Sunday night's alright for relaxing...and seeing plays
There's nothing that feels better than settling in on a Sunday night with a bowl of microwave popcorn, some Diet Coke or Starbucks iced tea, and the Sunday paper (if I haven't read it yet) or a novel or The New Yorker or what have you. I do like watching "Six Feet Under" when it's on (which hasn't been for a while, and won't be again til June), and I really enjoyed "Unscripted" during its brief run (about struggling actors, mostly improvised, and pretty engrossing, to me, anyway), but I really prefer just hanging out on Sunday nights. I count the minutes and hours, or count them down, thinking, Yes, but there's still four hours left, or three, or two, and savoring every second. It's the same as sleeping in on the weekends; it's so nice to lay in bed and listen to the birds chirping (if they've begun) and think, No, I do NOT have to get up yet. Ahhh.
That is not the case tomorrow, as I have to be up at 7:00am (not early for some, but an hour early for me), in order to get the airport in time for my 9:15am shuttle flight to NYC and my "big adventure" at AACRAO, the Registrar's/Admissions/Student Affairs Conference I'll be attending til Thursday afternoon with two co-workers. I would DREAD going alone, as New York terrifies me when I'm on my own, but with colleagues and friends, it's a-okay. I'm also planning to meet up w/ a friend improv friends and catching a show or taking a trip to the Village or just hanging. Whatever. I'm flexible. It'll just be fun to see Dave, a former member of my former improv troupe, TBD, and others and chat. The conference should be interesting, and I'm staying at an awesome hotel, with an indoor pool, so I can relax on my off-hours AND get some good-for-me exercise. I took a long walk into town today w/ Anna, and my knee did just fine, but I want to wait until the end of the week before I begin bicycling or trying the elliptical machine again. At least I see a lot of improvement (thank God), and know the icing and rest does work.
Before I settled in for the remainder of the weekend, Anna and I went to see the New England premiere of "Living Out" at the Lyric Stage Theatre, and it was very good. I don't know what the Boston Globe will have to say, and they are usually pretty harsh, but Anna and I were impressed, finding lots of layers and strong acting throughout. (One of the main characters, the husband of one of the two main characters, was poorly acted, I thought, but the part wasn't particularly well-conceived, IMHO, so I couldn't entirely fault the actor.) At least we found the characters empathetic (so often this isn't the case) and cared about their stories, and the language was nicely naturalistic, another element I often find lacking. I try to write that way (well, I ought to do it more, actually, b/c I know how to, I just don't often bother), and prefer theatre that allows characters to speak the way we expect them to. Stylized language rarely works for me, and the author had a wonderful ear for dialogue.
The play was particularly interesting in portraying the relationship between employer and servant (in this case, nanny), between classes, between genders, nd between ethnicities (Caucasian and Latino/a). While I found the Latinos more sympathetically portrayed--and the artistic director of the Lyric noted that this possibly the playwright's choice, a point of view she chose to take, which is entirely fair--I wasn't upset by the depictions of the whites, and found it often accurate. I just wish they had been given a bit more to work with, though in fairness, this was Ana's story, first and foremost. Not surprisingly, 99 percent of the audience was white (and probably upper to upper middle class, me excepted, as a very middle class, half-price ticket denizen ;-)), and so I think it was an important story for them to see (well-heeled comes to mind), although one ignorant man in suspenders kept disputing everyone and just being irritating, and another, an elderly woman, nitpicked over what a Latina character in mourning wore (as if she would know!).
At any rate, it was a worthwhile endeavor, and I'm very pleased I had the chance to see it. Thank you, stagesource, for letting me see theatre I couldn't otherwise afford to experience. I still hope to get to "Top Dog/Under Dog," Suzan-Lori Parks' acclaimed play at the New Rep, but if not, at least I got to see this production--I hadn't been to the Lyric for several years, during my 'all improv all the time' phase--and there is another play, "Den of Thieves," that Anna and I are getting to see for free at the Boston Center for the Arts next weekend. YAY!
So, this may be my last post til Thursday night, as I'll be out and about in NYC and won't have much time to write. In any case, I'll have a lot to write about when I return.
And it's almost April...booyah!
(And no, no word from any theatre festivals...maybe when I get home, I'll have heard from someone. Dare to dream.)
That is not the case tomorrow, as I have to be up at 7:00am (not early for some, but an hour early for me), in order to get the airport in time for my 9:15am shuttle flight to NYC and my "big adventure" at AACRAO, the Registrar's/Admissions/Student Affairs Conference I'll be attending til Thursday afternoon with two co-workers. I would DREAD going alone, as New York terrifies me when I'm on my own, but with colleagues and friends, it's a-okay. I'm also planning to meet up w/ a friend improv friends and catching a show or taking a trip to the Village or just hanging. Whatever. I'm flexible. It'll just be fun to see Dave, a former member of my former improv troupe, TBD, and others and chat. The conference should be interesting, and I'm staying at an awesome hotel, with an indoor pool, so I can relax on my off-hours AND get some good-for-me exercise. I took a long walk into town today w/ Anna, and my knee did just fine, but I want to wait until the end of the week before I begin bicycling or trying the elliptical machine again. At least I see a lot of improvement (thank God), and know the icing and rest does work.
Before I settled in for the remainder of the weekend, Anna and I went to see the New England premiere of "Living Out" at the Lyric Stage Theatre, and it was very good. I don't know what the Boston Globe will have to say, and they are usually pretty harsh, but Anna and I were impressed, finding lots of layers and strong acting throughout. (One of the main characters, the husband of one of the two main characters, was poorly acted, I thought, but the part wasn't particularly well-conceived, IMHO, so I couldn't entirely fault the actor.) At least we found the characters empathetic (so often this isn't the case) and cared about their stories, and the language was nicely naturalistic, another element I often find lacking. I try to write that way (well, I ought to do it more, actually, b/c I know how to, I just don't often bother), and prefer theatre that allows characters to speak the way we expect them to. Stylized language rarely works for me, and the author had a wonderful ear for dialogue.
The play was particularly interesting in portraying the relationship between employer and servant (in this case, nanny), between classes, between genders, nd between ethnicities (Caucasian and Latino/a). While I found the Latinos more sympathetically portrayed--and the artistic director of the Lyric noted that this possibly the playwright's choice, a point of view she chose to take, which is entirely fair--I wasn't upset by the depictions of the whites, and found it often accurate. I just wish they had been given a bit more to work with, though in fairness, this was Ana's story, first and foremost. Not surprisingly, 99 percent of the audience was white (and probably upper to upper middle class, me excepted, as a very middle class, half-price ticket denizen ;-)), and so I think it was an important story for them to see (well-heeled comes to mind), although one ignorant man in suspenders kept disputing everyone and just being irritating, and another, an elderly woman, nitpicked over what a Latina character in mourning wore (as if she would know!).
At any rate, it was a worthwhile endeavor, and I'm very pleased I had the chance to see it. Thank you, stagesource, for letting me see theatre I couldn't otherwise afford to experience. I still hope to get to "Top Dog/Under Dog," Suzan-Lori Parks' acclaimed play at the New Rep, but if not, at least I got to see this production--I hadn't been to the Lyric for several years, during my 'all improv all the time' phase--and there is another play, "Den of Thieves," that Anna and I are getting to see for free at the Boston Center for the Arts next weekend. YAY!
So, this may be my last post til Thursday night, as I'll be out and about in NYC and won't have much time to write. In any case, I'll have a lot to write about when I return.
And it's almost April...booyah!
(And no, no word from any theatre festivals...maybe when I get home, I'll have heard from someone. Dare to dream.)
posted by Sue B at 5:00 PM
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