a long and. interesting....

weekend, beginning on Saturday with my trip to New Haven to see my friend Ben is the play he is touring in, Small Mouth Sounds. Have not been to New Haven in about three years---of course that is where I spent one "year of hell", at the Drama School, a long time ago. Still those unhappy or confusing memories have subsided, and as the train clumped through Connecticut on its journey, I felt reflective and calm. Took a taxi to Long Wharf, and saw the play. My friend Ben, and his fellow cast members are excellent in it---this is my second go round with the play---I found it more superficial then the first time. Originally it was done in an enclosed rectangular space with the audience on both sides--I think that helped the play---the audience shared the hemmed in feeling that the characters were experiencing. On a proscenium space the play's faults were a little too obvious--oh well, it was extremely well acted---I was also fascinated by the procession (that is the only word to describe it) of older couples that came to this matinee. Where do they all come from? So many people.
  Anyway, after the play, Ben and a friend of his from college named Matt, who directs opera, and myself had dinner at the nearby diner. Good conversation---I am happy that I was able to support Ben---really it is pretty easy getting to New Haven and the trip back was much more efficient. On the train I was able to read all of Miller's All My Sons---it really is an amazing work. Coming back to New York, reading Acts II and III, I was totally engrossed. Sometimes I am amazed at how strong Miller was at create detail for his characters. Glad that I read it.
  Sunday, sort of took it easy before the evening performance of Measure for Measure at the Public, that I had tickets for. Which meant going out to Bushwick and Cobra---watching the first half of a very boring Giant-Eagle game (the second half, which I missed, had much more action), and then, with some time to kill---taking the 38 bus, the one that goes west on DeKalb Avenue (and east on Lafyette) back to BRIC, where I could kill some time before the play. Finally the 4 and then the 6 to Astor Place and the ERS production of Measure for Measure.
   As usual, what you see on stage is very unique to ERS. All their actors were there. Lots of action in the first part---it was very important that I was very aware of who the important characters were. The production sometimes seems cartoonish (very inventive cartoons) but it slows down when the important and telling moments arrive. This is probably the eighth or ninth time I have seen the play performed (first time, very memorable, at the old Pheonix Theater, by the (now extinct) American Shakespeare Festival when I was 13) and in its odd quirky way, with possibly the exception of the first one, came the closest to giving me the whole play. The director, John Lyons, has an amazing eye for composition on stage--I think Measure for Measure allows him to use it more than in ERS' other works. Are there less "cartoonish" ways of making the play effective? Of course, but somehow, for me, the core of the play was present. Afterwards, waited for the cast and said hello to several members, all of whom were very appreciative, and had a good talk with Mike and Gavin, about their roles and the play and this production in general. Really felt good after my brief "hang out" with those guys.
   Today, a session has been canceled---kind of free until I enter the "other" world---the BAN meeting that begins tonight at 7. Time to forget (briefly) my passion for theater and Shakespeare and get down to the problems that beset this city---in spite of my good feelings about life now, there are many of them. Will report tomorrow