Kopit Criticizes New York Theatre, Discusses Current Events in Dramo

"New York Theatre is basically hopeless," said Arthur Kopit '59 last night in the Danster House Junior Common Room. "I go to the movies a lot."

Kopit, the author of several plays, including Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad and The Day the Whores Came Out To Play Tennis, told a group of 50 listeners.

"The Lincoln Center productions have bored me. Really the only vital thing about American theatre is that it is so bad it has to get better."

The playwright was no less specific about his own most recent contributions. "Since Oh Dad, I have written maybe eight plays that aren't any good. During one which was producted at the Actor's Workshop, the audience booed and threw things, which was interesting."

His last play concerned three African officials who visit the United States and eventually eat their gorgeous Peace Corps girl guide. "It did not work," Kopit said, because although the Africans were not supposed to be the villains, many people interpreted them as such.

"When you're dealing with a current event like sudden changes in Africa, you have to displace it enough to turn it into a myth. When you show people the Africans with the meat in their hands, the audience is too uncomfortable."

Like Norman Mailer, Konit was an engineering major. "I would have made a lousy engineer," he said. "It's fine to write a play that doesn't work but building a bridge, well..."