Stuff From the Program:
Due to miscommunication, fuck up, forgetfulness, and it just being so hellishly hot here in NYC (yeah, yeah, fuck you, Phoenix), the program for
The Rude Pundit in The Year of Living Rudely was not ready for opening night. So here's some of the words from the program:
Who’s Who
Lee Papa (The Rude Pundit, Playwright): Lee Papa is a professor of drama studies at the College of Staten Island. As a playwright, his works have been performed in Chicago, California, and various flyover states. He has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, contributing to and helping create the work
No Place Like Home. He has directed
Doctor Faustus,
The Tempest, and many new plays, as well as producing several benefit shows for arts organizations and 9/11 victims’ families. He also produced a couple of films you’ve never heard of. His stage performances include a ton of Shakespeare, a bunch of new and developing plays, and a load of plays by dead or nearly dead white guys. He has taught Theatre of the Oppressed classes around the United States, as well as in Denmark and the Czech Republic. And he’s written some articles on things like workers’ theatre and stuff.
In Knoxville, Tennessee, Papa created and produced
Radio Free Theatre, a radio drama program that was a cult favorite in east Tennessee. In addition to writing and directing audio plays, Papa developed his rude punditry chops with the monthly "Rich Flemball Show," a parody of a certain porcine talk radio host. With Mark Creter as Flemball, Papa wrote scripts that inevitably led to Flemball ripping off his pants and declaring to the listening audience, "I'm pantsless."
Tonight's show, though, will be performed with pants on.
The Rude Pundit began in September 2003. Since then, it has grown to have a daily readership of 8000 to 10,000, with listings at Daily Kos, the Huffington Post and more. It has been mentioned by the blog babes on CNN (who refused to show it on screen) and by media babe Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post. You can read the Rude Pundit every weekday at rudepundit.blogspot.com.
Mark H. Creter (Director): Mark Harry Creter is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee and has served as the artistic director of TTU's Backdoor Playhouse for the past thirteen years. During that time he has directed such productions as Samuel Beckett’s
Waiting for Godot,
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, the all fake-nude production of
Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Shakespeare’s
R & J adapted by Joe Calarco,
Betty’s Summer Vacation by Christopher Durang, and
Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver. Mark teaches courses in acting, directing, and many other areas.
He received his Bachelor of Arts in Theatrical Production from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia and his Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After finishing his college training he spent a number of years performing professionally in regional theatres and dinner theatres from Greensboro, North Carolina to Xenia, Ohio, to Omaha, Nebraska. In 1989 he co-founded the Tennessee Stage Company in Knoxville, Tennessee where he worked as an actor and director for ten years. He also began the company's annual East Tennessee Shakespeare in the Park, which is entering its 15th season (now renamed simply Shakespeare in the Square.) Two years ago Mark co-founded and directed the premier production of the Dogwood Shakespeare in the Park in Cookeville, TN. Last month he directed
Romeo and Juliet for their second season.
Although primarily a director, Mark also appears on local Cookeville stages in order to "keep his saw from getting rusty." Recent performances include the role of Dr. Dysart in
Equus by Peter Shaffer, Marc in
Art by Yasmina Reza, Pato Dooley in
The Beauty Queen of Lenane by Conor McPherson and Larry in
Hospitality Suite by Roger Rueff.
Mark served for eight years on the Tennessee Theatre Association board as East TN Rep., College and University Division Chair and President. He is also active with the Southeastern Theatre Conference and the American College Theatre Festival.
Mark was recently acknowledged for his commitment to free speech by receiving the Intellectual Freedom Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. He received this award in recognition of his involvement with the V-Day College Initiative in 2001 in which he produced and directed the first TTU campus production of
The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. He produced two student-directed productions in 2002 and 2003 and directed it again in 2005. The productions have raised approximately $10,000 to support the TN Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Mark dedicates all his artistic endeavours to his beautiful wife Jennifer and their son Gus.
Brian DeSmet (Sound and Lights):Brian DeSmet is a veteran techie in the Chicago and New York improv and sketch comedy scenes. Recent favorites include standing in with "The Shark Show," downtown's longest running comedy variety show; appearing in the Chicago Improv Festival with "Foreplay Unscripted," the erotic improv show; and -of course - lending a hand to speak rudeness to power. You might see him DJing in Williamsburg as DJ Plan B or online commenting on your favorite blog as Planet B.
