Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

Theatre teaches us what our heart already knew, but didn't realize it knew.

I wish I could remember where I found this statement. As it stands I seem to be guilty of the same crime as the male lead in my play, "The Muse in Autumn," i.e., plagiarism.

Originally I had entitled this script "Last Word," and focused on this male character. But with the advent of the MeToo movement, I began to see that the play should really be about the wife and her role as "muse" to a "Great Man," a persona that made her the victim of abuse and damaged esteem. Unfortunately within a week or too of a rather successful reading by InProximity Theatre in New York City, I viewed the film, "The Wife," starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Price. Here were all the characters and many of the plot elements of my work--an undergrad female student, seduced by her married, creative writing professor; misguided sacrifices along the way that allowed the now-husband to steal her creative work, plus a pesky investigator whose very presence threatens to upset the apple cart. The similarities of the new film and the script that I had been honing for years were daunting. The director of the NYC reading (Terry Berliner) eased my fears by pointing out the dissimilarities--my play featured a childless couple, the creative work at issue was poetry not prose, the investigator was an academic, not a journalist, an illegitimate daughter was in the mix, and--most important from a theatrical point of view--my male lead, a man who had built his reputation as a writer, had been silenced and paralyzed by a series of strokes (although the audience can hear his every thought). I look forward to having the play introduced to an audience who probably is aware of the film, yet nevertheless can appreciate the unique DNA of my work, although they may recognize the obvious similarities in the film.