Black's rants on theater no stage whisper
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Besides Lewis Black, comedian, there's Lewis Black, playwright, a man who's written more than 40 plays and still keeps a good bit of his heart in the theater.
But Black is under no illusions that the theater is a welcoming place. He ran a low-budget stage in New York's Hell's Kitchen during the '80s, and had his share of run-ins with theater companies around the country. He becomes genuinely angry -- more like his "Back in Black" character on "The Daily Show"-- when he talks about it.
"I think theater's out of touch with reality. It always has been," he says. "It treats itself with a kind of preciousness."
He compares working in theater to "living in an abusive family."
He tells a story to illustrate his point. Several years ago, Black was invited to a large regional theater to do a six-week workshop. He says he was lied to about his budget, the number of New York actors who would be employed and even his living arrangements.
"In the meantime, I went across town to a bar," he continues. "[I] performed there; they immediately said we'd like you come back and headline here. They paid me the same amount of money I made for a play that took five years of my life. They put me up in a nicer place, and they paid for the car. And I said, 'What's wrong with this picture?' "
And yet, it's in his blood. His heroes include Sam Shepard, Neil Simon, Clifford Odets and Anton Chekhov (of the latter, he says, "he doesn't get the productions he deserves"), and the stage is never far from his mind.
With his recent fame as a comedian, he says he's hoping to find the support to mount a few of his old works.
"Now there's some interest in my plays again," he says. "So there's a couple I'm going to go back to in particular."
