Regular programming resumes on Thursday with an issue featuring filmmaker and actor Jennifer Esposito. But today, I am dedicating a special interstitial issue to Morgan Jenness, a force in the American theater, the subject of a Substack that didn’t happen, my beloved friend and first agent and mentor and surrogate something or other; she inspired me and infuriated me and woke me up and pushed me forward. We ran into each other two weeks before she died and she told me how much she loved this Substack, and I said, “Let’s do one on you!” and she said, “Sure but not yet” and we discussed having breakfast and doing an interview (“After the holidays,” she promised) but she died on November 12, 2024, and no such interview would occur.
I spent the greater part of the day yesterday and into the night celebrating Morgan and her/their legacy (I believe they started using they/them pronouns in the last year or two; I will use both interchangeably, I think now from the ultimate fluidity of The Beyond, Morgan would be okay with that.)
They were a complicated mentor. Brilliant, impatient, often right and sometimes mean. But divine. Truly truly truly… divine.
My husband teases me when I talk about theater people as “family” but yesterday’s memorial made that word feel more appropriate than ever. It was a gathering of the tribes, an intersection between theater-makers, East Village icons, Morgan’s many generations of students and activist comrades. (Morgan proudly claimed to be the dramaturg of the Occupy movement). There are a few great pictures of her parade here on the IG.
If you love theater and believe in a better world, I urge you to read about Morgan and their legacy. They probably had their hands in every great American play of the last forty years. They were a force and we were blessed to work with and alongside them.
Til Thursday,
Love,
Brooke
Wonderful tribute.
L o v e