View source for Arena

{{Infobox
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|image = [[File:Typewriter.jpg|360px|center]]
|headerstyle  = background:var(--infobox-header-color);
|labelstyle   = background:var(--infobox-header-color);
|datastyle    = 
|below = [https://www.joefrank.com/?s={{#invoke:URLEncode|encode|{{PAGENAME}}}} Purchase]&nbsp;/&nbsp; [https://www.joefrank.com/streaming/shows/?jfsearch={{#invoke:URLEncode|encode|{{PAGENAME}}}} Stream]
|belowstyle= border-top: 1px solid #333;padding-top:5px;
|header1 = Series
|data2 = [[WBAI And NPR Playhouse]]
|header3 = Original Broadcast Date
|data4  = 6/8/[[:Category:1979|1979]]
|header5  = Cast
|data6  = [[Annalee Jefferies]], [[Arthur Miller]], [[Paul Mantell]], [[Rosemary Foley]], [[Eric Sears]], [[Tim Jerome]], [[Matt Bassford]], [[Lester Nafzger]], Joe Frank 
|header7 = Format
|data8 = [[:Category:Sound Effects|Sound Effects]], [[:Category:Absurd Monologue|Absurd Monologue]], [[:Category:Scripted Actors|Scripted Actors]], [[:Category:Improv Actors|Improv Actors]], [[:Category:Panel Discussion|Panel Discussion]], 59 minutes
|header9 = Chronology
|label10= Preceded by: 
|label11= Followed by: 
|data10 = [[The Death Of Trotsky]]
|data11 = [[Summer Notes]]
|
}}

''They stood at the water's edge, the waves mounting, then crashing and sweeping up the coastline...''

'''Arena''' is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series [[WBAI And NPR Playhouse]].  It was originally broadcast in [[:Category:1979|1979]].

== Synopsis ==
"Solea" (Miles Davis, <i>Sketches of Spain</i>) 

1:20: Sound of a typewriter, then Joe's voice narrating a story about 2 people, Jos&eacute; (a bullfighter - [[Tim Jerome]]) and Susanna ([[Annalee Jefferies]]?), at the shore, watching the waves crash, 'and to him they (the waves) were like bulls, they kept on coming, one after another, in stubborn and despairing fortitude'.<ref>An homage to how [[The Eighty Yard Run]] ended?</ref>

1:50: Jos&eacute; and Susanna take up the story themselves. Jos&eacute;'s mother took him to the shore when he was a child, rubbed them (her children) against the rock to get them clean. She's head over heels in love with him. He tells bullfighting stories. 

5:50: "Music for 18 Musicians" (Steve Reich). 

6:20: July 15 - Joe complains that he can't get the beach scene right, wonders why characters he writes can cause him such frustration, as though they had lives of their own. 

6:40: Joe wonders, 'When will that book on Domingu&iacute;n arrive?'<ref> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Miguel_Domingu%C3%ADn Luis Miguel Domingu&iacute;n] was a famous bullfighter. Thanks to Chris Pirazzi for this reading.</ref>

7:20: [[Arthur Miller]] remembers when he was a child and first learning to read. His father, also a psycho-anthropologist, gave him <i>Black beauty</i>, which terrified him. A woman ([[Rosemary Foley]], [[Avery Hart]] are the other women in the cast) avers that people write to purge their pain. Another man ([[Lester Nafzger]]?) enters the discussion.<ref>I haven't figured out how many voices are in this segment.</ref>

10:30: Joe narrates Jos&eacute; and Susanna's story again, to the sound of his typewriter and <i>Solea</i>. Their car is careening on the coastal road. Driving fast excites Jos&eacute;. 

12:50: The panel discusses the dangers of reading. 

16:50: Joe sometimes feels that he doesn't really exist, that he's a character in someone else's novel, that that author is a character in someone else's novel... so on to the 'universal author father'. 

18:10: Joe's bedroom is a mess; he's missing parts of his novel. 

18:50: Joe narrates Jos&eacute; and Susanna's story: they've just made love. Jos&eacute; tells Susanna that it's like fighting the bull. Jos&eacute; tells the story of his childhood: 13 children in 1 room, his mother a prostitute, his father a fisherman who caught no fish. He tells more bullfighting stories. 

22:50: Joe narrates, says that Susanna senses that this will be their last night together. 

23:50: They go to a church. Jos&eacute; explains the scenes in the stained glass. 

27:10: Joe tells of one of Jos&eacute;'s bullfights. 

29:30: One of the panel (Arthur?) avers that had God wanted man to read he would have given him the ability at birth. Panel discusses reading more. 

31:50: April 22, evening - Joe feels imbued with a sense of doom, can't write, tells of Melville's difficulties writing (fictional).<ref>Note the previous date was July 15.</ref>

33: Joe narrates: Jos&eacute; and Susanna are at Jos&eacute;'s favorite caf&eacute;. 

33:30: Jos&eacute; tells Susanna how beautiful she is. They say they'll be together forever; she wants him to stop fighting, because it's dangerous. To demonstrate that he can't die in a bullfight he ties steak knives to the legs of a chair, has Susanna play the bull so he can demonstrate how good a bullfighter he is. The scene ends with a lame pun. 

39:20: Joe narrates Jos&eacute;'s death. 

40: A redneck couple argues the relative merits of watching television (his preference) and reading (hers). 

44:20: To prove that TV has culture, the guy tunes to a performance by fast pianist Alan Baron. Joe's the host, takes calls, Lester Ainsley (sp? - [[Lester Nafzger]]), another fast pianist calls in. He's angry that Alan Baron won't have a piano-off with him; Baron says Ainsley's a famous pest on the fast piano league. They have an angry argument.<ref>originally aired in [[Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio]]</ref><ref>Re-used in [[Emergency Room]]</ref>

50: A meeting of 'Consciousness-lowering' (CL), most (all?) of the panel.<ref>Re-used in [[Till You're Gone]]</ref>

55:50: November 13 - Joe walks along the shore, collecting stones, sees a dead whale; his bathroom is messy. 

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:95%; overflow:auto;">
<div style="font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;">Legacy Synopsis</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
We hear Joe alternately discussing his own writing process and typing at a keyboard.  His story describes a romance between an American woman and a bullfighter.  The narrative alternates with acted scenes and sound effects.  Every scene degenerates into references to bull fighting.  The couple swims naked in the sea, encounter a whale.  Panel discussion: being terrified of text after reading Black Beauty, writing to purge anxiety, the history of writing.  Story: reckless passion in a race car.  Panel: reading and the downfall of civilization, the danger of self examination.  Joe: the universe as a succession of writers inventing worlds.  Story: a scene in a hotel room above a festival, the bull fighter's childhood, a fisherman living far from water and fishing for scrap ("You cannot eat a coat"), reading doesn't compare to bullfighting, scar stories.  Story: scene in a church, stained glass featuring the resurrection of a wealthy donor, animals communicate with god. Joe: hammering a nail into your heart with your own brocaded slipper.  Panel: man wasn't meant to read, college course reading lists.  Joe: Melville's physical struggle when writing.  Story: a scene in a cafe, she begs him to stop fighting bulls, a model bull fight using steak knives tied to a chair.  A man and woman fight - he wants to watch TV and she wants to read.  A television program: the fastest piano player interview.  Panel: the consciousness lowering group.  Joe: finding a dead whale on the beach, the mess in one's bathroom. 
</div> </div>

== Music ==
{{Solea (Miles Davis) }} [Intro]
{{Music For 18 Musicians (Steve Reich)}} [5:52]

== Shared material ==
* [[Laughing Back - A Movie For Radio]]
* [[Arena (Remix)]]
* [[Till You're Gone]]
* [[Emergency Room]]

== Additional credits ==
The original broadcast credits state: "Written and produced by Joe Frank. Directed by [[Arthur Miller]], with sound by [[David Rapkin]]. Performers included [[Annalee Jefferies]], Arthur Miller, [[Paul Mantell|Bernie Mantell]], [[Rosemary Foley]], [[Eric Sears]], Joe Frank, and [[Tim Jerome]] as the bullfighter and God."

== Footnotes ==
<div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
</ol></div>

[[Category:Sound Effects]]
[[Category:Absurd_Monologue]]
[[Category:Scripted_Actors]]
[[Category:Improv_Actors]]
[[Category:Panel Discussion]]
[[Category:Tim Jerome]]
[[Category:Annalee Jefferies]]
[[Category:Arthur Miller]]
[[Category:Paul Mantell]]
[[Category:Rosemary Foley]]
[[Category:Eric Sears]]
[[Category:Lester Nafzger]]
[[Category:Matt Bassford]]
[[Category:1979]]
[[Category:Show]]
[[Category:Show_by_date|19790608]]	{{Airdate|airdate=1979-06-08}}
[[Category:WBAI And NPR Playhouse]]
{{Series|series=WBAI And NPR Playhouse}}{{Cast|cast=[[Annalee Jefferies]], [[Arthur Miller]], [[Paul Mantell]], [[Rosemary Foley]], [[Eric Sears]], [[Tim Jerome]], [[Matt Bassford]], [[Lester Nafzger]], Joe Frank }}