Review - The Red Letter Plays

Don't tell anybody, but I've never seen a play by Suzan-Lori Parks.  I've read most of them, but have never seen any staged.  That's just nuts. I knew that had to change - I'm still kicking myself for missing the recent revival of Venus, but I knew that come hell or high water, I was NOT missing The Red Letter Plays, F*cking A and In the Blood.  Yeah, yeah, I know, I don't need that cutesy symbol in one of the play titles, but hey.  I'm from Ohio.  Even typing a curse word on certain days is a chore...

Because Frank Wood was one of the actors announced for In the Blood (and he is one of my very favorite stage actors), I bought that ticket first.  Then I imagined that I should see the plays one after the other, to get the full effect.  Not necessarily the actual next day, but close.  Of course, F*cking A didn't have very many tickets left, so I ended up getting that ticket for the matinee the day after I saw In the Blood.  May I say it was quite an overwhelming experience to see these two plays back-to-back.  An overwhelming, wonderful, theatrical, human experience.  I wouldn't change a thing.  (I guess I should now put in my standard reminder that spoilers will probably follow.)

I knew tangentially that both plays are 'riffs' (Parks' word) on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter - what serious reader hasn't read this book at some point in their life?  What woman hasn't been warned of transgressing with the thought of a literal or symbolic scarlet "A" on her chest?  Needless to say, the ideas in that book put your mind in a certain place; well, at least they put MY mind in a certain place, and it was from that place I saw The Red Letter Plays.  I was appalled, devastated, exhilarated and amazed throughout the viewing of both pieces - these are exactly the plays I needed to see right now.  I felt powerless, enraged, emboldened, and understood.  Incredible.

In the Blood is about Hester, a single mother of five children, who all have different fathers.  Hester is naive and illiterate, fiercely loves her children, but is exhausted to the verge of collapse.  She knows that her life (or the lives of her children) can't end well, but she still has hope she can change things.  She reaches out to two fathers of her children for help, but of course, they won't.  In fact, all of the men in her life exploit Hester and her innate goodness.  Each character has a monologue talking about how they took advantage of her, but how she deserved it.  The monologues are chilling and scary, and oh so sad.  Like Hester, you know the play can't end well, but still you root for something positive to happen to someone. And when it doesn't, you're stunned and not stunned all at the same time.  

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

The powerlessness of women, the lack of support for single mothers, and an uncaring bureaucracy all make the experience of watching In the Blood completely timely and timeless.  The acting is all superb; the actors doubling as Hester's children and as the exploitative adults gives each performer double opportunities to shine.  The set is incredible - it's a curved wall, kind of like a skateboard ramp - and it's a metaphor for Hester's life in that you can throw yourself up and try to reach the top, but you will always slide back down.  Brilliant.

The next day, I saw F*cking A in the matinee performance (I'll talk about the matinee crowd in my seat neighbor report below).  I think it was good to see them that close together, because my ear was already in tune with Parks' language and I could get right in.  Though F*cking A is stylistically quite different from In the Blood - In the Blood is rather like a Greek tragedy, whereas F*cking A is kind of a mishmash of a Brechtian musical and a Jacobean revenge play.  You want to buy tickets now, don't you?!  DO IT!

F*cking A tells the story of another Hester, this time it's Hester Smith, who is branded with the "A" in the title, but not because she's an adulterer (like in The Scarlet Letter), but because she's an abortionist.  When her son was sent to prison as a young child, Hester was given the choice to either go to prison as well, or take the job as the abortionist, which would pay her money that she could use to buy back her son's freedom.  So she has been doing that job for 30 years when the play begins.

All Hester wants is to get her son out of prison, but she is also obsessed with getting revenge on the person she blames for his being in prison - the First Lady of the town.  She'll honestly do whatever it takes to achieve her goals, no matter how grisly or irredeemable.  F*cking A is dark dark dark, with fatal inevitability hanging over it, though there is also a lot of humor (one monologue in particular is truly riotous) and really terrific songs, in a Brecht/Weill vein, that move the story forward beautifully.  All of the music and lyrics were also written by Parks.  Oh, and another fascinating textual choice?  On occasion, the women speak in "Talk," another language, (which we see translated in subtitles projected on the top of the stage) to each other.  It's yet another way that Parks is dramatically showing us the plight of women and what women do to subvert and survive - "Talk" is mainly used when speaking about gynecological or "women's issues," which I thought was just brilliant.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

Like In the Blood, the acting in F*cking A is sublime - Christine Lahti is fantastic as Hester, who could easily become one-note in her lust for revenge, but she is also funny, tender and strong, even when being defeated.  And Brandon Victor Dixon is simply sublime as her son, now known as Monster, thanks to the evil he's done during his time in prison.  His song/solo towards the end of the play is truly magnificent, as he tries to explain how he became the man he is today.

Again, with women's reproductive rights and agency over their own bodies under constant threat, F*cking A is so timely, it's kind of scary.  And it's scary in and of itself because of what happens to these people.  But it also seems like a scary timeless fairy tale or myth.  It is of that time, but it is of all time.  I loved it, obviously.  I loved both plays and am really glad I decided to see them one right after the other.  But I don't think you have to do that to enjoy yourself.   

Now, at long last: seat neighbor reports!  At In the Blood, I was in the balcony, with quite a few patrons of an advanced age. I probably brought the average age up there down to 70. There was one couple who kept yelling "MARILYN!" down to the main floor, but if it was Marilyn, she never answered them, to their frustration, and the couple next to me was more interested in the two glasses of wine, EACH, that they brought to their seats with them.  I was ever so afraid I was going to be wearing that wine.  Thankfully, no spilling.  Oh, and for some reason, folks in the front row of the main floor needed to keep their phones on.  That light was driving me nuts.  Plus it was hot as Hades in there.  I wonder if that was deliberate.  Thank heavens the play was amazing.

school group!

At F*cking A, there was a school group there of teens.  They were very well-behaved and got into the play from the start.  At the end, one of them cried (in her outdoor voice), "Oh, no, don't do that!!"  But she was so into it, it was sweet.  The woman to my right could not understand that F7 was NOT the seventh seat in the row (odd numbers, don't you know), so she kept wandering around.  The couple to my left kept arguing about who goes to matinees anymore?  The husband said everyone was retired.  The wife said, no, everyone here can't be retired.  The husband said everyone was.  The wife said, "This girl next to me can't be retired."  The husband said, "Ask her."  The wife said, "I'M NOT ASKING HER."  The husband said, "Fine, then, I'm right."  So the wife tapped my arm and asked me "Are you retired?"  I said, no, just on a long lunch break.  She said, "I didn't think so, you don't have gray hair."  I said, actually, I do, see?  And we all had a good laugh.   

Before the play started, a woman helped her guest (husband? brother? couldn't tell) take a pill because his hands were shaking.  I'm guessing the pill didn't last long enough, because after the intermission, he moved over into an empty seat and had tremors throughout the whole second act.  I felt sorry for him, but he WAS distracting, I have to admit.  Other people were not so nice to keep quiet - a woman sitting in that same row kept asking him to sit still.  Clearly, he couldn't.  It was sad and was a little bit of a downer at the end of an already devastatingly sad play.  It didn't stop me from sobbing at the end of the play, though.  Sobbing.  And the wife who asked me if I was retired?  She patted my arm in sympathy as she got up to leave.

That's what I'll take with me from these plays.  Yes, the life of a woman, most especially a woman of color, is generally hard and we all have to pay a price for love or passion or sacrifice, but women will rally.  Women will stand together.  And thank heavens there's a woman like Suzan-Lori Parks to write it all down.

Thoughts on KPOP

I'm in a bit of a theater drought at the moment, which is a drag. I miss it. I'm a little cash poor, so I'm being pretty picky about what I use my limited amount of funds for.  I do have a few things coming up, which I'm looking forward to, and last night I saw an early preview of a new musical by a friend of mine.  Since I love my friend, and I love his work, AND it was an early preview, I'll just offer a few thoughts. 

Here are my few thoughts - KPOP is so much fun, it should be illegal! I don't think I've smiled that much at a show in forever. I simply loved it.  I don't know anything about the KPOP genre of music, but I've been doing some research on YouTube today and my goodness, everyone working on this production really did their homework.  The look, the sound, the design - everything looked authentic to me.

KPOP is an immersive experience, which, to be honest, is not my favorite type of theater. I don't really want to participate, at all, and I'm basically a lazy person, so I don't like to walk around to watch theater, either.  Find my seat and I'm happy. So when I got the email from Ars Nova reminding me that KPOP would involve my walking around and interacting, and to please wear comfortable shoes, I almost gave up my ticket.  I am SO GLAD that I didn't!  The performers are so incredibly talented it made me cry; the songs are so good, they made me cry; and the direction is so amazing - I can't even imagine putting this kind of show together!  This is an absolute marvel of theatermaking.

I'm not going to go much into plot or anything, because I think it's best that you be surprised, like me.  Experiencing KPOP and participating in how it unfolds is part of the great fun. Everyone who comes to the show gets a wristband when they check in that tells them what 'track' they're in.  I had a red wristband with a particular character's name on it.  At the top of the show, after the set-up of what the evening will be about, each color group is told which door to use and your experience begins.  You go from room to room, spending time with different groups of characters, learning more about the story as you go.  Occasionally, I was pulled aside for a little one-on-one time with characters, which was cool. I was briefly afraid at one point that I was going to be called on to do choreography, but thankfully, that fear was unfounded.

The first act was just jam-packed with fun, interesting interactions, serious storytelling and incredible songs. When it was time for intermission, we were led to the big holding room (and bar area), where we had started our evening.  After a few minutes, the fire alarm went off and we were taken out of the building. I wasn't sure if this was part of the show or not.  We waited outside for a bit, then we were taken back upstairs to a different holding room.  There were quite a lot of stairs and I nearly got in my 10,000 steps just from seeing KPOP. A front-of-house person came to apologize to us and promised that the show would start again in five or ten minutes, and then we could all have a free drink.  Woo hoo!  So, I guess the fire alarm wasn't part of the plan!

There was quite a crowd at the bar, once we got back in there, waiting for the second act to start, and it actually started before I got my drink. But I waited patiently until the bartenders were comfortable serving again.  And the second act was AMAZING.  That's all I'm going to say.  AMAZING.  I'm going to list all of the performers here, because I thought they were incredible and I can't wait to see each and every one of them in more shows. Because of the interactive nature of the piece, I feel as if I really got to know them (I even got a wink from someone in the boy band, so I think we're dating now) and I want to see them succeed so badly.  It's hard for Asian-American performers to get cast in shows that don't have a predominantly Asian theme (which is ridiculous!) - these kids were SO fantastic, they deserve to be in all the shows!  Anyway, if you ever see one of these names on a cast list, go check them out: Julia Abueva, Cathy Ang, Katie Lee Hill, Joomin Hwang, Jinwoo Jung, Vanessa Kai, Jiho Kang, Deborah Kim, Susannah Kim, Amanda Morton, Ashley Park, Sun Hye park, James Saito, James Seol, David Shih, Jason Tam, John Yi and Ebony Williams. I'm not kidding, this may be the most talented company I've ever seen.

I know I haven't really told you much about the show, really, but the experience of it is part of the event, too.  So, to sum up, I adored KPOP and hope it has more life after this run, which I've heard is completely sold out (thank heavens I listened to my talented friend and bought a preview ticket early). I want to see it again!  And I need the cast album, stat. But it can't be an easy piece to book, since it takes up a lot of physical space with its immersive nature, but as far as I could tell, it was a huge hit with the audience last night, so there has to be a savvy producer somewhere who can figure out where this show can transfer and run forever.  There is a wait list every night at ART/New York, so if this show sounds like it would appeal to you (and I say IT WOULD), you should go to the theater and try your luck. I'm sure you will be glad you did.

A Night at the 2017 US Open - an exercise in frustration

Hi all!  Last tennis post for this year, I promise!  Well, at least the last US Open post. After last night's disappointing result, I am less invested.  In the men's draw, anyway.  I am quite thrilled about the US ladies stepping up to the plate and am looking forward to their semifinals tonight.  But let me tell you about my Labor Day-weekend evening at the Open...

Long back story:  because I'm a crazy person, I joined the USTA (the national tennis association) so I could get their magazine and so I could be a part of the ticket pre-sale that they did every year. For maybe the last ten or so years, I've been buying tickets to the first or second night of the Open, in a 'buy one, get one free' promotion they always have, then I would buy a slightly more expensive ticket in a lower section for myself during the first week.  The tickets in the 'buy one, get one' promotion were always in the upper section, but I would go with a group of pals and we would have an uber-fun time.  And I was happy to spend a little more money to treat myself to a closer seat at least once during the tournament. Oh, those happy days of the past. This year, I got an email saying that the USTA was no longer doing the pre-sale, but AMEX would be.  Well, ok, I got an AMEX last year before my Italy trip (a just-in-case sort of thing, because I don't like using credit cards, but I figured better safe than sorry when overseas), so I thought I could just use it for this new pre-sale in the same way.

line to get in

Sad face.  No.  They DID offer two-for-one tickets in the AMEX pre-sale, but they were twice as expensive and in the last three rows of Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is basically like watching a tennis match from the far side of the moon.  So no tennis night with a group of pals this year, darn it.  But I still wanted to take myself to another session and was willing to pay extra extra, since I would only be going once.  But AMEX wouldn't even LET me buy tickets in one of the lower sections, no matter how much I was willing to pay, because you had to have a special code!  A special code only given to people with fancy American Express cards, not we plebes who have the learner's permit American Express cards that have a tiny credit limit!  Grrrrrr.  So I spent more money than usual for a worse seat.

lights and fog!

Ugh.  Sorry, that's a lot of complaining.  Last Friday was the fateful night and I started off well - even though the line to get in was horribly long, it moved relatively quickly and painlessly and it was a gorgeous night.  I did get a few free things from the USTA for being a member (a nice hat, a tshirt and a $10-off coupon for merch), and I also took advantage of the free little radios AMEX passes out to their guests.  I guess all would've turned out well if I hadn't been in the section I ended up in.  I have it written down so I will NEVER SIT THERE AGAIN.  Here is a public service announcement: never sit in a section that has two staircases immediately on either side, and never sit in the first few rows. My view for most of the evening was of people coming up or going down the stairs.  Or of people just standing there, either looking for their seats or looking at the tennis.  After awhile, no amount of "DOWN IN FRONT" works.  I mean, when I first got to my seat, I was kind of excited about the location, because I was near some spotlights and the smoke machine, which made me giggle, but the giggle didn't last long.  You'll see my view in the photos below...

So the fact that I was in a pricey seat and yet I still couldn't see made me crabby.  I was also crabby because there were so many people who decided to just sit wherever the hell they wanted, as opposed to the seat location on their ticket.  There were two guys who started in the front row and just kept moving back every time the rightful seat owners arrived.  They ended up next to me and I tried to tell them that a father/daughter combo was sitting there and were coming back, but they said "We don't care," and sat down.  I think the father/daughter combo just left when they saw their seats were now occupied. Steam was practically coming out of my ears. The US Open is a costly event, I get that. And now they have two new stadiums and a roof to pay for, so I'm guessing the price is going to just keep going up.  But the sense of entitlement is WAY out of control. This was the first year I have ever felt that being there might not have been worth it. And I hate that I had that feeling.  Of course, the tennis on the program also might've had something to do with it...

Isner

I was excited that the first match on Ashe would be American John Isner v German Mischa Zverev.  Both players have good backstories, and I'm especially fond of Isner.  There really isn't any reason he should've lost that match, but lose it, he did.  It can be frustrating to be an Isner fan - for some reason, he doesn't seem to be able to kick things up a notch when he needs to.  Of course, Zverev had something to do with it.  He was playing at a really high level and just kept hitting the lines all over the place.  He had a great match and Isner had a crappy one, which isn't a good combination.  The match was over pretty quickly, which meant the next match up came too soon.

look at all that fog!

I was really irked when I found out that the second night match would be Maria Sharapova.  I believe that I've mentioned before that she's not my favorite player.  Talk about sense of entitlement.  I get that she's a brand and famous and blonde and all that, but I don't think that means she should get all the primo matches on Ashe.  There were other compelling match-ups that would've been great to see, but no. The USTA has no imagination when it comes to scheduling a women's match on Ashe, so I had to sit through a Sharapova match.  Again. To be honest, I only stayed for the first three games, which Sharapova won.  Loudly.  I left, went to the merchandise booth and used my $10 coupon on a cute t-shirt.  So that was fun, as was the saxophone player on the boardwalk between the tennis center and the subway - he was playing the theme song from Dynasty.  Who knows why?  But he made me smile.  I saw on my phone, as I was waiting on the subway platform, that Sharapova's opponent, a young American girl named Sofia Kenin, had come back to tie up the first set. That's good, the gal apparently fought hard, but Sharapova still came out on top.  I made it home in time to see the end of the match, so...that's how my US Open ended this year. With a whimper, not a bang.  Well, I whimpered.  Sharapova shrieked.  Again.  Whatever. I guess I'm going to have to re-find my joy before next year.  But, seriously, if you go to the US Open, don't sit in Section 318...

variations of my view for most of the evening

"oh, hey, there's tennis!  let's stand here and watch!"

Tennis Week 2017 - another terrific time! (part three)

Sorry to be taking so long to chat about a week of vacation and tennis.  But there's always so much to say!  :)

Thursday, my mom was anxious to get an early start since we had missed so many matches (due to lack of shade) so far.  I looked on the app and saw that another of our favorites, Fernando Verdasco from Spain, would be practicing early, even before the matches started.  So we decided to leave my apartment a little early and get over to the tennis center.  We went right over to the Grandstand to enjoy his practice and Mom was thrilled to see that an unannounced Rafael Nadal was Verdasco's practice partner.  The previous day, when Nadal and Federer were on the schedule, the Grandstand was packed and you couldn't get very close for good photos.  On Thursday morning, only Verdasco was announced, so the stands were pretty empty.  I got to get some really close photos for my mom, which was great.  Both guys were practicing hard, but Nadal was seriously kicking Verdasco's butt.  I'm not sure that Verdasco won any of the practice games.  Oh, and I forgot to mention, on Wednesday, Nadal kept getting his wrist massaged by one of his team, and he also came down on his knee funny and grimaced and limped around for awhile.  It was nice for my mom to see him again at full steam on Thursday.

After Verdasco and Nadal finished practicing, Mom and I went over to the practice courts to see Coco Vandeweghe practice.  Mom and I like Coco - I usually don't enjoy players with such swagger, but I don't know. I like Coco.  She's bold, where a lot of the women aren't. I also wanted to get a look at Coco's new coach, Pat Cash, who was a teenage crush of mine, I must admit.  He still looks good.  My mom was surprised at how slight Coco looks in person, she looks quite solid and athletic on tv. It's really a stark difference.  I wish I could've seen her practice with a different hitting partner, because the girl on the other side of the net didn't seem to be on the same level as Coco.  The practice didn't get very intense, but it will still nice to see that power close up.

We wandered over to Court 7 to watch two players I had seen in their first round matches: Aragone from the US and Bellotti from Italy.  We finally got the umbrella out to shade us, because it was impossible to see match play in the afternoon that didn't have some sun. There was some excellent hitting on both sides, with Bellotti the more naturally powerful player, but also the player without a plan B.  Aragone lost the first set, but he started changing some things up and ended up winning the match in three.  I think Mom and I will keep our eyes on him moving forward.

Then we moved on to Court 11, so we could watch the new phenom, Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov.  Shapovalov beat Nadal in a tournament a couple of weeks ago, so he was coming in with a lot of buzz.  I was actually surprised my mom wanted to see this match, since the kid had beat Nadal and my mom holds a grudge (see, I come by my grudge-holding naturally), but I was glad she wanted to watch.  Court 11, which has one of the biggest seating areas of the outside courts, filled up really quickly.  

This was a pretty good match to see, though Shapovalov's opponent, Gastao Elias from Portugal, wasn't quite up to the task.  Plus, he was playing a little bit even below his usual level, so the kid didn't have much trouble winning in straight sets.  He did lose his serve in the second set, but thankfully climbed back into the match, took control and won. Shapovalov is flashy, but also really talented.  He seems to have the wandering attention span of a teenager, but doesn't get down on himself or others, at least so far.  I'm interested to see what he does moving forward (spoiler/real time alert: he qualified for the Open and is into the third round, after knocking off a top 20 seed; I think this kid is the real deal).

After that match, Mom needed a little shade, so she had a sit down and some snacks, and I wandered over to Court 4 to catch the end of the Victoria Duval match.  You may remember Duval from last year - she's still on the comeback train after many injuries and a year layoff during treatments for lymphoma.  She's such a fighter and she fought back to win her match on Court 4.  I wish I had gotten a photo of her right after she won, she was so excited. Unfortunately, she must've hurt herself in this match because she had to retire in her third round match and didn't get into the Open.  But I'm sure she'll keep fighting.

Mom and I then went over to Court 17 to watch a match between American Mackenzie McDonald, who had practiced the day before with my Roger, and Jan Satral, from the Czech Republic.  Mom and I liked McDonald's smooth game and unflappable demeanor, so we were happy to settle in for his match.  We were also happy to settle into real seats, instead of benches, because after three days of benches, we had some sore backs, knees and tushies.  McDonald secured an early break and we were excited, but he unfortunately couldn't hold onto it.  Satral was just a little more explosive and took control of the match at the end of the first set, and didn't let go.  McDonald seems to still have some maturing to do, physically, and then I think he'll be in the mix.  He has good hands, a nice net game and smart instincts, but he's just, uh, petite.  He'll grow out of that.  I hope.  We wandered around a bit after this match and stopped to check out Frank Dancevic from Canada, who is a wackadoodle, but he finally put his brain back together and won his second round match. We didn't watch for very long because he just couldn't hold his serve, but neither could his opponent, Stephane Robert from France.  Not a very enjoyable match to watch, to be honest.

To end our day, Mom and I went to the temporary Louis Armstrong stadium to watch the return of Swiss Patty Schnyder, who I kept teasing was my age, against the American Nicole Gibbs.  Patty is actually 38, which is almost my age in tennis years, but she has been 'retired' since 2011.  It's nice to see her crafty, lefty game back on the tour.  She fought valiantly, but the younger, quicker Gibbs won the first set pretty easily.  Mom and I had to get to Kinko's to print off her boarding pass for her flight the next day, so we left after the first set.  I saw on the app that Schnyder came back to win the second set, but ultimately lost the match.  I'll be interested to see what she does next.

Since Mom was leaving on Friday, we decided to go out to breakfast and do a little shopping before she went to the airport, and then I went out to the tennis by myself in the afternoon.  A lot of the matches on the schedule weren't going to start until at least 3pm, so I had plenty to watch when I got there.  I actually went straight to Court 6, since Mahut would be playing his third round match there.  I arrived at the court as the match before his, between Anna Zaja of Germany, and Su Jeong Jang from South Korea, was headed into a third set.  I was thrilled to get a front row seat and I actually enjoyed the last set played by the women.  They both hit the ball hard, but also had some nice feel - there were drop shots, lobs and other good tactical plays.  Zaja broke twice, then struggled to hold on to win, but she did.  She was so excited - making it into the Open is such a huge payday for these lower-ranked players.

Finally, Mahut came to the court.  He was playing a player I had never heard of: Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece.  Besides being extremely attractive, he was also a very good player.  He utilized the on-court coaching a couple of times, which I found interesting. The first set was very exciting, with no breaks and very solid play from both gents.  The tiebreak was also quite thrilling, with many ups and downs, with Mahut finally taking the set.  The second set started off as more of the same, but suddenly Mahut had a dip in form and Tsitsipas elevated his, as he broke Mahut twice to end the second set and win it. I was a little worried, but after the break before the third set, Mahut must've screwed his head back on, because he was on fire and ended up not losing another game (he took the third set 6-0).  It was such an interesting change of fortune, for both players, I still don't quite know what happened.  But Mahut was absolutely thrilled to pull through, and then his adorable son came scampering out of the crowd to hug his papa!  ADORABLE.  As of this writing, Mahut is in the third round of the Open, so fingers crossed for him.  I hope this is the start of another great run.

Tennis Week was again a load of fun, with lots of exciting tennis and adventures with my mom.  I'm already looking forward to next year.