Muazzez

Mac Wellman

Muazzez is derived from of a collection of short stories written by renowned writer/playwright/poet Mac Wellman entitled A Chronicle Of The Madness Of Small Worlds. All of the stories in the book take place on various asteroids or planetoids. This particular offbeat tale is written in Wellman’s trademark playful/ experimental style and performed by the incomparable Steve Mellor, Wellman’s longtime collaborator. The performance is intentionally staged in the simplest of terms, employing a chair, an actor and a microphone. The result is an intimate, unforgettable encounter with the words of one of our country’s leading play- wrights performed by one of our great actors. Mac Wellman is an American playwright, author, and poet best known for his experimental work in the theater. He has received numerous awards, including: the NEA, NYFA, Rockefeller, Mc- Night and Guggenheim Fellowships, and an Obie Award for Life- time Achievement. He is the Donald I. Fine Professor of Playwriting at Brooklyn College.

FROM THE ARTIST

Apropos of MUAZZEZ~

Some time ago, never mind how long, I came across a strange book which listed all the named asteroids. This seemed a marvelous document, and by virtue of its very nature seems the most multi-ultra-cultural of all possible documents. Because when a new, small world is discovered, it is named by it inceptor– a perfectly fair procedure. Which incidentally ensures that the process happens as it happens, in real time, all over the large, slightly depressing, world that is ours.

So I decided to write a book of stories (not plays or poems) dealing with a few of these. The first of was ELMER– I guess it fascinated me that there cd be a small world called ELMER (and there is). The resulting book of tales took a long time to writer, never mind how long, and was published by the Trip Street Press in 2008 as A CHRONICLE OF THE MADNESS OF SMALL WORLDS. My motive in the early days was rigorous and socialist– a fact not now noticed by many. Sigh.

Some time later, never mind how long, the director Paul Lazar, of Big Dance Company asked me for a piece to perform, which he wished to be directed by Stephen Mellor, a actor I have worked with for a very long time, never mind how long. This was 1965UU, and was premièred in 2008 at the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City. But I thought perhaps there might be another possible piece, and the result was, and is, MUAZZEZ, performed by Monsoor Mellor, and directed by the author. All I will admit about MUAZZEZ is that the narrator is an abandoned cigar factory (ACF), whose problems flow naturally from his long time condition (never mind how long).

Other pieces in the series include HORROCKS, AND TOUTATIS TOO; WOO WORLD WU; the latter two to be presented this spring at the Great Plains Theater Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.

–Mac Wellman