And to me its the speech i gave him was in part all just drawn from whats happening i think in the country right now in relationship to the war, who is considered patriotic, who is considered a traitor, and the point of a play to me is that it isnt just a museum piece, that in fact it does have relevancy right now and that it does kind of spark a certain amount of controversy in relationship to what goes on now. So thats how things that are happening in ones life feed into it. Other things feed into it, too, like my wife and i have been trying to build this house in the Berkeley Hills for about 5 years so all of that also kind of feeds into the play even though it may not surface in the way the characters are building a house, but it may be something about money that comes up in the play but actually was drawn from our financial struggles trying to build this house in the berkley hills. But it also sort of shows you how real life intrudes into your work and how we either can listen to
Person, but evidently it was an irish conscript in the irish navy that came to puerto rico. Puerto rico was owned by britain, as they liked to do with their colonies, and efficient evidently the sailor came there and said palm trees, warm weather, and look at the girls. And he remained. Thats the end of the second part. The third part is in response to the op ed piece that margaret mcpeek wrote in the chronicle and the letters, i dont know if youve read them you should pick up the letters that a couple of, you know, Irish Americans wrote in response accusing cousin mcpeek of not having a sense of humor. It has to do with these tee shirts that target has produced for the st. Patricks day parade in which mrs. Mcpeek derided the fact that they were making fun of the irish in the united states, you know, things like i survived the kelly Murphy Family gathering, things like that. And they wrote letters poking fun at what i thought was a couragous op ed piece. So this is in response to the I
Television is happening, advertising, this whole advertising thing is happening. So you have these marginalized peoples and what happens, is it possible to develop a kind of at that moment a crossCultural Community . Is it possible to have kind of a multi Cultural Community that emerged from that moment . And so, in particular, thats what i wanted to explore. And part of the back drop is there was this extraordinary jazz scene happening in that area. Theres this wonderful book called Fillmore Harlem west and also theres several other books that are about that particular era. But thats all happening too, people like billie holiday, count basie, duke ellington, they were all playing in the fillmore district, bop city, plantation club, jacks tavern. Thats another world that i was intrigued by and the fact that there were neisei jazz musicians. Also the no no boys, which im not sure if you are aware of, but one of the story lines in the play is about the character called chet monkawa and h
Some successes. Before he was 10, the romero family took flight to the Williams Burg section of brooklyn because of the numbered streets such as south 6th and south 7th which carried their direction. In time, the south street became puerto rican, displacing the italians, who moved deeper into brooklyn. The north streets were remained polish extending into green point. His parents purchased a house cheaply and over the years created a home that was a welcome place for their children and grandchildren. This haven was of such serenity that kenny often felt the same respect and awe that he experienced when entering the fragrant solitude of the catholic church, fleeing went the irish seeking refuge from the advancing harlems, the dark skin of the people making unrecognizable the prejudices they had endured when they arrived in america. The defect of memory driving them forward to separate themselves from the shadows that follow all immigrants. Fleeing went the puerto ricans, escaping the sa
With some African American actors and i actually had it vetted by august wilson, read it and checked it out for me and theres another fellow who wrote soldiers story, charles fuller, took a look at it for me. I wanted to make sure my bases were covered. But this new play, what i did was, i feel comfortable writing the characters, but you are never sure. One thing that happened was Steven Anthony jones helped me a great deal with the African American character. We took it to sundance and what happens when you go to sundance is you bring some actors and some are given to you. I hadnt worked with the actors who we teamed up with at sundance, both excellent actors but people we didnt know so we didnt have a working relationship. There were moments where we worked where i could tell that the fellow, in particular, wasnt happy with his character because i had him standing there while the African American character went on and on. Finally he said, phillip, i would not stand there and take tha