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“So who is that? He sure is cute and nice,” said my mom. “He’s my new boyfriend, mom.” “Oh…really?” she said. I just looked out the window and smelled that fresh air. Yes, this is what love feels like and I’m in it…so in it. Continue reading
This fall has had so many amazing happenings. It feels as though I have been at the helm of many projects: my daughter’s first birthday, my husband’s 40th birthday party, getting back in shape, running a race and my part-time marketing business. I also have two full-length plays in development, many articles due and then there is this crazy rouge project that you must go to!
Back in March when I thought I wasn’t going to work for awhile, but be a stay at home mommy, I was in search of the perfect volunteer project. I was looking for something that was outside of me, but still me. So I signed up to be the producer of what was then called Voices of Africa, part of The Estrogenius Festival at Manhattan Theatre Source. By June I had gotten really busy, taking on private clients that I never expected and the Voices project seemed dead in the water. We had no script coming from Africa this year. I was about to call it a day and forget about it. Then things shifted and Jen Thatcher, this year’s Estrogenius producer put me in touch with Jessica Morris, who is the executive producer of a kick-ass group of young women performers called Project Girl Collective that is all about empowering young women through performance. Jessica also happens to be one of the most courageous, driven and inspiring people who I have ever met.
Welcome to Voices Without Borders: Project Girl Congo. I am one of what feels like 50 producers who helped shape this piece. Led by hip hop artist Toni Blackman, the Project Girl girls’ have developed monologues, poetry, song and dance numbers inspired by stories told by the Man Up delegates working in the Congo, who in this case, are men who are working tirelessly to stop violence against women in the Congo every single day. These men have lost wives, mothers and sisters to violence, lack of education and health care. Many women die giving birth since there is little to no access to maternal health care. These men are standing up for women, as are the young women/performers of Project Girl who are taking time away from school and their social lives to stand up for women in the Congo. What are they giving? Their time, their hearts, their energies. What are we asking of you? To give the same. Be aware of what’s going on in other parts of the world. Watch our show, which is a fundraiser. Every penny of the proceeds goes back to the Congo to stop violence against women and girls. If you cannot come to the show, please log onto, http://www.s317461102.initial-website.com/donate/, to support this worthy cause.
“Just about every kid in America is told that they can make a difference in this world,” says Project Girl performer Alexa Winston, age 17. “Now I have a real opportunity with Project Girl: Congo. For the first time, I have heard first-hand accounts about what life is like for girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These stories are the bedrock of our show. I know exactly where our donations are going and am proud to support the courageous young leaders who are “manning up” in the DRC.”
This ground-breaking show will be a staged reading performed at Manhattan Theatre Source as part of the Estrogenius Festival on Oct 29th and 30th in New York City. The show tells the stories of young girls in The Congo and helps us all realize that we can do something right here, right now by just being aware.
I never knew, for example, that the fear of being raped is a fact of life for women in the Congo and that being permanently damaged (or “ruined”) from a rape is a common occurrence there. However, what trumps all of this violence is the fear of being killed as a result of living in a war-zone where child soldiers are shown with precision how to abuse women as part of their military training.
Through education and enlightenment, it is our hope as producers that we are encouraging awareness about what is going on for women in the Congo and for women right here in our community who are affected by gender-based violence. The statistic is 1:3 women and girls around the world are victims of violence. Clearly, this is a universal travesty that our youth-led theater company, Project Girl Performance Collective and Man Up, a youth led movement to stop violence against women and girls are working to change.
Voices Without Borders with be performed in connection with Congo Week, which is October 17-23, 2010, and Voices Without Borders will be co-produced by Congolese human rights organizers, Ally Malumba and Jean de Dieu Tshileu and Lewis Kasindi.
Proceeds from this year’s Voices Without Borders ticket sales and donations will benefit Man Up Campaign’s global anti-violence work in the Congo.
For more information and ticket sales, please visit Estrogenius Festival (www.estrogenius.org), ManUp Campaign (www.manupcampaign.org), Project Girl Performance Collective (www.projectgirlperformancecollective.org).
Posted in Plays, playwriting, Poetry, Politics, Theater, Uncategorized, West Village, Women, Writing
Tagged Africa, Congo, Man Up Campaign, Project Girl
My baby is 71/2 months old. I’m realizing quickly enough that I am on permanent duty. This beautiful thing that I created is growing and changing constantly. Now I understand why my mom used to stare at me all the time. As parents we are in awe — we can’t believe this little thing is learning to crawl, walk, swim, talk and a million other things right before our very eyes.
Should I talk about trying to hire a nanny and being mostly underwhelmed by the talent? Or trying to “work” just so I have my own cash because I can’t stand to be dependent?
Or…what? I think I’m so quiet because I’m listening. I hear her heart beat against mine and it has calmed me.
Posted in Uncategorized
I keep thinking about writing, but then I am so overwhelmed, I wouldn’t know how to describe it, but aren’t I a writer? Shouldn’t I try? I’m a new mommy, so my whole world is different. On October 6th at 3:55PM I gave birth (yah, through my vagina) to Maya Starr Paperny who is the most beautiful, perfect baby. I would talk about the labor, but why scare you. And besides, though long — 25 hours, it really wasn’t so bad (yes, it was!) -I pushed for three hours! Anyway, let’s not talk about labor or how much pain you’re in post labor (a lot). After it was all over, I asked one of my friend’s to get me a Coke. Yeah, I deserved a Coke didn’t I? The baby latched on and began nursing immediately, and I drank my Coke — then choked on it.
The first few weeks were a no sleep blur. My husband actually called her an “evil log” – we’d wrap her in a tight swaddle with only her head sticking out – and she’d cry for hours, so, she really did look like an evil crying log. Then, one day I looked down and my baby had grown and so had I; she didn’t cry so much, or maybe I understood her better. My friend Marisol who came to a doctor’s appointment with us a few weeks ago wondered how we do it. It doesn’t seem so hard when it’s your baby. My heart hurts from love, I think. So getting up with her, worrying about her comes much more naturally than I thought.
Now she coos, sings, dances, grabs things, smiles at me when I show up in the morning. And she’s almost grown out of her three-month old clothes. This precious time is flying by, as does life when you think about it.
Posted in Uncategorized
So here we are, the end of a decade and it all feels so circular. 10 Years ago I did the same thing for New Year’s Eve. Sort of. Remember how scared we all were about going out in 2000? We were all scared about Y2K? I stayed home at my mom’s on the mountain in Sonoma. I even slept through the count down. I had a lot of changes coming; no wonder I was tired. I was soon to be moving to New York City for a new life.
10 years later, I’m here on the mountain with my mom. I slept through the countdown, true. But things are different. I have a sleeping baby next to me. My husband, Dmitry, went to my friend’s party without me and he’s still there. It’s okay. He needs to party. One of us needs to party. I think Miranda on Sex in the City (Oh, I’ve been watching lots of Sex in The City re-runs in my spare -hem breastfeeding times) said it best: “When you are a new mom the minute you stop you’re done.” But I am starting to feel better, though today some friends came up to my mom’s and I entertained them with the baby in my pajamas. I didn’t even take a shower.
Sometimes I feel so retarded as a mom. I can’t get passed step one. I can’t even make it to mommy and me playgroups. I can’t really workout, can’t eat right, etc, etc. I feel very fat — and I’m not just saying that. I am fat. I invited some friends over for dinner while we were still in New York and I offered them a dry Pork Roast and day old Champagne. How gauche!
I want to do everything right, but it’s hard when you’re a Noni.
Now — for the good stuff. The past decade. Holy crap. I spent the entire decade living in New York City and I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around all the things…all the amazing, wild, scary things that happened to me, to us.
Right after I moved to New York for a new job I got laid off with thousands of others suffering from the dot come bust. Remember that? At the time, I had just moved to New York and had just realized that I was in-debt and needed to save money. I didn’t have an apartment in my name yet — so I could have moved back right then. But I didn’t. I stuck it out.
In 2001, I had a great summer — I had my own apartment in the East Village that I shared with my friend Gabe. We had non-stop parties. I had a pretty new boyfriend too. He was sexy and Russian and liked to spend money on me. It was nice. Then, came the World Trade Center attack. I was here, watching it all happen from a mere 10 blocks away. Everything changed after that. It’s like everyone got serious. What are you going to do with your life? Stop messing around. If you died tomorrow would you die happy?
In 2002 I got accepted to the MFA program for playwriting at the New School/Actors Studio Drama School. I remember that it felt like Hogworts…like we were studying to be witches. Lots of things to love about this time in my life. I lived in the West Village in a charming apartment. I had a great boyfriend who was Russian and very interesting. I was also getting my work produced. This was the beginning of me doing everything for my craft. I’m not kidding for the next four years I lived and breathed theater. I had something like 30 plays produced and I produced plays, acted in plays and saw tons of theater — all amazing!
By 2005 I had already been a literary agent for two years and had a very fun life in New York. I had just graduated from acting school and won a role in a Russian movie and was sent to Russia to film it! I was now married to the “interesting Russian boyfriend.”
In 2006, I had to pay off that student loan so I went back to work in online marketing which pays very well. For the next two years my art suffered and so did my health. Working full-time and commuting 3 hours a day was stressful. And I was mad all the time that I was spending so much time and energy working at something that wasn’t my passion. But I tried to make the most out of it; I saved a lot and I bought a lot of clothes. I looked cute and took private pilates classes that I could afford with all my extra income. In mid 2008 I paid off my student loan and for 2009 I decided to take a break and get back to my writing.
In January of last year I discovered that I was pregnant and in October I had a beautiful baby girl who we named Maya Starr. My Russian husband started his own business and we moved to Tribeca in August where it’s more “kid friendly.” I’m not sure I love the new hood or all the changes, but some of the changes are remarkable and I’m okay to just go with the flow.
I am a mom now. I’m different, a different size, shape and color. I’m brighter. My mom is still my mom, but now she’s a granny too.
Posted in Uncategorized
If you are new to New York or just visiting, you might be wondering what’s “The Fringe” and why should you go? The NYC Fringe Festival is one of the largest and best festivals of new plays in the world. Every August for the past nine years companies from all over the world have come to NYC to showcase their work (from dance to theater) and hopefully get some needed recognition and sponsorship of producers. Many little Fringe shows, playwrights, actors and directors go on to be quite successful. Urinetown came out of the Fringe as did Matt and Ben and many others. Doing well in the Fringe can really help a playwright get to the next level in their career. I’ll be short and sweet with this one because this play will close and you must see it. Viral, a new play by Mac Rogers (who has written several other successful Fringe plays and other plays around the city – read my review of his last one) scores on so many levels that I think newbie playwriting students should go see this play as an example of how to hit every element needed to make a great play, which is extremely difficult to do and rare to see. Talk about it afterward and try to analyze what makes it so great. In Viral, Rogers brings the audience into his characters bizarre world effortlessly; and by the end we almost don’t want to leave it. First of all, he starts out right by choosing an intriguing subject matter (watching someone’s last breath). However, a great subject matter does not alone make a great play; it’s the je ne sais quoi that makes a play go from good to great, but playwriting professors will tell you that it’s the combination of craft and the uniqueness of the world that you create. This play has both. Rogers didn’t just create compelling characters with believable dialogue, he makes us root for them. More importantly he gave them something to do, a problem — with life and death stakes that takes the entire hour and half to resolve. Viral centers around three fabulously dysfunctional misfits who get off sexually by watching people die via “painless suicide.” The forth star of the play is the client, the dark and sexy Amy Lynn Stewart, the victim who wishes to die. The big question to be answered by the end of 70 minutes is clear and you won’t be disappointed. Obviously I don’t want to give too much away, but just know that the ride in Viral is a hideous and beautiful journey, well worth and hour and half of your time. Playwrights of every pedigree (and producers) should pay attention to this one. It’s extremely rare to see a play working so well with so much craft in place. I can’t tell you how many plays that have been lauded in recent years actually aren’t terribly well crafted or worth all the hype. I’m not saying these plays aren’t enjoyable to watch; they are. In my opinion they are just a tad overrated. Those of us who know better, who are shooting to someday write a play that follows the rules that are so hard to master, should look no further than Viral, found in the bowels of New York City at the Fringe Festival: it’s perfection!
Viral is only playing for two more performances, so catch it while you can.
Posted in New York City, Plays, playwriting, The perfect play, Theater, Uncategorized, West Village, Writing
Tagged Mac Rogers, Painless Suicide, The NYC Fringe Festival
This weekend I was dosed out with theater…Okay, first off, I know I haven’t posted in awhile. I’m bad – or maybe, I have a good reason. I’ve been sick. I should be better soon….times are tough with the Noni blog. What’s new? I’m co-producing an all lady festival called Femme Feast in early May and we are having a big fun raiser called the Lady Cakes Ball where you can get free cupcakes in addition to seeing awesome live entertainment – uh, bands, burlesque dancers, the singer Deanna Neil….it’s going to be hot. All for $1o bucks! Cool, right? It’s at Karma Lounge in NYC on April 16th — doors open at 7.
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.
Posted in Broadway, NYC Parties, Plays, playwriting, Theater, Uncategorized, West Village, Women, Writing
Tagged Irena's Vow
Thursday I noticed I was repeating things I’d done two, three weeks ago. But now the air is cooler and the trees rustle more as the leaves fall off. I had lunch at Doma and when I looked out the window, there was the painter I’d interviewed a few weeks ago. 
Now his painting had morphed, just like he said it would. I think I liked it better in the earlier version. I read some of my book, which is research for my new play. It’s depressing.
The older couple who had sat down next to me were speaking a language I didn’t recognize. I speak French, Russian and a little German, so I am good at recognizing most languages, but this didn’t sound familiar.
Who: Henriette and Vagn Kondsen
Where: Doma, NYC
Occupation: Tourists and parents (today)
Henriette and Vagn tell me that they are visiting New York for two weeks and today they have already been uptown and all over Soho.
“It’s exhausting isn’t it?” I say.
“Oh yes, we are glad to sit down.”
“Do you live here?” Vagn asks me.
“Yes, just over there,” I point.
“You are so lucky. We love the village,” he tells me.
“We are visiting our daughter, but she’s working so much that we barely see her.”
“What does she do?” I say.
“She’s here working on the Obama campaign,” says her mother proudly.
Emma Kondsen came over from Demark to work as a volunteer to get my (crossing fingers) president elected. She’s been here for four months.
“You must be very proud,” I say.
Her parents looked so proud that I think I see tears in their eyes.
“It must be a wonderful thing being a parent,” I say.
“It’s so wonderful,” says her mom.
After pointing them to my favorite neighborhood book store “Three Lives” I went home. My phone rang and it was unknown number.
“Hello,” I say.
“Hi, my name is Michelle and I’m calling from Barack Omama’s campaign.”
No, it wasn’t Michelle Obama, it was just someone named Michelle.
They were looking to see if my husband, who had donated money wanted to volunteer.
“He’s probably too busy,” I say. “But, I’ll do it.”
The last time I helped out with a campaign, the guy won.
Posted in Barack Obama, Book Stores, Election 2008, New York City, Painting, Politics, The Election, Travel, Uncategorized, West Village, Writing
Tagged Barack Obama, Denmark, Election 2008, New York City, Tourists
Gay Street
I am trying to give myself a little break from interviewing one person a day, but Sunday proved to have some kick to it.
My purpose for the day was to buy new swimming goggles; I needed a new pair. So I made a day trip to Paragon in Union Square. Paragon has a testing area just for swimming goggles; I’ve never seen such a sight. I decided to buy one rather fancy pair, and one cheap pair “just in case.” So I will have a back up. This should last me for 10 years! I’m so excited for my next swim. I also recently bought a new suit, the first one in five years!
I walked out of Paragon with my new goggles in my purse and I decided to stop in Barnes and Noble. Another big errand– I am doing research for a new play. The play is a taboo subject, so I thought I’d see what Barnes and Noble might have in stock on the subject. Turns out, not much. I can’t say what the subject is, but, it’s bad.
Posted in New York City, The Election, Theater, Uncategorized, Writing
Tagged New York City, Theater, Writing
Sunday interviews.
It’s time to write about my two favorite neighborhood haunts: Joe’s coffee (141 Waverly Place) and Equinox gym on Greenwich Avenue. My morning started with a swim at the Equinox. It is the most amazing all-purpose, super swanky gym ever. Where else can one work out in the weight room, take private Pilates, swim laps in the pool, take Jazz dance classes with someone who still uses “Jazz hands”, buy smoothies from the café and stop in the store to buy a cool pair of Stella McCarthy shorts? Oh and did I mention the Spa? It’s nice too.
Posted in Fashion, New York City, Theater, Uncategorized, Women, Writing
Tagged Coffee, Fashion, New York City
The PopCycle 