Scott Cooper Geerds my first grandson born today. This written while Rachelle was in labor.

Good News from Rosary Hartel O’Neill 3.12.09

Message to all playwrights. There is good news in catastrophe. I came to NYC in 2003 to find that my plays about New Orleans were considered “folksy” or regional. But after Katrina, things changed, the same plays became important, politically sensitive, cutting edge. Samuel French, the leading publisher of plays worldwide licensed all my plays in 2 anthologies. (A Village writer friend declared, “Rosary this is huge.”) The only price I paid was losing my entire past. Lesson learned there is victory in catastrophe.

This month, four of my plays are being read in NYC. Theatres are reaching out to new voices to bring energy to their spaces. So though for many institutions it may be a down time, it is an up time for “emerging” artists. We bandits are needed to come in with our untried wares. To burst energy onto the boards. Breathe action into empty spaces. No money means producers take chances.

Artists have always been the life blood of the Village. Today is no exception for where there is daring there is talent. And theatre needs just a great script, great actors and a director with voom.

One play thrilling the Village now is Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre. Written in 1938, by Thornton Wilder, this Pulitzer prize winning play usually can’t be done professionally because of its huge cast. However it’s being done now “operatically” with over 24 actors. David Cromer stages it in contemporary style in three quarter round. Actors pop out everywhere, in the audience, the aisles, on top of tables and chairs, in the rafters. In this exciting production, the actors and their words resonate greatness.

Our Town is a simple play with a deep message: the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience are profoundly connected. The heroine, Emily doesn’t learn to value life until she has lost it. In the last scene, Emily looks back in time as if through a picture window. The director manages to find a surprising unused area of the theatre for this pop up old-fashioned scene. Emily’s parents, dressed in period costumes, are going through their breakfast ritual while she is present as a spirit among them. She wails to hold her parents once again but they are figments of her imagination. She wonders if people ever appreciate life while they are living it and longs to be part of the daily routine.

But unlike Emily, though times are tough, we don’t have to go back to the cemetery. We can be part of the hustle and bustle of the troubles of life. Right now, I’m waiting to use the kitchen, which is being shared with my son and friend in my small apartment in NYC. I see that sharing can be difficult but I also remember last night’s dinner and know that community can be fun. In the Village, we are crowded together to realize the joy of connectedness and self-discovery.

And there are so many opportunities around the corner. AT HB Studios (HBstudios.org) on 120 Bank Street, enrollment has started for the new spring session: playwrighting, acting, voice, directing, movement, dialects, clown, stage combat, screenwriting, youth classes, Shakespeare. . . the course list goes on. For a few hundred dollars (granted it’s not free but it’s affordable) for several months you can get a powerhouse class. Leading artists like Austin Pendleton and Julie McKee teach tirelessly to students (age 9-90) from around the world and for $10 you can audit a class to see if it fits before you sign up. You can register for one or several courses, and most have no prerequisites. Ah, jewels abound in our bohemian Village.

There are free readings at Rattlestick, Cherry Lane, HB Studios. Discount, student, and senior tickets for most shows. Call up your favorite theatre. There is a new group running the Actor’s Workshop. Check it out. Theatre awaits you around the corner. Are you ready? Time is upon us, and new artists are being born by the hour.

Why be positive in challenging times? I say, why not. The issue is to be ready. To use what’s available. I founded Southern Rep Theatre in New Orleans in 1986, a recession and when people asked me why I did it then, I said because I was alive then.

I’m living in NYC the fantasy city of my girlhood and writing plays and again it is a recession. (Is disaster following me—oh good victory is nearby). What’s the lesson? Now is our best day. Touch and hold this crippled world dear. Thank god we’re alive!! People are listening to us, going to the theatre, watching new plays. Great art is being made now and we can be a part of it. Hurrah!