United Stage

There is no greater moment of trepidation for a Playwright -- or any author, really -- when you're dealing with a Director or an editor who replies -- "I'll know it when I see it" -- in response to your asking for clarification on a change they want made.

There was a time in the live theatre when actors did not wear microphones.  Actors were required to develop a strong ability to project their voice in song and dialogue.  It was magnificent to hear a live voice singing with a live orchestra.  Today, the actors wear microphones and, for many Broadway shows, the entire orchestra is artificially amplified because the stringed instruments are playing live from a different floor in the theatre and they watch the conductor via closed-circuit television.

When I think of the possibilities of what large groups of otherwise unrelated people can do when properly organized through methods that have only come about since the creation of the various protocols that make up the Internet, many things come to mind. One thing us Anonymous -- a group dedicated to liberating people from any perceived oppression -- whether it comes from Scientology or the Australian Government. I certainly would have never thought that masses of people would get together to want comedienne Betty White to host the late night comedy show "Saturday Night Live."

The live theatre is imperfect.  It is always disappointing to be a part of a production that requires 100% perfection in every sense because that expectation of perfection is guaranteed to fail one hundred percent of the time.  Remember:  The only thing we find with a 100% rate of success is death -- and we spend our lives running away from, and betting against, that mortal guarantee.

On November 8, 1965, Frances Reid appeared as character Alice Horton for the first time on daytime drama, "Days of Our Lives." For forty-two years, she continued to appear on the show until her health no longer permitted her to do so. It really touched me whenever she was able to make an appearance on the show in the later years because it reminded me of many happy years that I spent watching the show with my grandmother.

From 1963-1966, actor William Hartnell portrayed the character of The Doctor on the British television program "Doctor Who." Towards the end of his run, Hartnell was weary from the intense schedule and bowed out. The producers faced a fundamental dilemma: How to continue the series if they did not have their lead actor?

There is something crass and congenitally wrong with continuing to produce live performances at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.  President Lincoln was shot in the back of the head there by John Wilkes Booth in 1865.  Why do Americans totemize the gory deaths of our leaders?  The limousine President Kennedy was assassinated in is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.