A homeless man is reciting a poem on a train in New York. It’s horrible to say what I’m thinking here but there’s no getting around it – this is an awful performance. Clichéd and emotive and far too quiet. I give him a quarter anyway. In the following weeks I come to realise that I gave the money because I am Australian and an Australian has a healthy sense of pity. A New Yorker reacts differently. No matter that the performer is destitute, a bad show is a bad show and he should be judged accordingly. This time the critic was a white guy in a sleeveless sweatshirt.
New York Playwrights Conference – An Adventure
What happens when an Australian playwright hits New York City for a conference run by Young Playwrights Inc., a group formed by legendary composer Stephen Sondheim to encourage students to write plays?
3 Oct 2007 12:00
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