In the 1970s, there was a motion picture called Jaws and, in short, it was for America what Rocky is to Philadelphians. And then some. It changed the whole landscape of the movie industry. It articulated the great American impotence vis-a-vis capitalism vs. nature, which we know know as routine, and will one day probably get to know as the story of end full stop. And like Philadelphians and Rocky, Americans have never stopped watching it. In fact, I wouldn’t mind fucking off for the rest of the day and watching it again, right now. It is Jaws.
In any case, we were elated this morning to learn that Jaws is getting a longer look by three of Philadelphia’s most sturdily interesting theatre artists, in a project called, er, The Jaws Project. It goes like so:
Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws was shot on location at Martha’s Vineyard, MA in 1974. It was a legendarily disastrous production that resulted in one of the greatest movies of all time and an unprecedented financial success. Devised by Philadelphia theatre artists Robert Daponte, Mary Tuomanen, and Sam Henderson, the Jaws Project is a wicked rude comedy, an unlikely love story, an an unflinching examination of a turning point in American culture.
We don’t know anything else about it at all, but for us, that’s enough. This is gonna be good. It is about Jaws.
The Jaws Project will run from June 26th through July 4th at the Plays & Players Skinner Studio.
