THE SCHOLAR WITH NO B.S.ANY TALK BY GUS EDWARDS IS A REFRESHING COURSE

All of which makes Tropicana rather unusual. While his earlier works, as playwright Jim Leonard says, have their politics hidden under the specifics of human behavior," Tropicana is overtly political. Scenes in rehearsal at the Galvin Playhouse last week showed white tourists and residents on the island of Tropicana being raped and murdered by black insurgents during carnival season, while a newscaster read reports describing the events. Gus takes a rather offhanded attitude about the play. He distances himself from whatever message it contains by saying, They're the characters' politics-I made them up." He hardly ever bothers to go to rehearsals. He doesn't pay too much attention to reviews, either. His attitude toward a good review is: You had to have a New York Times reviewer verify my validity as a person? Fuck off." His attitude toward bad reviews is: It was the best I could do at the time. Besides, I have another one."

Of course, since Gus Edwards says he has given up playwriting, that may no longer be true.

Jim Leonard, whose office at ASU is down the hall from Gus', smiles at that. He's been saying that for as long as I've known him"-three and a half years-and he's written three plays in that time."

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOR AND THE NEIGHBO... v1-22-92