high culture, low class

Lindsay had to go see a play at the Cleveland Public Theater for her English class so we checked it out Friday night. Evidently the pay-what-you-can thing is hard to actually pull off in real life, and we felt a little scammed by $19 student tickets. I know one should be supporting the independent arts, but really now...

I know its intent was supposed to be some metaphysical Appalachian gothic tale of grief and loss, but it just came across as profoundly cliched and absurd. Maybe that was the point. I couldn't stand any of the characters (crazy wife lady, psycho next door neighbor who keeps yelling "I AM THE LAW!," husband who goes and cheats on her but actually makes more sense than anyone else).

And honestly, I found the whole Appalachian thing kind of insulting (especially since I've got loads of extended family down in St. Clairsville)> But it seemed like the writer watched "Deliverance" a few too many times and decided to try and make it all deep and literary. Shotguns, bad accents, Jack Daniels, ignorance about doctors and technology, cheatin' on yer wife down at the pool hall? PLEASE.

The two of us being English majors of course meant that we took a walk around the neighborhood and spent the rest of the evening at IHOP eating pancakes, drinking coffee, and gleefully deconstructing. So all was not lost. We were immensely entertained.

I'm convinced that as a writer you have to either be doing serious research or write what you know, because if you don't, it's almost always a disaster.