The Olf Plays: A Benefit for the Department of Theater and the Massachusetts Review
Come fall, UMass Amherst Professor of Theater Julian Olf will find himself in such august company as Seamus Heaney, T.S. Eliot, and Wendy Wasserstein. One of his plays, (People Almost Always Smell Good in the Art Museum), has been selected for publication in the Massachusetts Review, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Olf's piece will appear in the fall 2008 issue. Although his work regularly receives productions away from home, the benefit performances this spring represent the first time Olf has made his work available to the University community. For the occasion, he has chosen two short plays, Unaired Public Radio Segment and (People Almost Always Smell Good in the Art Museum). The former is an edgy satire on the voyeurism and packaging of violence by the media, while the latter piece, for solo performer, is set in a crowded tavern where, over the course of a few beers, a man attempts to communicate his perceptions of life, art, dogs and snails to a pal who sees things differently. While proofing the publication galleys aloud, Olf felt an irresistible urge to inhabit the character of his creation. Hence, in addition to comprising the first production of the finished play, the department's spring production marks Olf's first public appearance as an actor since his work in New York City's LaMama nearly forty years ago.
