find that you have people of flesh and blood on your hands, people with will and an individual sensibility of their own, made out of component parts you are unable to change, manipulate or distort."
- Harold Pinter / Writer
March 14-15, 2015 Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts - University of California - Davis, CA
March 28, 2015 Carpenter Center - CSULB - Long Beach, CA
April 18, 2015 Lansburgh Theatre - Washington Performing Arts - Washington, DC
The NEW YORK STYLE Column
ROBIN HOLLAND PHOTOGRAPH IMAGE
In This Edition Robin Holland presents this Archive Image of Film Critic Pauline Kael, who had transformed Cinema criticism in the same way that Francois Truffaut had done in the early 1960's. Ms Kael's reviews and think pieces were intense, they had muscle, authority and her books, such as The Citizen Kane Book are still to this day landmarks. Directors, actors and producers all anxiously awaited Kael's reviews the morning after a premiere screening. Film criticism & New York is just not the same without her presence.
BUREAU MUSIC INTERVIEW: PATRICK RIEGER
Patrick Rieger is the Lead Singer and Songwriter for Whiskey Sunday. On the Two Year Anniversary of an Original Live Interview at The Roxy on The Sunset Strip in Hollywood, we check back in with Mr. Rieger to discuss The Music, The Band, Irish Heritage and Their Newest Album.
Joshua TRILIEGI What does it feel like to play for a live audience ?
Patrick Rieger: Playing for a live audience was the only way music would have happened for me. My training is as an actor, as a kid I was a dancer. I always sang but could never read music, and musical instruments came a little harder to me. What I'm saying is that the live performance is something I know how to do and that might make up for my lack of musicianship sometimes. There are a lot of better guitar players in the world, but a lot of them choose to only play on their couch. If they're not going to take the gig I will because I know how to leave my blood on the floor for an audience, I can tell the stories. It feels like my planet, where I'm from. I come from a long line of storytellers and the live audience is home. Harry Nilsson never played out, virtually never toured or played live. I couldn't believe that when I read it. What an incredible storyteller and he could never share it with a live audience!
Joshua TRILIEGI: What are the challenges presented in keeping a band together ?
Patrick Rieger: I would say keeping a band together has been both the greatest joy and most significant source of anxiety for me throughout this process. I grew up an only child with a single Mom. I was constantly trying to re-create familial relationships with peers, friends, groups, I still do it today. It's a dangerous thing getting a group together and handing over your trust or expecting that you'll be one big happy family. Whiskey Sunday has played with roughly 10 fiddle players just in the last year. Hilarious. We love the fiddle, that sound, but I've stopped expecting that one of them will stick around and join the family. My harpist, banjo player, and my bass player have stuck around through some really tough times, and I am truly grateful for their trust and commitment. Greatest challenge would be letting go of the concept that I have to keep this band together.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Irish heritage plays a big part in your sound, describe that process.
Patrick Rieger : Irish music is how Deidre and I met. Again, this is circles of both Irish actors and musicians in LA, getting together, re-creating what they love about the old country. Many pub sessions later Deidre and I form our own Irish band and we set out to be the hottest in LA. That was the only way we could get this band paid was by having 3 hours of Irish songs ready to go for these pubs! Most bands our age weren't putting in those hours at the bars. Our original material has expanded quite a bit beyond the Irish sound, into an Americana/revved up roots sound. The Irish storytelling, rhythms and melodies will always be this band's backbone, I believe, no matter what we're writing. My Grandmother's maiden name was Gannon and I owe it to her. She took me to Ireland when I was 18 and I fell in love for eternity. I've since developed my own relationship with Ireland beyond my heritage and it has tremendously colored who I am as a human being, the literature, the people, the history.
Joshua TRILIEGI : When we first spoke, two years ago, you performed live at our magazine release party. Whats happened since then and tells us about the new music ?
Patrick Rieger: We are the most exciting to watch Irish/Americana Folk-Rock band in Los Angeles. In 2014 alone we played 44 gigs at over 26 venues throughout the LA area and Southern California. We released our debut album, Holy Water. We were interviewed by the Pasadena Weekly. We played our first major festival, Get Shamrocked in September, 2014, and shared the stage with some of our favorite bands like Old Man Markley, The Mahones and The Young Dubliners. 2015 has brought us our first music video, shot completely on location in Angeles National Forest and one of our favorite Irish pubs, Ireland's 32, where we have a residency. We've also booked our first tour of both Southern California and Northern California for this coming March and May, completely on our own. St. Patrick's Day brings a personal honor for the band, headlining at The Tam O'Shanter Inn, where Whiskey Sunday was born and bred. We're embarking on a momentum-filled year fueled by gratitude for the fans and venues that have showed us so much love and support.
Joshua TRILIEGI : You are also an actor, do the two crafts inform one another ?
Patrick Rieger: I joked for a long time saying, "I'm not a musician, I'm an actor and this is my longest running role." Maybe I still believe that sometimes but I can't tell you what a pleasure the process has been letting one inform the other. When I take on a role I have to bring truth to that story and love to that character. That's what I work for every night onstage and you know what? It's the same with the songs! When you are selling the truth, leaving your blood on the stage, it doesn't matter what the chords are or what lines your reading. The best part is when you yourself are moved, then that audience can't help but feel it. Telling the stories truthfully is what I do.
Joshua TRILIEGI : What do you think are the all time classic Irish Songs ever recorded ?
Patrick Rieger : My Grandma comes from a Bing Crosby, Danny boy generation. a different Ireland. I loved it growing up. The first time I heard The Pogues, Fairytale of New York, I think I cried, and I still cry every time. There is beautiful Irish music filled with history that I can't get enough of, "The Town I loved so well," there is music to come from Ireland that was so important and politically moving, "Alternative Ulster." And sometimes I just want to rock out to Thin Lizzy. Right now I'm devouring Damien Dempsey's whole catalogue, an incredible songwriter both in an Irish capacity and for anyone all over the world.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Your from the Mid West, the same city as Prince. is that atmosphere somehow naturally musical ?
Patrick Rieger: You better believe it! South Minneapolis is in my veins every time I step onstage, every time I sit down to write a song. Prince, Dylan, Atmosphere, Jayhawks, Trampled by Turtles. That's not even scratching the surface. You've got to do something with those long winter days and nights. We join forces as a state, as a collective group of people in winter coats to beat seasonal affect disorder down with tunes! In the car, in the living room, in the bars. Keep singing to stay warm ! My whole family celebrated life with music & whether it was typical or not for Minnesotans it was beautifully typical for us.
Joshua TRILIEGI : Thank you for spending time with us, before we go, Tell our readers why we you make music ?
Patrick Rieger: I believe we make music to stay alive. I never thought I'd be doing it professionally. When the acting business got slow for me in LA I had to find another way to tell stories and stay alive. The facts in your life might be a great skeleton or bone, your job, your income, your house. I tell stories though, that's flesh and blood, what's the point otherwise? This is what I'm called to do, tell stories. Bruce Springsteen said the Irish and Italians walk through the door with their fists and their hearts first. It's not the easiest way to live but I couldn't imagine it any other way. Who doesn't want to hear stories, hear music and stay alive with your flesh and blood pumping? If they're out there, I'm not sure those people and I have a lot to talk about.
Joshua TRILIEGI Where can our readers visit you and or see updates for shows ?
Patrick Rieger: New Album here https://itunes.apple.com/bm/album/holy-water/id894217092
New website here: http://www.whiskeysundayband.com
TAP THE LINK TITLES TO THESE FINE LITERARY BOOK STORES AND INSTITUTES
SPONSORED BY : HOLLYWOOD - PL COM
NEW YORK CITY : RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE
SAN DIEGO : D. G. WILLS BOOKSTORE
LOS ANGELES : BOOK SOUP BOOKSTORE
SAN FRANCISCO : CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE
LONDON : HATCHARDS BOOK SELLERS
PARIS : SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY
AMSTERDAM : THE AMERICAN BOOK CENTER
MARIA FRANCESCA TRILIEGI
An Excerpt from The New Upcoming Book of 40 Essays,
" LIFE IS GOOD : When You Do The Work "
Create a Spirit that Soars: How to Really Experience Joy
“ Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the
beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”
- Louisa May Alcott
No matter how small your home is there is always room for some aspect of the Natural world. A joyful day begins by seeing the beauty in nature. Even pansies have a smile that says good morning. Gardenias smell like heaven and hummingbirds spread their wings as they flutter by. The scent of the herbs beg to be picked and used for some wonderful meal. There are times I wish that I could mentally bottle these lovely feelings and put them in the refrigerator to have a cold one every morning for breakfast. How great it could be for all of humanity to live in a universal soaring of positive feelings. It brings to mind a vision of cake batter just before it is put into the oven. Full of good ingredients that will soon fill the room with rich aromas.
When our spirit is joyful, our day is powerful, energized and exciting, even though each person has a different vision of what creates this kind of experience for them. Each person must individually find their way to maintaining a positive, energized state of being by awakening our spirit as well as our mind and body. Eventually that spirit will become an active participant in creating the joy and beauty of our life.
Our experience can be quite different when our spirit joins in as an active participant that we can depend on. There are many holistic modalities available for each of us to be a clear channel for our spirit to come alive which includes meditation, prayer, exercise, positive affirmations and, of course, eating the foods that a body requires to be healthy and strong. After we have taken some action, after we have done our part, we will find a day filled with joy waiting for us. The more we pay attention to how we begin each day, the more joyful our life and the passion for what we are doing will become stronger and stronger.
Exercise: Honor your spirit by thanking it for all that it brings. Spirit, heart, mind and body working together is what makes the energy of the day joyful and rewarding.
Maria Francesca Triliegi is an Author, Life Coach and Lecturer. " Life is Good : When You Do The Work" is the first of several books to be released by Bureau of Arts and Culture Publishing Company. Illustrations by Christina Habberstock. Look for an Interview with both Maria & Christina in The Next Edition of Bureau of Arts and Culture Magazine in May.
BUREAU LITERARY : MUSIC
THE ROLLING STONES : LITERARY BARDS ?
What is Art ? What is a Classic ? What is Literature ? When is something all of the above ? Why is Rock & Roll Music so damn powerful to us ? It could be that great music tells a narrative just as convincingly as a short story, poem or novel. Sometimes it can even tell that story better. Case in point, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards Classic 1968 song entitled, "Sympathy for the Devil." Today, we look at the song, asking the question: Can Music Be Literature ? And If so, Why ?
The title of the song is, "Sympathy for The Devil." It sounds like a Novel from World War One by Somerset Maugham or a historical piece explaining the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1930s or even a poem by T. S. Elliot. The narrator of the story is a Faustian Mephisto or as he is known in Christo-Judeo belief: The Devil. Our story opens, following a fabulous drum solo, with a grand and eloquent self-introduction, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste." He continues, "I've been around for a long, long year, stole many a man's soul to waste," explaining further, "I was around when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain." It is a devastating first meeting. The very prince of darkness himself is addressing the reader or in this case the listener. Lets put this into context. In 1968, the year this song was released, the world was in turmoil: Political Assassinations, Vietnam, Uprisings in France, Czechoslovakia, The Anti War Movement in America and a rising youth culture had recognized that evil could be anywhere and clearly, these were definitely historical times.
"Jagger and Richards tapped into the moment with aclear and present evils, but instead, reminds the listener that it was here before, it is here now, it will be here after."
Jagger and Richards tapped into the moment with a diabolical diatribe that does not turn away from the clear and present evils, but instead, reminds the listener that it was here before, it is here now, it will be here after. The story continues with a historical look backward, "Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change," referring to the Russian Revolution, "I killed the Czar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain." The narration swiftly moves through time to World War II, "I rode a tank, held a general's rank, when the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank." Then after a chorus or two, entirely demolishes a hundred years of monarchy with the single line, "I watched with glee, while your kings and queens, fought for ten decades, for the gods they made." And then it peaks with the most devastating idea of the entire work, "I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedy's ?" When after all, it was you and me." A shattering description that accuses the listener of committing murder: Astonishing. The devise of having a narrator speaking directly to his or her audience goes back as far as The Greek Tragedies and Shakespeare.
The same literary device was used a few years earlier in John Burgess', "A Clockwork Orange" which was later turned into the classic piece of cinema by director Stanley Kubrik. But here, Jagger and Richards put us face to face with the devil himself, presenting him as a man of power, a man of manners, a man of the world and simply a man who is very proud of his many accomplishments, however destructive they may be. The song lyrics take a slightly poetic turn, even in their maniacal aspects with the following phrase,"Just as every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints. As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer, 'cause I'm in need of some restraint." Then after several chorus' including the echoing line, "Please to meet you, hope you guessed my name," a foreboding warning statement is pressed onto the listener with the final phrase, "So if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste. Use all your well-learned politics or I'll lay your soul to waste." The listener is literally warned to not only respect the narrator, but to have some sympathy. Demanding respect for the dark side of our very nature. The song is a time capsule , a declaration of madness and a warning of future conflicts. It is a fine example of the use of language in creating effective storytelling. It's also simply a great song. But is it Literature with a capital "L" ? If so why ?
"The song is a time capsule, a declaration of madness and a warning of future conflicts. It is a fine example of the use of language in creating effective storytelling. It's also simply : a great song."
For one, it speaks to more than one generation, the story has lasted, at least so far, as an important tragedy of not only it's time, but the song is still currently played on radios stations around the world. In other words, the book is still in print. The play is still on broadway. The public is still interested. Two, the song literally helped to define the actual times with which it was written: The 1960s. It is one of the actual anthems of the period. It may be the most important of the brave literary works to be a part of The Rock & Roll song book ever. Three, it actually speaks to a larger historical context with it's many references to world events and it's ongoing and foreboding demands of a future disaster. The song and narrator lives on in it's very description of itself. Why does this make it Literature ? Well, it doesn't. What does make it Literature ? In my estimation, it is the employment of ideas, the minimum use of narrative, the poetic turns of lyricism, the audacious accusations of the storyteller and the ability to open the imagination to world events that existed prior to the songs invention. Good literature, good fiction, good poetry, good writing, do this for the reader. Good literature will utilize history, experience, tragedy. Good literature will challenge power, normalcy, self-righteousness. Good literature will demand, entertain and sometimes even accuse the reader of the very experiences that mankind has allowed to happen. The Holocaust, Slavery, Genocide, War, Murder and Acts of Cruelty: Who would think to offer these subjects in a Song ? Sympathy For The Devil is very heavy material. Jagger and Richards use their platform to discuss important issues of modernity and history in a way that indeed transports, elevates and activates the same devices used by great writers around the world and that is why this song is ultimately a great piece of fine Literature.
FILM :BETTY BLUE The FRENCH CLASSIC
BUREAU Film Review
By Joshua A. Triliegi for LITERARY Edition / BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine
Films about writers are usually about the writing of a great novel or the controversy surrounding the artists careers or any number of events that lead up to their success or downfall. There are a scant few films that have even gotten close to what it is like to be a writer or to attempt to create great artwork. Biographical works such as Barfly about Charles Bukowski or On the Road about Jack Kerouac have been relatively accurate renditions. They retained a certain gritty realist quality to the truth of it.
Betty Blue is a film which just happens to be about a writer turned house painter who falls in love with a wild and guileless creature. It is not 'about writing,' it is about life itself, passion, relationships, compromise, sexuality and insanity. Betty Blue had it's original release almost thirty years ago this year. The film is full of laughter, love and of loss. French director Jean-Jacques Beineix has created a steamy and sensual piece of cinema that is an out and out classic. Capturing the feeling of youth, lust, eroticism and escape. Women who watch the film ultimately fall in love with Zorg, the leading man, played brilliantly by Jean - Hugues Anglade. Conversely, men who view it, fall in love with leading lady, Béatrice Dalle, who in the title role is truly a french version of Marilyn Monroe. She drives the film like a thief might drive a stolen car: in the fast lane. Then she takes us off the road entirely into uncharted territory, emotionally speaking. All the while, one can't help but be seduced by her earthy indignation. Zorg has given up being a writer, but when Betty shows up on his doorstep with a suitcase, dressed like a birthday present ready to be unwrapped, he cannot resist. She discovers his early writing efforts, stays up for days reading his opus and quickly exclaims that he is a genius. The soundtrack with slow and moody saxophone solos and a driving pre techno beat warmed by accordion and that great flair that only the French can provide is simply perfect to a T. Part one is about Zorg and Betty's beginnings which end with her burning the entire house down.
Part two is about the attempt to get Zorg published and their ensuing friendship with another couple. There is so much dark humor and slice of life reality packed into this piece of cinema that it would be hard to really understand it, without truly saluting the french way of life as a whole. France and french culture is consumed by beauty and heartfelt ideas, by rich foods and high fashion and ultimately by a revolution that gives a certain power to the people. Betty, although slightly insane, epitomizes the raw and justifiable aggression we all feel when those with power or money or position abuse others. Zorg on the other hand is laid back, he goes with the flow, to the point where he has even given up on his dream to be a writer. Together they embark on a journey into each other, an escape from the past, into the future, which is always uncertain. Betty Blue reveals a life unbridled.
"There is so much dark humor and slice of life reality packed into this piece of cinema that it would be hard to really understand it, without truly saluting the french way of life as a whole. France and french culture is consumed by beauty and heartfelt ideas, by rich foods and high fashion and ultimately by a revolution that gives a certain power to the people."
When rejection letters that critically overplay Zorg's writing abilities, or lack thereof, pile up, Betty strikes back. At one point she physically attacks one of the wealthy upper-crust publishers. Although, Betty is clearly crossing the line, we actually end up rooting for her, after all, who doesn't want to slap an indignant bastard for going out of his way to trample a newcomer ? This incident leads to others and we realize that Betty is a live wire who won't take shit from anybody. Again, we fathom her aggravation, she's reacting to things we all would like to, but never actually do. Unfortunately, as the story progresses, so too does her condition and the film itself turns tragic. Regardless, this is still a film that fits into my top cinema favorites of the 1980s and definitely one of my favorite French films of all time. Also on that list, almost anything by Francois Truffaut and many of The French New Wave films such as Breathless. French culture will always remains a big part of this writer.
BUREAU FICTION TOUR SPRING 2015
T. C. BOYLE ON TOUR : THE HARDER THEY COME
3/27, Washington, D.C., Folger Library, 201 E. Capitol St., SE, 7:30 P.M.
3/31, Brooklyn, Bookcourt, 163 Court St., 7:00 P.M.
4/1, Manhattan, Barnes & Noble, 150 E. 86th St., 7:00 P.M.
4/2, Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 7:30 P.M.
4/6, Austin, Book People, 603 N. Lamar, 7:00 P.M.
4/7, Cleveland, Cuyohoga Co. Public Library, 1 Community Drive, 7:00 P.M.
4/8, St. Louis, St. Louis Co. Library, 400 St. State St., 7:00 P.M.
4/9, Chicago, Chicago Public Library, 6:00 P.M.
4/10, Minneapolis, AWP Conference 2015, Minneapolis Convention Center, time TBA.
4/12, S.F., Books, Inc./Sunday at the Chapel, 777 Valencia St., 2:00 P.M.
4/13, Petaluma, CA, Copperfield’s Books, 140 Kentucky St., 7:00 P.M.
4/14, L.A., Live Talks L.A., venue and time to come.
4/15, Seattle, Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave., time TBA.
4/16, Portland, Powell’s Books, 1005 Burnside St., 7:30 P.M.
4/18, L.A. Times Festival of Books, time TBA.
4/20, Coral Gables, FL, Books & Books, 8:00 P.M.
4/21, TBD.
4/22, Cambridge, MA, Harvard Bookstore at Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., 8 P.M.
4/24, Troy, NY, Hudson Valley Community College, 9:30 A.M.
4/29, Steamboat Springs, CO, Steamboat Springs Library, time TBA.
4/30, Denver, Tattered Cover Bookstore, 7:00 P.M.
The L. A. Times Festival of Books 2015 The 20Th Year
Saturday, April 18, 2015 10 a.m. – 6 p.m & Sunday, April 19, 2015 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The USC campus is located about 2 miles southwest from Downtown and 1 mile from the intersection of the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) and the Harbor Freeway (I-110). The most convenient freeway exit is from I-110 onto Exposition Boulevard. At the end of the exit you will see the campus on the right-hand side one block down the street. Another convenient access is to exit from Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) on Vermont south to Jefferson Boulevard. Book Prizes Ceremony Saturday, April 18, 2015 6:30 p.m. The Bovard Auditorium
ARTHUR MILLER: Going Very Strong at 100
American dramatist, writer, and essayist Arthur Miller (1915-2005) is considered a pioneer of expressionistic realism in post-World War II American theater. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Miller's stage plays began receiving a number of awards, including the Drama Critics' Circle Awards, 1947, for All My Sons, and 1949, for Death of a Salesman; Tony Awards, 1947, for All My Sons, 1949, for Death of a Salesman, and 1953, for The Crucible; Donaldson Awards, 1947, for All My Sons, 1949, for Death of a Salesman, and 1953, for The Crucible; Pulitzer Prize for drama, 1949, for Death of a Salesman. Frequently cited as one of the central works of twentieth-century American drama, Death of a Salesman remains Miller's best known work.
Miller's play concerning the Salem witch trials, The Crucible (1953), has been interpreted by some critics as an allegory for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Trials, which investigated the motion picture industry searching for communist sympathizers in the late 1940s through the 1950s. Miller himself, accused of communist sympathies, was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, but refused to provide the committee with the names of other supposed communists. As a result Miller was found in contempt of Congress, but the conviction was overturned in 1958. During this same period Miller's life was affected by his marriage to the actress Marilyn Monroe, whom he wed in 1956. The public attention that surrounded the couple combined with Monroe's troubled fame proved difficult for Miller. However, his script for The Misfits (1961), based on a short story he first published in Esquire magazine in 1957, was written with Monroe in mind and reveals the admirable qualities he saw in her. The couple divorced in 1961. In After the Fall (1967), Miller further revealed the complexities of his relationship with Monroe, but within a broader thematic context that addresses man's alienation. One of Miller's most successful Broadway plays, The Price (1968), recalls the themes of his earlier works, such as All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. His other plays include Incident at Vichy (1964), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977), The American Clock (1980), The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), and Broken Glass (1994).As a socially conscientious writer, Miller has promoted human rights and artistic freedom; while serving as the president of International P.E.N. (1965-1969), Miller worked to open the organization to Soviet Bloc countries and to provide support for imprisoned and persecuted writers. He is credited with vitalizing the organization during his time as president.Miller has received many honors for his writing, including an Obie Award, two New York Drama Critics' Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize (1949), the American Academy of Arts and Letters gold medal (1959), a John F. Kennedy Award for Lifetime Achievement (1984), the Jerusalem Prize (2003), and many other honors.
Sources: The Arthur Miller Society Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2004, reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group, 2004.Tap This link to hear Orson Welles Reading an Early Radio Play By Author Mr. ARTHUR MILLER
ARTHUR MILLER Theater Productions During The Year 2015
TAP [ WEBSITE ] LINKS FOR EACH PRODUCTION TO VISIT EACH THEATER
- All My Sons Dec. by Wanderlust Theatre Co. at Cité des Arts, 109 Vine Street, Lafayette, LA. Call (337) 291-1122 or check the website.
- The Crucible 13 October – 8 November 2015 by Theatre Calgary, 220 - 9th Ave. S.E., Calgary, AB, Vancouver, Canada. Call 403-294-7440 or check the website.
- The Crucible 16-18 Oct. by Creative Arts Theater, 15615 8th St Victorville, CA. Call 760-963-3236 or check the website.
- Broken Glass 6-31 Oct. 2015 by Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport, CT. Directed by Mark Lamos. Call (203) 227-4177 or check the website.
- A Memory of Two Mondays Sept/Oct. by Defibrillator Theatre, London, UK. Directed by Robert Hastie. Plans are to stage the play in a warehouse setting. Check the website for updates.
- The Crucible 18 Sept.-4 Oct. by Pec Playhouse Theatre, 314 Main St, Pecatonica, IL. Call (815) 239-1210 or check the website.
- Broken Glass 5-27 Sept. by New Repertory Theatre, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown (Boston), MA. Directed by Jim Petosa, with Jeremiah Kissel. Call 617-923-8487 or check the website.
- The Price in Aug. by TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, Chicago, IL. Directed by Louis Contey, with Mike Nussbaum. Call 773 281 8463 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 9-26 July by Ironweed Productions, Santa Fe, NM. Call 505.927.5406 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman July by Chats Productions, at the Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia. Directed by Rex Madigan. E-mail for info, or check the website.
- The Hook 5 June-25 July by Royal and Derngate theater in Northampton in 5-27 June, followed by a run at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in 1-25 July. Directed by James Dacre.The play is adapted by Ron Hutchinson from Miller's screenplay. Check their websites for more details:Northampton and Liverpool.
- Death of a Salesman 29 May-14 June by Barn Theater, on Plano Street at Olive Avenue, Porterville, CA. Call (559) 310-7046 or check the website.
- The Crucible 22-30 May by Acting Unlimited at Theatre 810, 810 Jefferson Street, Lafayette, LA. Call (337) 484-0172 or check their Facebook website.
- The Price 13 May-21 June by Olney Theatre Center, at the lab space, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD. Directed by Michael Bloom. Call 301-924-3400 or check the website. There will be a pre-show discussion at 5pm on May 16.
- A View from the Bridge 8-17 May by at Cité des Arts, 109 Vine Street, Lafayette, LA. Call (337) 291-1122 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 1-16 May by Dreamwell Theatre Company, 10 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City, IA in two locations. 1-2 May at First Street Community Center, Mt. Vernon and 8-16 May at Iowa Children’s Museum, Coralridge Mall. Directed by David Pierce. Call 319-423-9820, or check thewebsite.
- The Crucible 29 April-3 May at Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, University Of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd. Milwaukee, WI. (414) 229-4308 the website.
- The Crucible 11 April-24 May by Guthrie Theater, Wurtele Thrust Stage, 818 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN. Directed by Joe Dowling. Call 612.377.2224, or check the website for more information.
- Death of a Salesman 1 May-7 June by Loft Ensemble, 929 East Second Street, #105, Los Angeles, CA. Call 213.680.0392 or check the website.
- All My Sons 17 April-10 May by WaterTower Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas. Directed by David Denson with Terry Martin, Diana Sheehan, Christopher Cassarino, and Tabitha Ray. Call 972.450.6230, or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 10-18 April by Neuse Little Theatre, 104 South Front Street, Smithfield, NC. Directed by: Randy Jordan. Call (919) 934-1873 or check the website.
- The Crucible 10-19 April by Merced Playhouse, 452 W. Main Street, Merced, CA. Call 209 725 8587 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 16-26 April by Jewish Theatre Grand Rapids, 2727 Michigan NE, Grand Rapids, MI. Call 616-234-3595, or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 28 March- 2 May by The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Directed by Gregory Doran with Antony Sher, Harriet Walter, and Alex Hassell. Call 0844 800 1110 or check the website.
- All My Sons (in Cantonese, translation by Dominic Cheung) 27-29 March, presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and produced by the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies at the Auditorium, Ko Shan Theatre New Wing, Ko Shan Road, Hung Hum, Hong Kong. Directed by Luther Fung, with Chung King-fai, Patra Au, Guthrie Yip, Lai Yuk-ching, Johnson Yu, Mary Lee, Barry Chan, Ruby Chu, Andy Tang and Ngai Chi-hang. Call 2111 5999 or visit www.urbtix.hk.
- All My Sons 27 March-19April 19 by Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Ave., at University of Houston, Houston, TX. Directed by Theresa Rebeck. Call 713.220.5700 or check the website.
- The Archbishop’s Ceiling24 March–19 April by Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, in their Black Box theater, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, Colorado. Directed by Brett Aune, with Michael Morgan, William Hahn, Rodney Lizcano, and Heather Lacy. Set design by Brian Mallgrave. Call 720-898-7200 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 12-28 March by Nashville Repertory Theatre at at Andrew Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, 505 Deaderick St., Nashville, TN. Directed by René D. Copeland, with Chip Arnold, Rona Carter, Eric Pasto-Crosby and, Matt Garner. Set design by Gary Hoff. Call 615 782-6560 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 13-22 March at San Joaquin Delta College, Alred H. Muller Studio Theatre, 5151 Pacific Ave, Stockton, CA. Directed by Harvey Jordan, who also plays Willy, alongside Jane Dominik as Linda. Call (209) 954-5110 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 13-28 March by Dover Little Theatre, 69 Elliott Street, Dover, NJ. Directed by Claire Bochenek, with Bob Scarpone, Kate Daly, Michael Reddin, and Michael Jay. Call 973-328-9202 or check the website.
- All My Sons 13-28 March by New Century Players, 11022 SE 37th, Milwaukie, OR. Directed by Colin Murray. Call (503) 367-2620 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman Spring (Dates TBA) by Dreamwell Theatre Company, 10 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City, IA. Call 319-423-9820, or check the website.
- Playing For Time 12 March-4 April by The Crucible Theatre, 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, UK. Directed by Richard Beecham, with Kate Adams, Pascale Burgess, Imogen Daines, Christopher Staines, Amanda Hadingue, Melanie Heslop, Kate Lynn-Evans, Danny Scheinmann, and Siân Phillips. To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the centenary of the playwright’s birth. Call 0114 249 6000 or check the website.
- All My Sons 6-29 March by Cherry Creek Theatre, at the Shaver-Ramsey Carpet Gallery, 2414 East Third Avenue, Denver, CO. Call (303) 800-6578 or check the website.
- All My Sons 6-22 March by Germantown Community Theater, 3037 S Forest Hill-Irene Rd, Germantown, TN. Directed by John Maness. Call (901) 754-2680 or check the website.
- All My Sons 6-22 March Curtain Call Inc., 1349 Newfield Avenue, Stamford, CT. Directed by John Atkin with Joseph Caputo, Greg Chrzczon, Robert Rosado, Alexandria Clapp, John Ponzini, Karen Pope, Katie Bookser, Robie Livingstone, James Avery and Christopher Beaurline. . Call (203) 461-6358 ext. 13. or check the website.
- All My Sons 6-14 March by JCC Uncommoners, in Robert Lee Scharmann Theatre at Jamestown Community College, 525 Falconer Street, Jamestown, NY. Call 716.338.1153 or check the website.
- The Crucible 5-8 March in Kimmel Theatre at Midland University on the corner of 8th and Irving in Fremont, NE. Call 402.941.6399 or check the website.
- All My Sons 5-7 March by Jewish Theatre Ensemble, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. Check website for tickets and information.
- View from the Bridge 4-14 March by The Touring Consortium Theatre Company with York Theatre Royal; opens in Nottingham on 4 March 2015, and then visits Cheltenham, Darlington, Wolverhampton, Bradford, Coventry and Edinburgh. 10-14 March at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, Regent Street, Cheltenham, UK. Directed by Stephen Unwin, with Jonathan Guy Lewis, Michael Brandon, Teresa Banham, Daisy Boulton, Philip Cairns, and James Rastall. Stage design by Liz Ascroft. For Cheltenham, call 01242 572573 or check the website.
- All My Sons 2 March-26 April by Front Row Theatre Company, Harrison College House, University of Pennsylvania, PA. Directed by Alex Polyak. Message on Facebook or check thewebsite.
- An Enemy of the People 25 Feb.-15 March by PlayMakers Repertory Company, Center for Dramatic Art, Chapel Hill, NC. Directed by Tom Quaintance, with Michael Bryan French, Tony Newfield, David Adamson, Benjamin Curns, Julia Gibson, Allison Altman, and Jeffrey Blair Cornell. Set design by McKay Coble. Call 919.962.7529 or check the website.
- The Crucible 1 March-4 April by Shawnee Playhouse, 552 River Rd, Shawnee on Deleware, PA. Call (570) 421-5093 or check the website.
- A View from the Bridge 11 Feb.-11 April (transfer of the Young Vic’s much praised spring 2014 production), Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London, UK. Directed by Ivo van Hove, with Mark Strong, Nicola Walker, Michael Gould, Emun Elliott, Phoebe Fox, and Luke Norris. Design and Light by Jan Versweyveld. Call 020 7922 2922 or 0844 482 5120, or check the website(which has an interesting 55 sec. trailer that will give you a sense of the production’s design).
- All My Sons 12 Feb.-25 April by Talawa Theatre Company, around the UK, is reviving its all-black 2013 production (co-produced with Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre) for a national tour, with beginning performances at Ipswich's New Wolsey Theatre for 12-21st Feb. Call 01473 295 900. It will subsequently tour to Cambridge Arts Theatre (24-28 Feb. Call 01223 503 333), Salisbury Playhouse (3-7 March. Call 01722 320 333), Watford Palace Theatre (10-14 March. Call 01923 225 671), Oxford Playhouse (17-21 March. Call 01865 305 305), Birmingham Rep (24-28 March. Call 0121 236 4455), Richmond Theatre in South West London (31 March-5 April. Call 0844 871 7615), Colchester Mercury Theatre (14-18 April. Call 01206 573 948), and Malvern Theatres (Festival Theatre) (21-25 April. Call 01684 892 277). Directed by Michael Buffong, with Ray Shell, Doña Croll, Kemi Bo-Jacobs, Leemore Marrett Jr., and Ashley Gerlach. Stage design by Ellen Cairns. For further details and to book tickets, visit their website.
- The Price 11 Feb.-22 March by Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum, Music Center, 135 North Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA. Directed by Garry Hynes, with Kate Burton, John Bedford Lloyd, Sam Robards, and Alan Mandell. Call 213 628 2772 or check the website.
- The Crucible 25 Feb.-1 Mar. by Riverland Community College (Austin), Frank Bridges Theatre, 1900 8th Avenue NW, Austin, MN . Directed by Lindsey Duoos Williams, with Jake Berndt, Jodie Bratager, Sarah Collett, Ben Deines, Ellie Dyke, Alexa Ferguson, Randy Forster, Karina Hernandez, Tyler Holz, Zack Huggan, Krista Johnson, Kylie Larson, Emily McAlister, Lindsey McAlister, Jacob Mueller, Claire Olson, Kristy Marie Possin, Amoe Sato, Robert Stangler, Jonathan Stowell, Bry Thorson, Vic Wylde, Danny Ziebell and James Zschunke. Set design by Mark Spitzer. Call 507-433-0595 or check the website.
- The Crucible 26 Feb-1 Mar by Lenoir-Rhyne Playmakers, at Lenoir-Rhyne University, in P.E. Monroe Auditorium, 625 7th Ave NE, Hickory, NC. Directed by Josh Yoder. Call 828-328-PLAY or check the website.
- All My Sons 26 Feb.-8 March, by Shreveport Little Theatre, 811 Margaret Pl, Shreveport, LA. Directed by Richard Folmer, with Shawn Dion, Ginger D. Folmer, Miles Jay Oliver, Cara Johnston, Bo Harris, Sloan Folmer, Debbie Posey, David McCart, Holly McCart and Mathew Born. Set design by Chris Gonzales. Call (318) 424-4439 or check the website.
- All My Sons 19 Feb.-1 March by University of Rhode Island Theatre Department, Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston, RI. Call 401.874.5843 or check the website.
- All My Sons 20-28 Feb. by Stage Door Productions, Kitt Creative Studio, 810 Caroline St. Fredericksburg, VA. Directed by Olivia Finnegan, with Dave Mills, Kimberly Kemp, and Matt Armentrout. Call (540) 903-3808 or check the website.
- Death of a Salesman 25-28 Feb. by Sheffield University Theatre Company. Call 0114 222 8676 or check the website.
- The Crucible 13-28 Feb. by Pioneer Theatre, University of Utah, 300 S. 1400 E., Salt Lake City, UT. Directed by Charles Morey, with Claire Brownell, Fletcher McTaggart, Madison Micucci, Paul Kiernan, Philip Kerr, and J. Todd Adams. Set designed by Gary English. Call 801 581 6961 or check the website.
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