Culture Surfing - Keith Reddin assumes the position

Veteran playwright presents The Missionary Position at Horizon Theatre

Atlanta most recently saw some of the work of veteran playwright Keith Reddin when the Alliance Theatre staged his Kennedy assassination-themed play Frame 312 in 2002. Reddin presents a decidedly lighter perspective on American politics and hypocrisy with The Missionary Position, a comedy opening Friday, Feb. 15 at Horizon Theatre. His work as a screen actor includes The Doors and Lorenzo’s Oil.

Berlin Alexanderplatz: “I’ve been watching the recent Criterion DVD release of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s massive, 15-hour film, originally done for German television. While most movies compress and diminish a great novel of scope, this mind-blowing adaptation expands our understanding of humanity at its most desperate. In one episode the anti-hero just drinks case after case of beer, lying in his own filth — and that goes on for 45 minutes! Just when you think, ‘Please, please leave this squalor,’ it keeps going. No other filmmaker had the time or the balls to take us to that kind of heart of darkness. It’s brutal but life-changing.”

There Will Be Blood: “I just caught another epic saga, this time a looser adaptation of a novel. Daniel Day-Lewis is the capitalist Antichrist, channeling John Huston in Chinatown. Another dark masterpiece — but way shorter.”

The Hives: “This Swedish garage band, which sounds like the Ramones on crack, has been rocking my iPod. They’re funny, and they make you want to have a mosh pit in your living room.”

The Shock Doctrine: “Naomi Klein’s scary book on economics definitely shocks you. It should be required reading for all political candidates.”

Moroccan cuisine: “Having just come back from a trip to Morocco, I’m still hungering for the spicy, sizzling meals made in tagines, the ceramic cooking pots from North Africa. Whether it was meat or vegetables, a dinner with a side of fresh Moroccan flat bread and local wine, the food was an out-of-body experience. Almost as good as sex. I said ‘almost.’”