THEY ALREADY HAVE THEIR REWARD...

I wrote this letter-to-the-editor to the OC Metro in 2004 in response to an article on Paul Folino's fund-raising endeavors to benefit the South Coast Repertory Theatre.





The letter, in retrospect, was probably too snarky and certainly too bitchy. But the point was (and is) valid.

Theatres like the SCR will survive. They have the support of the community bigwigs who will always give to "The Arts" because they want to appear cultured and refined, even when they're not.

But the struggling small theatrical entities will always remain under your basic OC billionaire's radar. I'm talking about the theatres that operate out of storefronts in the inner city. Theatres where the members of the company work for no pay.

These are the ones who take the risks and carry on for the love of the art. But nothing is forever. And sadly, when one of them gives up the ghost, nobody seems to notice, or care.

We have maybe eleven theatres that do live stage in the OC. We used to have twelve, but the Rude Guerrilla just shut its doors. The landlord raised the rent and...well, you get the picture.

It happens. It's too bad when it does. I'll miss it. RIP, RG.

,

CONCERNING A BITCH FROM HELL....

I used to be a compulsive letter-to-the-editor writer. I've had letters in USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times. What I can say about it, is: it's fun seeing your name in print. But after you've seen it for the twentieth time, it ceases to be the big deal it was the first time you saw it.

I still get the urge occasionally to pick up a pen, but I've learned to control it. These days, I have bigger fish to fry.

Still, it's fun to take the letters out and read them every once in a while. Brings back memories, not always good.

Here's one from the New York Times. It all started with a news article about this bitch from hell...

Actually she wasn't from hell. She was from New York (where else?) and she was rich (her daddy's money) and she thought the world was her oyster. She thought we were all bit players in her movie. And then one day she was at a restaurant and when people didn't get out of her way fast enough, she did what any self-loathing (I was about to say "self-respecting" but that would be an insult to all the bitches out there who actually respect themselves) bitch from hell would do. She ran over them. With her car. Her name will live in infamy, thanks in part to me....





Here's my letter, short and sweet...





The letter was picked up by a number of sites that deal in crime and punishment and rich, hellish bitches...