If only there were a shorter way to say that.

You Can Guess The News

I'm in another show! Leo's Requiem by Darius M. Buckley is the piece, presenting as part of a new works festival featuring the graduating Columbia playwright MFAs. Friend Brennan Urbi directing.

Well, here we are again. Me, with a show to promote. You, with an open evening or afternoon that can be spent seeing a show. How does it always end up like this?

The show in question: A Hunger Artist, at the Lenfest Center for the Arts. February 8th to 11th. Free tickets. LINK HERE.

It's a take on the classic short story by Franz Kafka, about an artist who is... doing well. Except instead of being set in vaguely 19th-century Bohemia and he's in a cage, it's set now and he's a live-streamer. Adapted by friend of the channel Michael Landes, and directed by my literal neighbour Yibin Wang, the play digs into the queasy cyclone of need, performance, and exploitation that constitutes a life of constant voluntary surveillance. I think the main theme is that it's totally fine. We're all totally fine.

Friends! Hi! Sorry for double-emailing, very bad form, I know, but! I've got two things to share, real quick.

Thing 1: Spam Problems

My last newsletter ended up in ~many people's~ spam folder, so check yours if you want to read an unhinged essay about Greek Theatre and different categories of Weird Characters. And maybe mark my dinky newsletter address as trusted... if you trust me.

He engages in tasteful self-promotion. And here's a taste!

I have nothing to promote.

Oops. It's been a quiet moment on the project front. Despite angling for some juicy gigs so I could share with you yet another gripping tale of creative triumph (I do it for you), things didn't go my way. A foul conspiracy of schedule conflicts, injury, illness, and other people having talent (wtf) robbed me of my god-given right to make faces onstage. It's a cruel world out there, folks.

Hi pals, hope you're well. I'm fine, thanks for asking. Salient points up front:

• Reminder! I'm in Dancing at Lughnasa, October 19th to 22nd. Five shows. Free tickets. Lenfest Center for the Arts, 129th street. Great concept. Great cast. Tickets are live right now! GET 'EM HERE.

• After October 22nd my dance card is wide open, really for the first time this year, so tell me about your readings, developmental projects, international advertising campaigns, and tabletop RPG games. I'm around!

• This fall is the one-year anniversary of getting my American work permit. One whole year of acting for money in New York City! To celebrate that enterprising spirit, I'm going to book a commercial gig. [CUT TO wide shot, CARL is suddenly holding a margarita and wearing a party hat] And that's a Carl Bindman guarantee.

Extra! Extra! White Man Pitches Podcast!

Enter and rest your legs, weary traveller. Ah, I see my wares have caught your eye. Quite a collection, yes? Perhaps you desire a trinket for yourself, or for whomever awaits you at road's end? Of course, duty calls and you must soon depart, but these precious baubles have a sweet song all their own...

Unrehearsed: Midsummer Night's Dream (Sep. 2, FREE)

It's a gameshow competition, it's a play, it's a Midsummer where the actors walk on with the text memorized and nothing else. No rehearsals, no director, just a battle of wits and wills to see who best knows their lines while trying to piece together a show. I'm Theseus, the nicest guy in Athens.

The Barefoot Shakespeare Company, free tix, 4pm on Sep. 2, at Summit Rock in Central Park. Come thru!!!

Hello again!

Well, it's time. I've finally upgraded my informal newsletter to a Serious Thing after inadvertently starting an arms race in the NYC theatre community. I refuse to countenance the possibility that the growing number of my peers using newsletters to communicate with their networks actually has nothing to do with me, so don't even suggest it.

Anyway, it's me, hi, I'm Carl Bindman, and you're receiving this because you've received other emails from me, and also we've worked together or studied together or been in the same room once. Networking is my passion.