This play (90
minutes) is running at the Eye of the Storm Theater, Minneapolis Theater
Garage (612-728-5859) Feb. 2- Mar. 4, 2001.
The author is Bill Corbett and the one performer is Brian Baumgartner.
The director is Casey Stangl. As with a log of
soliloquy plays, this one takes on the social and wealth redistribution
issues—in this case, right-wing political correctness from the point of view
of a “liberal” upper midwestern demonstrator. The
rallies are a composite of several, the most important being the GATT
trade talks in Seattle in
1999. (Clinton,
remember, was a strong “republican” supporter of free trade with both NAFTA
and GATT). The political heckler
chronicles his travels and expressions.
Eschewing a “real job,” or any sense of professionalism based on the
goals defined by others, he declares his job to be “knowing,” which is not
the same as knowledge. Later he notes
that political rallies and media cameos provide a “lens” for any individual
to fight the system and make a name for himself.
Well, you could say the same thing about the way I handle self-publishing and
the Internet. Well, he disregards the
advice of Minneapolis skyway standup (and very politically incorrect) comic
John McDonough to “stay out of jail” and gets dragged by those pigs (the
police) into something like a Hanoi Hilton while his pooch gets a leg
amputated when crushed in the crowd.
I’ll stick to my writing rather than be a street activist, but writers
can wind up in jail, too. Just look at
COPA.
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