It's Not Exactly Love in the Time of Cholera, but...

UPDATE:  I was in the middle of writing this when our offices decided to close for the time being, now that most theaters are closed for a month.  I was supposed to see four new plays in NY and five in KY this month; I'm sad I probably won't get to see any of them (we don't have official word from KY yet).  This is definitely the right move, but I really feel for our industry.  So many theater people live day-to-day (I almost do; not quite, but almost) and so many shows either won't open or won't succeed because of outside forces.  I saw a friend's amazing play the other night that has to close early - it's heartbreaking.  There are many things to rail about (especially how that horrible orange person has been mishandling this national crisis), but I guess I'll just stay quiet for now and finish the below post.  After a week or so of no-new-theater, I may change my mind and start posting rants.  I guess we'll just have to see.  Stay safe and healthy, my friends; I hope to be back soon.



...I did travel to Minneapolis for work during the early stages of the US dealings with COVID-19.  It was a little surreal - the plane smelled like Purell (probably because I was wiping everything around me), it wasn't that full, and everything seemed to happen the way it was supposed to happen.  Maybe it was because Minnesota hadn't announced any cases until we had arrived, I don't know.  But it was a pretty uneventful travel scenario, thankfully.  Just way more Purell.

I went to Minneapolis mainly to attend a new musical written by dear friends and I was fortunate enough to be able to build a work event around the trip.  We did a class for area writers that went extremely well and I hosted a talkback conversation after the performance, which also went extremely well.  It was a grand weekend, filled with wonderful work friends, delightful theater, and terrific cocktails.  Oh, and I tried Ethiopian food for the first time - whee!

My work chum and I arrived in town last Friday night, checked into a very nice hotel, then walked about a half a block to Town Hall Brewery, which is a very nice pub/local spot with a pretty big menu and an even bigger list of alcoholic beverages.  Beer is their claim to fame, but since I haven't acquired the taste for beer yet, I went with their Towncar, which was bourbon, lemon juice, and something else I can't quite put my finger on.  It was super-delicious.  As was the Friday night special, fish and chips.  The fish was beautifully battered and fried and the chips were crispy and yummy.  It was a delicious meal to start our weekend.

Saturday was our class, which, as I said, went extremely well.  After the class was over, we walked to the corner and ate lunch at Black Dog Cafe, a very cute pub-type spot that had live music.  They had very tasty iced tea and a delicious (enormous) turkey club sandwich.  It was a very nice break and a very nice, relaxing meal.  After lunch, I took an Uber over to the Guthrie Theater, just so I could walk around and see what it looked like (I didn't have time to see a show there).  It certainly is something to see!  I was grateful that you can walk around in the building without having a ticket to see one of the shows, though there was an older volunteer at the information desk who kept asking if he could help me.  But the beautiful building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, is wonderfully striking.  The Endless Bridge was open because it was a gloriously sunny day, so that was cool to take in.  The views are stunning and there's something to look at all around the building.  Even the gift shop is gorgeous!  Of course, I did treat myself to a couple of souvenirs - I love them already.  I'll put some photos below.

After walking back to the hotel and having a little liedown, my work chum and I went out to the Gremlin Theatre to see the Frank Theatre's production of Danai Gurira's The Convert.  This play was originally produced in 2012, though it was a new title to me.  When looking through the listings of all the offerings in Minneapolis, I immediately chose The Convert, because I loved Eclipsed and Familiar, and because I want to remind Danai Gurira to write more plays, please.  Never one to shy away from big bold subjects, this play takes on British colonialism in southern Africa, notably the use of Christianity as a tool of religious, cultural, and social disruption.  It's quite evenly balanced in its excoriation of the patriarchal traditions of the past and the horrors that could be conjured by supposed progress through religion.  I was moved and shaken several times throughout the evening.

photo credit: Tony Nelson

The acting in this production of The Convert is first-rate, though at times I did feel as if the dialect work got in the way of character development.  But that's a quibble.  Also, during some of the beautifully-written long scenes, there was very little, or very static movement, so I did feel that on occasion the direction could've been more incisive.  I realize it was a very small theater space, but the stage could've been used a little more creatively here and there.  In my opinion.  But this story is a strong and necessary one, about ancestry and belonging and appropriation and brutality.  I enjoyed seeing The Convert and hope to read it soon, so I can revel in the gorgeous language, specific characters, and exquisite construction by Danai Gurira.  I look forward to seeing more of her plays soon, please.

photo credit: Rama (on Wikipedia) - not my plate but similar

After the play, my work chum and I went back to Town Hall Brewery for another delicious cocktail and, since it was so late, I just had the pizza rolls appetizer.  WHICH WERE DELICIOUS.  Geno's pizza rolls will never do after the ones I had in Minneapolis.  Sunday, my work chum and I met with my amazing writer chums at Dilla's, an Ethiopian restaurant near our hotel.  I've never had Ethiopian food before, so I was looking forward to giving it a try.  The restaurant seems to be a popular local spot, it was full of young people enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon.  They were offering a vegetarian buffet, so we all got that.  I placed some injera on my plate (the spongy Ethiopian bread made with sourdough and teff flour), then put a spoonful of each dish on my plate.  Except the beets.  I didn't need to experience the beets.  But the lentils, split peas, and other delicious things I had on my plate were delightful.  Everything was deeply spiced, but not muddy-tasting, and rich yet light.  I really loved our meal, though I didn't eat a lot because of my 'don't eat a lot before a show' edict.  My work chum and I have decided to try an Ethiopian restaurant around the office so that we can get more of a sense of the cuisine.

photo credit: from Mixed Blood website

After lunch, we walked over to Mixed Blood Theatre to catch the matinee performance of Interstate, basically the entire reason for the trip.  Interstate is a beautiful musical about so much, I can hardly talk about it.  It's about love, intersectionality, acceptance, community, the power of art, and so much more.  I love the show (and its creators) so much it's probably pointless to go on; please, if you're in the Minneapolis area, go see Interstate.  This cast is off-the-charts brilliant!  I had seen bits and pieces of the show in earlier stages, but seeing an entire production was a glorious experience.  As was leading a talkback discussion afterwards; the audience loved the show and hearing young people ask questions and comment on how they loved seeing people like themselves reflected on stage felt so extraordinary.  Interstate has joy and pain, laughter and tears, and incredible words and music.  But mainly joy, which I need so much right now.  I hope I can see it somewhere else again soon.

The rest of the trip was pretty quiet; Sunday night was spent in my hotel room with room service and script-reading, and the flight back on Monday was uneventful.  On the plane, I watched the documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? and it was a powerful experience.  We may never see that type of selfless influence and humanity again and I was lost in thought afterwards, wondering how I could try to effect that same sort of change.  I couldn't come up with anything, but I'm glad Fred Rogers did.  What a humanitarian; I'm so glad I finally got the chance to catch the film.  It was a grand trip, filled with lots of Purell and beautiful life-affirming theater.  I'm so glad I could go.

OH, I should also mention that when I got back, I was fortunate enough to attend Women's Day on Broadway.  It was a moving and empowering day, which ended with a closing keynote from Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I may have cried when I saw her.  There were so many takeaways from the amazing day, but I think my favorite may be a quote from one of the panelists.  She said (something like), "If they think you're too much, clearly they're too little."  Whee!  As someone who has been told my entire life that I'm too much or too loud or too...something, this was a powerful phrase to hear.  I'm going to repeat it to myself frequently, as should you.

souvenir

pizza rolls

post-Interstate talkback with authors