Saturday morning, we had a 10am show offsite, so we just grabbed a coffee at the hotel Starbucks before heading over to Lincoln Elementary School (where the show was playing). We got there a little early, so we wandered around the neighborhood for a bit. What a cute little area! There were funky shops and interesting restaurants, and then we discovered this chalkboard sign: Before I die... and people answered the question. It was really interesting to read people's answers! Of course, we had to write something down, too. You can probably find mine, if you try. But I just thought it was an interesting thing to randomly discover in the middle of town.
So the first show was Sleep Rock Thy Brain, the play commissioned for Humana's acting apprentice company. Historically, the acting apprentice shows are hit-or-miss, as far as I'm concerned; they're generally written around a specific topic. According to the press materials that Actors Theatre of Louisville gave out, this one started out by thinking about "the boundaries of dramatic storytelling through aerial choreography." This is probably why the show was presented at Lincoln Elementary School, which has a large space where aerial rigging could be constructed.
Sleep Rock Thy Brain is comprised of three short plays - Comfort Inn by Rinne Groff, Dreamerwake by Anne Washburn, and nightnight by Lucas Hnath. Of the three pieces, my favorite was the third, by Lucas Hnath. His play dealt with astronauts on the International Space Station, so it was very clever to see the three astronauts suspended throughout, while Mission Control peeps sat beneath them. I thought the idea of sleep deprivation in space was a very interesting one, and I thought the dialogue was crisp and clear. I just thought all the pieces fell together very well in this play. The first two, while interesting and intermittently engaging, were less successful. And I'm not sure they showed the acting apprentice company to their best advantage, though all of the kids seemed good sports with all the athletic workouts they got through the flying choreography.
After the three playlets, we stopped at Sol Aztecas for a little lunch. We were there a little before opening, but we stood outside with another group waiting for them to open. There was a little guy, maybe three years old, who put himself in charge of opening the restaurant door. He was adorable. I got the enchilada lunch special and it was perfectly tasty. Not too spicy, which I appreciated, but I didn't finish all those refried beans. I did have more shows to watch, you know...
After lunch, I wandered over to the local CVS to pick up a few things, then went to the hotel room for a little liedown. Humana can be exhausting, so it's best to rest whenever possible. Though I did feel guilty about not partaking more of the sunshiny weather. Oh well. Our next play was Cry Old Kingdom, by Jeff Augustin. This piece is set in Haiti in 1964, amidst the rumblings of revolution. We meet Edwin, a painter who has pretended to be dead for many years to avoid political issues; Henri, a young man who wishes to leave Haiti; and Judith, Edwin's wife, who is itching for revolution and who finds it hard to be married to a 'dead' man. The interactions of the three characters are interesting and I was very intrigued by this world I haven't seen dramatized before, but I do think the play seems like an early draft. Many themes and ideas are thrown out, but not all are followed through. The scenes seem to repeat themselves until we get to a conclusion that completely took me by surprise, and not in a good way - I would think this choice should've been hinted at somewhere earlier in the play, but I don't think it was explored deeply enough. I would be very interested in seeing how this play develops, however, I thought the language was very beautiful and there was lovely imagery and character development, it's just the plotting seemed too casual for my tastes. The physical production was gorgeous and the final image was stunning. So I'm definitely going to try to keep Jeff Augustin on my theatrical radar.
Oh, guess what? It was time for more food. Geez, it seems like we ate the entire time we were in Louisville. We went back to Doc Crow's, and I had more sweet tea and fried green tomatoes. This time, we also added a little key lime pie to the mix. Yum.
After dinner, we went back to the theater to see Guru, Guru, Guru, or why I don't want to go to yoga class with you, by Mallery Avidon. This was a very interesting, and confusing, piece. It was around 90 minutes, and had three sections. The first section was a lecture, rather Spalding Gray-like (she even invoked Spalding's name at one point), given by a gal talking about why she can't go to yoga anymore - she grew up in an ashram, but grew disillusioned by the lack of spiritual guidance and the growth of corporate greed. The 'lecture' is rather rambly, without much of a point (though there is some interesting dialogue in there), and then the lecturer walks off stage. The audience is sitting there, wondering if the play is over. Finally, a lovely lady in a sari comes onstage, and a 'satsang' is begun. The audience now is in a yoga class, and members of the audience are invited onstage to be part of the class. It takes quite a while for all of the people who wish to participate to take off their shoes, put the shoes in the cubby, get a name tag, find a pillow to sit on, and sit in the prescribed lines. The lull didn't really help the forward motion of the piece. After everyone is settled in, we were led through a chant and some meditation, then we saw a shadow puppet reenactment of the Hindu god Ganesh. Um, ok, the costumes were pretty and the shadow puppet thing was cute for the first few minutes, but it went on way too long and then...we hear a whistle. A film crew person then asks all the audience members to return to their seats (they'll get their shoes back later) while they set up the next shot. And the next thing we know, Julia Roberts (played by Khrystyne Haje) comes on stage, because the preceding scene was actually a scene from Eat, Pray, Love. So the final third of the piece is Julia Roberts dispensing advice to the gal we saw in the first section, because she's now an extra in the film. This was completely unexpected, and since Julia Roberts isn't my favorite actress, I found myself resisting this final third. I guess it was interesting that a movie star would be able to spiritually help the gal much more than the yoga can. Or something. But ultimately, it seemed to say what so many current plays say, oh, I have everything, yet, I'm so dissatisfied. Although at least Julia Roberts calls her on it. This play was perplexing and definitely went on too long, but I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. There's something to be said for that.
Saturday was a long day, right? Well, it wasn't over yet. At the end of the night, we saw the winners of the American Theatre Critics Association's new play awards, which was exciting, then we saw three ten-minute plays. I thought all three of the ten-minute plays had excellent ideas, and good starting off points, and then went off the rails and were unsuccessful. Which is depressing. After the plays, there was a reception in the lobby of the theater and I suddenly became a crazy person, trying to avoid seeing a former co-worker with whom I had a rather acrimonious parting. It was nuts. But I did eventually get to meet Top Chef: Texas contestant Chef Edward Lee. His restaurant was catering the reception. And I was so excited because I was going to eat in that restaurant tomorrow night!
You know what, this post is way too long already. I'll post some fun photos below and finish in a third post. Because Sunday/Monday need their own post... ;)
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