Thursday, September 22, 2011

Opening Night



If you're around New Haven come and see our show. It's pretty beautiful.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Keeping Up With the Kids These Days

So lately my friend Rebecca is all on about how when people in their teens and twenties see us now, they think "that lady."  Like, "look at that lady trying to get her umbrella turned right side out" or "look at that lady trying to push a stroller and hold an umbrella at the same time" or "look at that lady bleeding from the eye after she poked herself with an umbrella."  That lady.  "Is that lady really trying to make money rapping on the F train?"

I don't feel like "that lady." 

But since the young guy in our play who graduated from my college in 2006, asked if there are any teachers there now who were also teaching when I was there, as if my college career was about a million years ago...and then I did the math and drew some parallels and realized that to him, I'm like some lady who graduated in 1976 and god knows those people are ancient. Since then I've made a more concerted effort to keep up with the kids these days.

So while we spend hours in the Green Room waiting to practice our play, we have been catching up on the youtube videos that the kids are watching.  All of them are, like, so 2010, but to us ladies and gents they are new.  And if you want to be hip, and not reveal your "lady" stripes, watch these.  Plus they are funny.

Can't Hug Every Cat



Okay so I totally knew this girl was an actress the first time I saw it...in the guys dressing room where all the guys were watching it.  The guys all insist that this is real. The song is based on an eharmony video and it's so totally fake.  But still funny. 

Antoine Dodson Bed Intruder Song



So all the students working our show are all, yeah that was so funny two years ago. Well, it's new to most of us in the cast. My friend T.R. has purchased it on iTunes. Apparently all the money that people spend on the iTunes version of the song goes to the Dodson family. Hopefully they don't live somewhere that you need to hide your kids, wife, and husbands now.

and finally, The Gay Weatherman

Speaks for itself, don't you think.

So all you ladies out there, you're welcome.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

An Old Pair of Slippers

So I went away to work again.  Beautiful New Haven, CT.

Actually, it is pretty beautiful.  The university is gorgeous.  During the beautiful days last week I walked through the campus and felt homesick for my little college on the hill.  For the familiarity it used to offer.  Every year in the fall I feel like I should be going back.  I wonder how long that will last?

Now it's raining.  The remnants of some other hurricane.  This one with a non-gender-specific name I think.  I'm in my very spacious and light filled apartment watching "Ghost Hunters" (total coincidence, I swear.  I actually don't think I've watched Ghost Hunters in weeks).  It's raining and I'm homesick for my actual home.  Bean is doing a puddle walk with our wonderful babysitter.   I'm about to go and get some new slippers for the third act.

Doing the play again after three months feels a bit like putting on a pair of well-worn slippers.  Or better, like putting on a favorite pair of jeans after the summer.  Just having something covering your legs feels kind of weird.  And kind of comforting.  And the shirt you wore with it last Spring isn't quite right.  And you need to rethink that belt.  But it's familiar.  Welcome.  Some rehearsals it feels like we did our last performance in Berkeley 45 minutes ago, and other days it feels like we never did it at all.  The play remains so inscrutable in so many ways.  Moments that I finally just took a deep breath and swam through, trusting they'd make some kind of sense...those moments can be reexamined.  Should be reexamined.  Are excruciating to reexamine.

And so I gotta go try on those slippers.