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Hey, look, Ben Newton and I have written another play! It’s called “Vengeance at Sundown” and it runs October 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at 7:30pm and October 16th at 2:00pm. If you live anywhere near Seattle, you should go see it! If you don’t live near Seattle, go to Seattle and see it!

After the death of his lover and his father, Victor seeks revenge on Duke Jones and his despicable family, but Victor’s not the only one! “Vengeance at Sundown” is a 1950’s pulp adaptation of the Jacobean play “The Revenger’s Tragedy.” It’s directed by Ghost Light Theatricals’ Founding Artistic Director Beth Raas-Bergquist.

“Vengeance at Sundown” features the work of: Lauren Anderson, Jesse Baldridge, Geb Brown, Carter Lee Churchfield, Katherine Clancy, Stephanie Mallard Couch, Samuel Duchin, Joey Fechtel, Peter Frost, Dane Goulet, Bethany Hightower, Allison Irvine, Courtney Meaker, Faith Middleton, Jordi Montes, Ben Newton, Beth Raas-Bergquist, Andrew Rekdahl, Travis Roderick, Alexandra Scarborough, Allegra Stahl, David van Wert, Julia Welch, Raymond Williams, and Dan Yost.

Where is it, you ask? The Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market, Seattle, WA 98107
How much are tickets, you ask? $15, $12 students/seniors, at the door or at Brown Paper Tickets.

Ben Newton & I have a new play coming up: “Fred Nietzsche, P.I.”

It runs for four performances: April 22, 23, 29, 30 @ 11pm, Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market. Tickets are a mere 5 bucks, and yes, there’s a bar.

“Fred Nietzsche, P.I.” features Val Brunetto, Sam Duchin, Dray James, Matthew Gilbert, Nick Mathews, Beth Raas-Bergquist, Phoebe Amanda Richards, & Marlon Taylor.

Once upon a time, I got so appalled by reading ill-informed, ignorant arts criticism in the press that I considered making a ‘zine dedicated to criticizing the critics. I wanted to treat their critiques to the same scrutiny they dealt to the works they reviewed. Well, I never made that ‘zine, but now that this “internet” thing seems to be taking hold, I might use it as a forum for that “criticizing the critics” idea. Here’s a brief first stab.

“Thematically, The Incredibles is basically Ayn Rand for seven year olds.”
–Bob Chipman

At first glance, this little quip by Bob Chipman (the geeky “MovieBob” guy, not the athletic major league pitcher) is clever and funny. However, if you actually think about it for, say, five seconds, you see that it’s shallow and wrong. MovieBob clearly doesn’t have any more than a faint knowledge of Ayn Rand and didn’t pay much attention to the actual plot of “The Incredibles.”

The “Supers” of the film do not “go on strike” like the movers & shakers of Ayn Rand’s opus. They are forced into retirement. And when the situation calls for it, they help those in need rather than neglecting them as would fit with Rand’s “rational self-interest.”

Maybe I’m wrong to assume that someone like MovieBob (if you’ve not seen his videos, imagine Comic-Book-Guy from “The Simpson’s”) would know that many of the super-hero tropes that “The Incredibles” plays upon pre-date Rand’s major works by nearly thirty years. But the characters in “The Incredibles” do the exact opposite of what Rand would have scripted. While I’m utterly shocked that MovieBob is so ignorant of both things he’s comparing in that quip I quoted above, maybe that’s just me stereotyping him as a “fat comic-book nerd who’s read some Ayn Rand” without actually knowing him as a person. He doesn’t seem to know shit about comic books or Ayn Rand. But he still made his little quip. Let’s call it even.

I must admit, I mostly despise Ayn Rand’s philosophy. I’m not saying “The Incredibles” is a brilliant film (it’s kind of fun), but calling it “Ayn Rand for seven year olds” is cheap, wrong, and shallow. I wouldn’t even bother calling MovieBob’s quote out as garbage if it weren’t for the fact that, for just under five seconds, I thought it was clever. Then I actually thought about it slightly and realized it was bullshit and not even close to accurate.