I've got a mixed bag for you this week: school events, family events, and random awesomeness found on the streets of New York City. Enjoy!
An independent pharmacy's nostalgic storefront display
Would you ever see this (and the typewriter at the top) in the window at a CVS? No. Support your local small businesses, people. They are the lifeblood of your communities!
Jacob said "Make me black & white!"
This week's "Streets of New York WTF" moment:
INVASION!
Ethan's class had a Revolutionary War Stories puppet show on Friday, the culmination of a long project in which they each researched and wrote original short plays about a historical figure from colonial & revolutionary times. Ethan's assigned person? None other than Nathan Hale.
Remember? The "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country!" guy? Yes, he was caught while spying for us, and hanged at 21. Which Ethan, of course, re-enacted with his puppet. With glee. Thanks, wonderful, creative 4th grade teacher.
But next time? Maybe pick a better role model for my kid?
We had lots of rain.
Rain
After the rain
Saturday night we had FREE tickets to the hottest new show in town:
Of course we were running late, and trying to hustle boys through Times Square on a Saturday night was, well, trying. Emerging from the subway at 50th street, Broadway was packed. Walking four abreast clearly impossible, we split into teams of two, hustled our buns, and made it to the show on time, literally sliding into our seats at 8:04 as the lights went down.
Ethan & Dan on Broadway
Peter and the Starcatcher was a great show. Wonderful acting, brilliant and creative and very playful staging. An enjoyable evening for all. (Thanks for the tickets Aunt Patty.)
There's something new and different here today: I'm doing a review post, really my first. And, shockingly, it's NOT for The Hunger Games, which it seems everyone else is writing about today. It's about theater. I am never one to go along with the gang.
Last Thursday my friend Holly, along with her MamaDrama partner, Erin, brought some magic into my life in the form of an invitation to The Public Theater to see their latest offering, playing in their cabaret, Joe's Pub - the one man (plus band of 3) show: NO PLACE TO GO.
To call it brilliant and entertaining would be just to repeat the wonderful reviews it's been garnering in the press, including both a feature article and glowing review in the New York Times. Ethan Lipton, the playwright-singer-actor whose creation this show is (along with his collaborator, director Leigh Silverman) roundly deserves every accolade that is currently being heaped upon him.
If you live on a desert island, or anyplace other than NYC (= basically the same thing, right?) and haven't heard anything about this play, it's a semi-autobiographical work.
Based on Ethan Lipton's own experience, the show is about facing unemployment when the company he has worked at for ten years (on a part-time, perma-lancer basis) is relocating. We get to be inside Ethan's head as he revisits his history and feelings about this company and work in general, and as he contemplates his options and choices, and those of his co-workers, as the relocation proceeds.
And because Ethan is a musician, as well as a writer and actor, the story is told in a mix of prose and song. So while it's a play with music, it's not a musical in the traditional sense of the word.
For me the show struck home in so many ways, most especially as a blogger, because this play has so much in common with the best of blog writing: confessional, seeming raw truth, but in reality so carefully shaped, refined; and written by someone clearly in love with language.
It does what good blogs do: takes reality and makes it more real; in this case, making the truth even truthier by adding a bit of fiction - because in this story, the company is relocating not just to another part of the country, but to Mars.
This absurdist twist somehow makes Ethan's story more compelling. While keeping all the details, the ironies and petty indignities of his situation no less specific, real and relatable, it simultaneously elevates it to a plane of universality.
Thus it is no longer the story of his one man's job loss, but rather a tale invoking the tectonic shift of displacement we are all experiencing as the economic freefall in our current time requires us all to reconsider our lives and careers, to contemplate moves we might not have otherwise, ones that seem like, well, moving to Mars.
I would love to give you many more specific details from this show, share some of the many gems found therein, but I really can't.
I knew I was writing a review, knew I was supposed to be furiously scribbling notes during the show in order to jog my memory and write this review. But I just couldn't. I was transfixed, in the moment. I didn't want to take my eyes off his face, didn't want to remove myself from the experience, to take that step back you need to, to write notes for a measured review. I just wanted to go along with him on the ride. To be transported.
So I jotted down just three measly phrases - 8 words, of the many astonishingly fresh, biting, funny, brilliant things Ethan said: Gooey malaise - a turn of phrase he used to describe reactive depression, that struck me as perfect. Shitstorm coming - the refrain from a darkly funny song. Words first, then meaning - what could easily be the mantra of all those of us who are in love with language.
These will have to do.
An old theater professor of mine, Richard Trousdell, one whose wisdom well I find myself going back to again and again, used to talk about how we go to the theater to recognize ourselves, to see ourselves in others' stories and be transformed by the experience somehow. Or at least that's what happens when theater works, when it gets it right and the magic happens. (This aspect of theater that is sometimes called catharsis, but to him was even more than that, deeper.)
And this play? Yes. It gets it right. Very, very right. This is what storytelling does, when it does it best.
And while this is possible, can and does occur in the best of movies, it is fundamentally different in theater because there is the added factor of actual presence, of live human beings in front of you, not distanced by the intermediary of cameras, screens, editing; not displaced in time and space. Someone may record this, turn this into a film, and it may well be brilliant. But it will never be the same as being in that room with Ethan Lipton, the man, feeling his emotions as they pour off of him, in the presence of his presence.
And Ethan's presence is powerful, is tremendous, precisely because he is merely life-size, not larger than life. He is an appealing everyman while remaining very, very specifically himself.
And what he is, mostly, is a wonderful storyteller.
So if you live in or near New York City, run, don't walk to see this show. Magic like this doesn't come along very often, and it's only up for a limited run.
And, for my readers, a little discount to the show:
Use code NOPLACE for $25 tickets! By Phone: 212-967-7555 ONLINE: click here IN PERSON: The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette St.
And if you can't come see it, here's a little glimpse at one song from the show, 3-Tier Plan, not live but a lovely little animation, nonetheless:
Thank you, Holly and Erin of MamaDrama for this wonderful opportunity. Disclosure: I was provided complimentary tickets by MamaDrama, but all opinions are my own.
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Y'all may recall my announcement this past fall, that I was going to be a key part of the team bringing LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER - the national series of live readings by local writers in celebration of Mother’s Day - to New York City for the first local production here, right? OK, if your memory needs jogging, here it is: Listen To Your Mother!
Well, kids, things are now heating up big time...
We have a date and a space and a charitable cause, and now we need a cast. So that means... AUDITIONS! ... and that means YOU! Yes, you! No, don't look over your shoulder, I'm not talking to them (well, I may be talking to them too, but that's not the point here!) I am talking to YOU, my friend...
If you are a writer, and you write about mothers (being one, having one, or any mom-role person who has been in your life) then come audition to be in the show. While many of us are also bloggers, you don't have to be one to participate (but if you are it's a great way to promote your blog!)
Here's the skinny on auditions:
The show is on Sunday, May 6, 2012, at 2 in the afternoon, at the Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Family Auditorium at the JCC in Manhattan (on the Upper West Side).
Auditions will be held on the following dates by appointment only:
Sunday, February 26 th 11am - 2pm
Monday, February 27 th 6pm - 9pm
Tuesday, February 28th 10am - 1pm
To schedule an audition, email listentoyourmothernyc@gmail.com. Please include your name and your availability during the time slots listed above. Auditions are being held at a convenient midtown Manhattan (west side) studio. The exact location and other details will be sent with your confirmed appointment time.
Choose a piece you really love, and that takes about 3 to 5 minutes to read. While you don’t have to be a mom (or even a woman) to participate, your piece MUST be primarily about motherhood in some way, and the words must be your own.
I really want to hear your stories of MOTHERHOOD, the good, the bad and the ugly; the funny and the sad; the profound and the profane. (Yes, you can curse, this isn't a kid's show, it's for US!)
That's it! Easy! (And if you want to see what sort of pieces have made it into the show before, you will want to watch the past Listen To Your Mother shows.)
The time commitment if you are chosen for the show? Not that much: two rehearsals TBD in March/April, a pre-performance run-through at the JCC, and the 2 p.m. performance itself on May 6th. Also, while it's not REQUIRED that you come out for a celebratory drink with us after the show, I'll be damn disappointed if you don't.
All that said, I am warning you in advance that there are going to be readers and works that I absolutely LOVE that will not make it into the show this year because:
a) it's not my decision, alone, to make; I am but one voice on a team, and
b) we need balance, to represent a wide spectrum of mothering voices and experiences, and sometimes the specific wonderful has to be tossed to serve the show as a whole.
Please don't let the possibility of rejection hold you back from auditioning. At the very minimum you'll get 10 minutes of my undivided attention and a hug at the end (if you want one).
Also you should know that even *I* - the PRODUCER - am not guaranteed a spot on the final roster. Like everyone else (with the exception of our MC and Director, the amazing Amy Wilson), I am also going to be auditioning, and might not make the final cut.
Finally, if you're feeling at all nervous or anxious about (gulp) standing up and reading your work in front of (horrors) live human beings? You should read a wonderfully encouraging essay by my friend Stacey Connor of the blog Is There Any Mommy Out There? This year she's reprising her role as the Director/Producer of the Spokane, Washington LTYM show, and wrote this about the experience of being a writer, reading: A word on stage fright and storytelling.
Also, if you want to read the more formal (more informative, much less chatty) version of the call to auditions, come to our local Listen To Your Mother - NYC Website, and read the official post, here: NYC Listen to Your Mother show CALL for AUDITIONS!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to begin this audition process, to be sitting in front of you, meeting you, and hearing all your stories. Bring it on!
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No, I'm not telling you to do that. (I figure by now you know whether or not your mother is someone it makes sense to listen to.) And I'm not telling your kids (if you ARE a mother) to listen to you - they should be already doing that, like mine always listen to ME. (Yeah, right, and do you want to buy a bridge?)
What I am doing is ANNOUNCING something really IMPORTANT (which is why I am SHOUTING here in ALL CAPS):
The cities and production teams for the ten 2012 Listen To Your Mother shows have just been announced. And... And... YES! I am the producer of the New York City show!
I've been wanting to tell you forever, but couldn't spill the beans, nearly lost my mind waiting for the official announcement. What a RELIEF!
Click above to see the national announcement on the LTYM official site
I'll be working with a wonderful team: besides me as Producer there's the lovely and amazingly talented Amy Wilson who will be the Director, with Holly Fink and Julie Nemitz joining us as Associate Producers.
Also? The folks taking this on in the other nine sites across the country read like a who's who of fabulous blogger/writers. It's truly going to be an amazing series of events. Go to the LTYM announcement post to see who all is on board.
If you don't know what all this is about? Here it is (liberally stolen cribbed from the LTYM site in the words of Ann Imig who started this whole thing):
LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER (LTYM) is a national series of live readings by local writers in celebration of Mother's Day. Born of the creative work of mothers who publish online, each production is directed, produced, and performed by local communities, for local communities.
LTYM began with one show of local writers reading in Madison Wisconsin on Mother’s Day 2010. The video of the show was posted online in its entirety, and so LTYM reached a global audience and garnered a huge response.
Bloggers across the country began asking to host LTYM in their home towns, and so in 2011 Ann took the project national with shows in 5 cities across the country.
The mission of each LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER production is to take the audience on a well-crafted journey that celebrates and validates mothering through giving voice to motherhood–in all of its complexity, diversity, and humor.
LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER aims to support motherhood creatively through artistic expression, and also financially – through contributions to non-profit organizations supporting families in need.
So there you have it! A lot of my bloggy friends participated in this year's show (including the incomparable Alexandra of Good Day Regular People) and got me excited about the idea of bringing it to New York City next spring.
This summer at the BlogHer11 conference in San Diego, there was a LTYM open mike event on Friday evening, and, fortunately, my name was drawn out of the hat to read.
I read a sweet, sad post about time spent with my elderly mother (H is for Holding Hands) and the experience was wonderful. The room was packed; overflowing even with women sprawled on the floor as well as the furniture. And I made some of them cry. And then the next reader made them laugh.
(And then Deb Rox of Deb on the Rocks read a piece that was so funny, she made us all laugh so hard there was a mad rush for the bathroom afterward because some of us *might* have peed our pants a little - definite specific hazard in a room full of women who have had our pelvic girdle kicked from the inside one too many times.)
That's what's so wonderful about this show, it's the whole panoply of the mothering experience, both being and having a mother.
And, oh, did I mention yet that BlogHer is actually a national sponsor of this whole shindig again this year (it just keeps getting better and better) so THANK YOU, BlogHer, you wonderful women you!
So stay tuned for upcoming posts in the future about both the audition process (if you want to be in the show) and the ticket sales (if you want to come see the show). Also? I realized I have told very few tales of my history in the theater (bet you didn't even know I HAD one, right?) so this should cue a bunch of those to be forthcoming soon, too.
Just think: New York City in the late 80's and early 90's, Lower East Side, Off-Off Broadway, performance artists, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival... Hmmmm, some tales to tell, indeed...
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