Moral Schmoral
Greetings! A lame way to start a blog, I know. How about the Charlotte’s Web approach? Salutations!
Welcome to our first (well, kind of first) blog entry. This thing will be pretty informal, but hopefully will give you some insight into our little theatre company, as well as some of our personal views on theatre in general.
Tympanic had a great second season of new work with two full length plays, Gregor And The Squonk, written by myself and directed by Susan Myburgh, and Musing, written and directed by Amy Whittenberger. However, for our third season, we’re delving back into the world of shorter pieces, something we tackled in our first season with the short play collections, Splintered Crosses and The House Of Weird Death. The dates, location, and directors are being hammered out as I write this sucker, and will be unveiled very shortly. I can tell you that the festival will take place sometime in mid-Fall, and you can also check out the script summaries on our homepage. We’re working with nine fantastic playwrights, some new faces and some old ones, and it’s going to be a great time for all involved, and hopefully for the audience as well.
Now that the business stuff is out of the way, let’s talk about…I don’t know what you’d call it…issues? Opinions? Either way, let’s spark a debate. I recently saw Redtwist’s production of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller. The play – as the majority of Miller’s plays do – deals a lot with morality, in this case, a man who’s discovered to have two families after wrecking his car driving down a mountain. Miller’s always considered himself or been considered a “moralist,” a word that gets thrown around a lot with some of those old guy playwrights. After seeing the play, I started researching some aspects of Miller’s own life. His resume is checkered with lots of socially responsible photo journals, plays, novels, and essays. Regardless of the medium, this guy was frequently fighting for a cause, and justifiably so. The Crucible (once again, if done right) still resonates today. However, when I took a gander at some of his personal choices, they seemed a bit questionable. Miller had a son with Down’s Syndrome, whom immediately after his birth, was institutionalized at Miller’s insistence. Miller wanted nothing to do with the kid until much, much later when his son-in-law Daniel Day Lewis convinced him to reestablish connections with him.
This seems pretty despicable to me. Now keep in mind that I didn’t know Arthur Miller. I don’t know the exact circumstances of the situation, and I don’t have a kid with Down’s Syndrome. I imagine it’s one of the toughest things in the world to deal with. However, I can’t really see any good reason in my mind to just sever all connections with your child.
The whole scenario is extremely familiar when looking at “moralist” artists in history. A lot of the time, insanely talented people who champion a greater global cause or change can’t seem to keep from doing pretty awful things in their personal lives. Nobody’s perfect, I know, but if you take a look at Miller and say, John Lennon, both of them fought for huge causes (and inspired a lot of people to change in the process) while doing sublimely dickish things in their own lives. People usually defend them by saying something along the lines of “they were aware of their own faults,” but to me, just recognizing that you’re being an asshole doesn’t make it okay.
I’m not disputing their talent or the impact they had or anything like that, but for me, change should start on a personal level. I don’t mean to be on a high horse about it or anything, but something as simple as being kind to those around you goes a long way.
And now…here’s what some Tympanites are doing around town:
Ensemble member Chris Acevedo can currently be seen in
fracture/mechanics 
By Mallery Avidon
Directed by David Perez
Through June 27th: Fri-Sat. 8:00pm, Sun. 3:00pm
Presented by The Pavement Group at Red Tape Theatre
621 W. Belmont
For tickets, call 312-733-9283 or visit www.pavementgroup.org
Ensemble member Susan Myburgh can currently be seen in
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan 
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Alex Levy
Through July 3rd: Thurs-Sat. 8:00pm,
Sun. 3:00pm
Presented by The Redtwist Theatre
1044 W. Bryn Mawr
For tickets, call 773-728-7529 or visit www.redtwist.org
Just something to think about.
Dan
Hello. I think the article is really interesting. I am even interested in reading more. How soon will you update your blog?