Ed Sterling
Plantation
DEAR ROBERTA: DROP DEAD
I do not, as a rule, read New Times. Simply not my style. I consider it pretentious hogwash. Why else splash a has-been fighter's face on the cover to pomote a consensus rip-off boxing match with Mickey Rourke, consensus rip-off actor? Obviously, a slow news day.
So my encounter with Roberta Morgan's review of Lost Electra ("Stall in the Family," April 22) was unfortunately accidental. It took place at an audition in Miami. Cautiously I scanned the column for my name. Old habits die hard. Trash me if you must, but spell my name right. Found it. Spelled correctly. Then the bad news. One note? Oh well, can't please everybody. Christine Dolen of the Miami Herald has left me for dead. And you wouldn't believe what a critic in Milwaukee said about me. However, I'm still working without a net, meaning: no day job. Skin gets thicker. Heart gets bigger. Critics mean less and less. Yesterday's news tomorrow. It still stings a little. It is my work, and it is my name in the paper, and a few people will read it. I'm just guessing at your circulation. But, one note? Mild by comparison.
Let's get one thing clear. I am not writing because Morgan didn't like my performance. However, when what has been presented is so utterly misunderstood, when distortions of what actually took place are presented as fact to potential ticket buyers, you cross that "line in the sand."
A few points:
* Bruce E. Rodgers does not ignore the significance of language. On the contrary, only if you are deaf can you fail to hear the lyrical beauty in his words. What was Morgan listening to? Candy wrappers?
* Portraying a "real" family breakfast does not obviate drama. Its purpose was to introduce characters, define relationships, and establish standards of behavior. I guess she missed the seminar on dramatic structure.
* The play does not, as Morgan stated, theorize that Earhart intentionally crashed on Saipan to spy for Uncle Sam. He has merely recounted what has already been said.
* Smaller point, yet still significant. Mike was not stranded on Saipan. He ditched his plane in the Pacific while looking for Earhart. He floated in the ocean for four days and nights until rescued. Not escaped.
* The lights. Well, yes they were on the blink the night Morgan was there. How special for her to mention it. In case she wondered, they're working just fine now.
Kenneth Kay
Boca Raton
DEAR ROBERTA: DEAD RIGHT
As a Miami-Dade Community College film student and a professional actress, I would like to thank your paper for a great gift to this community - Roberta Morgan. I speak on behalf of many other students and younger people when I say that for the first time we have a theater critic who can actually write, who knows what she's talking about, and who knows what the educated want to see and are not seeing.
People in Miami have to realize that there is entertainment and then there is theater. Sometimes they are the same. But here everyone just wants something empty or old, or overdone, as Roberta says. If we are ever going to have a repertory theater and some national credentials, it will be because of great writers like Roberta Morgan who won't settle for fifth best. Those who can't stand the heat should get out of the kitchen. What's the use of a national reputation when mediocre theater is still considered good enough?
I. Vazquez
Miami
