Chronicles Continued

Found this very clever!  At non-holiday times it is a three-tiered fountain

The Scene.  A Starbucks in suburban Washington DC.  Me: have just taken an ordered cup of coffee out of the store to the street-facing courtyard;  sit down at a solitary table.  Only a couple of the nine other tables have anyone seated at them.  Am reading a newspaper article – always carry something to read when having a few minutes to spare.  As I am reading I hear a voice behind me.  The voice sounds like a woman seating herself at the table directly in back of me.  “Do you have times to run lines with me?” I hear her say.  My assumption is that she is on the phone.  I can not turn to see her without obvious movement.  “Oh.  That’s too bad.  I really need your help…”  She continues the conversation trying to guilt the person on the phone into helping her.  I am fascinated by the one-side of the conversation to which I am privy.  It becomes quiet again as I continue reading,  Suddenly, the same voice is at my left elbow.  “Would you run some lines with me?  I have an audition tomorrow…”  I am speechless.  Does everyone know what “run lines” means?  Why me?  Do I  exude something that says I do?  I look at her.  Somewhere in her 60’s; too much lipstick for my taste, hair severely pulled back behind her head.  “I’m sorry”, I say, ” I have to be at an appointment in 10 minutes.  I really don’t have the time…”.  As I am saying the truth of my excuse, my mind is racing. ‘This is too good to pass up.  How did she come to ask me, does she ask any random person?’  Out loud I continue, “But I will do it for you”.   She pulls up a chair next to me and hands me five 3×5 cards with pencil writing on them.  I look at them.  I look at her.  “Are you an actress?” I ask.  “Yes”, she says.  “I was one in my 30’s and now I have taken it up again.  I sort of have an audition tomorrow.  I am volunteering at the Actors Center and if there is time I will be able to give this audition”.  I know the Actors Center.  “And what about you?” she asks. “This is not about me”, I answer, “We don’t have much time so let’s make this about you.  I am a New York Actor.”  Her jaw actually drops and as she catches her breath to begin the discussion of what that means, I interrupt her and say “Let’s use the cards and read this together”.  And so we begin.  As we run through the dialogue a second time, and she can’t remember the lines at the bottom of card #1, I suggest that the reason she doesn’t remember them is that she doesn’t know why she is saying them. I ask her why is she saying them. She says she has no idea.  Well, I tell her,  you have to make up a story if you don’t know.  You have to have a motivation.  She looks at me blankly.  There is a line on the 3rd card that refers to the face of the person speaking ‘being on a box’.  I ask her what that means.  She says it is a cereal box.  Suddenly I realize that I know this scene.  i have actually watched it. Can’t recall what the programs was, but the face is on the box of a cosmetic product.  I share this with her.  We start over.  She tells herself again she can’t remember the lines.  i suggest again that she flesh out the story of what she, as the person in the scene, is doing.  She says she doesn’t want to do that.  Now, she says, she is confused.  She doesn’t remember anything and why am I asking her to do all of this.  I then suggest that she  improv the scene, while I read my actual lines.  Doing this I can then judge that she has most of the events in sequence.  It is now beyond my ten minutes.  I tell her I have to leave, and assure her she ‘gets it’ and that she will be able to learn the lines.

As i walk off I am marveling at:  how she came to approach me, at her lack of tools, and at the same time asking myself: what are all these individuals hoping to achieve by doing this business called acting.

 

 

The purple sign on the side of the building, shines brightly and continually; I see it every time  I take the bus uptown to 42nd Street.  This is the Yotel’s description of itself:

“Iinspired by luxury aircraft design, our hotel rooms or ‘cabins’ as we like to call them are super comfortable, smartly designed adaptable spaces. However, we pride ourselves on not just being a place to sleep, but a place where you will find cool bars, co-working lounge areas and the beautifully designed Green Fig restaurant with appetising North African inspired dishes. Our expansive fourth floor is home to the city’s largest hotel terrace where we serve hot beverages in the morning and a la carte breakfast, casuall sharing plates and drinks by day and by night…”

There is no front desk, the rooms are referred to as “Cabins”.  There is a ‘robot’ to stash and store your luggage.  The elevators are card service only and the elevator to the cabins is a separate shaft.  Friend H checked in took this picture of the “cabin’ with the most noticeable sight being the too short bed.  That is because, once in bed, push the button to lengthen it and it does just that, with enough room to walk around the end.  The furnishings, the hall ways, the signage on the doors actually brought to mind a ship’s interior but perhaps the ‘developers’ figured more would relate to an airplane.  Clever indeed.

The charges against King David are adultery and murder in the first.  The Defense Council is  Alan Dershowitz [google his famous clients] and the Prosecutor is CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.  The setting is the temple Emanu-el [see interior pictures] and it is a fascinating premise.  The Story is taken from Second Samuel 11.  2000+ persons attended and were designated the jury.

Friend H joined me and we had ‘front row’ seats.  It is her pictures that capture the scene.  The Verdict:  two-thirds found King David guilty of adultery;  due to the argument of double jeopardy [David tried by G-d and found guilty], he therefore could not be tried again for the same crime in NYC.  The vote on that was 1000+ for vs 820 against.  Dershowitz was convincing. The proceedings were about 90 minutes and it was fascinating to hear such a familiar story, be yet familiar and at the same time told from another belief system.

Notice the harp.  David also played the harp but there was remembrance to Leonard Cohen who had just passed.  His beautiful ode to David “Hallelujah” was sung and played by a harpist.  All on a Sunday morning 10 am.

 

The weather has turned cold and windy and both of the restaurants next door and across the street have stored the tables and chairs for seating customers outside.  That makes for much quieter nights and better sleep.  The partying and drinking stays inside and the patrons emerge only long enough to call for transport.  Long live the cold weather.

There is a character, a male student, on the lawn, wearing a cap.  He says a couple of lines.  Do you know what they are?  To my astonishment, every time I mention this character, anyone who has seen the movie remembers him and his lines.

This is just about the coolest thing ever!  Flat as a pancake and then Voila!

This is so absolutely exciting.  One of my mentors is substantially younger than I and is a brilliant actor, director, improv-ist.  He [give you that much info] has worked around the country but never in the City.  We took up contact and are planning his introduction into the creative world here.  It is such a delight to realize how much I know and to see what a future success he will be due to his talent, skills, craft and experience.  It is like being a ‘mother all over again” only this time I know! I know what I didn’t previously, I understand the road, the signs along the way, and where success lives.  I can’t wait to see what the next 12 months are going to bring forth

.. Until I this past week, meet the casting director for a major TV show who said, ” my person, my age, my work, my background, my “realness due to experience’ were amazing qualities.  To keep a steady keel my alternatives:  drink, friends, charity/social work, leave town and bake bread.

cheese focaccia