a forgotten 'masterpiece",

well maybe not a masterpiece but a really beautiful play. I am talking about a play by Arthur Miller entitled, A Memory of Two Mondays--it was written to be a companion piece to the then one act long play, A View From the Bridge. Since the latter was expanded and is now a (well deserved) "classic" its twin has all but been forgotten. I read it this morning; I had read it a few years ago and was impressed but even more impressed with this last reading. It is for nine men and two women (mirroring the original A View From the Bridge character list) It takes place in the early thirties in a warehouse in Chelsea and has a lot of small portraits, but really no central character. Bert, the youngest member of the workers leaves the factory for college and "escapes" the factory, where most of the other characters will and have spent most of their lives. Very strong and focused writing---I would love to do a reading of it some time. At a time like this, it is very unlikely that even if some not for profit artistic director or producer wanted to schedule it, he or she could. It would probably seem to be not "edgy" enough. I read it while drinking coffee at the Essex Market, a new and enormous "food place" on the lower east side. Not the most atmospheric of places, but you can simply sit and read---there are not that many places like that in Manhattan.
  Last night, another night at home. Today, I am having my teeth cleaned in a couple of hours, then off to Friends for a lecture by the resident theater director there, Should be interesting, maybe a movie after that,,,will report soon.