美国国家公共电台 NPR Conversations Between 2 20th-Century Icons Inspires A New Play

Conversations Between 2 20th-Century Icons¹ Inspires A New Play

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Andy Warhol and Truman Capote were giants in their respective fields, but you might not know that they started working on a Broadway play together. They never finished, but now a first-time playwright² is trying to complete their project. Rob Roth's play "WARHOLCAPOTE" is based on conversations the two men recorded in the 1970s. As Andrea Shea of member station WBUR reports, getting this work from cassette to stage has not been an easy journey.

ANDREA SHEA, BYLINE³: Andy Warhol recorded everything in his life - ordinary conversations, dinner parties, chats on the phone - with his Sony Walkman.

ROB ROTH: He called it his wife. And when he died, there were about 3,000 audio tapes.

SHEA: Rob Roth didn't know the tapes existed until about 10 years ago when he reread "The Andy Warhol Diaries" and spotted⁴ this entry from Warhol.

ROTH: I pulled out those tapes I made with Truman when we were working on the Broadway play, and they're awful. I talked on them so much. I ruined them. I should have just shut up. And I thought, wait a minute. Andy Warhol talked too much on these tapes. I got to try to find them.

SHEA: So began Roth's quest to finish the play Warhol and Capote envisioned. He traced the tapes to The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and contacted Warhol Foundation licensing⁵ director Michael Hermann for access.

MICHAEL HERMANN: What he wanted was to be able to write his play and because this policy, the answer was no.

SHEA: After Warhol died in 1987, his foundation stipulated⁶ that the artist's tapes should not be made public until at least 2037 because they contain juicy gossip about famous people. But Hermann says Roth was persistent⁷.

HERMANN: Given his sincerity⁸ and the uniqueness of the project, we decided⁹ to make this one-time exception.

SHEA: In return, Roth agreed to pay for the tapes to be digitized and transcribed¹⁰ by bonded¹¹ court reporters. He also agreed to indemnify the foundation against any lawsuits¹² over those juicy bits. And he's giving the foundation a share of the profits. The 48-year-old Roth has the money to do it thanks to his career as a successful Broadway and rock concert director. Still...

ROTH: I signed my life away. My lawyer said, oh, do it. You know, it's like a treasure hunt.

SHEA: Roth listened to more than 80 hours of conversation between Warhol and Capote and pored over 8,000 transcript¹³ pages until he found what the two artists were planning.

ROTH: And Andy says, well, Truman, can't I just tape you, the real thing, and can't the tapes be about real people? And Truman says, that's exactly what we should do. The edited tapes will be both real and imagined, and there'll be no clear demarcation between what's real and what's fiction. So they gave me the instructions. That's what I did (laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANDY WARHOL: I admire people who do well with words. And I thought Truman Capote filled up space with words so well that when I first got to New York, I began writing short fan letters to him. If you ask any famous person, you'll find that almost every one of them has at least one person who's obsessed¹⁴ with them.

STEPHEN SPINELLA: He's taken what's there, and he's constructed it in a way that it turns it into a portrait of these two men.

SHEA: Stephen Spinella plays Warhol and says it's been hard to get the quirky artist's voice right.

SPINELLA: And now I actually have a little bit of trouble (laughter) not talking like Andy. When I call my husband, I have to stop myself because it's weird¹⁵. That was Andy. It's weird. It's just a little weird sometimes. I don't know.

LESLIE JORDAN: My opening line is Andy Warhol had this obsession¹⁶ about me. He was very kind of tight-jawed, and he just had that little baby voice.

SHEA: Actor Leslie Jordan was cast to play Capote.

JORDAN: Everybody knew Andy in New York. Everybody knew or wanted to know Andy. But Truman knew him longer.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAPE SPOOLING)

SHEA: Warhol's tape recorder is like a third character in the play, eavesdropping¹⁷ on their intimate banter¹⁸ but also capturing Warhol's fears of intimacy¹⁹ and Capote's alcoholism. Jordan says playing the part of Capote at the American Repertory Theater is the role of a lifetime.

JORDAN: So many of the shows there have gone on to Broadway, which would be my debut²⁰.

SHEA: But in one more plot twist along this play's 10-year journey, the actor withdrew from the production three days before the first preview, citing unforeseen personal circumstances. The creative team scrambled²¹ and found Dan Butler as a replacement²².

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WARHOLCAPOTE")

DAN BUTLER: (As Truman Capote) To me, every act of art is an act of solving a mystery.

SHEA: At the first preview performance, Butler carried his script on stage, a reality-meets-art moment Capote and Warhol might have appreciated. And the dialogue is the closest most of us will ever get to hearing Warhol's cassettes ourselves.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WARHOLCAPOTE")

SPINELLA: (As Andy Warhol) Gee²³, yeah.

SHEA: For NPR News, I'm Andrea Shea in Boston.

1 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

5 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

6 stipulated   

vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的

参考例句：

• A delivery date is stipulated in the contract. 合同中规定了交货日期。
• Yes, I think that's what we stipulated. 对呀，我想那是我们所订定的。 来自辞典例句

7 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

8 sincerity   

n.真诚，诚意；真实

参考例句：

• His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
• He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 transcribed   

（用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音）

参考例句：

• He transcribed two paragraphs from the book into his notebook. 他把书中的两段抄在笔记本上。
• Every telephone conversation will be recorded and transcribed. 所有电话交谈都将被录音并作全文转写。

11 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

12 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

13 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

14 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

15 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

16 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

17 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

18 banter   

n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑

参考例句：

• The actress exchanged banter with reporters.女演员与记者相互开玩笑。
• She engages in friendly banter with her customers.她常和顾客逗乐。

19 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

20 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

21 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

23 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！