2.26.02

the actor whose house i’m subletting gets great magazines: before i ship his mail off to him i get to read Harper’s, the New Yorker, Pottery Barn catalogue and American Theatre Magazine. this is a great deal. AMT’s cover stories this month were timely: one was about the Company of Fools, this new up-and-coming theatre company in Hailey, Idaho that’s being championed by Bruce Willis. what’s funny is that the writer describes Hailey as a “small, gritty western town, hugged by stark, rolling hills dotted with evergreens, sagebrush…” the sagebrush part maybe true, but Hailey is really just a suburb of Sun Valley, winter playground of the rich and famous. i mean, why else would bruce willis and demi moore have moved there and opened a restaurant, a night club, and later a theatre? the other one was about Homebody/Kabul, the new Tony Kushner play about Afghanistan that i’ve really really been wanting to see. the critics are so-so on it, seeing as how it’s four hours long and that’s enough to make the most dedicated theatre-goer squirm, but since i’ll go see anything by Tony Kushner any chance that i get, i’m prepared to stick it out. when we were in vienna last fall i dragged nick to see Angels in America, parts I and II in this shoebox of a theatre. we were the only members of the audience who didn’t belong to a high school english class (who snickered all the way through it), and it was still absolutely worth it.

i feel like a kid in a candy shop: here i am, working literally on the corner of 42nd street and broadway, surrounded by plays i want to see and i don’t have any money. when i lived in england, i managed to trick my university into giving me a research grant that paid for me to go to london and see plays on a regular basis. i need a rich patron. i’m trying really really hard to be financially responsible, but there’s a little devil sitting on my shoulder pointing out that who knows when i’ll be in nyc again and so i really ought to take advantage of everything i have here. chances are i’ll end up putting a few tickets on my credit card bill.

high on my list to see:

Urinetown (friend of friend is the SM for this fringe-turned-broadway number, so i get to watch from the booth for free)

Lion King (ditto)

Proof (matt and i are going to see this next week – he wanted to see a math-and-science sort of play)

Contact

Cabaret (starring Molly Ringwald)

Homebody/Kabul

Arms and the Man (we’re doing it at ISF this summer)

De La Guarda

i like all the energy in times square. some days working there really bites my ass, because when the director sends me out for a slice of pizza (british accent: “don’t go to that place around the corner, darling, their pizza is simply dreadful. go up 8th street till you get to ray’s pizza, it’s much better, thanks love”) because somehow he’s the only one in the room who can’t manage to pack a sandwich, there are like 8 zillion tourists that get in the way of me walking down the street quickly. but other times, i come out of the relatively calm, quiet rehearsal studio, step onto the street, and the air is just buzzing with all the energy and life that is swirling around. it helps that the sky is blue and the sun has been shining, too. i picked the right time to come to new york: in buffalo they’re expecting lake effect snow again this week. as if seven feet wasn’t enough for this winter.