The new cartoon is part of what Jennifer Wolfe of Animation World Network called “a larger Betty Boop campaign,” signaling that the character is experiencing a cultural resurgence. “When Max Fleischer dipped his pen into the inkwell,” Caruso continued, evoking the Viennese-American animator who created the legendary cartoon character, “out came a masterpiece that would influence generations of artists, animators, musicians, and fashion designers.” “As a cartoonist, I consider Betty Boop the eighth wonder of the world,” Frank Caruso, the vice-president of comics and cartoons syndicate King Features, said in February when asked about the surreal new animated short, Betty Goes A-Posen, a three-part collaboration with the fashion designer. She’s sexy, independent - and well aware of both, something that has made her iconic since her debut as a character 87 years ago. She rescues the designer Zac Posen - who is ensnared in monstrous vines - with nothing but a glare, and turns men arguing on the sidewalk into grinning fools with a wink and a smile. A writer whose journal was peppered with the most innocent of writing prompts: “Describe the…,” and yet whose life ended at the hands of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.In her first cartoon in nearly three decades, which appeared online in February, Betty Boop steps out of a car into a windy street, her short black dress flaring. It’s also deepened his connection to the writer that inspired Describe the Night in the first place: Babel. “These are very current and relevant questions considering a lot of the state of our media and politics right now,” he says. ![]() Though he wrote the play three years ago, its exploration of truth feels more affecting in 2017. When are the hard facts of something necessary and when is metaphor and symbol the best way in towards something? And when does metaphor and symbol become a lie?”įor Joseph, these overarching themes have taken on new meaning in today’s context. ![]() “There’s a lot to unpack about how we understand ourselves in the world and what modes of communication do we use. What is myth and what is fact,” says Joseph. “ Describe the Night is about the age-old debate over what is true and what is not true. This meant examining the themes closest to his heart. Any playwright has to simply trust that they’re writing something that is hopefully from their core,” he says. “There are a million ways to have written this play, or any play. ![]() In the end, Joseph wrote the story that mattered most to him. “I don’t think I could have ever just sat down at my desk and written it. “That process is why Describe the Night is such a unique play,” he says. “It’s like sifting through a jigsaw puzzle and finding the pieces and putting them together in a totally new shape.”ĭanny Burstein, Zach Grenier, and Tina Benko “It was fascinating to get such a diverse and well-informed amount of research to pack into this process,” says Joseph, who took notes throughout. Especially during the conceiving of a play.” That always happens with a production but happens less with the development. “One of the things that I love about theatre is that it’s a collaborative effort. The group also invited a number of speakers, such as Val Vinokour, a distinguished Isaac Babel scholar and translator, to attend the sessions. Over a two-week period, followed by a two-month rehearsal in the fall, the NYU acting students paged through research and performed their findings for Joseph and Sardelli. ![]() It’s an epic play (three hours including two intermissions)-unsurprising considering the detailed research process behind it. The story traces the lives of seven men and women in Russia connected by history, myth, and conspiracy, and interweaves tales of forbidden love, complicated families, and unlikely friendships. Inspired by a line in Babel’s real-life journal, the play, now in previews at Atlantic Theater Company, spans 90 years. By the end of the process, Joseph had a first draft of Describe the Night. Along with director Giovanna Sardelli, the two worked with eight students to develop the play using The Joint Stock Method in which writers use company research to inspire workshops. Rather than begin his research in the usual fashion, however, Joseph tapped New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. Most playwrights will tell you researching a play tends to be a solitary process, marked by hours alone in a library or an office.
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