Author name: Paul Schatzkin

(The La Jolla Playhouse "page to stage" workshop production of Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention wrapped up its run on Sunday, March 25; with that in mind, what follows should really be read as "past tense.")

In an open discussion with audience following the Sunday, March 18 matinée performance of The Farnsworth Invention at the La Jolla Playhouse, playwright (and screenwriter and TV impresario) Aaron Sorkin quipped that with his years of experience in the business, he’d learned to give the audience what it wants: "…and it’s clear to me that what the audience wants is a play about 1930s patent law…" 

I can’t speak for the rest of the audience, but anybody who knows me knows that that is precisely what I’ve been advocating for….oh, thirty-some years now.  So I filed into the theater this past Saturday night with a perspective quite unique from that of anybody else who was in the hall, because I have been living with this material all that time, and know the "true story" probably better than I know my own life story.

I must confess, I entered the theater at first fully expecting to hate everything that was about to unfold before me. I had sufficient "advance knowlege" of what I was about to see that I was certain there was no way I was gonna like it.  And, indeed, after the first viewing, I was entirely conflicted about the disparity between the production’s dramatic impact and its divergence from what I would consider historical propriety.

Fortunately, I am not only writing this review from the unique perspective of my "insider’s knowledge" of the facts; I also saw the play twice  — first on Saturday evening, and then again Sunday afternoon.  What I realized on the second viewing was that I had watched the first performance with my nit-picker turned up ‘to eleven.’  I actually made all kinds of notes about little details that were "wrong."  But when I watched it again Sunday, I left the nit-picker at the door, which freed me to sit back and enjoy the production as any newcomer to the material might. And from that perspective, I was much better able to appreciate the scope — and, yes, the grandeur — of what has been accomplished here. 

But first, try to imagine the trepidation I felt as I settled into my seat on Saturday night and waited for the lights to dim…

Here is a fairly succinct (and fair) review of The Farnsworth Invention, which has now completed its month-long "workshop" run at the La Jolla Playhouse near San Diego: Accuracy, however, can be the hobgoblin of drama. That quibbling point was quickly forgotten, though, because The Farnsworth Invention was fanfuckingtastic. For all the ups and downs

Variety.com – Inside Move: Spielberg funds play?. Is Steven Spielberg helping to usher in Aaron Sorkin’s return to Broadway? It’s looking likely, with chatter surfacing on both coasts that Spielberg is joining Broadway producing org Dodger Theatricals ("Jersey Boys") for a Rialto production of Sorkin’s play "The Farnsworth Invention." Spielberg is planning to put up

I believe the media are asked NOT to review The Farnsworth Invention at the La Jolla Playhouse, as it is a "page-to-stage" workshop production, but the Daily Aztec from San Diego State University has gone ahead with this assessment: "The Farnsworth Invention" centers on Farnsworth (Jimmi Simpson), the essential force behind the creation of television,

Here’s another report from somebody who has seen The Farnsworth Invention at the LaJolla Playhouse: ad nauseam: theater review. The 1st 3/4 is very brainiac and expository…I wasn’t bored but I was wondering why I wasn’t thrilled. Sorkin saved it for the last few scenes. He did his Sorkin magic where I want to cry

Link: Big Action!: The Farnsworth Invention. The LaJolla Playhouse, which is presenting Aaron Sorkin’s play, The Farnsworth Invention until March 2, asks that this "page to stage" workshop production not be formally reviewed in the press.  However, that doesn’t mean that people who see the play can’t post their comments and observations to their blogs. 

Harold Evans is the author of a pretty good (i.e. mostly accurate) account of the history of invention in America, They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators.  He wrote this column for the Wall Street Journal last week, which includes this assessment of the contributions of a