JOURNALISM
JOURNALISM (Selected Reporting, Essays, Arts Features, Reviews – covers 1978-2002 only. Does not include several articles and reviews of mine published on the websites Better-Lemons.com and Stageraw.com in Los Angeles from 2017-21.)
“Interview with Michael Cristofer.” Written for the Village Voice, early 1978. Cristofer had received the Tony Award that year for his play, “Shadow Box.”
“No Place To Be Somebody.” Village Voice, March 13, 1978. (Cover Story) A Profile of four acting schools: The Lee Strasberg Institute, The Neighborhood Playhouse, the Stella Adler Studio, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
“Lee Strasberg: A Double Life in the Theatre.” Village Voice, June 26, 1978. (Arts Lead) A profile of acting guru Lee Strasberg in his late-blooming acting career.
“Star Drek.” Village Voice, Dec. 4, 1978. Expose of a fraudulent acting school.
“Wilford Leach: Taming the Shrew and Joe Papp Too.” Written for the Village Voice, summer 1978. Leach had recently been named Artistic Director of the Public Theater, and directed both plays that summer for Shakespeare in the Park. I sat in on rehearsals of Leach directing Meryl Streep and Raul Julia in “Taming of the Shrew.”
“Hurricane Carter: My Fight Is Not Just To Live, But To Live Humanly.” Written for The Sunday New York Times Magazine in March 1979. This involved 20 hours of conversations with the ex-boxer “Hurricane” Carter in Trenton State Prison. These are the only interviews that Carter allowed after his murder reconviction in 1977. The occasion was the first time that a Federal judge had consented to hear Carter’s appeal.
“Gerald Hiken: Making Big Strides.” Soho Weekly News, Jan. 15, 1980. A profile of the actor Gerald Hiken, then nominated for a Tony for the play “Strider.”
“TNC Takes to the Streets.” Soho Weekly News, August 7, 1980. A profile of Theater for the New City’s very political summer street theater program.
“Andy Warhol’s Jewish Chic.” New Jewish Times, Sept. 23, 1980. Art review of Andy Warhol’s show at the Jewish Museum entitled “Ten Jews.” Including a brief (because he had nothing to say to me) conversation with the artist.
“Yakov Agam Finally Gets His Show.” New Jewish Times, Dec. 5, 1980. An interview with the Israeli visual artist, on the occasion of his Guggenheim retrospective.
“Artists for Hire: A Good Idea Gone Wrong.” Written for the Village Voice, late 1980. An assessment of the CETA-Artists program, in which I’d had a grant.
“Dramatic Effects.” In These Times, June 16-29, 1982. An essay on the work of the late playwright Peter Weiss, author of “Marat/Sade” and “The Investigation.”
“Meyer Levin’s Obsession.” The New Republic, August 2, 1982. Re-evaluation of the Plagiarism trial surrounding the Broadway production of “Diary of Anne Frank.” Was chosen as “Best Arts Feature of 1983” by the Boston Globe Arts Editors.)
“Dedicated to the Religion of Acting.” “Arts & Leisure” section of The Sunday New York Times, April 7, 1985. (Lead Theater Feature) An examination of acting guru Sanford Meisner and his technique, including a description of a class he conducted.
“A Starmaker Who Shuns Show Business.” New York Newsday, October 14, 1986. (Arts Lead) A Profile of Sanford Meisner on the occasion of a movie about him.
“The Fervent Years of Harold Clurman.” TheaterWeek, July 10-16, 1989. A Recollection of the famous director/critic and co-founder of the Group Theatre (whom I had studied under), on the occasion of an American Masters biography.
“When the Neighbor Is a Theater with a Vision.” “Arts & Leisure” section of The Sunday New York Times, August 13, 1989. (Theater Lead) A Profile of four groundbreaking nonprofit theaters with a community-based agenda.
“The Boomerang and the Jewish Dentist.” American Theater Magazine, Nov. 1999. An essay about the future of Jewish Theater, spurred by a controversy surrounding the recent Joe Chaikin-direction of my adaptation of Asch’s play, “God of Vengeance.”
“Downtown Theaters Enter a New World.” “Arts & Leisure” section of The Sunday New York Times, Jan. 6, 2002. Downtown NYC theaters in the aftermath of 9/11.
“Remembering Laura.” Middle East Insight, Sept.-Oct. 2002. Personal Reflections on 9/11 and the loss of a friend, one year later.
“How Much Would Ground Zero Go For on Ebay?” Written Sept. 2002. This details my “accidental” admittance to Ground Zero on 9/11/02, where I met with Pres. Bush, Colin Powell, Giuliani, etc.: raising disturbing questions about Security/Democracy.
Stephen spent 7 years as a member of the LA Artists Group Pharmaka, where he served as the chronicler of the group and the writer of catalogue copy. Read an essay called The Lessons of LA ETHOS:
