My scheme to get our actors' collective (the Brooklyn Actors Group or BAG) to get famous Broadway actress Gillian Forsyth to join us. With the help of the New York Times drama critic Max Somerfield BAG would get to perform in an off Broadway theatre. BAG might even get enough audience interest to get to perform on a Broadway venue.
BROADWAY - THE BEST IN THE WORLD
To perform on a Broadway stage is the dream of any actor, of any nationality, because Broadway is THE best place in the world for performing artists. Some (wrongly) claim that London's 10 "Broadway theatres" compare with the real Broadway theatres. But those who argue this way undermine their argument because they call them "Broadway theatres".
To my mind the only true competition comes from the National Theatre and the Globe Theatre. But the National Theatre is heavily subsidised and the plays are often "worthy". The joke is that National Theatre seats are excellent so the people can suffer "social realism twaddle" seated comfortably.
In short, National Theatre patrons suffer in comfort.
The Globe is truly a world class venue. Open to the sky (and performing even when it rains) it has recreated Shakespeare's theatre and performing style. The cheapest tickets means the patrons have to stand. There is no where else like it and hopefully never will be.
(Editorial note. Fairness dictates that I point out that the National Theatre does put on excellent non-social realism plays in its 2 larger theatres. But it does have a smaller theatre where social realism reigns. Ironically social realism is the sort of theatre that BAG produces, but more of that later.)
THE SECOND NEGOTIATOR
As I wrote before Mike is a bit of a puritan but Sara is a sexual radical. BAG appointed both Mike and Sara to negotiate with Max who is a world famous drama critic. He wants to host a Stanislavski type event at his New Jersey ranch.
This was a departure from BAG's normal ethos, for we were might have to accept Max as our leader. We are a democratic egalitarian organisation. We therefore are considering becoming a "normal" hierarchical organisation. I was prepared to "sell out" my egalitarian ideals for a larger stage. Perhaps it also because I wanted more sex with Max's fiancee, Gillian with Max watching and recording us anally fucking.
MORE ABOUT SARA
Sara is a sexual libertarian par excellence. Provided all the people involved can give informed consent, then anything goes. Her reputation for one night stands and involvement in group sex was (and still is) public knowledge. Indeed that reputation got her an invite to have her own room in a 4 room apartment in the South Williamsburg area of Brooklyn.
She only pays $1,500 for her own room, which is fantastically cheap. This is because the other residents subsidise her. In Manhattan apartment space is at a premium and therefore rents are astronomic. In contrast to Manhattan's small apartment sizes, Sara's Williamsburg room is large enough to have a double bed, a wardrobe and a settee and not be cramped. It is at least twice the size of a similarly priced Manhattan rental apartment.
In return for this subsidy, the other 3 couples expected Sara to bring in (and she did bring in) lots of her Manhattan "swinging and /or artistic friends" for weekends of unbridled sexual excess. Sara has lots of friends who like the idea of an Andy Warhol style sex and artistic endeavour commune.
Of course it meant leaving "the centre of the universe" for no-wheres-ville South Williamsburg. But, once a fashion is set, a Manhattanite is prepared to make a sacrifice and leave the best borough. Sara's friends would travel even to South Williamsburg for an authentic sexual and cultural experience.
Besides it was only for a weekend and there are subways to whisk them back to civilisation.
MANHATTAN IS THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE
The Manhattan set have an anti-Brooklyn joke, which probably was told in the days when both were independent States. Back then Brooklyn was the 4th largest State in America. Manhattan was the largest.
Question "Why do most people go to Brooklyn?"
Answer "So they can see Manhattan and then go back to real civilisation".
Manhattanites take a similar view abour Staten Island. the joke is