I have to admit when I heard about this play I didn’t really know what to expect. But the students from the Young Playwright’s Theater did a great job. If you commented on this post you would’ve especially liked it. I just wanted to give props to the students for writing a terrific, and more importantly, thoughtful play.
And I didn’t get made fun of too badly.
This is probably the coolest thing I could have ever imagined.
“Dear PoP,
I am writing to invite you and your readers to a unique theatrical event partially inspired by your blog. I work for Young Playwrights’ Theater and meet with young people often to write about the things that inspire and trouble them. This semester our after-school group, the Young Playwrights’ Workshop has been writing about the intersection of technology and theater. How will technology change in the future? How is it changing the present?
On March 2nd, 2009 I read your post New Apartments At Georgia Ave. and New Hampshire Gets Tagged And I Get Intimidated By Street Thugs and the resulting comments with great interest. It occurred to me that it could be a good topic for our group. All good drama needs conflict and there was plenty to be had in this discussion. Also, while the habits and character of young people in our community were discussed at length, there were not many youth voices in the discussion. Our young writers decided to respond. They created a piece called “Who Owns the Streets?” in which they deconstruct your article, the commenters and the meaning of community online.
“Who Owns the Streets?” will be presented this Monday, April 20th at 7:00 PM as part of New Writers Now: Theater of the Next Generation. Professional actors will present a staged reading of the piece and follow up with a community talkback. We invite you, your readers and the entire DC community to attend. You could even join us at 6:00 PM for a light reception before the show in the lobby of the GALA Theatre. The event is FREE and open to the public.
We hope that you and many of your readers might take us up on this invitation.
More information can be found at www.yptdc.org
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Andrews
Community Engagement Manager
Young Playwrights’ Theater
Photo by Hugh Clarke
Ed. Note: Unfortunately Intangible Arts removed the video from his host so the PoPtrekker is no longer available.
I’d like to quickly explain why I called the Washington City Paper’s Jule Banville an idiot. You may recall a few weeks ago the City Paper launched it’s “best of” issue. I know I shouldn’t respond to this but, damn it, I can be weak at times. At any rate, Ms. Banville penned a section called the Best Ridiculous Prince of Petworth Feature [Ha! The City Paper has now deleted Jule’s post but I still have a hard copy. I sure hope they printed a reason for the retraction.] Predictably, she selected the door of the day feature, and oddly a post on the residences at Georgia Ave. For her second “ridiculous” feature, she selected PoPtrekker. While not very witty it was actually quite a compliment to be given my own section. Here’s where I have a problem with what Ms. Banville wrote:
“…he then announces that PoPtrekker is brought to us “by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation.”…And we have to ask: Journalists are losing their jobs faster than they can say “twitterer” and a foundation is giving money to a blogger for this?”
Well, Jule, while it is clear that you are far cooler than I am, I thought the City Paper was an actual newspaper. Even if this was an obvious attempt at a snarky piece, I imagine you could have done a quick google search on the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation and you would have found – nothing. That’s because the Ben and Sylvia Gardner Foundation is not a foundation. It is a tribute to my grandparents. So keep up the good work Jule and thanks for all the attention. You’ll have to let me buy you a beer sometime so I can properly show my gratitude. And I have to ask: Do you consider yourself a journalist?
Update: The ‘Ridiculously Awesome Album Cover of the Week’ is now dedicated to the memory of my father Gerard M. Silverman – a lover of music and one with a good sense of humor. RIP.
You can read the interview I mentioned on Friday in the Examiner, here.
And if you really want to know my back story you can read a detailed interview I did with a a very cool Web site called Dining With Strangers, here.
Last week was a rough one. I’m gonna steer things back to the Beautiful Life this week. This mural is from upper 14th Street just south of the gas station.
And don’t forget the first PoPville cleanup is going to be Saturday, April 25th.
The winner with 39% of the vote is Petworth! Columbia Heights came in second with 27% of the vote and Mt. Pleasant squeaked by Park View for third place with 7% of the vote. I suggest we do the first cleaning from Grant Circle to the Petworth Metro (however, if large numbers turn out we can split up and send folks in other directions as well). To allow for planning purposes we’ll do the first cleaning Sat. April 25th. Please allow 2 hours for the cleanup – say 10am -12pm?
May’s cleanup will be in Columbia Heights and June’s will be in Mt. Pleasant. We will then re-vote to see where we’ll hit in July. So for those that volunteered to help with logistics – thanks! I’ll post a few reminders as the date approaches. Thanks to all who voted and hope lots of folks will be able to participate.
I’d like to make this a monthly event. I think the third Saturday or Sunday of every month for a two hour period. Obviously many neighborhoods are quite large so we’ll have to pick small sections and return for other sections. But I’d like the neighborhoods to rotate so that if folks participate in the clean up who live elsewhere their neighborhood will eventually be hit as well. I’ll select a “winner” on Sunday night.
Thanks to all who sent emails to congratulate me. I was a bit surprised as I came in behind the two juggernauts – Wonkette and DCist. Since I didn’t campaign for this honor I certainly didn’t expect it. And it is truly super sweet. So thanks to everyone who voted PoP for best local blog.
Don’t forget the PoP Happy Hour is tonight at Solly’s (11th and U Streets, NW) This is a casual event though it looks like there will be some fun bands. Hope you all can make it. I’ll be wearing a PoP T-shirt so just come up and say hi.
8pm – Alexander Gruenburg www.myspace.com/
9pm – Hello Midnight (nyc) www.myspace.com/
10pm – Vox Pop www.myspace.com/voxpopsound
11pm – STROMA www.myspace.com/stromasounds
Solly’s U St. Tavern
1942 11th St, NW
Washington, DC