Monday, May 28, 2012

NO SECOND ACTS Interview: Eric Bland (“Tsipras of Athens,” Bill B)

My one-act play provides a definitive American experience by being made to order.  And vegan-friendly.  

I am proud to be an American because I am terrified of decline. And in America you can't decline or talk about it, or accept it. The ramifications... really I don't want to even think about failure. And I'm not going to. There is nothing beautiful about it, and if you think there is I guess you just never made Varsity.

For me the defining moment in American history is winning the war against Iran next year.

True or False: Theater will save America. I don't think it will. But I also don't think television will ruin America. Both will attempt the impossible. America is very wonderful and very unjust. I think Arthur Schopenhauer would have enjoyed grumbling here. Or maybe not. You can probably only move here happily if you are a conservative intellectual. He would have lived in Burbank, and hated every neon light and every neon soul he saw, but he would have trembled every morning before his daily Grand Slam breakfast at the neighborhood Denny's, where the coffee is just right and Matilda the waitress keeps her charm until the riffraff start pouring in at 9 am.

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