Award-Winning Author Calls L.A. a 'Non-City'

The co-author of the Tony Award winning musical "Nine" sipped wine and told aspiring playwrights to avoid Hollywood last night at an informal talk sponsored by a Harvard literary society.

"Los Angeles is a non-city so you turn to drinking and drugs and ask when can I get out," Arthur L. Kopit '59 told members of the Signet Society last night.

"Playwrights get paid but they have no control over the words. The money is there, but you hate the money," he said. "But you have to spend the money because you need the car and clothes to meet people and move up."

The author of "Indians", "Wings", which was made into a TV screenplay, and, most recently, "End of The World," first produced in Washington, D.C. in 1984, told the audience that he believes the most productive writing method is to work on many pieces simultaneously.

"You need to know you can go on to something else when one thing's done--or blocked," Kopit said, "If you can, suddenly the solution comes through."

Kopit, a Signet Society alumnus himself, is currently writing a novel, a musical version of "The Phantom of The Opera," and the pilot show for a possible NBC miniseries about veterinary hospitals. The TV series would "look like Mass General, except the open heart surgery is done on gorillas," he said.

The author of the award-winning play "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" said it's important for a playwright to make all efforts to avoid autobiography, since it isn't possible to recreate a physical likeness on the stage.

"Each role in a play will be played by a different person every time the play is produced," he said, "The same role could be played by a blonde, then an actress six feet tall, then one that weights 200 pounds."

Kopit's appearance was sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Office for the Arts.