The senior theatre critic explains the world series (which is theater, too)

I know, it's odd that I break my long silence (excuses below) to comment on the world series, but it is one of our great national dramas.

And like any good drama, it involves the audience, which creates a crisis for us in Pittsburgh: How can we bring ourselves to root for a team from Philadelphia? On the other hand -- and especially for a New England-bred Red Sox fan such as myself -- how could we bring ourselves to root for the Goldman Sachs of baseball, the Yankees? (I shudder typing it.)

As a Pittsburgher and Red Sox fan, I wouldn't root for the Yankees if they were playing the Cleveland Indians . . . or France . . . or Al Quaeda . . . well, maybe if they were playing France. And it's just too simple to hope that every game will be rained out or that both cities will be washed into the sea.

So my solution, elegant in its simplicity, is to root against the home team in each game, thereby maximizing the anguish. So far, I'm 1 for 1, and I'm rooting for the Philles (yech) in game 2.

As to my long silence, blame it on summer, producing "Off the Record IX," a theater critics conference in NYC, etc., etc. Meanwhile, I've been seeing a lot of theater which, for the most part, I have not been writing about in the PG, so I should have been writing about it here. I plan to get right back in the saddle.