Saturday, June 2nd
Remember that I couldn’t find my ticket for my laundry? Well, I searched the room again – remember this is a VERY small room. Still no ticket. So off I go just after eight am to get my laundry. Closed till Monday. Yuck.. Bad way to start out the day. Now I have to go there on Monday just before I go to Lincoln Center and hope my laundry is there.
Back to the room and get a bottle of OJ and head for Riverside Park. I take my current book on play writing and my pad. I get there just before 9 am and by noon I had finished the first draft of my second play of New York. By the way – the first draft is about 15% done with the play. Although some (like the Hal and Cathy plays) never get finished.
Sitting in Riverside Park on the weekend is interesting. The fathers are there with their young kids and the joggers are out in force as are the dogs being walked. Several people stopped by to chat. All in all a pleasant morning.
Hank was going to call me in the morning and we’d set a time to get together. I finally call him just after noon and he didn’t remember his promise to call me. He couldn’t get together so I was on my own. I had picked up a copy of the Village Voice (a free newspaper – like the Seattle Weekly). So I looked at the off-off Broadway shows. I finally settled on a show all the way down in Greenwich Village. Off to the subway again. This time I take the local to 59th street and get an express to the Village. Still a long ride. I would have missed a 2pm matinee but I had picked a 3 pm show. I see a show named Phallacy (Yes it was spelled that way). One of the reasons I chose it was because the theater company specializes in plays that marry science and the arts. THIS PLAY WAS GREAT!!! It is by far the best play I’ve seen in years. I mean Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon was a better actor but this play was wonderful.
To start with the female lead (Lisa Harrow) is like Judith Densch at 50 years old. She OWNED that stage when she was on it. The male lead was almost as good. There were two other, younger actors that did a workman like job but were clearly overshadowed by the two older actors. The technical multimedia aspects of this show were unbelievable. I really want to do this show but I don’t think Orcas could handle the technical requirements. Without those, the play wouldn’t be half as good. When I get back to Orcas I’ll start tracking down the show and see if I could get the tech stuff we need.
What an afternoon of theater. I decide not to see a show that night. It would be hard to follow that show. I go back to my room and type the new play into the computer. Boy I hate doing that. It takes me almost four hours over two sittings.
I go to look for dinner three blocks up from the hotel. It is wall to wall restaurants for block after block. The places are either so full the sound level is above the pain threshold or they are empty and that sends me a message too. I finally got to a place called Fred’s – not named after my friends named Fred. It seems that this Fred was the first seeing eye dog. See I learned something. A good dinner of barbecued ribs. Got another shirt dirty. If I don’t get my shirts Monday I’m going to be in real trouble.
Back to the room at 10 pm and look at my e-mail, lots that need responses. Get to bed just before midnight.
