how-to-be-a-rock-Critic

Lester Bangs is subject of play 'How to Be a Rock Critic,' coming to Public Theater

The writing of legendary/infamous rock critic Lester Bangs is the basis for the solo play How to Be a Rock Critic which stars Erik Jensen, who co-wrote it with his partner Jessica Blank (who directs). Having been workshopped at the Public Theater and performed in Los Angeles in 2015, the play will be at the Public Theatre’s Martinson Hall from January 5 -7 and 12 – 15, with additional matinee performances on 1/6 and 1/12. Here’s the synopsis:

Gonzo journalist, America’s greatest rock critic and inventor of the word “punk,” legendary music writer Lester Bangs was an American icon. Outsized, manic, chaotic, and impossibly creative, Bangs traveled with some of the most mythologized musical figures of the 20th century: The Clash, Bob Marley, Lou Reed­—peeling away the veneer between star and audience and exposing the greats as flawed human beings. As the ragged, rebel ethos of the 70s gave way to the corporate pop of the 80s, Bangs lost the myth he’d built a life around and died of a drug overdose in 1982.

Tickets for How To Be A Rock Critic are on sale now and you can watch a video preview below.

Jensen and Blank, who wrote the acclaimed documentary plays The Exonerated and Aftermath, are currently working on a new documentary play with singer-songwriter Steve Earle.