Who knows what “the media” even is. But whenever it gets attacked, those of us who are in it tend to get defensive. As the journalist son of journalist parents, I’m biased about the place an unbiased and thriving media must have in any thriving democracy.
The media is a society like any other — it’s made up of those who are ethical, mediocre, noble and reprehensible. One that makes for a big, justifiable target for mockery. One that is presently shrinking, folding and mutilating, which is something only shortsighted idiots like Rush Limbaugh should be celebrating.
And one that Listen Productions applies a thorough endoscopy to in “DNC Mediamockracy.” This new multimedia piece is an inventive, passionate and sometimes infuriating look at the morphing of TV news into corporate infotainment, the dangerous rise in blatantly agenda-based “news” networks and the media’s seamy part in the financing of political conventions.
Live theater rarely gets this current. “Mediamockracy” was written and mounted within a month of its inspiration, the Democratic National Convention in August. At times hysterical and histrionic, it’s alternately a comedy with compelling characters, gonzo-style journalism, sanctimonious political diatribe and, most usefully, old-fashioned town-hall meeting.
“Mediamockracy” dares twice to stop what it’s doing and talk with its audience. Affable host GerRee Hinshaw asks you to consider your own role in the media’s growing failure to inform and engage our citizenry.
Seriously, people: An estimated 8 million watched the “Saturday Night Live” parody of the Sarah Palin-Katie Couric interview (3 million more on alone). But only 6 million of you bothered to watch the actual interview on “The CBS Evening News.”
So is the media failing the public, or is it the other way around?
My “Mediamockracy” audience blamed the media’s diminishing objectivity, accuracy and scope for historic drops in readership and ratings that have devastated newsrooms and, subsequently, their ability to do their work adequately. This play dares to ask: Do you look to your preferred media for truth . . . or confirmation?
It probably takes on too much for its own theatrical good, but the play raises worthy questions, breaks presentational boundaries and captures a defining moment in this city’s history.
The framework: Two popular TV personalities are in Denver to cover the DNC: One hosts a fake-news “Colbert Report” knockoff, the other is a smiling assassin who spews right-wing dogma. But their networks belong to the same owner, so they will be sharing an anchor set in Denver.
In alternating fashion, Richard Guy (William Hahn) regurgitates in some cases verbatim Colbert material from convention week (when in actuality Colbert never actually broadcast from Denver), while Piper Cummington (Karen Slack) correlates DNC protesters with terrorists.
As a play, it ends up a bit of a disjointed amalgam. Director Mitch Dickman’s video segments, which interject these fake journos into a real news event in our backyard, make for fascinating viewing. But transitions are awkward, sprawling creative goals compete, and it all ends with a paranoid, “You are being lied to” “Network”-like freakout.
But this team clearly believes the mainstream media failed us during the convention, and thus asks both big questions like, “Are conventions even necessary?” and more pointed inquiries, like why AT&T wasn’t called out for its blatant pandering of the “Blue Dog Democrats” in the House who earlier this summer led the exoneration of telecoms for their part in the Bush administration’s illegal spying programs.
There are several great ironies at play here, the biggest being that this theater company has, in effect, become part of the media beast it parodies. And when it confronts us with facts, they must be as scrutinized as any other news source. Its claim, for example, that the DNC cost $250 million to put on, is off by nearly $150 million.
But it’s always engaging, thanks to two of Denver’s best actors. It’s fun to see the normally intense Hahn play a wacky comic here. The crowd reaction to his antics bears out why more people want to watch “Saturday Night Live” than “The CBS Evening News.” It’s more fun. But the dramatic intensity that lives in Hahn’s bones also keeps him from fully replicating Colbert’s precocious abandon.
As Piper, Slack is just chilling, slowly morphing from an adorable Midwestern china doll into a frightening character butcher. Her scathing “expose” of Obama’s past is so compellingly presented, she may well sway undecided voters in the audience. This is exactly why the right only puts Pipers like Georgette Mosbacher and Kellyanne Conway to spew their rhetoric on political shows like “Larry King Live.” They’re purty.
Theater, like most media, is too often a one-way dialogue. “Mediamockracy” may be dicey in spots, but it deserves praise for turning live theater into a two-way conversation.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“DNC Mediamockracy” *** (out of four stars)
Multimedia political exploration. Presented by Listen Productions at Buntport Theater, 717 Lipan St. Written by ensemble. Directed by Mitch Dickman. 2 hours, 20 minutes. Through Oct. 25. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. $20 (two-for-one Thursdays), 720-290-1104 or
