Playwright and Cincinnati native Theresa Rebeck’s new “Our House,” which completed its premiere run last month in Denver as part of the Colorado New Play Summit, will get a New York production in the winter slot of the Playwrights Horizons 2008-2009 season.
It’s a comedy about a power-hungry TV mogul faced with dwindling ratings who installs America's favorite news anchor as host of a popular reality show. (I copied this from Rebeck’s Web site, where I didn’t find her blogging about her upcoming Playhouse in the Park commission, but I’ll check back.)
Rebeck’s new novel, “Three Girls and Their Brother” becomes available April 1 The synopsis sounds like “Three Girls” has a healthy dose of Rebeck’s stinging (and always smartly funny and observant) commentary about the current state of American culture (pop and otherwise) and the media that stalks it: “When the New Yorker dubs a noted literary critic's granddaughters “The It Girls of the Twenty-first Century,” the trio is propelled into the limelight. The sisters' resulting rivalry prompts a virtual breakdown in their brother, while an incident with a famous movie star threatens to unhinge the whole family.”
Early reviews: “Rebeck shines…her insider’s look at the theater world is spot on... The crackling sature and scene-stealing secondaries carry the book.” Publisher’s Weekly
“Playwright Rebeck’s first novel is a wickedly enjoyable expose of modern celebrity; the cruel power wielded by fshionistsas, PR minders, agents paparazzi, Hollywood stars and entourages…” Kirkus.
If you want to know more about how Rebeck got to know so much, check out her “Free Fire Zone: A Playwright’s Adventures on the Creative Battlefields of Film, TV and Theater,” published last fall:
“If one didn't know anything about Rebeck, this sympathetic guide through the often ruthless bureaucratic minefields of writing for theater, television, and film might seem like a bad author's excuse for failure.
But Rebeck is an established playwright and screenwriter, successful in both New York and Hollywood, which gives her anecdotal evidence huge impact.
As she says when relating the miserable audition experience of a bona fide star, "If they'll do it to her, they'll do it to anybody. And they do."
The tone here is conversational and thoughtful as she shares her experiences, beginning with the charge "Learn How To Write," winding through "The Power Structure," "Mendacity," "Actors," "Directors," and "Critics," and finally offering advice on "How To Stay Sane." Rebeck changes the names of those she discusses, using humorous but effective aliases like Richard III and Attila to set the stage quickly for the reader.
Sometimes caustically cynical but always brutally honest, Rebeck's entertaining volume is an essential read for anyone contemplating writing for show business.” – Library Journal
Talk about telling it like it is, here’s Rebeck unleashed: “When a theater tells you that you have a home there, what they really mean is they want the right of first refusal on all your plays, and they don’t want to have to pay you for it.”
You gotta love her.
Jackie Demaline
