Drama Archive

“Stuff Happens” - "Stuff happens . . . And it's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." - Donald Rumsfeld's response on

Act One - The best Broadway memoir. Ever. I’m not the only one who says it. Here's André Bishop,  Artistic Director of Lincoln Center: "This is the greatest theatrical memoir ever written and it reads

Bruce Springsteen on Broadway - The audience is white and aging. And well-heeled; tickets on StubHub for "Bruce Springsteen on Broadway" sell for as much as $3,000. As my friend and I settled ourselves in

David Mamet: How to tell a story - “The Unit” was a CBS series that ran from 2006 to 2009. This show, about a secret military unit modeled after the Delta Force, wasn’t just an action series. Because

Fun Home - A few days before the Tony nominations were announced, my wife had the good sense to buy tickets for “Fun Home.” Smart wife. "Fun Home" got a dozen nominations. And

Harry Clarke - "Harry Clarke" was the best play I saw in 2017. It came back briefly in 2018. And is now gone. Forever. [Do not despair. There's an audiobook. It costs

Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up - Mike Nichols said --- and who'd know better? --- that his improvisational comedy work with Elaine May was the biggest key to his success. It was useful for him as

Joe Allen (1934 – 2021): He called himself “a fifth-rate Broadway icon.” Not so. He was one of New York’s greats. - Joe Allen, who died the other day at 87, got the Great Man send-off in the paper of record: a long and admiring obituary and a follow-up of testimonials from

My Matisse play: a request for your support - SHOPPING ON AMAZON: The business model of this site is Amazon. You start here, buy something there, Butler gets a commission. And not just on the item reviewed. Anything you

Skylight - If Head Butler had a book group, we’d all be reading “Skylight” this month. Well, there can’t be a book club --- that would require message boards, and message boards invariably