{"id":149591,"date":"2020-12-07T13:53:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T18:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=149591"},"modified":"2020-12-07T14:14:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T19:14:15","slug":"the-art-of-distance-no-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/12\/07\/the-art-of-distance-no-36\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Distance No. 36"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March,<\/em>\u00a0The Paris Review\u00a0launched<\/em>\u00a0The Art of Distance, a newsletter highlighting unlocked archive pieces that resonate with the staff of<\/em>\u00a0the magazine<\/em>, quarantine-appropriate writing on the<\/em>\u00a0Daily, resources from our peer organizations,<\/em>\u00a0and more. Read Emily Nemens\u2019s introductory letter\u00a0here<\/a>, and find the latest unlocked archive selections below.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we revealed last week, the Winter 2020 issue<\/a> of <\/em>The Paris Review features the theater\u2014an Art of Theater interview<\/a> with Suzan-Lori Parks and excerpts of three new plays by David Adjmi<\/a>, Kirk Lynn<\/a>, and Claudia Rankine<\/a>. Read more about the genesis of this special issue and the collaboration with guest theater editor Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in my editor\u2019s note<\/a>. This week, we hope you pick up the new issue (it\u2019s available online now<\/a> and hitting newsstands Tuesday, December 8), but in the meantime I wanted to share some earlier theatrical content from the <\/em>Review. Read on for unlocked pieces from issue no. 142<\/a>, the last installment of the <\/em>Review with a theatrical focus, but also from another touchstone issue\u2014no. 39<\/a>, which features conversations with twentieth-century theater titans Edward Albee and Harold Pinter. For another dose of theater, RSVP for our issue launch event<\/a> on December 16 at 6 P.M. ET. It will feature a live table read from Kirk Lynn\u2019s new play, <\/em>The First Line of Dante\u2019s \u2018Inferno.\u2019 Until then, read well, stay healthy, and have a good week.\u201d \u2014EN<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Albarubescens. CC BY-SA 4.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wendy Wasserstein\u2019s Art of Theater interview<\/a> includes a conversation about humor in the theater. \u201cHumor masks a lot of anger, and it\u2019s a means of breaking up others\u2019 pretenses and of not being pretentious yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cA small country shop on the island of Inishmaan circa 1934. Door in right wall. Counter along back, behind which hang shelves of canned goods, mostly peas.<\/em>\u201d Step into the opening scene of Martin McDonagh\u2019s The Cripple of Inishmaan<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Going back to 1966, Edward Albee\u2019s Art of Theater interview<\/a> begins with a question about getting panned. \u201cI see you\u2019re starting with the hits,\u201d Albee replies. But even in his less popular endeavors, Albee finds grace. \u201cI retain for all my plays, I suppose, a certain amount of enthusiasm. I don\u2019t feel intimidated by either the unanimously bad press that Malcolm<\/em> got or the unanimously good press that some of the other plays have received.\u201d<\/p>\n

And because what would a week be without some unlocked poetry, here are two theatrical poems: D. Nurkse\u2019s \u201cFirst Love<\/a>\u201d describes a performance of Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, and Frank O\u2019Hara\u2019s \u201cTo John Wieners<\/a>\u201d captures the swirling energy of the theater before curtain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to receive a fresh installment of The Art of Distance in your inbox every Monday<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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