'Doubt' Scribe Snubs Manhattan, Says Bronx Is 'Most Legitimate' Part of City
Friday, June 01, 2012 - 12:37 PM
"Doubt" stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.
(Courtesy of Miramax)
Award-winning “Doubt” scribe John Patrick Shanley argued Friday that the Bronx is “the most legitimate part” of the city because it’s more connected to the rest of the country.
Speaking on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show Friday, Shanely said he grew up in East Tremont and set his latest play “Shorefront Church” — the concluding play in the trilogy that began with “Doubt” — in the borough.
“I feel like the Bronx is really the most legitimate part of New York at this time,” Shanely said. “But it is the only part of New York that is actually part of Mainland, United States. I feel like the people are a little more grounded, a little more out of the rat race and more involved in community than the rest of the city.”
Shanley’s play is about a Bronx Borough President who is pitted against a local minister because of the mortgage crisis.
He said he drew inspiration from ex- Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jr., whom he called a “compelling figure” who was “put out to pasture” when he went to work for the Obama administration.
Comments [1]
I don't understand what his comment is supposed to mean. It would seem to me that the quality that makes a city legitimate is the thing that makes it unique (i.e. unlike all the other cities). Clearly, that is Manhattan. Now, if you don't like the pace of Manhattan, go live in the Bronx but you can't say the Bronx are more authentic or legitimate than Manhattan, which is the essence of NYC.
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