I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but in the last couple weeks there has been a big uproar in the entertainment industry when Ramin Setoodeh wrote an article in Newsweek claiming that gay actors could not “play straight.” This was a response to watching the broadway play Promises, Promise where he was unconvinced by leading man Sean Hayes’s performance.  Since then, the after math includes venomous retaliation from fellow cast member Kristen Chenoweth and fellow gay Alan Cumming, among others, who were appalled by Setoodeh’s remarks.

Now, I understand the uproar.  I get why they would come running to the defense of Sean and other’s like him.  However, I couldn’t quite gel with their arguments.  And I have figured out why when I read an article posted by the genius himself, Aaron Sorkin.  Immediately I felt “this is my opinion.” Funny that, I knew I had an opinion, I just couldn’t articulate what it was.

Me trying to recount it would only butcher the grace in which he writes, so I have posted Sorkin’s response in it’s entirety below.

Now That You Mention It, Rock Hudson Did Seem Gay

This is a sentence I never thought I would type: I’m coming to the defense of a theatre critic.

Newsweek‘s Ramin Setoodeh wrote an article last week titled “Straight Jacket” in which he argues that gay actors can’t and shouldn’t play straight characters. His “Exhibit A” in the piece is Sean Hayes, the stunningly gifted actor who came to our attention playing Jack MacFarland on the much beloved NBC half-hour comedyWill and Grace. (This was back when NBC broadcast television shows.) Mr. Hayes just opened in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, a 1968 musical by Neil Simon, Burt Bacharach and Hal David that was based on The Apartment, the Academy Award-winning film by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. (Izzy) Diamond that starred Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Are you following so far?

It doesn’t really matter, because all you need to know is that Sean Hayes plays C.C. Baxter in this great show, and that C.C. Baxter is a man who is attracted to women.

Ramin Setoodeh, unlike the overwhelming majority of the people in the audience at the two preview performances I attended, was unhappy with Sean Hayes’ performance. This reaction was not due to Mr. Hayes’ acting, singing, dancing, comedy, unique charm and exceptional rapport with the audience. Mr. Setoodeh’s problem with the star’s performance was that in real life, Mr. Hayes is gay. And as if the studio had given the screenwriter a note that the story had to be spicier, Mr. Setoodeh is gay as well.

Much is being made of the Newsweek piece. Much should be. I’m proud to say that my friend, Kristin Chenoweth, who stars opposite Mr. Hayes in the show (and about whose performance I can’t possibly be objective — she’s sensational and we’ll leave it at that) led the charge — posting an online rebuttal to Mr. Setoodeh in which she called him homophobic.

For an actress who makes her living and her reputation on Broadway, throwing down with a prominent theatre critic isn’t something you do as a career move. In her response to Setoodeh, Ms. Chenoweth made good point after good point after good point…

…and missed the point.

So did Setoodeh.

Read the rest of this entry »

My good friend and mentor Stephen Davis has started a blog. It’s a different type of blog because it is a body of fiction.

It is a love story between two people via email, starting from 1999. Each blog post is one of the emails, which he updates regularly.  He has just started and it’s already entertaining.

I’m excited to see how it plays out.  And it really doesn’t take that long.  I check it between my emails and facebook.

Check it out here:

Bored Olives by Stephen Davis

I just finished a draft of a screenplay which I have entered in to the Nicholl’s Fellowship. ¹  Whether or not I make it to the semi-finals, finals, or even win the competition, I cannot get over the sense of accomplishment I feel just by entering it.

Like any up and coming so-called writer, I have a hard drive FULL of first drafts, half drafts, title pages, notes, treatments, and drool… but this is different for me, for some reason.  I wrote a couple of different drafts myself, ² then, at the point of my most subjectivity, I roped three unsuspecting people into workshopping it with me.

The workshop was comprised of my partner and two of my very close friends. These are among the very few people that I trust enough to read my work without fearing judgement, well, personal judgement.  There is a certain vulnerability to putting a work in progress out to be read.  Not only was I admitting that I put my best efforts into this 100 page pile of papers, but that after  my best efforts it still wasn’t finished.  On top of all that, I was asking them to spend a good chunk of time reading it and then committing several hours to discussing it with me.

After everyone had read it, the four of us talked about the script in general; the characters, the story as a whole, the holes in the whole, the strengths, the weaknesses, etc.  Then we sat down and went through the entire script page by page breaking it down further.  It took better part of a day and a half.  So two days, eaten out of their rare three day weekend.  All that for ONE free lunch.  It’s a big ask, and they were troopers.

It was an amazing process, the workshopping.  There were three very different voices coming at in in three very different ways, being very honest and open with how they felt with the script and the story.  I assure you it wasn’t two days of my besties talking about how awesome I was.  Far from it.  I took none of the criticism to heart, as a personal attack on me or my work, but as criticism and much needed objectivity that will help my project grow to new heights. I got so much out of it.  Perhaps one day when I can afford to buy them two lunches, and perhaps slightly fancier ones, I will do it on another project.  It was an absolutely invaluable process. I recommend it to anyone.

After that, I spent the last day of my holiday working in some of the changes we talked about.  Then every waking moment over the next week.  (Time was starting to bear down on me and I had a deadline to make.) I didn’t take everything they said word for word, because ultimately it was my script and I had to really discern what the story I want to tell was.  However, I now had a better sense of the flaws and how I could possibly make the story more precise and clear.

Then I made my partner read it twice more… in one day.  We worked on the typos and made sure all the lines read right and then… well, and then there was nothing more I could do.  Well, of course, there is always more to do, but I had gotten it to the point of a solid draft.  It told a decent story and showed off my writing potential (whatever that may be).  I was proud to submit what was in front of me.

Then it was gone.  Out of my hands.  There was nothing more I could do.  Now, I can only wait and see what happens with it.

And start on my next project, of course.

___