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| Glen Merzer |
Alum Glen Merzer remembers some of
the earliest days of the playwriting program here. Since his time in Boston his
writing has taken many different forms, and one of his recent projects is the
screenplay Best Seller, which will be read at the Writers Guild of America, West -- starring Kevin Pollak and Ed Begley, Jr. -- on Nov. 7.
KAM: A recent issue of The Dramatist was dedicated to Los
Angeles, which I thought was great because even thought it’s a city with a
thriving theatre scene, of course it’s also synonymous with Hollywood and
movies. How would you characterize the theatre community out there?
GM: I grew up on NYC theatre, whose beating
heart was mid-sized theatre. Circle Rep, Playwrights Horizons, the
Manhattan Theatre Club and other such theatres were constantly producing
new plays, and often launching plays that went on to national
prominence. LA theatre divides itself mainly into two camps: a profusion
of small, Equity Waiver houses, and a few large, institutional theatres like
the Mark Taper.
The former is not cohesive and is to some extent
driven by actors wishing to showcase themselves, and the latter tends to be
gutless. That said, there's a constant infusion of new energy into the
Equity Waiver scene; for the committed theatre-goer, there are gems to be found
here and there. But you have to do a lot of driving to be a committed
theatre-goer here. It's daunting.
