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John Muir is back, and he's more than simply disappointed at how we've handled the environment. Entering the stage grumbling and mumbling, he laments ruthless extinctions and rails against greedy, short-sighted politicians. Portraying California's best known conservationist, renowned actor Lee Stetson also spins yarns of encounters with bears, tells about tireless efforts to conserve wild places and marvels at what our present-day notions are about how best to experience nature's wonders. All this takes place on Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Rocklin campus of Sierra College, in the Dietrich Theatre, 5000 Rocklin Road. Tickets at the door are $10 general and $5 students. Contact Joe Medeiros at (916) 789-2725 or jmedeiros@sierracollege.edu for more information; also www.sierracollege.edu.
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Local Opinion Candidates
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Pulitzer schmulitzer
By Gary Wright
» More from Gary Wright
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 17, 2008
We tend to measure success in wins, prizes, awards, medals and trophies. Results, results, results. John Patrick Shanley takes a jaundiced view of this value system.
Shanley is the author of "Doubt, A Parable," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play opening April 24 at the Foothill Theatre Company. A prolific playwright and screenwriter for nearly a quarter-century, he cultivates a healthy disdain for prizes Ð even the Pulitzer.
In 32 seasons, the Foothill Theatre Company has performed only eight plays that have won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. "Doubt, A Parable" will be the ninth. In other words, on average, we do a Pulitzer winner only slightly more often than we have a leap year. It's a special occasion.
Shanley is no stranger to major awards: He also won a Tony for "Doubt" and an Oscar for "Moonstruck" in 1987.
But the Pulitzer has a special mystique, perhaps because the Pulitzer Board has resolutely refused to turn their ceremony into an over-hyped, televised extravaganza like the Tonys and Oscars. Or perhaps because the judges are empowered to withhold an award in any of the 21 categories, if they deem the entries to be substandard. Nine times in my own lifetime, they've refused to give an award for drama, most recently in 2006. These guys are tough.
So, I assumed winning the Pulitzer Prize would be a major event, maybe the major event, in the life of any playwright. And my editorial deadline was looming.
"I'll just do a quickie interview with Shanley", I thought, "the thing will write itself. Finished product, without all that bothersome process!" Results, results, results!
So I fired off an e-mail: "Dear John, our theatre is producing 'Doubt,' and I'm writing a little feature about you winning the Pulitzer Prize: Who were you up against? What did you do when you won? How did it feel?" And seven more questions, all equally inane.
His reply, like most of his writing, was admirably terse and to the point: "Dear Gary, no offense, but these questions have nothing to do with what I do. Best of luck with the production. JPS."
Ouch. Still stings a little.
But of course, he's right. Awards and prizes are all very well, but it's your work that really affects the world around you. "Best of luck with the production." That's what matters. No Doubt cq about it.
ooo
Gary Wright has spent the past 14 years as a resident actor, playwright, director, gadfly and dogsbody for the Foothill Theatre Company.
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