| | A Theatre Filled Weekend
And what a great way to spend the weekend. I kicked it off going to see Into The Clear Blue Sky by JC Lee, the second of his This World and After trilogy that Sleepwalkers Theatre is producing this season (the final chapter comes in August).
Since I'm not a reviewer, I encourage you to read what Chad Jones of Theater Dogs had to say about the play/production. I will say that while I was watching the play I was reminded by what Sam Hurwitt said of the first play of the trilogy, This World is Good.
Spanning the years 1994 to 1999, the play explores the theme of potential global catastrophe through the now quaint-seeming millennial anxiety around the possibility of a Y2K bug shutting down the world’s systems. One central character has even written a comic book about an asteroid crashing into the earth. But the only world ending in This World Is Good is a very personal one.
That last line, the idea that the world was ending on a personal level. And again in Into The Clear Blue Sky it's as if the world being pulled apart as continents shift and the planet contorts itself is really a physical manifestation of what's happening to the family in the play--they themselves are pulling themselves apart, experiencing emotional rifts and upheavals.
L to R: Pamela Smith, Adrian Anchondo, Dina Percia, Christopher Nelson, and Eric Kerr.
Definitely check it out if you can. I think Sleepwalkers is doing great work and this play is a good example of that.
Saturday I met my friend Sonia who was in for the weekend. I've known Sonia for a few years now, first when she was working at the Playwrights Foundation as a dramaturg. And we got to know each other better when we helped produce Cutting Ball's Vanguardia festival.
We met in the upper Fillmore at Jane, a cute little cafe with a sort of art deco design scheme. We caught up about her studies in San Diego and our own personal projects. Good times.
And Sunday was the annual Brunch with a Playwright, a fundraiser for the Playwrights Foundation. It's a really great event. Each table has a playwright who is the sort of "guest of honor" at the table. We chat with the other people at the table and then the program includes actors performing excerpts of plays and a keynote by a playwright. This year's keynote was by Katori Hall whose play The Mountaintop will come to Broadway (this fall, I believe).
My good friends Nakissa (also my amazing dramaturg) and Michael were also there. Nakissa worked with Katori when The Mountaintop was in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival a few summers ago. So after the brunch I joined Nakissa, Michael, Katori and actor Margo Hall (who is absolutely fabulous in so many ways) of Campo Santo for a post brunch snack at Jupiter's.
Before we knew it, it was well past 4pm and considering that I left my place before 9am, it was a long, but really good day.
And so ended my theatre filled weekend.
-M
p.s. I forgot to say that I got to meet JC Lee when I went and saw his play. We have several mutual theatre friends and I've been mentioning his show a lot on Twitter, so it was nice to actually meet in person.
|
| | Posted 4/11/2011 10:14 AM - 66 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
Give eProps or Post a Comment |
