Author, Author!
OCCASIONALLY OFF BEAT likes to get out of the office for dinner and a show. So it was that we wound up last week at the Guthrie Theater for the much-anticipated premiere of Rita Dove's The Darker Face of the Earth. As we settled into our seat, we noticed that the elegantly coutured opening-night audience included both Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and the author herself. At intermission, our neighbor turned to us the way people who don't know one another sometimes do at such times, and offered his take on the proceedings thus far: "That lady may be a hell of a poet, but she sure can't write plays." And, for good measure: "That was the worst piece of shit I've ever seen." This eructation was notable for its vehemence, and also for the fact that the Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate happened to be seated directly in front of the malcontent. Dove turned her head slightly, opened her mouth as though to speak, but then turned away. Thereafter we noticed a certain slump in her shoulders. We'll leave it to the critics to hash out the merits of Dove's stage creation elsewhere, except to note that at a venue where works typically inspire standing ovations simply for starting on time, Darker Face was received, well, sitting down. Save for Her Honor, who leaped to her feet as the lights came up and continued to applaud even after it became clear that she was the only soul in the house with the intention of doing so.
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From the Archive
- Off Beat (Off Beat - Mar 8, 2000)
- Sound Check (Sound Check - Mar 8, 2000)
- Off Beat (Off Beat - Mar 1, 2000)
- Off Beat (Off Beat - Feb 23, 2000)
- Sound Check (Sound Check - Feb 23, 2000)
- Off Beat (Off Beat - Feb 16, 2000)
- Off Beat (Off Beat - Feb 9, 2000)
- Sound Check (Sound Check - Feb 9, 2000)
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