Student protest has ART upset
Celebrated storyteller Mike Daisey had barely begun his 90-minute monologue at the American Repertory Theatre when much of the audience stood up and walked out. One of the put-upon patrons even picked up a glass of water used as an on stage prop and poured it over Daisey's papers. The problem? The posse, 87 students and staff visiting Thursday from Norco High School in Southern California, objected to Daisey's dirty language. (They left during a particularly profane riff about Paris Hilton.) Daisey, who's posted the episode on YouTube, invited the aggrieved audience members to talk to him, but they bolted. "None of you have the guts to stay here and talk to me," said Daisey. "Saying [expletive] is the least racy thing I do, so I'm a little flabbergasted." Daisey's handwritten outline -- he doesn't work from a script -- was soaked, but salvageable. "If a patron in an art museum objected to a painting and slashed it, we'd be clear that that's a criminal act," the ART's artistic director, Gideon Lester, fumed yesterday. Seems the school group did inquire about the content of the show, called "Invincible Summer," and was told it includes profanity and adult subject matter. They decided to buy tickets anyway. Daisey has since talked to Cindy Lee, Norco's activities director, and received a halfhearted apology. "They keep saying it was a 'security issue' . . . They had to get their children out because of these words," he said. "It's ludicrous." The show runs through Sunday.
‘The Road’ leads to Hollywood
The movie based on Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road" may get made sooner rather than later. With all the laurels being tossed at the lugubrious tale, the local couple producing the film say it's on the fast track. Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz , owners of the Waltham-based PR firm Schwartz Communications, have enlisted Joe Penhall to write the script and Aussie filmmaker John Hillcoat to direct. "This has certainly become a much higher- profile project," Steve Schwartz told us yesterday. Not long after Oprah Winfrey announced that "The Road" will be her latest book-club pick, McCarthy's bleak, post-apocalyptic novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The producers picked Penhall in part because they liked his adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel "Enduring Love." With any luck, shooting could commence in the spring of '08. "It'll be filmed in a suitably grim place," said Schwartz, who's on something of a roll. The couple's PR firm, which is the largest in New England, was just named the 2006 Technology Agency of the Year by the editors of The Holmes Report, a leading newsletter for the PR industry.A fashionable garden party
Legendary fashion designer Oscar de la Renta spoke to a sold-out crowd at a pricey fund-raising lunch yesterday at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. But instead of sharing fashion advice, the 74-year-old czar of ready-to-wear talked about his love of horticulture. "Unlike fashion, you can never predict the outcome of your garden," de la Renta said before the event, which raised $200,000 for the museum's landscape program.Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis yesterday visited with John Hancock employees, who raised almost $10,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Businesses and schools raised $300,000 on opening day for the Jimmy Fund's Rally Against Cancer. Youkilis will be joined by teammate Dustin Pedroia for today's visit to the Furna ce Brook Middle School in Marshfield, which raised almost $17,000. . . . Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik, Grammy-winning saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter, composer Halim El-Dabh, and documentary filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon will receive honorary doctorates at New England Conservatory's graduation on May 20. Also getting an honorary degree: former Globe classical music writer Richard Dyer, who'll deliver the commencement address. . . . Pats' running back Kevin Faulk was at 33 Restaurant & Lounge the other night, hanging with co-owner Greg Den Herder. Faulk's hosting a fund - raiser there in May to benefit Louisiana's United Way.
Christopher Muther of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253. 
