Haunted by the Greeks
Ever since I studied a watered-down version of The Iliad at age 11, I have been haunted by those mythic figures and stories of Greek drama. Kenneth Cavander’s article “Imagining the Greeks” [Sept. ’84] spoke to and (if I may presume) for me in suggesting why.
I spent a weekend with Mr. Cavander’s The Greeks at Hartford Stage Company last year, and was grateful to him for lucidly condensing and putting (with John Barton) onstage a segment of The Iliad and several plays I never thought I’d see. The Greeks was exhilarating theatre which lives in me today. That experience, now complemented by Mr. Cavander’s essay, has given me a rare experience of grandeur.
Holly Hill
New York City
Where to Find It
I was recently given a copy of the October issue of American Theatre by a fellow actor, and found both the feature articles and the news coverage informative. (As a member of this crazy business, I was particularly grateful for the year’s worth of theatre production schedules—an actor’s best friend!)
But when I went to look for the next issue, I could find it neither in bookstores nor at the larger newsstands in my area. Does that mean that American Theatre is unavailable “over the counter”? We in Chicago don’t think of ourselves as “out in the wilderness.” I hope you haven’t concentrated on selling your magazine in New York to the exclusion of all the other cities which it covers.
Dorothy Morris
Evanston, Ill.
You’ve brought up a point that could stand some clarification. At the present time, American Theatre is distributed to bookstores and newsstands in New York City—and a select few on the West Coast. This is due not to our New York chauvinism, but complicated postal regulations and mailing rate permits. With our second-class bulk rate permit pending, we should soon be able to supply bookstores and newsstands in a range of cities around the country, including Chicago, of course. Nevertheless, ordering a subscription is and will remain the surest method of seeing American Theatre every month. To order, use one of the postage-paid cards bound into this issue, or the order form on the last page.
Cultural Comparisons
Having read literally every word of every issue of American Theatre from its very first issue, I’m pleased to note that John Dillon’s article on his Japanese production of Death of a Salesman takes first prize to date.
Mr. Dillon’s story was enjoyable, interesting, well-written, and took a sensitive approach to inter-cultural comparison.
T.H. Richards
New York, N.Y.
Correction
Several National Endowment for the Arts Theatre Program application deadlines have been changed since they were announced in the Oct. ’84 issue. The corrected dates, as listed in the Endowment’s 1985-86 guidelines, are: Fellowships for Mimes, Jan. 6, 1985; Ongoing Ensembles, Jan. 6, 1985; Professional Theatre Touring, Feb. 25, 1985; and Special Artistic Projects, April 10, 1985, with a Feb. 1, 1985 deadline for the submission of a letter of inquiry.
