Well, Im behind. For a writer, this is pretty shameful. I’m not going to give all the detailed excuses; Ill just realize its not a crime to be a little late. I could say it’s the Mexican in me but most of my Mexican friends are on time. THEATER! Oh, boy, am I ever grateful for the THEATER. I could go broke buying theater tickets. Fortunately, I get a lot of good deals. End of this month I have 4 tickets to “Kinky Boots,” gratis. Last Wednesday I saw “The Invisible Hand” at The ACT, a remarkable play about a kidnap victim in Pakistan, written my Ayad Akhtar. I wasn’t sure if the acting and storyline blew me out of my seat or riveted me in like melted butter. I do know I am privileged to have the opportunity to see such a piece. My friend Samantha Sherman and I saw “A Chorus Line” at the 5th Avenue ($28 Row 24) (just lucky, really) last Thursday. A super fun event this year was getting to stomp around backstage at “Once” with Chris Danner and Candace Shaw before what was a magnificent showcase of talent. Privilege and… luck, maybe, have found me remarkable seats in theaters for many years. On stage, I’ve seen Kate Hepburn in Seattle (West Side Waltz) and LA (Coco at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion); Patti Lupone (Evita); Anthony Hopkins (The Tempest); Maggie Smith (Design for Living – LA in the ‘70’s); Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain; Richard Chamberlain; Patrick Neil Harris; Hayley Mills; Samuel L. Jackson; Christopher Reeve; Laurence Fishburne; David Shiner and Bill Irwin; Harry Gould and Cleavon Little; and so many more I can’t name them all. I’m madly in love with dead and living playwrights: Lanford Wilson; August Wilson; Arthur Miller; Eugene O’Neill; Tennessee Williams; Tom Stoppard; Bertolt Brecht; Noël Coward and, of course, William Shakespeare. When I was a teen I worked in the Seattle Repertory Theater’s Summer Stock in Port Townsend with Marjorie Nelson, Archie Smith and his lovely wife Kay Doubleday, Gordon Coffey, the fabulous Ruth Sobatka. I met some grand people during this time: Peter Donnelly, Stuart Vaughan, Stewart Ballinger. Marjorie was married to Victor Steinbrueck at the time and I lived in a big Victorian house with them in Uptown PT. I still have the playbills, programs and scripts. I was a lucky girl and it was a heady time. I wish I could have taken my acting career further but did have the pleasure of playing some fine roles in my life, my personal favorite being Mrs. Erlynne in Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan.” I am so very grateful for the opportunity to have enjoyed many CONCERTS!! Indoor and out. My first real concert was the Beatles and I was blessed to see them twice. I’ll probably never see The Rolling Stones, now that it costs a min of $200 just for nosebleed, and same for U2 and a few others I’d love to have seen live. But I’ve been fortunate to have seen so many that I really don’t fret about those missed. We took Mila to her first CONCERT this year: Lucinda Williams, outdoors at the Woodland Park Meadow. Lucinda put on a fabulous show with guest guitarist Bill Frisell. Their third encore was Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” and Mila and her little friend Fiona joined in on the singing and dancing. What a delight. This last Friday my friend Mimi Walker and I saw Frankie Valli at St. Michelle Winery and earlier in the summer, Cass Shaw and I saw Sarah McLachlan at the same venue. TREES!!! I’m indebted to TREES! I’ve spent many summers climbing in the Cascade and Olympics mountain ranges. The tall firs and pines with their soothing scents provide shade from the sun and often shelter from the rain. I was a master TREE climber as a kid and one very favorite was the cherry TREE in my childhood backyard that had been grafted with three different varieties. Currently there is a huge Maple TREE outside my living room window, filled with songbirds. In the fall it turns into an autumn palette beyond description. I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank the lumber in thousands of board feet that kept us in business for many years and allowed me to afford a lot of my cherished dreams and memories. Thanks to the TREES for their sacrifice. Day Five coming up. Today I nominate Terri Hale French and Waneta Hale Larios. You ladies must be related?
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 21:01:08 +0000
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