Category: Uncategorized

This weekend, I’ll be performing PANTHER HOLLOW at the NJ Fringe Festival in Hammonton. The exact times and location are at the end of this post. But before that, I know many of you are asking yourselves “What does David Lee White’s PANTHER HOLLOW offer that’s so special?”

Two words: Line memorization.

I know that theatre goers have many different reasons for choosing how to spend their entertainment dollars. For some of them, they want a play that “makes them think.” For others, they may want a play that “is good, but not too long.” For some of you, though, the best plays are ones in which all the actors are familiar with their lines of dialogue and are able to deliver them without error.

We’ve all seen plays in which actors “go up” on their lines. Sometimes they’re able to recover, but sometimes not. Sometimes, the other actors roll their eyes or turn their backs to the audience and giggle. Who among us hasn’t sat in the theatre and thought to themselves “Wait a minute. The lines that actor is saying literally have nothing to do with the lines the other actors are saying. I think he’s saying lines from a completely different play!”

I assure you that I have memorized every line of dialogue in PANTHER HOLLOW. Since it’s a one-man show, that’s a lot of lines. Or, if you prefer, it’s only one line that lasts for thirty-six pages.

So come and see PANTHER HOLLOW this weekend. It’s funny, it’s thoughtful, and every line of dialogue will have been memorized in advance of the public performance. For the most part.

PANTHER HOLLOW, by David Lee White…75 minutes.

Two dead bodies, a Jacobean tragedy, drugs, Satanists, skinheads, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and Nordic death metal. God, it sucked being 25.A comedy about freaking out, popping meds, and holding on.Part stand-up comedy confessional and part examination of the cultural taboo of mental illness. PANTHER HOLLOW details playwright David Lee White’s struggle with love, sex and clinical depression at age 25 while living in a one hundred year old house in Pittsburgh’s hidden neighborhood, Panther Hollow.

– Performed at Stockton University Kramer Hall (Room 301) – 30 Front Street.

– Friday @ 7pm, Saturday @ 1:30pm and 3:30pm, and Sunday @ 12pm and 2:30pm.

Has the presidential race driven you to clinical depression? HAVE I GOT A SHOW FOR YOU!

No. Gross. Bad idea.

Feeling hopeful after the Democratic National Convention? I CAN GIVE YOU HOPE AS WELL!

That’s worse. Okay. Stop it. Target a specific group. That’s the ticket.

HEY, ALL YOU 25 YEAR OLD VIRGINS!

Oh, for the love of…

Look. I’m doing PANTHER HOLLOW next weekend at the NJ Fringe Festival. The folks at the Eagle Theatre in Hammonton have put together an amazing program and I’m very proud to be a part of it. This may be the last time I do a public performance of the show in Jersey and I’d love for you to come out and be a part of it. For those of you who don’t know the show, here’s a teaser…

And the show info. For more information on the festival, go to http://www.jerseyfringe.com

PANTHER HOLLOW, by David Lee White…75 minutes.

Two dead bodies, a Jacobean tragedy, drugs, Satanists, skinheads, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and Nordic death metal. God, it sucked being 25.A comedy about freaking out, popping meds, and holding on.Part stand-up comedy confessional and part examination of the cultural taboo of mental illness. PANTHER HOLLOW details playwright David Lee White’s struggle with love, sex and clinical depression at age 25 while living in a one hundred year old house in Pittsburgh’s hidden neighborhood, Panther Hollow.

– Performed at Stockton University Kramer Hall (Room 301) – 30 Front Street.

– Friday @ 7pm, Saturday @ 1:30pm and 3:30pm, and Sunday @ 12pm and 2:30pm.

This is exactly what the in-store muzac at my local supermarket sounds like –

“Boop boop shoop shoop! Who put the moop moop in the bow bow dippy dippy boooooow!

“That was DIPPY DIPPY MOW MOW by the Dippies! Attention shopper! Welcome to Shop-Rite! You’re a shopper who loves to shop! And shopping shoppers at Shop-rite love deals for shopping! Deals and shoppers and Shop-rite make good shopping, shoppers! You are a shopper! Shopping and deals today, money shopper equals SAVINGS! Special deals for shoppers you want while you shop! At Shop-rite, deals and savings and DEALS for shopping make shoppers and deals happy, Shop-rite shopper deals! SAVINGS!

“Enjoy being a shopper! Now let’s listen to MOP MOP DIDDY MOP by the Mops!”

I wrote these two plays. THE FESTIAL QUARTET and REAL TRUE CRIME. They need a home. They’re quirky and personal and a bit eccentric. They’re not political, they don’t deal with social issues, they don’t really raise awareness of anything significant. But I like ’em. I wrote it after reading Chekhov. It’s like teen Chekhov in the 80s. I didn’t write them for Passage Theatre or for a youth ensemble or on commission or any of the other reasons I’ve written plays. I just wrote them ’cause I wanted to. REAL TRUE CRIME has had some great development work with the wonderful folks at Dreamcatcher Rep in Jersey as well as at The Hive in NY. I also had a great time working with Adam Immerwahr and theatre students at Rider University on the piece last year. FESTIAL QUARTET had a great reading at Bristol Riverside Theatre in Pennsylvania a few months ago (directed by Nick Anselmo), and at some point, we’ll do another reading at Writer’s Theatre of NJ.

This what they’re about –

THE FESTIAL QUARTET –  (3M, 3W) When the best piano player at Festial High School dies, her friends (the titular quartet) gather together for a memorial service with Amy’s mom and the head of the local church youth group. Unfortunately, Amy was the glue that held the group together. As the choir begins to fall apart, the friendships begin to fracture. Secrets are revealed and world views are changed.

REAL TRUE CRIME – (3M, 3W) Maddie is divorced and working as a checkout clerk at Wawa. She never finished her thesis and is about to turn 40. She spends her days reading trashing true crime books and playing the lottery. When Charly holds her up at gunpoint and whisks her away, the two intend to embark on a crime spree. Instead they find themselves in a cabin with a college professor, a young punk rocker, a formerly famous child actor and a priceless comic book. Did I mention the guy in the penguin suit? There’s a guy in a penguin suit.

Both plays are waiting for a production. FESTIAL QUARTET is small, quiet, intimate – a good show for college age actors. It’s a play about young people, but it’s definitely not for young audiences. REAL TRUE CRIME is a farcical dark comedy. Big characters, lots of criminal activity and a scene where everyone drops acid.  While they’re in nice shape just as they are, I’d also welcome the chance to do rewrites with a director and actors. If they sound interesting to you, you can email me at davidleewhiteplaywright@gmail.com Or if you’re a member of the New Play Exchange, you can download them here – https://newplayexchange.org/users/966/david-lee-white

Here’s a link to the NY Times article on NJPAC’s Stage Xchange series.

Chisa Hutchison, Nikkole Salter and I have been commissioned by NJ theatres and NJPAC to write plays that will be produced in 2017. My play, SANISM, will be produced by Passage Theatre. SANISM follows three New Jersey friends who haven’t seen one another since their high school graduation but are reunited when one of them is discovered living on the street and suffering from symptoms of schizo-affective disorder. The play is based on interviews with healthcare professionals, caregivers and people who have suffered from mental illness. The reading will be April 29th at NJPAC and features Maria Konstantinidis, Newton Buchanan, Deena Jiles and Dara Lewis under the direction of Charlotte Northeast! Hope to see you there!

On Monday, April 4th,  Bristol-Riverside Theatre will present a reading of my play “The Festial Quartet – a play for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass” as part of their annual America Rising series. It’s an unusual play for me. Usually, I write dark farces with absurdist overtones, accidental deaths and hot pepper cheese cubes. “Festial Quartet” is a small play that started out as an autobiographical piece – an expansion of a story I tell in my solo show “Panther Hollow.” Most of the autobiographical aspects of the story have given way to fiction, at this point, but I still look at the cast in rehearsal and occasionally hear the voices of my high school friends. It is simultaneously weird and invigorating. It also means that I really have no idea how the piece will be perceived. I like it very much. But the personal nature of it makes it difficult to pin down. Please come! I’d love to know what you think.

A brief synopsis – “Eighteen year old Amy was the best piano player at Festial High School. After her tragic death, her four best friends – the Festial Quartet – join their Christian youth leader, Tom, to prepare for her memorial. When Amy’s grieving mother asks Tom to save the Festial Quartet’s souls, their fragile psyches begin to crack, forcing one of them to reveal a secret she’s been harboring for two years – a secret that will change everyone’s perception of adolescence, adulthood, friendship and religion.”

The reading will be in the rehearsal hall at BRT on Monday night at 6:00. Get there by 5:00 if you want dinner. BRT has presented some very cool pieces in this series and I’m very pleased to be a part of it. The reading is directed by the terrific Nick Anselmo and performed by six actors that I’m very lucky to have – Jacob Merinar, Carl Roa, Laura Allan, Maria Konstantinidis, Janet Quartarone and Adam Rzepka. For more info, go here – http://www.brtstage.org/america-rising/festial-quartet/

 

I’ll be at the Madison Public Library next Thursday night with Chisa Hutchison, Nikkole Salter, RN Sandberg and the folks from NJPAC and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance for a panel discussion called “Birth of a Play.” The discussion will take place at 39 Keep St. in Madison, NJ in the Community Room of the Library. It starts at 7:00 PM. See link below for more details. http://www.americantheatre.org/2016/03/18/new-jersey-performing-arts-center-launches-commissioning-program/

 

There is finally a watchable copy of Rick Reynolds’ HBO special “Only the Truth is Funny” available on YouTube. The previous version had out-of-sync sound but this one is perfect.  I highly recommend it for fans of confessional comedy.

I’ve now performed “Panther Hollow” a half dozen times and it’s become very obvious to me that my three main inspirations for the piece are Lauren Weedman’s “Bust,” Mike Dugan’s “Men Fake Foreplay,” and this televised work from 1991. I know Lauren and Mike so I’ve had the opportunity to tell them how much I appreciate their work. But I’ve never met Rick. In fact, he seems to be off the grid at the moment, so I put this here with the hope that he’ll see it somehow.

Reynolds wasn’t the first to inject truth into comedy. Richard Pryor had been using stand-up to stare into the abyss for awhile by this point. But Reynolds’ breezy delivery and sheer honesty was different. He was a cynical bastard who believed in the power of love. He survived a childhood full of domestic abuse and still managed to discover a love for family. And more important than any of this, he was freaking hilarious. The show is a combination of autobiography and stand-up comedy. Reynold’s somehow manages the encapsulate the full experience of graduating from the pain and nostalgia of childhood to the awkward responsibility of adulthood.

Even now, I realize that the description I’ve written makes it all seem very Pollyannaesque and I supposed parts of it are. But there’s a sharp and, at times, bitter edge to Reynold’s humor that keeps it real and sincere.

Reynolds followed up this show with another called “All Grown Up With No Place to Go.” It was less satisfying, perhaps, but still just as funny and just as real. A sitcom based on his work (and co-starring Pam Dawber) didn’t catch fire. With the exception of something called “The Happiness Project” more than a decade ago, Rick seems to have retired from the public eye or, at the very least, from the internet. I hope he’s out there somewhere and I hope he knows that people still remember this remarkable piece of work. Many of us that saw it watched it over and over. I’m keenly aware that when I’m on stage performing “Panther Hollow,” that Rick’s mannerisms and vocal inflections sometimes find their way into my delivery.

Anyway, if you’ve never seen it, here it is. Some of it may seem familiar, particularly if you’ve paid attention to the work of people like Mike Birbiglia or Tig Notaro. But remember, this was 25 years ago. Before “The Moth,” and “This American Life,” and the current storytelling craze, Rick was there first.

 

Al: Hey! Sorry I’m late. You ready to do the show?

Me: Yeah. Did you bring my new belt?

Al: I did. The one I got you for Christmas, right?

Me: Yeah. John thought I should wear jeans instead but the waist is a little big and my belt is too loose so I thought this one would be better. I don’t want to be on stage constantly pulling my pants.

Al: This one doesn’t have holes. It’s a new kind of belt or something.

Me: That why I thought it might work better.

Al: Put it on. Let’s see.

Me: Okay. How does it…I guess you just loop this through the buckle and pull it…Whoa! Okay. Too tight. I made it too tight.

Al: Loosen it a bit.

Me: How do you do that?

Al: I don’t know. Let me see. Do you just pull it through like this?

Me: OW! It’s tighter! You made it tighter. Ouch. Oh my God. I can hardly breathe.

Al: There must be a button or something that loosens it.

Me: I don’t see one.

Al: That’s ridiculous. It has to be there.

Me: Ow! Oh my God. The show starts in fifteen minutes.

Al: Are you just supposed to never take the belt off?

Me: THERE’S NO BUTTON TO LOOSEN THIS BELT!

Al: There has to be!

Me: WELL I WISH YOU COULD FIND IT!

Al: I left the instructions at home.

Me: It came with instructions???

Al: It’s a belt without holes! Of course it came with instructions!

Me: Why didn’t you bring them?

Al: I cut all the tags off! I thought I was being helpful!

Me: Okay. I’m going online to look up how to take off this belt.

Al: Good idea. Google “Mission Belt.”

Me: It’s called a Mission Belt?

Al: Yes.

Me: Typing “Mission Belt – How do I open it?”

Al: There! They have a website!

Me: “As seen on Shark Tank.” This belt is from Shark Tank???

Al: I don’t even want to tell you what I paid for it.

Me: Clicking on “How does the Mission Belt work.”

Al: Good. There’s an instructional video. Play it.

Me: I think it just punctured my liver. But I’m glad there’s an instructional video.

Al: Shhh! There! The video just showed how to open it.

Me: I missed it.

Al: There’s a trigger! There’s a trigger on the buckle!

Me: THERE IS NO TRIGGER ON THE…Wait. There’s a trigger on the buckle. Ugh! It won’t move. The buckle trigger won’t move!

Al: Maybe you’re doing it wrong.

Me: It’s a belt buckle trigger! How many ways can there be to do it? ??

Al: I’ll play the video again. Pay attention this time.

Me: I can’t feel my legs! See if you can find a knife or something. We’re going to have to just cut me out of it! I need the jaws of life or something!

Al: There! See! You just pull up the trigger.

Me: I TRIED PULLING UP THE TRIGGER BUT I CAN’T PULL IT UP BECAUSE IT WON’T wait I think I got it. Yep. I totally got it. The trigger works. You just have to pull the trigger.

Al: You okay now?

Me: Yeah.

Al: You gonna wear that belt?

Me: Well now that I know the trigger works, sure. I like it. Good belt.

Al: Cool. Break a leg. See you afterwards.

Me: Thanks. Love you.