| Real life: Kenneth Lonergan’s 'Margaret' |
January 12 2013 |
Contrary to what you see in most movies and plays, “happy endings” last at best for a few days, and more likely a few hours. Kenneth Lonergan’s haunting Margaret is that rare film that captures reality with gripping accuracy— if you can find it.
Margaret. A film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan.
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| The Inquirer’s dwindling theater coverage |
October 16 2012 |
Howard Shapiro, the Inquirer’s last full-time theater critic, was recently reassigned, leaving the theater beat to be handled by free-lancers. Is this how a major metropolitan newspaper covers one of Philadelphia’s most exciting continuing stories?
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| An antidote for mass murder |
October 13 2012 |
Can potential mass murderers be spotted in advance? Maybe. But the more important question is: Why are so many American kids growing up angry, antisocial and withdrawn? And we already possess the tools to cope with that problem.
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| Child abuse and bureaucracy: Another Philadelphia story |
May 15 2012 |
Another helpless child has died due to neglect by Philadelphia’s overwhelmed human service agencies. The real tragedy is that they needn’t be overwhelmed— if they’ll accept help from outside professionals.
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| Rape and SlutWalk: A therapist’s view |
August 06 2011 |
I was trained as a therapist at a time when women were easily blamed for “castrating” their men. For three decades I’ve counseled rape victims who believed their misfortune was their own fault. The SlutWalk protesters who challenge this notion may be young, but who else is willing to take the risks necessary to change the world?
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| Male sex abuse and the silence of women |
May 30 2011 |
The alleged sexual predations of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn make the headlines but are only the tip of the iceberg. As a family therapist, I can testify firsthand that sexual abuse is prevalent in all cultures, the privileged as well as the poor.
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| Elizabeth Taylor’s ultimate lesson |
March 29 2011 |
In her prime, whatever Elizabeth Taylor wanted, she took. Only later, when the roles and the men no longer came so easily, did this enormous talent channel her passions into saving and changing the lives of others. That’s when she won her deepest respect.
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| An open letter to Mayor Nutter |
January 21 2011 |
As a family therapist, I know that some children in a city as complex as Philadelphia will suffer illness and poor care, and some will die as a result. But Lynne Abraham, as district attorney, at least tried to break the cycle of neglect, abuse and violence. We need more of that mixture of imagination and concern.
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| ‘Shining City’ post-mortem (4th review) |
May 04 2010 |
Conor McPherson’s Shining City portrays a world of souls in torment. Why then the upbeat title? SaraKay Smullens, a family therapist, finds a message of hope in McPherson’s desperation.
Shining City. By Conor McPherson; directed by Matt Pfeiffer. Theatre Exile production through April 25, 2010 at Plays and Players Theatre, 1724 Delancey Pl. (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
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| Peggy Amsterdam’s halo effect |
December 28 2009 |
When Peggy asked politicians and public officials, “What were you thinking?!” even the thoughtless were humbled. With every fiber of her being, she understood and taught and lived a basic truth: The arts are the world’s one consistent pathway to insight, humanity and yes, survival.
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| Harrower's ‘Blackbird’ revisited |
July 07 2009 |
The playwright David Harrower refuses to discuss the meaning of Blackbird, his riveting drama about the long-term consequences of sexual abuse. Instead, since Blackbird’s Philadelphia run in February, he has left that discussion to the rest of us. As a family therapist, I see dramatic parallels between my understanding what a client is trying to tell me and our attempts to grasp this playwright’s clues to what his play is really about.
Blackbird. By David Harrower; directed by Joe Canuso. Theatre Exile production closed March 1, 2009 at Plays & Players, 1724 Delancey St. (215) 218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
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| A therapist in the theater |
November 18 2008 |
In all my years as a family therapist, I’ve never seen a psychiatric diagnosis that explained the life longings and direction of one of my clients as well as a good play or movie. To be sure, as a theatergoer I’ve also encountered many actors who I believe have misunderstood their characters. Can art and therapy coexist? I’m about to find out.
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| The vice presidential debate (1st review) |
October 05 2008 |
Senator Joe Biden offered a substantive presidential contrast to Sarah Palin but failed to penetrate her gee-whiz persona and sly evasions. Katie Couric, on the other hand, unleashed the truth genie.
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| First debate: McCain’s body language |
September 27 2008 |
The first presidential debate seemed to confirm that the business of war, rather than the art of diplomacy, is John McCain’s true essence.
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| John McCain: A therapist’s view |
September 16 2008 |
McCain struggled throughout young adulthood in the shadow of two revered admirals. His five years’ imprisonment in Vietnam released him from that family pressure. But his subsequent journey of personal liberation has been unmarked by concern for those he encountered along the way.
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| Up against the Human Services bureaucracy |
August 09 2008 |
A grand jury recently documented the horrific life and death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly, a cerebral palsy victim who starved to death while under the “care” of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services. It wasn’t always this way, and it doesn’t have to be, as I can attest from personal experience.
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