results of long weekend...

Well, lots happened, but there were some slow spots as well (is not that to be expected?) Where to begin? Well, let's begin with the plays:
Friday evening: The World My Mamma Raised at Clubbed Thumb---like other clubbed thumb projects, the language of the play flies out at you. Bright, Bright, Bright---the content, centered around a young black man's incarceration and first few days outside has interest and is deeply felt, but it is often blunted by the language and "flakiness" of the rest of the play---the enjoyment of quirkyness that this play, and other clubbed thumb works, seems to enjoy so much. Towards the end, I got tired---felt that the play had run its course---good work by the actors (ofcourse!). It will be interesting to see whether the other two plays fit into this zone, or if they are stylistically different from Ms. Stress' play. Will try to see them both---that might be harder then it seems.
Sunday afternoon: Venus, the play at Signature, an early work by Susan Lori-Parks---mostly a disappointment--much of the play simply reads like a history report---some moments in the second act take fire, but not enough. I was disappointed in the production which stressed the colorful in a kind of arbitrary way, and two of my favorite actresses, H.C, and S.H seem wasted.  I left feeling very cold---then went to my normal South Fourth Sunday and had a good time talking film with Eric and one other person.
Two movies; Saturday night, tired so went to Bunin to see Hermia and Helena---sort of a waste--very nice to look at but innocuous---probably did not help that I was sitting in the front row. Yesterday was the movie about the last years of Stefan Zweig, the German writer.A very serious work--sober sided to the max. Again very well filmed, quite articulate and well acted. Zweig, a Jewish writer escaped German in the early thirties and lived comfortably in exile, mostly in South America. Yet he felt tremendous guilt at having survived the holocaust while others perished--the is the underlying theme of the movie---and its surprise ending (at least for me) reveals that. Much conversation in the film about the many letters Zweig received from fellow German Jews, asking him to help get them out of Germany while there was still time---his esteem gave him tremendous influence with the governments of South America. You can really feel the horror that those people who were trapped must have felt. Kind of a cold, expanatory movie, but well done and valuable.
A decent amount of socializing over the weekend with theater friends (Friday) and South fourth friends (Sunday and Monday). A major highlight of the weekend was my reading of Patricia Bosworth's autobiography, The Men in My Life. Intense, focused, full of feeling---she recounts her affairs and loves between 53 and 64, and also her adventures as a young actress (actors Studio, Lee Strasberg and his followers) at the same time. Some great anecdotes, and a great statement from Gore Vidal, about the commitment one must have if one wants to write truthfully about oneself (You understand that don't you, cityboy?)---a very penetrating autobiography.
  Ironically, the other autobiography that I took out of the library to read this weekend, the one by William Daniels, covers some of the same ground and the same people (in different lights) then Ms. Bosworths. Daniels is much more chatty and a little bit more self pleased, but the book also has some very interesting insights into the rehearsals and progress of  the original The Zoo Story (mentioned in my last blog).
No work today, tonight will go to my first BAN meeting in a while---time to leave the theater world and think about protesting this summer. Should be interesting, as should the one next Monday at JACK. Will report soon.