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Larkin put out a general call on the main Yahoo bulletin board for Los Angeles-based actors, which has 1,200 active members, asking for help with the project. You might think it would be a no-brainer. The project is, after all, about artists helping artists. But, no, that's not the way it worked out. Here's what he wrote: "For the past three years, I've been getting in touch with writers and artists in Baghdad and getting their stories about what's going on now. We've heard from our media, government, pundits and even soldiers, but we've heard almost nothing from the Iraqis themselves. I've gotten amazing stories of life there, both fiction and nonfiction, of kidnapping, robbery, murder and forbidden love. They've also written to me what it was and what it is now like to be an artist there, and how dangerous that was and still is. I think we have a real chance to have our artists working with theirs. If you're interested in helping, or think your theater group would be, let me know." The result? "I got nothing," he says. "Not a peep."
He reposted, responding, supposedly — "it was a total lie," he says — to a request for clarification about the post, and got the same response. Nada. Which may be a surprise on this side of the continent, but not to Larkin. Despite the difficult-to-miss leftie stances of many, if not most, Tinseltown celebs, "LA is not a political town," he says.
But, he says, despite the sometimes inescapable politics involved in addressing the war in Iraq, his play, which can be seen this weekend at the Actors Studio, is not an especially political piece. It is essentially a note from the underground; an extended conversation with Iraqi artists and first-hand stories about what's actually happening there, what it's like to be an artist there. It is not meant to be a one-sided conversation, an agit-prop piece, but an outlet to give voice to people who cannot, or have not, been heard — despite endless media blather. "The strength of their piece is their stories, the authenticity of their voices," he says. "In some ways, it's a very innocent project. We're just listening to what people are saying .... In the end, it's a piece about conversations."
California dreamin'
There's not a lot going on in LA right now — aside from the rain. It's rainy season, which lasts about one week, and is similar to the madness following the first snow in New England. "Everyone is freaking out," says Larkin. "No one has a clue." The writers' strike has slowed things down, an actors' strike is looming in June. Larkin, who has several developmental readings of "Baghdad Prom" coming up on the left coast, admits his career path is "totally backwards." He received a master's in Shakespearean studies — "a lucrative major," he says — from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, then spent years in New York working in film before moving to California in 1999 to do theater, which, he says, is his first love. "There's nothing like the feel of a live play," he says.
Not that he has been completely focused on theater. Larkin, who sat on the board of directors at the Met Theatre, one of LA's longest-running theaters, was also head of development for Dean Silvers on "Spanking the Monkey," "Flirting With Disaster," "Manny & Lo" and "Wigstock: the Movie." They were award-winners at the Sundance, Cannes, Berlin and Avignon film festivals and were released by New Line, Miramax, Sony and Samuel Goldwyn. He's also worked in reality television, helping develop a Sony show ("Russian Roulette," now in 30 countries around the world) and selling a show to Endemol (makers of "Fear Factor" and "Big Brother").
He started "Baghdad Prom" five years ago, before the war was actually a war. It was when the inspectors were unsuccessfully searching for those well-disguised weapons of mass destruction. It was when America was distracted by the travails of Joe Millionaire. Larkin, despite being "a fairly political person," admits getting caught up in the television fluff. He had just finished staging a third collection of obscure and thoroughly creepy Grimm Brothers adaptations — and "pretty much tapped out" this particular theatrical mine. He was looking for a quick, simple project. He thought he had found it in what would become "The Baghdad Prom." What could possibly be simpler? Communicate with artists in a part of the world that few Americans, for whatever reason, actually understand. Have them tell their stories, and then deliver them to the people. Of course, it didn't work out that way.
Prom date
"Baghdad Prom" includes contributions from 70 people, including Majid, who inadvertently gave the piece its name. The playwright spoke to him on the phone one night, just when he was getting back from his prom. He got thrown out. He's "an emotional Baghdad teenager well versed in American culture and language," Larkin says. "He's funny and angry." At one point, he wonders aloud why he doesn't "join my other schoolmates who dropped out and joined the armed resistance?" But the show focuses on Majid and three other characters:
o Jacob, a composite character obviously based on the author, is an American writer with a deepening desire to reach out to writers in Iraq as his parents go through increasing health woes.
o Safa Saad, a man in his late 40s who "has a sad sense of poetry to him," says Larkin. He is a former high school teacher (he taught English) who currently runs a bureau making reports to the Coalition government for Iraqi citizens on damages caused by the war. As he also reports on things done to Iraqis by other Iraqis, he has gotten a number of death threats, and his son was kidnapped and tortured.
o Saad Saeed, roughly the same age as Safa, but far more angry. He lost his job as a cabdriver when the war started. His wife, a doctor, supported the family. After suffering through many attacks, he took his family to Syria, where his lifelong dream of publishing a novel was fulfilled.
"It's not a play about the war, per se, but it is most compelling," says Marc Clopton, one of the founders of The North Shore Readers Theatre Collaborative, which stages new works once a month at the Tannery in Newburyport. "We feel the authentic Iraqi voices provide a view behind the Bush administration's spin machine."
The local production will be staged in a reader's format: There's no blocking, no movement. Actors sit on stools with music stands in front of them and read. Audiences are "undistracted" by production issues. The focus is on the play, not on the final outcome, the production. Reading the roles will be Jessiah Hammond, Linda Diering, Tim Diering, Joe Dominquez, Tracy Bickel, Rebecca Jones and Ryan Michael. Clopton will direct. A talk-back session at the end gives audiences the chance to comment on the work.
Interested?
The North Shore Readers Theatre Collaborative will present a reading of George Larkin's new play "The Baghdad Prom" at 10 a.m. Jan. 19 at The Actors Studio of Newburyport, 50 Water St., Mill 1, Suite 5, The Tannery. The play features writings by six Iraqi writers living in Iraq throughout the U.S. invasion and occupation. A moderated talk-back session follows. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $7. Reservations can be made at 978-465-1229. A promotional video for the play can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=FilKabn1LQg
JC Lockwood
Writing through war Iraqi families exchange life stories in 'Baghdad Prom'
By Rosemary Ford , Staff writer
Daily News of Newburyport
It almost sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Six Iraqis and one American get together online to write a play.
However, instead of a punch line, what comes next is Los Angeles playwright George Larkin's new piece, "Baghdad Prom," about to be read in Newburyport.
"It covers what it's like to be an artist in a country that has never known anything but war before Saddam and after," said Marc Clopton, who heads the North Shore Readers Theatre Collaborative, which is performing the piece.
"This certainly begins to put a voice to these people who we hear about all the time."
While "Baghdad Prom" touches on the subject of war, the play - which includes Larkin and the Iraqi writers as characters - also covers other issues, including caring for aging parents. The interweaving of the American writer's life with his own family here in the United States and the lives of the Iraqi writers and their families overseas serves as the framework for "Baghdad Prom."
The play takes its title from one of the Iraqis, who is going to his senior prom.
"It's quite something to have these authentic voices," Clopton said. "It's not necessarily about the war in Iraq; it's about the writers' experiences - both with Saddam and post-invasion."
In the play, Larkin's character communicates with the Iraqi writers via e-mail. Their e-mails serve as the backdrop from which vignettes from the writers' lives are acted out.
"Baghdad Prom" explores one of the challenges of the Internet - none of the writers in the piece really know for sure whom they're talking to in cyberspace, where it's easy for people to pretend to be someone they're not. In this sense, Clopton said, the writers must develop a sense of trust, a difficult feat during a war.
"It's there, because that is the reality we are coping with," he said.
All the writers featured in "Baghdad Prom" are men, ranging in age from teens to seniors. Female characters are woven through the writers' stories.
"Baghdad Prom" will be performed as a reading on a bare stage, with the actors seated. A moderated talk-back discussion will follow the performance. The discussion will be recorded for Larkin, who's interested in the feedback but cannot be in Newburyport this weekend because he is getting married.
IF YOU GO
* What: Staged reading of "Baghdad Prom," presented by North Shore Readers Theatre Collaborative
r When: Saturday at 10 a.m.
* Where: The Actors Studio of Newburyport, The Tannery, 50 Water St., Mill No. 1, Suite 5
* How: Admission is $7. The collaborative is always looking for new plays and screenplays as part of the readers program. For reservations to Saturday's show or more on the collaborative, call 978-465-1229.
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