Here's what I gave them:
I wrote CHRISTMAS AT THE JUNIPER TAVERN in the mid-1980s while house sitting in Bend to work on a different, commissioned script. The local paper was filled with the daily activities of the Rajneeshi, who were building an ashram in the desert. They had tons of money. Their guru was one year into a vow of silence.
Bend was filled with unemployed mill workers. Most didn't approve of this nearby invasion of wealth, often ostentatious. I began brooding about two questions: what would be the first thing the guru would say when he ended his vow? And what would the guru have to say to a mill worker? Add to the mix my earlier one act about a Zen guru-clown, and the play was born.
As I watched a rehearsal recently, the play didn't feel like it was about Rajneeshi. It felt like it was about Muslims.
I wrote CHRISTMAS AT THE JUNIPER TAVERN in the mid-1980s while house sitting in Bend to work on a different, commissioned script. The local paper was filled with the daily activities of the Rajneeshi, who were building an ashram in the desert. They had tons of money. Their guru was one year into a vow of silence.
Bend was filled with unemployed mill workers. Most didn't approve of this nearby invasion of wealth, often ostentatious. I began brooding about two questions: what would be the first thing the guru would say when he ended his vow? And what would the guru have to say to a mill worker? Add to the mix my earlier one act about a Zen guru-clown, and the play was born.
As I watched a rehearsal recently, the play didn't feel like it was about Rajneeshi. It felt like it was about Muslims.
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