This Can't Be Broccoli

These are the first few sections of my new book "The Front Row." If you like these weekly anonymous interviews, that's what this is--but the super-sized version. In the book, I talk about why I felt this particular story deserved a much bigger platform, but I wanted to give you all a free sneak peek. If you want to purchase the book, it's available now by going to https://www.amazon.com/Front-Row-Conversation-About-Theater-ebook/dp/B08K9BXB8J/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=kevin+broccoli&qid=1601399482&sr=8-7 Now here's (a little bit of) the interview: Q:  What’s your first memory of it? A:  Theater? Q:  Yes. A:  I remember grabbing the script in--I would have been...Eight years old. I remember grabbing the script when the teacher asked who wanted to read the lead role. Q:  What was the show and what was the lead role? A:  The show was Curious George and the role was Curious George and I went ‘Me!’ and I grabbed the script and--I was reprima...

Four months ago, the Internet had a new villain. Amy Cooper, the white woman who not only called the police on Christian Cooper, a Black man, but put on an entire performance seemingly designed to paint Christian Cooper as some sort of imposing monster simply because he asked her to put her dog on a leash. When video of the incident was released, Amy Cooper lost her job and became a symbol. But a symbol of what? Racism? Sure. But from my point of view, it seemed like it should go further than that. Because when the Amy Cooper Affair went down, one thing I kept seeing on Twitter were people speaking up saying "We know people like this." And the truth is-- We do. We all do. I could be going out on a limb here, but I feel like as someone in a creative field, I know more than my fair share of Amy Coopers, and when the very fair question comes up about what someone like me does to stop the Amy Coopers of the world from Amy Cooper-ing, I try not to be defensive about it, but there ...

Before we begin, some exciting news-- I have found Charlie. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you want to go to http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2020/09/theater-and-pigpen-problem.html and start at the list of links that opens that interview. If you want to read the interview with Charlie, you'll want to sign up for the Epic Theatre Company (my home away from home) Patreon by going to www.Patreon.com/EpicTheatreCo . By donating $5 a month or more (that'll come right out of your bank account, just like Netflix, Hulu, or Cheese of the Month Club), you'll help support a wonderful organization, annnnnd you get tons of great bonus content, including the five-part Charlie interview that kicks off next month. Now for the business at hand. It's always excited when someone reaches out to ask if they can speak with me about something mysterious. Equity has always been something I've looked at from a distance. I, myself, am not an equity actor, but I have m...

With the premiere of The Social Dilemma , I'm seeing even more people than usual quitting Facebook or limiting their interactions on it. Lately, even I've thought about pulling back, but I thought that before I did, I should ask myself some questions that seem important if you're going to remove one of the greatest tools for connectivity that's ever been given to humanity, democracy-compromising and political-hellscaping aside. Here's what I came up with: 1. How are you going to remember people's birthdays?  If you think I'm going to forgive you for forgetting my birthday because you're not on Facebook hahahahaha have fun buying a planner and writing everything down again, because I remember those days, and I hated them. I hated those days. Those days were not fun. 2. I do theater. How am I going to promote theater without Facebook? Where are people going to see that I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing? Not that they care, but where will they see ...

Over a year ago, I got myself embroiled with a community that had been harboring a Wolf. If you want to begin the journey, there are several entries about the Wolf, but these are two early ones http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-theater-and-big-bad-wolf.html http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2019/07/on-theater-and-enabling.html And this is the last one-- http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2019/09/an-interview-with-big-bad-wolf.html On the one-year anniversary of that interview, I wanted to check in on someone within that community so see how they're doing. The goal was to find out how a community gets past exiling someone that had caused it trauma, and how to avoid burning the whole thing to the ground. Here's the interview: ME:  Thanks for speaking with me. THEM:  I wanted to speak with you when you were doing this a year ago, but you never asked me. ME:  We spoke off-the-record. THEM:  You didn't want to hear what I had to say. ME:  (La...

I think we all remember where we were when we read about countries reopening their theaters by having audiences do temperature checks, wear masks throughout the show, and walk through some sort of disinfectant fog before entering. I remember thinking, I can barely get an audience to come see a show if I pick them up, buy them dinner, and wash their car afterwards. You want me to ask them to walk through a MEDICINAL SPRAY? So I started playing a fun new game with my friends. It was called, informally, "What Show Would You Swallow Glass to See?" because, let's face it, we're only about one step below that in terms of what we're asking of people who begrudge us asking them to turn off their cell phones in case their six-year-old calls wanting to know if he can watch a rated-R movie before bed. ( For the love of god, Jennifer, I'm trying to do Pinter up here. Just tell little Mikey he can watch Bloodsucker 7 on Hulu tomorrow night and hang up. You're already ...

Late last year, I had an amazing conversation with an unforgettable person. You can read it here:  http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2019/11/death-is-easy-theater-is-hard.html That person spoke about doing theater while living with a terminal illness. At the time, they thought they had about a year left, but we kept in touch, and the disease progressed much faster than anyone anticipated. Early last week, they passed away. I don't always spend a lot of time getting to know the people I interview for this series, but this was an exception that has added so much to my life. In a year that has already seen so much turmoil and heartache, this felt like yet another tragedy that was too expansive to process. As I begin to wrap this series up, this seemed like a sign that maybe I should call it quits early, but one of the joys of getting to know this person was her tendency to bring so many people in her life into friendships with each other. I grew close to many of her colleagu...