So all this is taking it’s toll.  We are also producing a theatrical event with 6 or 7 pieces, Butoh dancing, musicians — it’s wild!

So anyway…mid week, I was feeling my usual pain — can’t eat anything…ugh sick…and then I get a call from a director, Michael Parva, who offerred me one free ticket to his Broadway show currently in previews — the show — Irena’s Vow.  Don’t walk, run to get tickets!  I loved it!!  The NYTimes called it “cheesy”, and the reviewer felt it skipped over things — but c’mon we are telling a Holocaust story. I personally thought everyone did a beautiful job and hey — I cried, so I went home happy…which is more than I can say about a host full of mediocre cliched plays I’ve seen in the past weeks.   So good is good is my opinion and great is great. Go see Irena’s Vow.  It’s about something good, real and not just another war story.  In fact, I’m really happy to see all these Holocaust stories coming to life from other perspectives.  Remember when the only story we knew of was Anne Frank?  It’s okay. It doesn’t get tired. It’s part of history.

On Sunday I went to the BE company’s first fundraising event at The Rattlestick Theatre Company.  I was tired and didn’t really want to be there, but boy was I pleasantly surprised by what I saw — some extremely well written one-acts, that were certainly augmented by stellar acting and directing – with a bit of guitar.  Then, after it was over everyone was invited to socialize at Bobo — only my favorite restaurant in the village.  Unfortunately, I started to feel crappy and had to go home to uh…lay there and stare at the ceiling.  I heard it was fun.  And yes, when the BE Company starts producing plays make sure to check them out.  I want to BE them — classy, cool and full of talent.  Oh, I am…whew.

Sandra Coudert

Who: Sandra Coudert
Where: Jack’s Coffee House, West Village
Occupation: Managing Director,  Rattlestick Theater
About 10 days ago Sandra and I got a quick coffee at Jack’s, the other cool coffee house in the hood.   Sandra and I have known each other since I came by her theater and introduced myself about three years ago.  I’m a big fan of the Rattlestick Theater, the “awesome” theater company that Sandra has been managing with David Van Asselet since 2002.  No one does as much and talks as fast as Sandra.  It’s hard to keep up. The day I spent with Sandra is certainly one of the times I longed for my tape recorder.

Sandra is a dark-haired, blue-eyed  “Wonder Woman.” Actually she dressed up as “Cat Woman” for Halloween, but nevermind that.   This one-stop-shop does anything and everything for her theater, but act, direct and write plays. She was once the photo editor the Harvard Crimson and spent time working as a lawyer and an investment banker, before finding her way to the non-profit world of theater.   That’s a long road.
“So how did you end up at the Rattlestick?” I say
“I just wanted to learn about producing,” she says.
“Well, first I worked in non-profit politics.  I worked on the elections the year Schumer and Spitzer got in.”  She smiles.  “He (Spitzer) was good. I’m still proud of the work I did.”
We spoke at length about politics and the upcoming election (which is now today) before we moved on.  Sandra is very politically active, but as of press time she hadn’t yet volunteered for her candidate, Barack.  “I donated to both Hillary and Obama, but gave more to Hillary.” She says.
When I spoke to Sandra again yesterday, she said she’d probably be working the phone banks today.

Back to theater and her job, I ask the obvious: “With many non-profit theaters there is a conflict with creative ambition.  What do you think about that – is there something you are looking to produce?” I say.
“Not really.  I think we (David and Sandra) work so well together because I leave the creative decisions up to him.  I am the money and development person.”
“So what is the craziest thing that ever happened to you in New York City?”
Sandra emailed me her response (which is sort of cheating) after she read my blog and noticed that the Nanette Lepore dress I lusted for at Bloomindales she owns and wore to her big Rattlestick gala a few weeks ago.  Hilarious!  So my blog is becoming fashionably trendy too!
Here’s Sandra’s crazy NYC experience:
“I used to play with a tennis pro at Roosevelt Island a few mornings a week…  He also taught Harrison Ford and I would take the lesson after him on most days.  Harrison was always very sweet and nice, as well as pretty funny, and one time, when the tram was down, we shared a car ride back to the city after the lesson (our pro accidentally booked us both at the same time that day, so we ended up sharing the lesson) … it turned out we were both going to LA the next week and he offered a lift out on his private jet – which I took (he was leaving the same day).   He was very gracious and kind to offer me a ride and it was a great trip… Of course, I had to re-arrange my other airfare for the return trip completely, but it was worth it!   I can usually talk to anyone about anything, but for some reason I felt surprisingly tongue-tied around him… which has almost never been my issue with anyone!   I just felt like whenever I said something it came out wrong… Oh well.”

This is a side note, but I really hate my new hairdo, it does make me look like Sarah Palin’s sister.

I look like a schoolmarm, librarian, preschool teacher or like I hunt for rabbits (no offense to schoolmarms, librarians, preschool teachers, rabbit hunters…well sure, offense to rabbit hunters).
Audrey and I meet up at Grounded and saddle up to a little table that we share.  Laptops are back-to-back.  I look down at my computer and realize that I haven’t prepared much for either of my meetings (been too busy writing my blog perhaps?).
One of my meetings is with a theater company. They have asked me to be prepared to discuss a marketing plan for “Of Mice and Men, the Musical.”  It was kind of a “what if?” type of question.  I’m pondering this. Audrey finds me a website with themes of Steinbeck novels.  So I am trying to imagine Curley’s wife singing a beautiful song about being lonely.  Hmmm.
I nearly tripped on the computer cord of the guy sitting next to me.
“Don’t be trippin,” He says with a laugh.  I can tell he thinks this he’s made a funny pun.
I smile and look back down at the “themes” page.
Audrey, my partner in crime, nudges me:  “Interview him,” she says with a raised brow.
“Ah,” good idea.
So I look on his lap top and try to see what he’s working on, see if it intrigues me.   It looks like it’s some kind of script for a commercial.
I have a feeling that Audrey and I are starting to get “known” in this café.
“Can I interview you? It will only take a minute,” I say.
“Sure, if it only takes a minute.”

Who:  Jason
Where: Grounded, NYC
Occupation: Movie trailer writer, advertising.
I actually felt like Jason was interviewing me, more than I was interviewing him.
“So what’s your blog about?” he says.
I can tell the whole coffee house is listening.
“Oh I interview one person a day, but I’m a playwright, so it’s not like an official thing.  I feel you and I have to sit across from you in order to interview you.”
“So what is it you do?  What are you working on?  It looks like a commercial, is it?” I say.
“I write teasers for movies and television shows.”
“Wow, that’s different.”
“I know so cool, right?” he says.
I can tell he doesn’t take himself too seriously, which is a good thing.
“How did you get this job?”
I’m not sure if this is exactly what we said, but I think he said something like
“I know how to work it.”
Hmm. Something any New Yorker knows is the name of the game – working it, that is.
“I feel lucky,” he says.
The three of us laugh about it.
“Look at us, we are in a cafe,” he said.
I think I can most appreciate the luxury of getting to hang out in a café.  After all, I only just left the corporate “florescent lights” a month ago.
Whew.  I pinch myself.  I am enjoying every moment of this borrowed time.
From behind me a guy who is listening to our conversation says, “are you a playwright? I am too.”

“I’ve got a show coming up.”  He hands me his card and we talk for awhile about playwriting and the Samuel French Festival.  He won in 2007.  His play “To Barcelona” sounds fascinating.  He added me as a friend on Facebook while we were sitting there talking, and as you can imagine, my interview with Jason went south.  Oh yeah, my interview!
Thankfully Audrey took over with the interview while I became distracted with Michael the playwright and figuring out how many friends we had in common.
Jason and Audrey both went to UC Berkeley, so they had a lot to chat about.  We told him that we really only recently graduated and were like 27.  I think he believed us.
We laugh.
I think the whole café is in on this.
“Okay café,” I ask to the crowd at large, “what Broadway stars would be good in Of Mice and Men, the Musical?”
“ I was thinking of Allan Cummings as Curley,” I say.
“He’s too old,” says Jason.
Suddenly I’m hearing answers from all over the coffee house.
Back to the interview, sort of.
“So is your blog political?” says Jason.  “You say you are interviewing one person a day until November 3rd?”
“Well, that’s when I figure I’ll be exhausted. But sure, getting people’s political views is part of it,” I say with a sigh.
“I just assume unless you tell me that you are from Alaska that most New Yorkers I’m meeting are liberal.”
“Well,” says Jason with a snort:  “I fucking love Barak Obama and I will flee the country if he doesn’t win.  I don’t care how many vaginas (Sarah Palin) has, why would any woman vote for her?”
His outburst cracks all of us up because it came out of nowhere.
My day could have ended there and I would have been happy, but I did have two meetings uptown, so since I am still in my “looking up” mode, I snapped a photo of building that would make a great painting – love the pipe snaking up the side.

Since my lipstick had worn off, I stopped into Bloomingdales and got lost trying to find the makeup counter.  I stopped to look at a chic jacket and of course it was my favorite designer: Nanette Lepore.

I don’t own anything by Nanette Lepore, but the next time I have money for a shopping spree, I must get something from her collection.  It’s true love!
At 7PM, I meet up with another playwright-friend Sonya at the Women’s Project for the opening of a new play.  Sonya is the greatest.   Great writer, mom of a three-year-old, very smart, funny and supportive of other writers.  Here’s a fun secret bonus about working in the theater in NYC: I get to know a cast of very interesting characters– and I get to see lots of quality theater for free!
The play was good; the set and lighting design inventive and the acting superb.  The characters were Russian and both actors really knocked out a solid Russian accent.  Natilia Payne is one of my favorite actors, so how could I not find the play charming? Yes, charming indeed.

The after party was fun too, though we didn’t stay long.  On the way home we came out right as the Broadway stars from the musical “Spring Awakening “ were outside singing autographs, so I snapped some more photos.

Hmmm. Maybe someday this will be me? Nah, no one takes photos of the playwrights.  It’s a good thing. I don’t like my hair.
________

11 AM I found myself lost in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.  Two Russian people starring down at me (I fell coming out of the subway). They grunted. I looked up, shocked that I’d forgotten my Russian.   Noon.  A Russian guy stalks me on the subway and begs to kiss my hand.  I think he said “me and you together in Odessa” but I’m not sure…like I said, I forgot all my Russian, but somehow he kissed my hand. 12:30PM washing hands vigorously.

2-5PM met Audrey “to write” at Doma “a writer’s cafe.”  I overhear two guys laughing at themselves writing a screenplay no doubt. They were typical though….”We want to write something like The Office, but it’s been done.”  6PM, jump out of taxi in front of the W Hotel’s corporate office to meet my old friend Kevin, we get drinks and eat Oysters.  My Russian friend Olga shows up wearing a fedora and also orders her own Oysters.  She tells us that NYC’s Web 2.0 sucked.  Kevin’s wife Andrea shows up and we all go to at a party for the Luxury Collection in Chelsea.  I met a French fashion designer named Thomas Renaud.  I think his thing might have something to do with Aqua Man given his scuba attire.  Then, I scarfed down some Salmon Roe, which was delicious while standing outside and admiring  the evening view from the 21st floor.   Sometime before we left the party, I ran into an old actor friend from my MFA program (Steve) and decided to ask him to be in my reading of Reporter Girl which is next Friday, September 26th.  He was working the party and had a headset on.

Many glasses of wine later, Kevin, Andrea and I ended up a the W in Times Square for yet another party.  There I consumed more drinks and started talking with my old friend from work, Leah.  Seems like we got kind of silly and Kevin and Andrea left and Leah and I and a bunch of blond girls who now work on the Luxury accounts hung out in the W Store.  I happen to know that the W Store rocks with amazing little finds.  One of the girls had really blond hair and talked like a valley girl.  She said that she spent $300 on cabs last weekend and gets her hair blown out every day. Her teeth were very white.

Midnight.  I arrived at my door with a new black hat, ear muffs and a hot pink scarf.  Dmitry had cooked the Cod I bought, so I ate (again). We had more wine and watched TV.  I checked my email and found out that one of my plays has been chosen for a December production in NYC.