THE VISIT Tonight Ignacia Delgado came to our see our play in Hollywood. I have known Ignacia since she was a student at U.C. Riverside, a small town gal from Tulare in the Central Valley of California, I think of her with such fondness and joy. When she first came to work with me at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles, she was a bright-eyed bundle of ridiculous joy and smile. There never was any darkness with her, even if she hadn’t slept all night (which was often) or we had a ridiculously long tech, she would be amped from an espresso and ready to go. She was head of the theatre cheer squad. She hasn’t changed. She is who she is, and who she is radiates in the party that always seems to be happening around her. Very quickly she turned her infectiousness into being a great partner and manager during my days producing at Taper, Too with Anthony Byrnes, who himself has gone on to become the theatre critic for the local NPR station, KCRW. But it was Ignacia who would make the box office or the bar the place you needed to be at. The wild hair, the big gorgeous teeth, and the million-dollar smile, the skirts and the shoes, what a party, what a time. She ran off to Sundance Theatre Lab where she has been since she left and now is the Literary Manager, moving into an artistic position. I am so proud of her. I hope some part of me rubbed off on her, but in fact I think a big part of her positivity and enthusiasm has rubbed off on me instead. She reminded me that I don’t respond to her emails. He he. Ooh snap read me at my own show. But I do think about her all time. Every night when I kneel down next to my bed with the Macy’s mattress, that I got during the Labor Day Sale, I always repeat the same prayer, “Lord, please don’t let me go bonkers, can you pay a little more attention to the Middle East, take care of Ignacia Delgado in the wicked sin of New York City, can you hurry up with the tenure decision and don’t let actors I work with improv my lines, Amen.” Seeing Ignacia today felt a little like that scene in that movie where Reese Witherspoon comes back to the little country town and it all feels so different, especially when you’ve changed so much and your hairstyle is so West Village. Fairfax Boulevard and all those Hip Hop wear boutiques, the hipster bar and all the manicured beards, the gluten-free cafes and the smell of rugalach wafting through the air, it must feel so suffocating, so provincial, and yet you wonder… Is this where I belong? We’ve missed you Iggy. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Ignacia Delgado, Ignacia Delgado…
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 05:34:33 +0000
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