Having enjoyed The New Group's production of Jonathan Marc Sherman's play "Things We Want" directed by Ethan Hawke about five years ago, I was looking forward to seeing "Clive," Sherman's adaptation of Brecht's "Baal" directed by and starring Hawke. To say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. Although it's only January, this is my nomination for worst play of the year -- any year. It's an incoherent, indulgent, boring mess! About the only good thing I can say about it is that I enjoyed seeing Vincent D'Onofrio onstage again. Other cast members include Brooks Ashmanskas, Stephanie Janssen, Mahira Kakkar, Zoe Kazan, Aaron Krohn, Dana Lyn and the playwright. Derek McLane's high-concept set included seven doors that double as musical instruments. Catherine Zuber's costumes are clever, which is more than I can say about the play. I would rather undergo root canal surgery than sit through this play again. Running time: one hour, 40 minutes without intermission.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Another review for 'Clive'
LET'S TALK OFF BROADWAY
Clive by Jonathan Marc Sherman, based on Bertolt Brecht's Baal, directed by Ethan Hawke, The New Group
What a disappointment! I went to Clive because of two actors, Ethan Hawke, who was outstanding recently in Ivanov at Classic Stage, and Vincent D’Onofrio whose superb acting I watch with fascination on “Law and Order CI” and was excited at the chance to see him on stage. The upshot: Hawke gives a stellar, energetic, balletic performance in a play that goes nowhere and has no reason for being, and D’Onofrio’s great gifts are beside the point in the role he plays.
Clive is a talented, successful but self-defeating singer-musician-songwriter whom women flock to and whom he treats badly, one after the other after the other. That’s pretty much the play. The four women, all sexually used and rejected in various brutal ways, are hard to tell apart except for one, Clive’s friend’s girl, who stands out because she starts off as virginal and wearing little girl white knee socks -- virginal for the friend, that is, but not for Clive, who attracts her with his irresistible sexual pull and drives her to death.
Eventually Clive, having killed his bearishly good natured friend Doc, flees to Canada where he dies dissolutely and decidedly unloved. This is not a development, because Clive is a dissolute narcissist from start to finish -- he doesn’t change. That’s the main reason why we don’t need this play. Hawke is magnetic but he needs a decent vehicle.
D’Onofrio’s greatness lies in his subtlety that lets you know what's going on inside his head -- there are small changes in his face and body language that signal large outward and inward events. Even when he lets loose emotionally, he illuminates the character, now and through his history. Here, as Doc, he plays a big guy who mainly squeezes out animal growls and snarls like someone trying not so playfully to scare a child. (Why, Mr. D’Onofrio, would you ever take this part?)
The set, by Derek McLane, is stunning -- a beautiful abstraction made of the differently textured bottoms of whiskey bottles and beer cans, with an allover heavenly tone of silvery blue. Open to view when one enters, it makes one all but certain there's a wonderful evening of theater ahead. There isn't. Clive's a parcel of wasted talent.
Clive plays at Theatre Row, The Acorn Theatre, on West 42nd Street in Manhattan through March 9. For more information and tickets, click on live link of title.
Yvonne Korshak
'Vincent D’Onofrio gets back on the New York stage'
TIMEOUT
Thanks to pal Ethan Hawke, the TV gumshoe appears Off Broadway in Clive.
Tue Jan 22 2013
Photograph: Serge Nivelle
An unhinged soldier who kills his sergeant and himself in Full Metal Jacket. The human host for an alien bug in Men in Black. A modern-day Sherlock Holmes in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. With such diverse film and TV roles on his résumé, it’s no wonder Vincent D’Onofrio is known as an actor’s actor, a compliment he said “doesn’t mean anything” in the 2012 viral video “Hollywood D’os and D’on’ts.”
But whether he accepts it or not, the chameleon-like performer is highly regarded by his peers. In fact, it was friend and frequent collaborator Ethan Hawke who brought D’Onofrio back to the NYC stage, after a 17-year hiatus, for Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Clive at the New Group. Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s first full-length play, Baal, the expressionistic drama chronicles the drug-, sex- and alcohol-fueled demise of a licentious songwriter and his loyal pal. Hawke directs and plays the titular libertine, while D’Onofrio, ever the character actor, is his big, bald BFF. We spoke with the star about why he rarely does theater, whether he’ll reprise his signature L&O role and building sand castles.
Unlike most Hollywood actors, you live here, in your hometown. And yet you haven’t been on stage since the ’90s. Why?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I just love films so much. Other than that, I have no idea why. I love going to the theater. But I wouldn’t be doing Clive right now if Ethan hadn’t asked me. He had tried to get me involved in stuff before, like I was supposed to do A Lie of the Mind [at the New Group in 2010], but then I couldn’t. I’ve just been blown away by everybody’s work on Clive and I’m having an absolute blast.
Does that mean we’ll be seeing more of you on stage?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I don’t know. I’m not going to do Tennessee Williams or Chekhov or some normal classic. That’s not me. There are so many great theater actors, and I don’t pretend to be one. Maybe you’ll see me do Lear one day when I get older. That would be nice. But theater is hard work! The movie business is a vacation compared to this. And nobody ever asks me to do theater except for Ethan. Maybe if they start asking I’d consider it more.
While there are darkly funny moments, Clive is super emotional and quite violent.
Vincent D'Onofrio: It’s intense. Clive and my character, Doc, go on this kind of narcissistic trip together. All of the violence in the play is driven by emotion. Some of it seems very American theater, like Sam Shepard or even Odets. But other parts seem like a song, even though they’re not being sung.
Although you rarely play romantic leads, you have quite the female fan following. How do you feel about that?
Vincent D'Onofrio: Gregory Hines was a very good friend of mine. Years ago, we were walking down Madison Avenue and he had to stop a million times to sign autographs, and I said, “Wow, man, how do you deal with all that?” And he said, “If you do a lot of film and TV work, people don’t get a chance to applaud, and that’s all they’re really doing.” If you think of it in those terms, you feel much more gracious. I’m just happy that people like what I do.
Indeed! There are some very interesting tribute videos on YouTube.
Vincent D'Onofrio: [Laughs] I’m sure there are. I stay away from them.
A lot of audiences know you best as Detective Goren on L&O: CI. Do you think you’ll ever reprise the role?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I’d play him again in a second, but I doubt that will ever happen. If Wolf Films thought that it could make a buck, then I would probably get a call, but I don’t think there’s any way of doing that unless it came back as a series. And I don’t see that happening.
You often work with the same people over and over, like Hawke and director Jennifer Chambers Lynch. Is that by design?
Vincent D'Onofrio: Yes. I need real relationships in my life. I don’t do very well with businessy relationships. I’m not a good networker and I don’t get out much. I’m a real homebody. I’ve got three kids now, a wife of 16 years. I’m very lucky to be working at all. This is how complicated my life is not: My wife got a DVD on building sand castles so our family could compete in the Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest. We won first place last year. I’m very proud of that.
Unlike most Hollywood actors, you live here, in your hometown. And yet you haven’t been on stage since the ’90s. Why?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I just love films so much. Other than that, I have no idea why. I love going to the theater. But I wouldn’t be doing Clive right now if Ethan hadn’t asked me. He had tried to get me involved in stuff before, like I was supposed to do A Lie of the Mind [at the New Group in 2010], but then I couldn’t. I’ve just been blown away by everybody’s work on Clive and I’m having an absolute blast.
Does that mean we’ll be seeing more of you on stage?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I don’t know. I’m not going to do Tennessee Williams or Chekhov or some normal classic. That’s not me. There are so many great theater actors, and I don’t pretend to be one. Maybe you’ll see me do Lear one day when I get older. That would be nice. But theater is hard work! The movie business is a vacation compared to this. And nobody ever asks me to do theater except for Ethan. Maybe if they start asking I’d consider it more.
While there are darkly funny moments, Clive is super emotional and quite violent.
Vincent D'Onofrio: It’s intense. Clive and my character, Doc, go on this kind of narcissistic trip together. All of the violence in the play is driven by emotion. Some of it seems very American theater, like Sam Shepard or even Odets. But other parts seem like a song, even though they’re not being sung.
Although you rarely play romantic leads, you have quite the female fan following. How do you feel about that?
Vincent D'Onofrio: Gregory Hines was a very good friend of mine. Years ago, we were walking down Madison Avenue and he had to stop a million times to sign autographs, and I said, “Wow, man, how do you deal with all that?” And he said, “If you do a lot of film and TV work, people don’t get a chance to applaud, and that’s all they’re really doing.” If you think of it in those terms, you feel much more gracious. I’m just happy that people like what I do.
Indeed! There are some very interesting tribute videos on YouTube.
Vincent D'Onofrio: [Laughs] I’m sure there are. I stay away from them.
A lot of audiences know you best as Detective Goren on L&O: CI. Do you think you’ll ever reprise the role?
Vincent D'Onofrio: I’d play him again in a second, but I doubt that will ever happen. If Wolf Films thought that it could make a buck, then I would probably get a call, but I don’t think there’s any way of doing that unless it came back as a series. And I don’t see that happening.
You often work with the same people over and over, like Hawke and director Jennifer Chambers Lynch. Is that by design?
Vincent D'Onofrio: Yes. I need real relationships in my life. I don’t do very well with businessy relationships. I’m not a good networker and I don’t get out much. I’m a real homebody. I’ve got three kids now, a wife of 16 years. I’m very lucky to be working at all. This is how complicated my life is not: My wife got a DVD on building sand castles so our family could compete in the Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest. We won first place last year. I’m very proud of that.
Click here for tickets to Clive.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Review: 'Ass Backwards' at Sundance Film Festival
HOLLYWOOD
By Matt Patches , Hollywood.com Staff | Tuesday, January 22, 2013
By Matt Patches , Hollywood.com Staff | Tuesday, January 22, 2013
People in the media continue to argue over whether "woman are funny" (OK, mostly Adam Carolla). But sift through the past decade of comedy and it's painfully obvious that when it comes to making us laugh, ladies can bring it. Hollywood is slowly latching onto this, pipelining more and more female-led projects with cross-gender appeal. The only problem is that most of them sideline what makes the actresses spark. A woman is either handed a generic romantic comedy in hopes they will elevate the material, or a high-concept vehicle with a meaty ensemble (Bridesmaids and 2013's Identity Thief fit in here). Can't a lady just be silly, stupid, and funny like their male counterparts?
Yes. Yes, they can. And yes, they should.
Sundance's midnight premiere slate is annually curated with the weirdest and wildest in independent film, and 2013 proved itself worthy with the Monday night premiere of Ass Backwards. Written by and starringHappy Endings star Casey Wilson and June Diane Raphael (NTSF:SD:SUV), Ass Backwards tracks two happily delusional, life long friends in New York City — Chloe (Wilson) is a "rising star" dancing in a glass box at a club, while Kate (Raphael) is the CEO of her own egg donor company — as they hit the road to participate in a 50th anniversary beauty pageant. In their early days, Chloe and Kate were pageant losers, tying for last place after one particularly disastrous competition. Now they aim to redeem themselves — as long as they can actually drive themselves back home.
Ass Backwards is straightforward like a female-driven comedy is rarely allowed to be in big studio movies. The two friends are morons, and Wilson and Raphael never back down from acting like idiots in the name of landing a laugh. Like Dumb and Dumber, or even more appropriate, the last female-pairing to be this fearless in his desire for stupidity, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Ass Backwards pushes buttons and presents ridiculousness that's also familiar. These are the type of girls who sing along to a skipping CD recording of "Take on Me," swoon over the voice of their British GPS system, pay back the hospitality of a lesbian commune by handing out sexual favors, and get star struck when they meet a meth junkie from their favorite rehab reality show. Unbalanced, but relatable.
What makes Romy and Michele forever watchable, and why Ass Backwards could be a breakout hit when it eventually arrives in theaters, is that both sets of space case characters love their lives and love each other. Chloe and Kate face off in a sultry dancing competition at a local strip club and are routinely found squatting on the side of the road, but they're journey bubbles over with friendship. Everyone hates them — minus Chloe's Dad (Vincent D'Onofrio), who hands over every dime from his "backwards hat" store to his daughter — except for themselves. Making it impossible for us not to love them.
Wilson and Raphael have unique comedic voices, as crass as any male counterpart with strong female identity. They go big and physical with Ass Backwards, dressing their alter egos in over the top costumes (or "high fashion," as it's known in New York) and letting loose in a way that recalls the early days of Jim Carrey. It helps that Wilson and Raphael both come from sketch comedy (SNL and a handful of Adult Swim shows, respectively). They're well-versed in hyper-specific characters — and ones we want to spend more time with, just to see what trouble they weasel their ways into. Romy and Michele only returned for a subpar direct-to-DVD sequel. Let's hope Ass Backwards finds a big enough audience that we get a few more rounds with the lovable disasters Chloe and Kate.
[Photo Credit: Prominent Pictures]
Review: 'The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman'
{Vincent has a small role at the beginning of the film as the boyfriend of Charlie's mother}
By Justin Lowe
By Justin Lowe
PARK CITY – Commercials director Fredrik Bond makes a promising feature debut with this fanciful crime-drama romance that gratifyingly eschews strict genre classification. The film’s frequent violence and occasional nudity will clearly assure an “R” rating, but within that limited audience there’s plenty here to appeal to both the date crowd and crime-movie adherents, as well as fans of the two appealing leads.
Introduced in voiceover by an unseen Narrator (John Hurt), Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) is a bit of a lost soul and the death of his mother Katie (Melissa Leo) leaves him completely adrift. After she passes, he sees her in a vision and asks her for guidance – she tells him to go visit Bucharest. Lacking any other direction in his life, Charlie boards a Chicago flight headed for Romania and meets Victor (Ion Caramitru), a Romanian taxi driver on his way home to visit his daughter.
Casual conversation reveals a shared love for the hapless Chicago Cubs baseball team, but their newfound friendship is cut short when Victor peacefully passes away on the flight and Charlie experiences another vision: Victor telling him to deliver a gift that he was carrying to his daughter Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood). Charlie agrees, tracking her down at the airport when he arrives and consoling her as best he can before offering to assist with the disposition of her father’s body.
Later at the opera house where he watches her play cello in the orchestra, Charlie meets Gabi’s menacing ex-husband Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen), who has unfinished business with Victor over a missing videocassette that he now plans to settle with Gabi, but she turns him away. Later that night on a circuitous wander around the city, Charlie’s convinced he’s falling in love with Gabi, but she remains aloof and mysterious about her relationship with Nigel.
By coincidence, Charlie learns more about Nigel and Gabi from Darko (Til Schweiger), another gangster and associate of Nigel’s who runs customer shakedowns at a local nightclub. Darko’s looking for the same videotape that Nigel is seeking, plunging Charlie into a standoff between Gabi and the two heavies, even as the young couple is discovering the first glimmers of romance. Charlie will clearly need to elevate his game if he’s going to help extract Gabi from her perilous situation – if in fact she even wants to be rescued.
Screenwriter Matt Drake reportedly based the script on his personal experiences in Romania, but introduces some fanciful elements to the gritty narrative, such as Charlie’s ability to converse with the recently deceased, as well as the somewhat problematic device of the Narrator’s voiceover. Many of the omniscient observations made by the unidentified character can be directly deduced from the film’s plot and theme, making his rather ponderous pronouncements about love and fate seem almost ridiculously grandiose. Overall, however, Drake manages a taut balance between action and romance that’s consistently engaging.
With a scruffy demeanor and wide-eyed enthusiasm, LaBeouf projects a degree of emotional recklessness that’s both disarming and disconcerting to watch. Woods blends so capably into the role, with her distinctly European bearing and Romanian-accented speech, that she easily conceals her American origins. As her violent and unpredictable ex, Mikkelsen is chillingly proficient and although she appears only briefly, Leo registers strongly.
Supported by a dream team of producers, including Bona Fide Productions’ Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, as well as Voltage Pictures’ Nicolas Chartier, Bond effectively incorporates the script’s more eccentric elements while keeping them grounded in the principal narrative. Production values are top-shelf overall, supported by a propulsive score and strategically incorporated special effects.
Venue: Sundance Film Festival, Premieres
Production companies: Voltage Pictures, Bona Fide Productions
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger, Rupert Grint, James Buckley, Vincent D’Onofrio, Melissa Leo, Ion Caramitru, John Hurt
Director: Fredrik Bond
Screenwriter: Matt Drake
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Craig J. Flores, William Horberg
Executive Producers: Nicolas Chartier, Patrick Newall, Dean Parisot
Director of photography: Roman Vasyanov
Production designer: Joel Collins
Costume designer: Jennifer Johnson
Music: Christophe Beck, Deadmono
Editor: Hughes Winborne
Director: Fredrik Bond
Screenwriter: Matt Drake
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Craig J. Flores, William Horberg
Executive Producers: Nicolas Chartier, Patrick Newall, Dean Parisot
Director of photography: Roman Vasyanov
Production designer: Joel Collins
Costume designer: Jennifer Johnson
Music: Christophe Beck, Deadmono
Editor: Hughes Winborne
Sales: CAA
No rating, 107 minutes
'Clive' Review by Blanca Acevedo
Clive-First Saturday Matinee 1-19-2013
Photo by Blanca Acevedo Be warned-this review contains some major spoilers!
Photo by Blanca Acevedo I saw the first matinee of Clive today at the Acorn Theater on West 42nd Street, just blocks from Times Square. In this fast-moving and most unusual play, Vincent dominates the stage, overshadowing the other actors, including Ethan Hawke, who plays the lead role of Clive. The play begins with Vincent's character, Doc, appearing from behind a red door, centerstage, then reaching from behind the door to tap out notes on a xylophone built into the door as he announces "Satan is real." All the seven doors onstage were designed as unique sound sculptures by Gaines with musical instruments and song lyrics built into the design. These scuptures will produce sounds unique to each performance of Clive, thereby creating an original musical score each night. The guitars used by Clive and Doc and the piano onstage all have various lines written on the surfaces. The set is beautifully designed with walls made of silvery beer cases with brand names like Durst and beer cans framed by a curtain made of the tops of beer cans. It's quite a feast for the eyes!
Lobby of the Acorn Theater-photo by Blanca Acevedo Ethan soon appears and announces the beginning of the play, and also reveals that he will play the role of Clive because "I'm dead." Indeed, we are led through various outrageous and sometimes tawdry vignettes in the life of Clive and his buddies, bimbos and best friend Doc, leading up to Clive's tragic end in a rather strange circumstance. Let's just say it involves ice fishing. "A rat lies in the gutter dying...so what?" Ethan brings the rock star swagger to his role of Clive, brandishing his guitar for several musical numbers and even reciting lines written on the guitar, admonishing Joanne, his friend's teenaged girlfriend, to "clean up and go home" after a night of debauchery, punctuating his insult with the boast "I fucked you well." In the first of several tragedies that haunt Clive, Joanne drowns herself after losing her virginity to him and suffering his rejection. But Clive just can't help himself, and soon impregnates and abandons Sophia, who's adored by a devoted Doc, but loves Clive.
Photo by Blanca Acevedo Doc is a striking figure onstage, dressed in country western garb and howling at the audience at times, even barking like a bulldog at Clive's behest, but Doc is no court jester. Vincent brings his own larger than life swagger to the role of Doc, who's boisterous and charming with a pronounced southern drawl and thirst for booze, babes and blow to match his towering frame. Doc and Clive share an unexpectedly homoerotic moment as both are seated on the stage and Clive jumps onto Doc's lap. As they embrace, I could swear they were about to kiss, but they do not. Hot damn! Zoe Kazan, who was hilarious in "A Behanding in Spokane" with Christopher Walken, Anthony Mackie and Sam Rockwell in 2010, plays Joanne the blond, Sophia the brunette and the nameless redhead who falls for Doc, only to be ravished by Clive in the bushes after Doc's boast that she "fucked me like a squirrel fucks another squirrel." ??? Imagine how funny that line sounds when spoken by George Geronimo Gerkie, sans the wig and hat, and you'll get a sense of the strange humor that permeates Clive. Speaking of the little red-haired girl, she gets a few playful spanks on the butt from Doc, who's all hands with her in their brief time together onstage. Charlie Brown never had it so good! As for nudity, Doc's bald head and Clive's shirtless staggering about the stage will have to suffice. Sorry, Vixens.:(
Photo by Blanca Acevedo Aside from Vincent and Ethan, the rest of the cast play multiple roles throughout the 1 1/2 hour production, from pals of Clive to junkies, prostitutes to priests, and a group of fishermen who taunt a dying Clive while snorting drugs from his prone body. Music is performed by the actors in fragmented segments throughout the play, so I wouldn't call this a concert or musical. Vincent and Ethan perform a country-flavored duet with their twin guitars, but they chant the words rather than actually sing them. Clive also performs by a piano decorated with lines such as "First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes...." and "Mama tried." Shades of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat here and on the guitars, as well. Clive's guitar sports various lines of dialogue and the legend "Be Nice To Me Sweetheart This is My Room" and the name "Elephant." Doc's guitar is named "Elephant My Ass" and bears a legend around the body of his guitar similar to Clive's.
Photo by Blanca Acevedo Major Spoiler!!!! Don't read this if you don't want to know what happens to Doc near the end of the play. Otherwise, read on..... As we know by now, Vincent has played many villains and anti-heroes on screen and on TV, and they usually die onscreen. Well, sorry to say that Doc meets his end after a bitterly drunken fight with Clive, sparked by jealousy and resentment over past wrongs (remember Doc's redheaded girlfriend?) Doc, who once snorted dope with Clive off their guitars, explodes with rage, demanding to know "Are you the only girlfriend I'm allowed to have?" A barroom brawl turns deadly as Clive, switchblade in hand, turns Doc into a ghost bathed in red light. Doc later appears with angel's wings, one wing bearing the words "Doc is dead" and the other "RIP." Clive's downfall is a foregone conclusion-"A rat lies in the gutter dying...so what?" Sex, drugs, rock and roll, larceny, rape, murder, etc........Are people nothing but hedonistic animals? Is love even possible in such a godless world? Who cares? I think Doc would have, definitely.
THANK YOU, BLANCA! VISIT BLANCA'S SITE HERE
Thursday, January 17, 2013
'School Bus Drivers Gearing Up for Planned Strike'
NEW YORK CITY — Thousands of school bus drivers were preparing to report to picket lines Wednesday morning, as both sides continued to dig in their heels hours before a threatened strike that would leave 150,000 students without rides.
A day after a press conference announcing their plans, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 president Michael Cordiello said it members still intend to strike, beginning at 6 a.m.
“The administration has still made no attempt to come to the table,” Cordiello told reporters during an afternoon conference call.
“We tried every option to avoid a strike, but our members feel their back is to the wall."
Instead of boarding buses, the drivers and matrons represented by the union intend to gather at bus depots to picket what they argue is an attempt by the Bloomberg administration to strip employee protections they say ensure experienced drivers don't get pushed out.
The strike, which has been threatened for weeks, stems from the Department of Education's decision to bid out new driver contracts for the first time in 33 years on 1,100 bus routes for children with special needs.
The city's busing costs have spiked from $71 million in 1979 to $1.1 billion today, according to the DOE, which argues the approximately $6,900 per student could be better spent in the classroom.
But the union is furious the new contracts would eliminate guaranteed job protections for their 7,700 existing workers — protections city officials insist they are legally barred from offering, because of a previous court ruling.
The union, however, disagrees, and says it plans to strike until the administration changes its tune.
Leaders have declined to say how long the strike could last, but noted the last strike lasted 14 weeks.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted to Monday's threatened strike with outrage, calling it "irresponsible and misguided."
“With its regrettable decision to strike, the union is abandoning 152,000 students and their families who rely on school bus service each day," he said in a statement, noting that the city is now beginning to put contingency plans in place.
School bus companies have also spoken out against the strike, which they claim isn't fair because drivers work for them — not the city.
The New York City School Bus Contractors Coalition called the ATU strike "an unlawful secondary strike" and said Monday it would unfair labor practice charges.
The impending strike has left parents across the city scrambling to figure out how to get their children to school.
Already, many have been keeping their kids home from school this week for fear of a mid-day strike, said Sarah Valeri, an art therapist at the Jewish Guild for the Blind where she works with special education students who are transported by DOE buses.
Administrators there are expecting no more than ten kids to attend classes tomorrow out of a class of 50, she said.
"I know it's going to be a huge difficulty for parents," she said.
Carin van der Donk, a parent and founder of Common Sense Busing, said she and others parents had been communicating via a giant email chain, trying to work out a carpooling plan.
“It is going be intense," she said. "There’s a lot of people trying to figure out if they can get a couple hours off from work in the morning."
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130115/new-york-city/school-bus-drivers-gearing-up-for-planned-strike#ixzz2IEx2olJU
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