Chance = Change

PROJECT SHAW, at the Players Club, was, it seems another triumph last night...every time we do one of these Shaw readings, we are so amazed not only at the number of people who show up at them, but at the number of people who stay for the entire thing! In fact, last night's audience, already overbooked, got larger after intermission! People straggled in from the Open Mic Night downstairs at the Player Pub....and the enitre reading, barely read through once by the large cast yesterday afternoon, seemed to delight and enchant...once again, as with ARMS AND THE MAN last month, the place was rocking with laughter and enjoyment of the English language!

David Staller, the originator of this lovely idea and founding principle of The Gingold Theatrical Company, once again pulled the whole thing off with grace and eclat....the cast for FANNY'S FIRST PLAY is large, much larger than most Shaw plays, and yet David managed to make each actor feel special..this is one of his gifts as a person: he makes each person in his sights feel necessary and appreciated.

And with a large large cast that included George Irving (I played his wife in this one), James Murtagh, Max Von Essen, Rebecca Luker, Marc Kudisch, and Peter Yonka (he was a wonderful Narrator), as well as four actual critics reading the roles of the fictional critics in the play (Howard Kissel nailed every single laugh of the character "Trotter"), there was a lot for David S. to juggle in the way of schedules and temperments, and he managed to do so with his usual aplomb...special envelopes and packets with info and money and letters of gratitude for each cast member, etc, all on the lovely designed logo letterhead of PROJECT SHAW....colorful and witty...lovely, all the way around...
As usual...

And I learned a lot, reading the role of "Mrs. Gilbey", thanks to David's direction, after the first read-through...i tried things with her that i would not have instictively known to try, but with David's insights into the woman, I managed to actually use the experience as a genuine work challenge, and i loved it...while I was doing it, it felt like work, as my concerntration was specific on the job i was doing, and I was intent upon it, but as I analyze and discuss it with peter i realize how good it was for me....thanks to David S. I learned a but more about a playwright that continually fascinates and challenges me. Which is another good reason for the PROJECT SHAW: a chance for actors to grow and learn...because of course, as many "name" actors want to be involved (and there is a growing list), it's hardly a "career opportunity" or a money-maker...it is what actors are born to do: grow, learn, discover, entertain, incite and educate....it's what made Shaw the writer he was and is for the ages....

....why does it feel so inviting..."....as the old song goes....and today, cold as cold can be outside, with the sun "a bright canary yellow", would be an answer to that musical query....because two people in love, a Manhattan couple, married , with dogs, can sleep late and pretty much run no risk of missing an appointment! (Although I do have a student coming over at 3:00 for a HISTORY BOYS coaching....his audition is tomorrow....

In any event, Peter and I slept well past nooon, though i was awake at around 9:30 for a cup of coffee...but, since the pups did not seem to need to go out at that time, I snuggled back down under the covers, and slept til 12:40 pm!!!! I don't remember the last time I did that!

There was this outrageous Yoga class yesterday I went to with Paul and Steve....it was exhausting as only a class that is beyond one's reach can be....and despite the lovely brunch afterwards (at Regional, our new neighborhood favorite), I was pretty much done in by all those peaceful asanas! Paul bought me a 10-Class Card, so I guess I will be going back, but to a lower level class, for sure! It did feel good when it stopped....and there is a certain peaceful feeling in knowing you have survived a life-threatening situation!

After brunch, I changed clothes and hurried down to Tisch Graduate Writing and sat through a most delightful reading that Peter was in called YOU MAKE ME SMILE, written by a talented woman named Laine Williason, from LA....Peter was terrific as the lead Dentist/hero who, in the end, gets the girl....and the entire enterprise, directed by Janice Goldberg, was energetic and made the idea of the screenplay very much alive....I had such a good time. And the cast was top-notch...then Peter and I subwayed home, stopping at the Metro for dinner, which for me consisted mainly of a bowl of their wonderful matzohball soup! Then we spent a lovely evening at home....I love when we can do that. We have such a good home, with our Sally and Cyrano doggies, and out comfortable leather furniture we bought in Abingdon....such a cozy living room, very much lived in...comfortable.

And today, with the day I have stretched out before me tomorrow, will be leisurely as well. Except for Alex T.'s coaching, I will read and do needlepoint, Take a long luxurious hot shower and simply restore all systems for a rigorous and demanding Monday, starting with my 9:30 class at NYU. Then FANNY'S FIRST PLAY as part of the Shaw Project....though that should be as much fun as the last one....

Peter ,dear man, has undertaken to re-design my personal website, and it now looks quite different (and far more professional than the one i hurriedly put up two years ago)...check it out, and you will see what I mean. I look so...i dunno..official! And like such a serious working actor person....the motivation for the re-design was that A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE's site now links to mine, and Peter thought I should have something more refined to show for myself...and so....thank you Peter...

In fact, I think I'll check it out now!






Af

....IS the game we're in...and we're proud to be in THE PAJAMA GAME, we love it....we can hardly wait to wake and get to work at eight...nothin's quite the same as the Pajama Game!".....AND THE NEW PRODUCTION, with the divine Kelly O'Hara and Harry Connick, Jr. is a HIT on Broadway!!! At least according to today's NY Times..

This review i just read makes me so happy....why, I wonder....well, I grew up listening to and learning all the musicals of the '50's...didn't we all? And THE PAJAMA GAME , either the movie version with Doris Day and John Raitt, or the Broadway version with Janis Paige , was it? and the redoubtable John Raitt,was one of the LP's on my turntable from earliest memory...so, I had every word down pat, and could belt "You may be sold , but this girl ain't buyin'" with the best of 'em, even at age 10! Or was i younger? In any event, THE PAJAMA GAME resonates along with my youth, and to see it revived, gloriously cast (is there anyone sexier than Harry Connick Jr. except for my husband , of course)and wonderfully reviewed makes me want to go to Broadway theater again....I am so glad it's in town! And Kelly O'Hara is so beautiful, both in voice and face....she enraptured me in A LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA...she's my iea of a Broadway star. So, now we have this shiny new thing in town, and it speaks of love and optimism and healthier times, when innocence was actually an American possibility.

A show from the early 50's before the Industrial-Military complex got it's slimy fingers into every single ganglia of our national body.....a real "walk-away-humming-the- tunes" Broadway show. YAY! I can harly wait to see it. And why? I will hum myself back to my pre-teen years, and sing unembarrasedly along with the orchestra.
Peter will poke me in the side continually to stop, and maybe I will, maybe I won't!
That show makes me feel cheeky! Reminds me of a time when I thought anything was possible. And, you know what, I still feel that way? No matter how long we stay in Iraq.

So today is sunny and cold. Which helps clear the head...my head , to be exact, since it was my head, and Peter's head, along with the heads of Rachel B. , her Alison, friend Hillary and Chris C. , all of whom stayed up late into last night playing Cranium at Paul and Steve's, after a glorious dinner and huge slabs of chocolate cake for dessert! We had a GAME NIGHT, en famille, and it was so much fun, I was crying with laughter! I felt practically drunk, and i had no liquor, only cake and laughter. Another lovely night, prepared and hosted by Stephen C. who is so wonderful at that sort of thing....we all had the best time in the world, and Steve has the wisdom to know that we all need to gather as a family like that and enjoy each other every now and then....Thank you, beautiful Steve! I'm telling you , I have not laughed that much in so long! Wonderful! Cleanses the soul, and the eyes, with all those delicious tears of laughter sttreaming out....

Will spend some time down at NYU today, watching a class and conferencing with a student....

Peter is rehearsing a reading of a new screenplay down at NYU Grad Writing, and i will go see it read tomorrow....Janice Goldberg directs. And soon I must sit and prep my tax info for our accountant meeting in a few weeks....and the time flies by.
A bit more sweetly, perhaps, now that THE PAJAMA GAME is in town.....

....is the next PROJECT SHAW at the Players Club on Monday next, and it will be swell...it has lovely actors in it like Cynthia Harris, George Irving, James Murtagh and me, and Kate Baldwin,Rebecca Luker, Max Von Essen, Marc Kudisch, as well as 4 New York critics who will read the roles of the critics! Should be a hoot....quite festive.....each reading has a special quality about it....

I really need to update my website....so much new to add...and i have neglected it horribly for too long...in fact, since i am responsible for its garish design and color scheme, I really do need to get Peter to help me make it prettier....and to finally complete it in some professional way.

It's gray and cold out, and we will dine this evening at Paul and Steve's , then spend the evening playing games and hopefully having fun. My niece Rachel and her friend Alison will be there too.....Steve us serving as the "mother" to the "family right now, doing his sweet best to keep us all togeter as a family and at least dining every so often together...such a truly nice man. Thank you Stephen.

Tomorrow, I will sit in on the Voice Studio Class of Diana Heldman at Steinhardt...she is Head of the Vocal Training Department, and has her Studio office right next to my classroom at 35 West 4th, on the 9th Floor...so we have had time to talk and become at least initially acquainted with each other and I like her very much. A warm, smart and funny woman, with a healthy and loving respect fort he students she teaches...she seems to genuiely care forthem and for their growth. And her Studio office is a nest of sorts: tea and sympathy and good advice on tap. I look forward to making a friendship there. She has been good to me and wise in her advice concerning my students. I look forward to seeing her work with the students tomorrow.

I think I will go work on my Web Site.....bye for now....xxevalyn

...such a fluid and travel-worthy thing...the nature of space-time-here-now-then-when-duality - the instant moment....so fluid...so really not at all as we experience it daily to be...and the author that captured that sense for me has always been Vladimir Nabakov....i remember studying his books at Northwestern, (the brilliant Dr. Appel), and being stunned to understand how he used his characters to portray the genuine nature of human life: each of our existeneces is like a book, with narrative going forward, yet also going backward and sideways....nothing is really a straight line...and characters appear and re-appear on later pages of one's life in ways that are mysterious, resonant...memory serves as the store house for all those characters that once did appear....the mind is a camera...all the film is stored....and whereas it may get dusty from lack of use, the films remain on the shelves, waiting to be accessed...

From studying Nabakov, I understood that nothing is ever really lost.

So, out of the sheer blue of daily life, suddenly there appeared two people from my highschool days in Atlanta , Georgia. One of my many escapades as a youth (I had what might genuinely be called "escapades") was a folksinging trio cleverly called THE CLEFF DWELLERS! We were all the rage at North Fulton Highschool, and sang at pep rallies, school assemblies, as well as all over Russia and other countries, when our famed North Fultonhigh School Special Choir travelled...i still have black and white photos of the three of us singing in a Moscow TV station...we were the Peter, Paul, and Mary of our community...people loved us, and we loved ourselves as well! We were all so skinny and tall! I played guiter, as did Britt Dean, and our third was a tall adorable "drink of water" named Chip Dodsen, who all the girls (including me) had a tremendous crush on....Ladies and Gentlemen: The CLEFF DWELLERS!

Over the past several decades, somehow, magically, the three of us would run into each other somewhere....but ithas been at least 20 years since last I saw the guys...in Atlanta, i do believe, when I was there on a job or something..i honestly do not remember...or was it when I as in Denver doing Quilters?

NOW: an e-mail.....the Internet really is a miraculous thing, right?

From Britt...he and Chip (now called a respectable Olan) will be in NYC in early March...is this me? THE Evalyn Baron...and if so, let them know, so we can all three get together....WELL! YEAH! So....I will be seeing the guys on March 6th or 7th or maybe on both days....! And we will catach up on all sorts of life, sort the strands of our various existences...clear the cobwebs and brush off the dust:
we will REMINISCE! And re-explore. And re-make contact....and form a new "group".
We shall "sing", once more, but this time, a middle-aged song....I can hardly wait.

Why do these things happen when they do happen? Is there a reason?

Life is such an interesting "book" to read.

...and New York is sunny and bright as frozen chrome today! 15 degrees! Yes, Winter is here, after so many days of a rather Spring-like season...cold has descended....but at least it is sunny sunny sunny...we breakfast with Rick R. and Amanda A. at The Edison Hotel Coffee Shop in an hour or so...after learning, from an online pal in an Instant Message that the Barter Theatre Scene Shop burned down yesterday afternoon! NO ONE WAS HURT, which is the most imortant thing of all...and it is deemed by all official folk as an accident, pure and simple....also, according to Rick, almost all of the needed scenery for the next shows to open was already inside the Beast (as the Shop truck is called) so all that hard work was not destroyed....and the shows can go on! Whew! Money needs to be raised to rebuild, but no doubt, given the community's love for the Barter, that money will come.

We are just grateful no one was hurt.

LATER...same day....

SOOO great to be with Rick and Amanda this morning, and we will join them later tonight to see a movie...while they are here we want all of them we can get!

EVEN LATER...

WOW...we saw WHY WE FIGHT, a stunning documentary about how our country is now shaped to fight wars it should not be fighting due to the build up of the indutrial-military complex thoughout our United States....Dwight D. Eisenhower coined that phrase for the first time: industrial-military complex, as he warned in his farewell speech from Office...warned us against allowing corporate and industrial greed to determine our going to war....and of course, exactly what he warned against has happened in a terrifying way....little pieces of info stunned me, and made me realize that in a "Matrix"-like way, we are all, against our wishes and our wills, caught in a web of determinism, with other larger more powerful forces running , hell, in fact, creating the very moral fiber of our existences...we are nothing but little doll-like figures caught in the dance choreographed by practically unseen puppet masters....our lives are, absolutely are, determined by what the government ,the corporations, the military, desire to have happen....voting seems practically useless, since the publicity machine run by these sad "Masters" is all pervasive, and we know no other way to look at the world except through what we are shown by them..and on and on and on...so, of course, the movie that Rick, Amanda, Peter and I saw last night opened up all these areas of discussion...and we talked late into the night at a lovely meal at Fiorello's across from Lincoln Center

...and most of the people in this country seem not to care at all about the truth of what is happening...to begin to actually think for themselves would mean having to give up so many illusions, and fight for things that are disturbing to admit we have lost: like independence and power and human decency...most of America loves its aggressive ways and its cozy hatreds....

I love and now miss yet again rick and amanda.....

But it is good, in our lives, to have people we love and love enough to miss.

Right?

.....familiar, in that way of good friendship: we met Rick R. and Amanda A. from Barter at the Eros Cafe last evening before they went to see LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and we went down to NYU to see some of my students in an NYU Players CLub production of some new music called EDGES...great fun.

But for me, the best thing of all was simply being with and talking to Rick and Amanda again...we have not been with them as a couple since last January, before Peter and i went to London, and the four of us have shared so much in our few years of friendship, it's hard to replace what we have as friends with other people...so last evening, sitting around eating servicable coffee shop food, in one of those familiar NYC rushed modes , I cried with the relief and familiarity of it....we will meet with them again tomorrow morning for brunch at the Metropolitan Musuem.

As Rick I were making plans on the phone this morning, it came back to me how we all had fun on our first trip to Disneyworld, staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort, and how every morning we would meet at the Marketpplace for breakfast and plan our full day of Parl Hopping ahead...the four of functioned like a well-oiled vacation machine, with Amanda's determined planning energies combining with Ric's love of the spontaneous...Peter and i had such a good good time there with them, we decided to get married at Disneyworld as a result of that trip....

There is such creative productive energy in how Rick and Amanda approach living in the world, resulting in a hearty hugging of each and every moment possible.
Yes...that's the right word: hugging...they embrace life , those two, as each moment of it unfolds before them, and since sometimes the only way to get through life is to pay close intimate attention to that moment that is directly in front of you and give it all, their way of being is energetic and observant, thus productive and, well, for me,the funnest sort of fun....when I engage in a conversation with Rick, or Amanda, there is something strong, challenging and demanding coming back at me: two good minds, couple with two superb hearts...they are sane and practical people, who I love very much. And Peter and Rick have a special undestanding of each other that warms my heart. Rick sees what is possible in Peter, and the first question out of his mouth was : Are you wrting music? I adore that....because Rick oprovided Peter with some terriic opportunities to score various plays, resulting in some really good music from Peter's imagination and heart. It's one of my favorite things Peter does: write wonderful music....

As it happens, Peter is currently writing music for Wendy Parker's new show about the Jamestown Settlement for the Barter Player Company, with an eye toward creating a show that can sell elsewhere as well....and what he has written so far is spritely and deightful...yet again, unlike anything else I have heard from his pen. He sent that first song to Wendy and she loves it too. So they are on their way...

The day is cold and sunny out...a quiet NYC weekend...soon, as my rehearsals start for A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE at the York Theatre, there will be less of this nice freedom, so I'm enjoying it while I can. Also, the next Shaw Project reading is on Monday the 27th at the Players Club, and there will be some expenditure of energies surrounding that, since I am playing "Mrs. Gilbey" opposite George S.Irving...i have become quite the lazy slug in relationsip to my acting efforts...but, like riding a bicyle, I'm sure it will all come back when I need it to...doesn't it always? I will be back on a New York stage again after being away from it for lots of years....5 years, at least...so there is some occasion for celebration here, i suppose...Funny how working so consistently at a demanding theater like the Barter can change one's perspective on the performing thing. I can only think that such a change of perspective is serving to make my work better and more mature...clearly, this is how i will proceed..."Klapper", a large role, will rewquire some serious re-visiting, since I last did it some dozen years ago...now I am at least closer to the right age for her...funny how these things happen...we are all older now...and Gabe Barre will not only direct this time (Bob Kalfin directed the original at Goodpseed) but still play the role of the Raven as well...so he and I are the only two original cast members....Christiane Knoll will play Maureen Silliman's part, and Glen Allen will play Brian Sutherland's role...a gorgeous cast. Ah yes, and my old pal from Les Mis and other things, Joe Kolinski, is playing Rebeck...all I can say to that is WOW. He is truly marvelous.This will be fun.

.....as it seems to, with no writing getting done! So sorry, faithful readers... and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to one and all....my darling sweetheart husband gave me an intensely beautiful bouquet of deep red roses....perfect. And I taught a class tonight, and it was fun...Liz K. and Jesse F. did some wonderful work on their audition 8 and 16 bar audition pieces, and it was amazing to watch them understand how to make them more powerful....i adore working with talented people....one of the joys of teaching this particular class. ANd the Steinhardt kids? Fabulous! Again, what fun!

Full day tomorrow downtown, as I try to sit in on more and more of the Steinhardt classes...also, lunch with yet another student. Then my weekly Shambala class, getting deeper and deeper into meditation and discovering a lot.

The dear British folk of MARY POPPINS have asked to see me again in April...the way they put it: there is quite a lot of interest in me for the role of the housekeeper and they would like to "explore it further" in APril...in other words: a callback! If this is meant to be, so be it. If not, it is still a lot of fun, so far.

Also, the folks at York Theater finally offered me the role in A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, which begins rehearsal in mid-March...itis the role of "Gertrude Klapper", that I originated at Goodspeed oh so many years ago.....Oddly, I would have been fine if they had asked someone else to play it, though I do love the show...and the men who wrote it are dear and talented....so very talented. I guess, since returning from Barter, where we all worked so very hard all the time, I have been rather enjoying my freedom from an 8-show-a -week life , and in fact am glad that the run at the York is a limited one, as part of their season. Also, Gabe Barre will direct, and he is dear old pal, and in fact was in the cast at Goodspeed....there is word he may be in it here too , as well as direct. Of course, I will continue teaching my class at Steinhardt, so days will soon be fuller than I have been wanting them to be...but, obviously it is meant to be, so....bless it all!

And there is the reading of the next Shaw piece (FANNY'S FIRST PLAY) that both Peter and I will be in at the Players Club on the 27th of this month...and Peter is doing a reading of new sceenplay for director Janice Goldberg at NYU next week as well...

But one of the funnest things of all: I had dinner with Amanda Aldridge last night at Joe Allen's, because she (and soon Rick Rose) are in town auditioning for their Summer shows....SOOOO GOOD TO SEE HER! We ate and talked and ate and talked....so lovely. Made me nostalgic again for Barter and lovely Abingdon. But, as i have said again and again, a part of my heart will always be there. Peter and I will have dinner with both Rick snd Amanda later this week.

Our life is clearly here, for now. For many reasons. This becomes clearer and clearer as time passes. Life lessons learnable no where else. Also clear.

I have been hearing from so many great folks, lately , as they read the blog...Brian thank you for being in touch...all of you: thanks. Tell me more about you...all of you!

By the way, we saw a preview of FANNY HILL at the York ,written by dear Ed Dixon...a lovely production...it opens tonight, I think and we are all waiting with baited breath to see what the critics say...Ed has worked so hard on the piece over such a stretch of time...if it moves to Broadway as a result of this production at the York, he will have worked hard and long to deserve it! His producers are devoted and believe in it and in Ed, so their devotion is to be commended! Such patience and caring. After we saw the show, Peter and I went to MaMa Mexico and ate lots of good Mexican food and drank far too many of their potent margaritas! But it is a short walk home from there, and we took the required aapirin and I for one woke up feeling swell....MaMa Mexico is one place I missed all the time I was away....we love it. And it felt like a real date with my very own husband.

So, life is moving along, right? Even through the amazing snow blizzard of 2006 which recently covered the city in some 27 inches of cold white stuff....the snow was falling so hard, and the winds made it fall sideways! We spent that whole day Sunday in bed, a great place from which to watch a sideways snowfall..our bed is surrounded by windows on all sides, overlooking West End Avenue and 104th Street too....the City was pretty immobilized, but, like all humans, New Yorkers loved the holiday provided by the storm, secretly grateful it fell on a Sunday, so we could all get back to work the following morning. Dutifuuly trudging through the yucky snow. . NYU felt such a long way away! But my Monday class was GREAT!

Enough rambling....more soon, I promise.

....GEE'S BEND!!! Elyzabeth W. called me last night and told me that the Alabama Shakespeare folks had called and told her they wanted to produce her play in their next season! This is a definite affirmation of all the hard work put into prepping the play for the Southern Writers' Conference...so proud of her...and I'm glad I coud help in any small way at all....so proud of her.

But the success of this piece of theatrical writing is due in no small part to the time money and care that the Alabama Shakespeare Festival gives to its commissioned writers. Once they spend the money, and it's not an inconsiderable amount either, they give the chosen writers time to develop it, then both space and time once the Conference itself begins...they take the time to cast the readings carefully, and hire the actors specifically for that job...they house,feed and take care of all the staff for each separate play chosen, and it is tasteful and nurturing. True, the regime at that theater has changed recently, so many of its normal elements were in flux, but still, care was taken, creativity encouraged. And not too much legislation from the Theater's creative upper echelon...there is a feeling of freedom.

So, the whole thing is a credit to the creative process.

I know I was made to feel very welcome, at home and necessary. And not only ws i the officially recognized dramaturg for the GEE'S BEND project (the new Artistic Director even specially thanked me for the work I did on it, which was very thoughtful), but when there was a task to do, they asked me if I could help do it, like sit on a panel one afternoon concerning New Play Development and New Audiences, and one night, they asked me to be a judge for a late-night Poetry Slam!!! SO much fun! I said yes to it all.....after all that was what I was there for, right?
I enjoyed each thing. Especailly the Poetry Slam, filled with local poets , an amazing array!! I had never seen anything quite like it before...so I dove right in and...well..judged! ALong with two other people connected with the Festival....and we chose a First, Second, and Third Place winner....amazing....Late late into the night...Poets' seem to need no sleep.... it was a new and interesting experience.

The weather was idyllic while we were there, reminding me how much I miss the mild way Nature makes herself known in the South....and the theater itself is placed on some of the prettiest rolling green land I've ever seen, which ,I learned, was actually a part of the Blount Estate at one time, umtil they gave the land to the theater for its new building and grounds. There is a Shaklespeare Garden, complete with thatched roof from England, and lovely acreage for the patrons to sit and picnic on, generous benches and tables for all to enjoy and patios...all in all, the word I woul duse to describe the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is : gracious.

I was able to see some of the Alabama acting company of long standing in one or two of the shows, and I loved each and every one of them. Genuine gifted actors who have chosen to make Alabama their home, and whose resumes are most impressive. Terrific and talented people. Reminding me, once again, that New York and LA are not the centers of the world.....gifted people are everywhere.

My short time at this Festival was wonderful and, as I have said, I learned a lot about so many things. I am so glad I went to do this particular dramaturg thing.I guess I cna now put that on my resume: dramaturg! (what IS a dramaturg , anyway?)

Well.....teaching is about to begin, and then off to a voice -over audition.,...New York, New York....a busy town. More soon.




,

Wow ...wow...and wow some more!!! I returned to the South, for only a few days, and I am RE-BORN!!! Well, actually, I am a bit exhausted and really need to get some sleep, (which will not happen for a few days yet) but touching down on the warm Southern soil of Alabama felt so good, and the SOUTHERN WRITERS CONFERENCE I was part of was really refreshing, exciting and fun.

So much to write about it. Where to begin?

Well, let's start with my sad and dis-spiriting fear of getting onto airplanes: hell, I even hate going to air ports! I accepted the position of dramaturg for
Elyzabeth Wilder's new play GEE'S BEND, and didn't bother to think I really had to get onto airplanes to get there to do my dramaturging! In fact, one does not simply get onto an airplane and fly to Montgomery,Alabama...one gets on an airplane and goes to Memphis, sits for a little while and gets onto ANOTHER airplane and then gets to Montgomery, so there I was up and down and up and down, last Wednesday, February 1st....travelling all by myself in two hideous and nauseating airplanes...true, I did get a rather strong pill from a friend and after taking it, the world was pretty pleasantly fuzzy around the edges, which did help....but nonetheless....there I was...ridiculously 35,000 feet UP IN THE AIR, along with all the other fools who filled the plane...and well....really, isn't there something really really really stupid about that? I mean: look at it...humans, in sitting positions, fully clothed...floating in mid-air and being propelled through space at ridiculous speeds...what is "right" about that?

OKAY...okay...okay...i know...enough already.

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, located on gorgeous acreage in Montgomery, land donated by the Blount Family, along with tons of cash to build one of the prettiest and most usable theater buildings I have ever worked in, hosts The Southern Writers Project....this Festival of new works has been going on now for about 6 or 7 years. Writers are chosen and commissioned, in some cases, to write plays proposed by those writers to the ASF powers that be...once the topic and writer are chosen, they have a year to come to fruition with something good enough to at least put into rehearsal for the week given them by the SWP...and in that week, the writer is given a director, a cast, and a dramaturg, a stage manager,designers for simply presentational things like lights and music and movement if there is any to be dealt with...and in one week's time, though it is not a full production, the writer has a good chance to hear and see his or her script come to some sort of life. The week is for the writer to cut, change ,write, re-write, add,delete,shape and massage the written thing. At the end of the week, Festival patrons arrive and they attend a series of readings showing off what has been worked on all week...it is festive and fun, and the theater buzzes with excitement. Also, the Festival Stage (the large theater, gloriously designed to hold some 600 audience) has a full production running, and so does the second space, The Octagon...so Festival patrons are treated to new works as well as stagings of a couple of more tried pieces, fully produced.

This year, on the Festival Stage was The Bird Sanctuary (a new Irish play by Frank McGuinness) and a wonderful thing called Pure Confidence, by Carlyle Brown... Elizabeth Franz and Hayley Mills starred in The Bird Sancturay, surrounded by company members of long standing...and Pure Confidence had wonderful ASF company members in it as well...people I had been hearing about but had never seen...genuinely terrifc actors.

And there were 4 new play readings,with Elyzabeth's Gee's Bend being the Saturday afternoon one....in the morning of that same day, a new comedy called Love and Other Phenomena , by Peter Hicks...and the afternoon before, an odd and long thing based on a novel of the same name: Four Spirits...again, names to follow soon...
There was also a musical piece called Sanctified, which was read on Sunday morning, but I was already on my first plane home by then...so I did not get to see it. But in the time I was there...

Well, it's important to note: Elyzabeth's play was the best received of the whole lot, given a hearty and enthusiastic standing ovation by an audience that was tremendously moved by what they saw. And a few of the dear old women from Gee's Bend were actually there to see it! Such a moving experience to see it all come together. Elyzabeth has developed into a genuinely strong and well-trained writer, with a keen sense of the dramatic, and a blessed ability to "cut to the chase", as they say...she knows the technicalities of writing a good theatrical play, and so this idea about Gee's Bend, its women and their quilts all came together into a pleasing whole at this Festival. I felt honored to help in any way I could. And Janet Cleveland, the director from Michigan, and the actors, all wonderful (names later), all collaborated in such a good way: it was fine.

And the audience got the results of that.

More to come on the Festival and my plane rides home!