Another New Definition Of Irony
Ok, as most of you reading this know, when I’m not ranting about politics, taking cheap shots at Buffy, or reviewing books and CDs for Ink 19, I’m what I like to call an “upstart playwright.”
So I’m in the process of looking for different theaters to which to send my wares, and I come across this thing called the Purple Rose Theatre Company. As you’ll see if you click on that link, that’s the company that actor Jeff Daniels started. If you go to their site, you’re greeted by a nice letter from Jeff saying, among other things,
“Years later, after moving back home to Michigan, I bought an old bus garage in the small town of Chelsea with the dream of creating a midwestern answer to Circle Rep. I wanted a professional theatre company, featuring midwestern actors, directors, designers, and playwrights situated in the middle of America producing plays about the middle of America. People, of course, thought I was an idiot. From the local critics who wanted the latest shows from New York starring my “movie star friends” to the townspeople who thought Art was someone who lived out by the highway, no one could understand what I was trying to do. It made no sense. Except to all those local actors, directors, designers, and especially playwrights who called the midwest their home.”
Sounds great, right? Local boy makes good, comes home and gives up some large to promote the careers of those less fortunate. Except, well, check out what the current production is in this theater for middle-American playwrights, and specifically, pointedly not Daniel’s movie-star friends.
