“On Playwriting” from Tommy Smith on Vimeo.

The first in a series of web videos commissioned by The New York Council for Poets and Playwrights (NYCPP).

PS122ILuvU from Reggie Watts on Vimeo.

I am a regular collaborator with Reggie Watts on experimental theatrical/filmic ventures. In this clip, Reggie plays for a fundraiser for New York Theatre Review 2008. I appear briefly at the start. This was in October 2007. (Oh yeah, and the 2008 NYTR comes out in Spring, edited by the unstoppable Brook Stowe, featuring a ton of great essays and plays, including my own WHITE HOT and an interview I did with Reggie about our UTR piece DISINFORMATION.)

Story of the Eye, Chapter Two from Tommy Smith on Vimeo.

Warning: Graphic.

(See Chapter One info for project details.)

Story of the Eye, Chapter One. from Tommy Smith on Vimeo.

I’m developing Georges Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” (1928) into an operatic play. Here is Chapter One.

Linguistically, the book is kind of a dare: Bataille keeps pushing offensive images in front of the reader to make him/her squirm. By reading it aloud, I’m trying to overcome my knee-jerk squeamishness to access the deeper themes running through the material.

Warning: VERY graphic language/situations/symbology.

For more info on Bataille:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bataille
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