Local actor and director Joe Flowers comments on my statements in my Theater Works Picasso at the Lapin Agile review, and my response.
Mark S.P. Turvin
mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Received 9/30/03

From: "Joe Flowers" <***@***.***>
Subject: Theater Works' season
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:48:10 -0700
To: Mark S.P. Turvin

Mark ­ thanks for the review of the show ­ just a question, however. . . . "The play they are mounting as their opener is the most daring, and then the season slides into the expectations of a retirement community from there". . .  "From here on, Theater Works gives 'em what they expect to see at the Lakes Club in the heart of Sun City. Credit Mr. Campbell for at least adding one show that forces the over 55 crowd to stretch a little before settling in for familiarity" . . . ??? I'm not sure what season you're looking at, but for my money Theater Works has one of the better seasons around. Let's see:  Landlocked (Arizona premiere), A New Brain (Arizona premiere), Songs for a New World (second Arizona production, West Valley premiere), All My Sons (a script rarely done in the community theatre realm due to the difficulty of the script), and Sweet Charity (a standard musical, to be sure, but Mr. Campbell is trying to run a business, after all!). If the West Valley theatre crowd is already "familiar" with this season than they are far more theatre savvy than I. Theatre Work's season is far more exciting to me than a theatre that, for example, opens their 2003 season with a show that has seen two Broadway tours within the last 5 years and a Academy Award for best movie from 2002! That's what I call "familiarity".

Cheers,

Joe Flowers

Thanks for writing. You make a good point, as I was going off of the descriptions of the upcoming shows rather than whether they had been seen before. My reference to familiarity was more about themes and subjects. I should not prejudge what I have not seen, however, so I apologize to you and to the good people at Theater Works. Who knows, I may love every show of the season, even if they're not my preferred choice of dark and biting drama.

Break a leg to you and the cast of Picasso.... I look forward to seeing you perform again soon.

Cheers,
Mark S.P. Turvin
Goldfish Publishers, LLC