Well, that was interesting. As you may have seen on Facebook, one of my quickie posts promoting my latest theater review on Centerstage caught the eye of the playwright for that show. Neil LaBute, a nationally known playwright, screenwriter, and film director, somehow found my personal blog and responded to my criticism of his characterization of women in his works. (I was able to confirm with someone who knows his email address that it really was him writing in, and not a random Internet LaButist.)
I know this isn’t an original thought, but what a strange place the Internet is! Connecting people who would never meet in real life, and allowing for real-time interaction. Usually when I have an “oh, Internet!” moment, I’m smiling at a friend of a friend offering travel advice, or a total stranger sharing an experience that relates to one of mine. Having an “oh, Internet!” moment when a major contemporary playwright is sniping away at me is quite a different thing.
He’s done this before, with another young woman critic. He wrote a frame for Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2010 Taming of the Shrew, and Caitlin Montanye Parrish reviewed it for Time Out Chicago. He took to the comments with great gusto, others joined in, and it was quite a long thread. Sadly, TOC seems to have taken down the comments on that post, which is way too bad. Still, there is evidence out there of the storm, and one blog post even copy/pasted the comment that started it all.
Now, before I get in trouble for writing another “hyperbolic” (LaBute’s term for my writing) sentence, let me say that I was going to point out that his misogyny continues apace because he only tore down my (lady) review and not anyone else’s (dude) review. But no worries, he hates all the haters, not just women. Such growth! (Or maybe he continues to hate TOC after that 2010 dustup, I don’t know.)
So okay, he goes after all his critics because, like many artists, he sees critics as the enemy. Some critics are dicks, sure, just like some artists are dicks. But most of us work real hard to be thoughtful in our reviews. As I mentioned in the comments of that post, the post-show conversation is a place for productive conversation, not petty bickering.
LaBute didn’t fight fair–pretty much every comment was undermining and defensive, rather than engaged and interested in the other commenters’ positions. That’s too bad, because the discussion could have been a lot more interesting for everyone involved. But he picked a fight on the Internet, and that’s a losing proposition. So I let him have the last word–on every thread–since that seemed to be really important to him.
It was a funny little interlude in the life of this blog and a reminder that people with Google Alerts on their name can turn up where you least expect them.
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Lisa, please–if you consider that a ‘fight’ then you’ve got a lot of traveling to do. i wrote a response to someone who made an overreaching statement that i disagreed with. yes, i’ve done it before– funny that you would characterize yourself and the others before you as ‘haters.’ your word, not mine. and by the way, you’re the one who started your blog with “ugh, neil labute, ugh.” do you consider that engaged and interested? it feels like you are the one who’s sniping away here and that you’re dead set on having the last word on the subject. so be it. as i’ve always maintained, i’d much rather be the subject of the worst reviews i’ve received than be the people who wrote them.
You have GOT to be kidding me.
actually i AM kidding, michelle. i thought we all were. aren’t you?
I absolutely loved sitting here, in a flat in the 48th floor of Eureka Tower in Melbourne, reading the exchange between Mr. LaBute and my friends in Chicago. How small the world is, thanks to the lovely internet.
I hope Rory gets a t-shirt that says “Neil LaBute’s ‘Hero’ since 2012.”
i agree–i’m so glad we got this chance to connect, theresa. i too adore the internet. rory absolutely remains my ‘Hero’ and a close, close friend. another example (on a giant list) of things i love about blogs and bloggers.
I have to admit Neil is kind of winning me over with his charm. I suspect one thing we have in common is vulnerability on the ego front.
But he’s still incredibly condescending with the “you’ve got a lot of travelling to do” bullshit.
sorry, rory (my Hero), i was trying to be playful with the ‘traveling’ bit–tying into the theme of the blog and all that. not trying to undermine and/or be defensive. as for your theory, you’re probably right: i think most people have egos (as they should) and are vulnerable on occasion (if only on the rarest of occasions). the rest are quite possibly sociopaths and well worth steering clear of.
Hi! I came here through Femineste! This is pretty neat that Neil Labute is responding to criticisms….honestly though I have to agree on the criticism that his plays are pretty misogynistic…even with Fat Pig the female antagonist is AGHAST and really super bitchy about the main male character dating the fat woman in the play. As a fat woman dating a skinny guy, this seemed kind of ridiculous to me…As far as I know my husband hasn’t gotten any HOW DARE YOU from any of his coworkers…ok ok it was just a play but still.
Your Friends and Neighbors was his best screenplay, imho and to me had the most well rounded characters.
Thanks for stopping by, Deb! Now I REALLY have to see Fat Pig.
Fat Pg is a good play in dealing with issues of fat people…I liked the character of Helen, the over weight woman, in fact she is THE ONLY likable character….however the other main female character Jeanine I think her name was…is a mysoginists wet dream, she petty much goes nuts that her ex boyfriend is dating Helen and goes on rants about oh noooooooo you dumped me for a fat woman!! And you know what…maybe I just think more highly of women then I should..but I thought her character was ridiculous. Also I still haven’t forgiven Neil Labute for the misoginistic travesty that is The Wicker Man remake!
Deb, you are apparently not alone in any of these criticisms. Feel the warmth and comfort of the crowd around you!
oh I will! One thing I will never understand though is a famous and well renowned writer that can’t responds horribly to constructive critisism…I mean really…the review here and the other Shakespeare Taming of the Shre review are perfectly legit yet you respond as though they ran over your puppy! is it because the reviewers are women? I am a writer myself and I hope if I make it big that I can take constructive critisism!
deb, you point out the ‘constructive’ parts and i’ll do my best to ‘take’ them. deal? maybe start with “ugh, neil labute, ugh.” man or woman, i’m not sure what part of that was meant to help. you tell me.