The Verona Project

Posted on July 14, 2011 by djnpub

I got together with the old crew for a California Shakespeare outing for the first time in quite a while. They even convinced Jeff to come along. This was CalShakes production of a new play, The Verona Project. This was a play inspired by The Two Gentlemen of Verona, but it was quite different. It began with a band, and the songs began telling the story, then the members of the band became players in the play. I’ll give it a little credit for some ambitious inventiveness, but in the end it seemed to me a muddle. From a musical perspective, it was just OK. There were some decent songs, but some of the main singers were just marginal. From the perspective of a play, it was very preachy trying to bring all sorts of sexual orientation issues in that seemed more forced and exploitational than natural and story enhancing. At the end of the day, this was the least enjoyable play I can recall seeing in a very long time. Not a great way to restart the California theater experience.

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All good things must come to an end

Posted on July 10, 2011 by djnpub

My time in DC ended with several hectic days of packing and tending to details that ran right up to the last minute I was in town. Things had been too crazy towards the end to do some last minute social connections, but a nice treat was Kathy joining me in the cab out to Dulles and sharing dinner with me before I left. I had some thoughts of staying back east for the weekend of the 4th, but now I’m glad I didn’t because I was so exhausted after the lack of sleep and all the packing at the end, I needed the weekend back at home just to recoup a bit.

I had thought that one benefit of coming back would be escaping the east coast heat to what I had been hearing was a more mild California. Unfortunately, when I got back, it was over 100° just about every day over the 4th of July weekend, and the air conditioning in my house wasn’t working. After suffering through the sweltering weekend I managed to get it fixed. I then discovered my refrigerator was on the verge of dying. I guess after being away for two years, some of the 20 year old stuff should be expected to wear out. Just a lot to take care of right off the bat, while trying to get resettled into my new/old life.

I’ll try and resist the urge to do more whining. I do miss DC, but it’s time to get revved up back in my old digs. I hope I will take some of the life lessons I picked up back there to continue moving forward, and not taking a step back.

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The Merchant of Venice

Posted on June 23, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I saw the final play of my DC adventure, and my final play in this year’s Shakespeare Theatre Company season, [The Most Excellent History of] The Merchant of Venice. Upon seeing this, I was reminded of why it is one of my favorites. I’m sad it’s the end, but happy that it ended on a very high note. Although it was resent in a more modern setting (New York of the 1920s), they didn’t soften the antisemitism that sometimes compromises the drama for me. The acting was great, and it was powerfully delivered. There was even a little surprise in that Andy Murray, who’s been a CalShakes regular for years, was part of the cast.

This Shakespearean classic was so different than the very modern play I saw last night. I’m glad my theatrical cannon of my change of station ended with this rich play. I always find this a challenging play to watch because in many ways Shylock gets screwed, but there’s a lot of context which makes it a much richer story. For example, the back stories of the new husbands, who though they seem to win the big battle end up betraying their first token vow to their wives shows that these guys aren’t all so great either.

The staging was primarily one fixed set with a big angled staircase in the center, and all had the appearance of rich wood. The acting of the two leads was particularly affecting. I’m definitely going to miss having access to such great theater so close to home … but life goes on.

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Bootycandy

Posted on June 22, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I saw my last play in the Woolly Mammoth season, Bootycandy. It consisted of a collection of sketches (which ultimately were revealed to be interconnected) that appeared to be comedic on the surface, but covered challenging aspects of race, racial culture, sexual identity, etc. The cast were mostly black with only one white actor. There were a couple of unique aspects of the production, where just before the intermission, after about four of these sketches, there was another sketch that sort of broke down the barrier with the audience of a conference of theater writers (the audience was the conference attendees), where each actor played the author of one of the preceding sketches and described a bit of what they were about. They also explicitly said it’s not supposed to be easy to watch … “it was hard to write, it should be hard to digest”, directly addressing some of the challenging topics. In the second half they again pretended to abruptly halt due to the emotional state of one actor, brought up the lights, reset the stage, and moved onto the last scene.

There was one sketch that was hilarious: the un-committment ceremony of two women. The speeches mirroring wedding vows, where they ripped each other, and even the preacher’s variant of Corinthians espousing the power of hate, were perfect parody. I’m sure anybody who had gone through a divorce could have related.

The acting was very good, and despite the subject matter that made me a bit uneasy, it was a wonderful play to see. I’m going to miss having and avant garde theatre like this a block from where I live.

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Nats Game

Posted on June 21, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I got another example of the spontaneous fun activities that seem to come up for me in DC. My friend Kathy and her daughter Megan were planning on going to a Washington National’s baseball game, and she invited me along. We snagged some tickets from an apparent season ticket holder on the street, and got some discounted tickets for seats down the third base line. This had been something that had been on my DC list of things to do, but as time is running short, I hadn’t really expected to accomplish it. I was a humid warm evening, and the Nats didn’t do too good against the Seattle Mariners, but it was a fun evening with good friends, and it gave me a chance to check one more thing off my list.

[Correction: Apparently the Nats came to life in the 9th inning and scored 5 runs to win the game … the “greatest comback in franchise history” … all after we had left the ballpark]

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Winding Down

Posted on June 19, 2011 by djnpub

A little over two years ago, in one of my first posts, I wrote about the big decisions I had made to lead to my leaving home for what at the time was a one year assignment on the east coast. In reading that post, I am reminded of my uncertainty at the time as to how this adventure would turn out. I had rationalized needing to shake up my life a bit, and get out of the rut I had been in. I enjoyed my positions at the time, and it was a gamble that giving that up would end up being a net career positive, but I was willing to jump off the cliff and face what came.

Now here it is at the end of my time in DC. I have enjoyed my two years here much more than I ever could have imagined. Living the the heart of a vibrant urban environment has been an enjoyable change from living in a quiet suburban community. I have taken advantage of many of the cultural opportunities afforded by this location, seeing a couple of dozen plays and many museums and historical sites. I’ve also taken nearly 3000 pictures.

I think I am returning to my old life with more trepidation than when I unplugged my old life and came out here. I had to take a career risk, and I paid a big price in a personal relationship to do this. Despite initial anxiety about how it would impact my life, I found it to be a big step forward. It tore the blinders off my eyes as to the possibilities that are out there for me. Now going back is feeling a little like a step backward. They talk about “Potomac fever”, but for me it’s more a sense of recognizing that I’m not limited to just doing what I was doing before. Not only that, I’ve made a number of good friends, and the environment here makes socializing easier. It pains me to leave my new friends and my work colleagues behind.

With only a couple of weeks till I return, my return path at work is still somewhat uncertain, and we will see how it all turns out. I just need to make sure I actively pursue the things I’ve enjoyed here (even though it may take more work) and take advantage of what I’ve learned, and not slip back into my old rut.

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Titus Andronicus in CA

Posted on June 14, 2011 by djnpub

During a quick trip back to CA to interview for my new job, I rescheduled the first play of the California Shakespeare Theater’s season that I had missed the previous week. This was Titus Andronicus, which was the first time Cal Shakes had done this play. I had been waiting ten years to see it as Jonathan Moscone had dropped it from the first season he became artistic director where it was originally scheduled.

It was a very pleasant evening, and it was a very good production. It was nice to see a more sparse set in the Cal Shakes mode after the expensive productions at DC’s Shakespeare Theater Company. The acting was good in this grisly revenge tragedy. There was also some very interesting theatrical staging, for example when one of the characters falls in a pit, they had people carrying partitions surround the actor, and the other actors talked off the edge of the stage. The action flowed back and forth, but it was an interesting way to engage the audience’s imagination with a simple staging device.

I very much enjoyed the evening, even though I had to fly back early the next morning. I think I may go through some withdrawal going from four theater subscriptions to one, so hopefully Cal Shakes can keep me sustained till I can broaden out a bit again.

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Old Times

Posted on June 9, 2011 by djnpub

Tonight I saw my last play in the Lansburgh Theatre, Harold Pinter’s Old Times. The director’s notes referred to this a a modern classic. It was written in 1970. I was definitely different from most of the plays I’ve seen recently. A very minimalist set, all in white with a few pieces of white furniture, and only three actors (all of whom were on stage most of the time). The play was fairly short, just over an hour and a half including a 15 minute intermission.

It was all about the words (and the pacing with which they were delivered), which started out seemingly mundane, but seemed to carry more meaning than their surface impression. The actors, all American, spoke with British accents. Although all of the play took place in the present, sub-conversations among different pairs of actors seemed to jump back and forth in time between the present and 20 years previously. I really don’t know what it was about, but it made you think and try to figure it out. The play was interesting, but I was glad it was brief. I could also have lived without several waves of smoking.

One interesting aspect was that two of the actors were recognizable from their work on television, although I didn’t recognize their names. The lead male (Steven Culp), was the fellow who played the conservative foil to the president on The West Wing, and one of the female leads was recognizable from a number of character roles (Tracy Lynn Middendorf).

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New York City — day 3

Posted on May 29, 2011 by djnpub

My last day in New York City, I followed some of Dan Jobe’s suggestions and took the double decker red Gray Line bus tours around the city. I had toyed with the idea of getting tickets to another play (would have been my fourth in four days), but luckily I chose not to as my touring day took all day and into the evening. The first tour route went downtown heading past various iconic NY sites as Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, the Empire State building, Macy’s, and through areas such as the garment district, Greenwich Village, SOHO, and Wall St. I hopped off at the south end of the loop by Battery Park, and walked up and through Wall St., which is a smaller, more compact area than I’d realized.

After grabbing a bite of lunch, I took the Staten Island Ferry which passed by Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. It was a nice ride across, then after getting off and looking around briefly I took it back. It was nice to get out on the water, and get a little different perspective on the city. After returning to Manhattan, I hopped back on the bus, which looped back up along the east side. I again hopped off by the South Street Seaport and walked up towards the Brooklyn Bridge. It took a little doing, but I managed to find the pedestrian path and walked out to the first tower on the bridge. Amazing old stone construction of the towers, and beautiful patterns made by the supporting cables. It’s a little weird that the pedestrians (which were thick) are on a level over the traffic; the trash barrels were filled to overflowing with plastic bottles, and I could just imagine stuff dropping down on the traffic below. This walk provided some great views and I took lots of pictures. I made my way back to the bus line and completed the downtown tour, through the East Village, and past the UN again. Although that tour should only take about 2 1/2 hours, with all my side trips, it was late afternoon by the time we got back to Times Square.

I then hopped on the last run of the uptown tour loop. At this point I was fairly tired (and it was the last bus of the day anyway), so I just sat and rode around the whole loop. It went around Central Park, through the West Side, past Lincoln Center, through Central Park West (where we caught a glimpse of Yoko Ohno), up by Riverside Drive, across through Harlem, and back down the East Side of Central Park. By the time I got back it was around 7 pm, so I’m glad I didn’t try and squeeze in another play. The bus tour was a great way to get a good broad sense of the various neighborhoods and sites of the city.

After I got back and cleaned up a bit, I went and had a relaxing Italian dinner on 9th Ave in Hell’s Kitchen. Afterward I stopped in Times Square again and took some night time pictures. I then had a nitecap at an Irish tavern and headed home.

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Jerusalem

Posted on May 28, 2011 by djnpub

At the end of my second day in New York City, I attended the play Jerusalem at the Music Box Theatre, starring Mark Rylance. This was my third play in three days, and it was great.

Prior to coming to NY, I’d never heard of this play (or Mark Rylance). Based on the theater-front advertising and some online research, I took a chance and got last minute tickets. Mark Rylance was the artistic director of the Globe Theatre in England for many years, and is a noted Shakespearean actor. This was a very English play, with a mostly English cast, in a very modern setting. It was basically about a counter culture guy living in a trailer out in the woods who is a gathering force for the local disaffected youth. The performance by Rylance was an amazing characterization. Now I’d like to see him in a normal character (or anything different) just to see how much was acting, and how much was him.

The only negative of my last minute decision was that I got a seat in the first row stage left. I was so close I could have rested my chin on the edge of the stage. The stage was covered with actual sod turf, and there was a nearly overwhelming scent of peat moss where I was sitting. The first minute of the play had a real jolt. It started with a young woman in fairy wings standing and singing a lovely quiet song. Then abruptly the lights went dark, and loud raucous music blasted out and you could see revelers dancing through the translucent curtain. The play then gets going with the main character coming out, and doing a head stand over a water bucket (right in front of me), dunking his head in and shaking it off, soaking all of us in the front row. It was a good vantage point for all the subsequent acting (if a bit low). It was an interesting story of an iconoclastic rebel, with later undertones of ancient English mysticism. The play lasted a little over three hours, with two brief intermissions, and all took place in one scene, but it moved along very quickly. It had great acting and I’m so glad I saw it.

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