BLOGGO

If you go to architorture school you will be asked to participate in a design process that invites the inventive use of a kit of parts. Later in life you realize the world is just a big ol’ box of parts. You root around, push and pull, maybe the greek goddess Epiphana kisses your brain, and assemblies are made. If you maintain a sense of humor, that kit of parts will often read in your head as a skit of parts and and when you’re sitting at a gallery in Philly and you see a plastic frog, a stir stick/straw, and 2 spinny tops you will tease out a skit from this kit that this frog is no ordinary frog but rather the legendary weight-lifting frog, capable of bench pressing tschotchke nearly double his weight and when you know you’ve seen this image in your head before and you google the internet computer for a matching graphic you will be pleased to stumble upon another extraordinary frog.

The angle of repose is usually taken to be the angle a pile forms with the ground.  It describes the engineering properties of granular materials, taking into account density, surface area, and coefficient of friction.

Often overlooked because I made it up is that it’s the measurement of “lean” (repose) someone exhibits while sitting in a chair. My research says the greater this angle the greater the comfort index of that person. This established, I can say with little reservation that Edward Albee is a man possessing considerable comfort. I suppose winning Pulitzers will do that. You get the feeling that even without these large feathers in his cap, his angle of repose would be considerable.

You see him speak at public forums and he will stand out for two reasons:  his smile is frequent and heart-warmingly genuine, and his humor is good.  What amplifies both qualities is his angle of repose.  Even when he speaks of being on the receiving end of not so great behavior, his A.R. suggests he’s over it. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf gets voted down by committee considering its nomination for Pulitzer DESPITE the fact it’s later revealed many jurors DIDN’T EVEN SEE THE MOVIE and Albee grins, reposes,  and keeps writing. The movie moguls refuse to hire him to be the screenwriter for the screen adaptation of his play (Who’s….) and he reposes and watches the creative leads turn down draft after draft the hired screenwriter (Ernest Lehman…hired by himself  (he was the producer too) for 200 thousand dollars) offers up. In the end, Albee’s dialogue is left intact with the exception of 2 lines.

He’s quick to mention that in his play, the opening scene has Martha doing a Bette Davis impersonation and originally it’s Bette Davis who is cast to play Martha in the movie. He marvels at the meta, existential crisis this could have wrought. He comments on how the studio decided that important movies are made in black and white and they want it to be important so it’s in black in white even though he wrote it in color. It was even shot in color, but converted to important.

Edward Albee cares but he doesn’t scar. His angle of repose won’t let him.