Saturday, September 29, 2007
Tonight: RUSSIA!
Peter's off to a drinking/carousing/birthday night with his guy pals, (this particular and delightful group of World of Warcraft geeks are off for an evening at the Medieval Times dining establishment somewhere in the wilds of New Jersey...they will quaff , verbally joust, and bounce buxom serving wenches on their knobby knees, rolling home sometime later, filled with ales and tales and burping rales rumbling around in their sated bodies....all in celebration of his old childhood buddy's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS K....and that is as close as I am going to get to the festivities! Enjoy it, one and all!
No , I am off to the blown steppes of Russia, small-village-Tolstoy style: The Mint Theatre's lauded production of THE POWER OF DARKNESS....a cast of terrific actors, gorgeous language and a somber powerful tale well told, I have no doubt...The Mint does good , good work in this city. And, though i did have several callbacks for a substantial role in this production, they cast the inestimable Randy Dansen, whose work I have always admired. So I am truly looking forward to seeing it tonight.. Also, as they have asked me to step into what may be an extension of the run ( Randy has obligations elsewhere), I am seeing it with an eye toward estimating the possible hard work such a commitment would involve. I respect the Mint company too much to "short-change" them, and do not want to give a quick and easy answer, in case the offer becomes a firm one. So, they generously put a ticket aside for me to see the work tonight. So, soon, I'll go midtown and be in a solid audience of genuine theater-goers. I know I am in for a good evening, though no buxom maidens or pints of ale will be in evidence. I leave that to the guys.
Next week, we'll go to two events at the NYMF (New York Musical Theater Festival) , one for which a friend's music supports a dance concert, the other ,WITH GLEE, has several of my students in it...that will be fun....and, from all I've been reading, we are in for some more good theater on both counts! YAY!
My darling goddaughter Evalyn Bair and her family (Karen , Jeff, and sisters) will come next weekend to stay here in our home while they go to a wedding...Peter and I will go live Upstate to give them all the room they need here) and I am so glad we can give them a place to comfortably stay...they are making the trip all the way from Minnesota!
THEN: Peter and I will spend the following weekend in our beloved Abingdon! We will drive down there on the 12th, stay at The gorgeous Copper Lantern B and B (at the kind invitation of our darling Ann and Chris Johnson....see shows, be with old pals, and get all nostalgic for Barter days! I can hardly wait! The precipitating event for this trip is the beautiful Harvest Home Weekend that Ann and Chris throw every year. A gorgeous Open House dinner for the community to celebrate the coming of Fall to the mountains of SW Virginia....these wonderful people know how to throw a party, and are the most gracious and generous of hosts.....we are so glad to be going. As I said, I can hardly wait. Everything will be perfectly beautiful, surprising and lovely, because that is how Ann does everything: with flair, uniqueness and marvelous taste (and I mean the woman can cook too!)...so...we've a sort of social time these days. Even the drive down will be a soothing change of rhythm and scene.
My Thursday night poetry class at The New School , with Kathleen Ossip leading the workshop, is very interesting. Also, inspiring. My knowledge of poets is expanding, and I can hardly stop writing poem after poem myself, there is so much input, new voices, ideas, forms. It's amazing, really. And I am glad I decided to do this 15-week study. She is introducing me to so many new writers, I am grateful. And, as I said, my pen has begun to flow again, after many years. Poems come spilling out. When I am in an open place like this, everything i see looks quite different. That, plus my daily meditations, and the world looks...well....unusually communicative. Energies everywhere. Odd revelations. Uncoverings. Insights. Surprisings.
All that and Facebook too! Yikes!
No , I am off to the blown steppes of Russia, small-village-Tolstoy style: The Mint Theatre's lauded production of THE POWER OF DARKNESS....a cast of terrific actors, gorgeous language and a somber powerful tale well told, I have no doubt...The Mint does good , good work in this city. And, though i did have several callbacks for a substantial role in this production, they cast the inestimable Randy Dansen, whose work I have always admired. So I am truly looking forward to seeing it tonight.. Also, as they have asked me to step into what may be an extension of the run ( Randy has obligations elsewhere), I am seeing it with an eye toward estimating the possible hard work such a commitment would involve. I respect the Mint company too much to "short-change" them, and do not want to give a quick and easy answer, in case the offer becomes a firm one. So, they generously put a ticket aside for me to see the work tonight. So, soon, I'll go midtown and be in a solid audience of genuine theater-goers. I know I am in for a good evening, though no buxom maidens or pints of ale will be in evidence. I leave that to the guys.
Next week, we'll go to two events at the NYMF (New York Musical Theater Festival) , one for which a friend's music supports a dance concert, the other ,WITH GLEE, has several of my students in it...that will be fun....and, from all I've been reading, we are in for some more good theater on both counts! YAY!
My darling goddaughter Evalyn Bair and her family (Karen , Jeff, and sisters) will come next weekend to stay here in our home while they go to a wedding...Peter and I will go live Upstate to give them all the room they need here) and I am so glad we can give them a place to comfortably stay...they are making the trip all the way from Minnesota!
THEN: Peter and I will spend the following weekend in our beloved Abingdon! We will drive down there on the 12th, stay at The gorgeous Copper Lantern B and B (at the kind invitation of our darling Ann and Chris Johnson....see shows, be with old pals, and get all nostalgic for Barter days! I can hardly wait! The precipitating event for this trip is the beautiful Harvest Home Weekend that Ann and Chris throw every year. A gorgeous Open House dinner for the community to celebrate the coming of Fall to the mountains of SW Virginia....these wonderful people know how to throw a party, and are the most gracious and generous of hosts.....we are so glad to be going. As I said, I can hardly wait. Everything will be perfectly beautiful, surprising and lovely, because that is how Ann does everything: with flair, uniqueness and marvelous taste (and I mean the woman can cook too!)...so...we've a sort of social time these days. Even the drive down will be a soothing change of rhythm and scene.
My Thursday night poetry class at The New School , with Kathleen Ossip leading the workshop, is very interesting. Also, inspiring. My knowledge of poets is expanding, and I can hardly stop writing poem after poem myself, there is so much input, new voices, ideas, forms. It's amazing, really. And I am glad I decided to do this 15-week study. She is introducing me to so many new writers, I am grateful. And, as I said, my pen has begun to flow again, after many years. Poems come spilling out. When I am in an open place like this, everything i see looks quite different. That, plus my daily meditations, and the world looks...well....unusually communicative. Energies everywhere. Odd revelations. Uncoverings. Insights. Surprisings.
All that and Facebook too! Yikes!
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