Like the members of Fleetwood Mac, or the Mamas & the Papas, or the Beatles, or Van Halen, the rock band at the center of the Broadway play Stereophonic can’t seem to keep its act together. The bassist stumbles drunk and late into a recording session; the guitarist keeps futzing with the tempo on a song. The musicians are clearly close with one another—lots of inside jokes, lots of casual touching—but that only makes the bickering more personal.
The last few weeks of the year are marked by movement. Some people might return to their hometown to spend the holidays with their family and friends, while others may use the lull to take a much-needed vacation. Travelers flock to airports and train stations, anxious to reach their final destination. Tempers may flare as the stress of the season reaches a fever pitch.
The comedian Tig Notaro is perhaps most famous for her 2012 stand-up set in Los Angeles during which she revealed a recent cancer diagnosis. “With humor, the equation is tragedy plus time equals comedy,” she said at the time. “I am just at tragedy.” The performance’s release as an album, Live (as in to be alive, not in person), hit No.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of our coverage of The Atlantic Festival. Learn more and watch festival sessions here. In the dark 1999 comedy Election, the overachieving student Tracy Flick—played by an up-and-coming Reese Witherspoon—dreams of political domination, starting with the race for class president at her suburban high school.
When they write, authors can choose to imagine fantastical worlds, or to follow the lives of celebrities or presidents. Describing the banality of the day-to-day—our relationships, the spaces we inhabit, and our jobs—can seem less glamorous and more difficult. But there’s plenty of fascinating territory to explore in writing about the workplace—including the blurry line, especially in modern times, between our personal lives and our professional ones.