Going for the Juggler

In one of American Theater Wing's SCDF Masters of the Stage podcasts, featuring the late Robert Whitehead and Brian Clark, one of them says:

Someone once said, I wish I remember who, that The Playwright’s spiritual ancestor is not a poet, but a juggler. And I think that’s right.

That's an amazing statement, and so true. My job as a playwright is, first and foremost, to entertain the audience, not to be poetic or philosophical. If I can be poetic and philosophical along the way, so much the better, but the audience is paying to be entertained, to see a good story.


Just saw Tarell Alvin McCraney’s In The Red and Brown Water at The Public last week. It was immensely entertaining because of the direction (Tina Landau) and performers, so much so that it nearly covered up for a strangely empty story (I've since discovered that it was based on African Yoruban Mythology, which accounts for some of the weird poetics of the script). The whole thing plays like a vivid dream that seems really important until you wake up. It's evocative, but not of very much.